Suppose Youngsters’ Psychological Well being Is Nonetheless Getting Worse? New CDC Knowledge Says In any other case
Teen sadness and suicidal thoughts have declined below pandemic-era peaks, offering real optimism without minimizing those who are still struggling.
EXPERT OPINION BY JESSICA STILLMAN, CONTRIBUTOR, INC.COM @ENTRYLEVELREBEL
Are the kids alright? If you answered, no, that makes sense. At least since the pandemic we’ve all been bombarded by terrifying headlines like:
- ‘It’s Life or Death’: The Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens (New York Times)
- Teen Girls Experiencing Record Levels of Sadness and Suicide Risk (WSJ)
- Youth is no longer one of happiest times of life (Guardian)
- 20-Somethings Are in Trouble (Atlantic)
- Have We Destroyed Childhood? (New Yorker)
After a half decade or so of articles, podcasts, and expert reports in this vein, it’s no surprise that most people are convinced that the kids these days are not all right.
That collective concern is warranted and well intentioned
That collective concern is warranted and well intentioned — plenty of teens and young people have been struggling and adults need to figure out how to help. But the negative messaging has been so relentless that it’s mostly drowned out another important fact.
A growing stack of studies shows that young people’s mental health is starting to turn around and head in a better direction. A new report out of the CDC just added to the pile
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Early signs of improving youth mental health
Last year, Anya Kamenetz, the author of several books about young people, rounded up the first tentative signs of an improvement in youth mental health for UC Berkeley’s Greater Good magazine. These included more college students and teens telling pollsters they are ‘flourishing’, an uptick in young people rating their mental health as good, and a slight but incredibly welcome decrease in youth suicide rates.
This evidence wasn’t conclusive, but it was encouraging
This evidence wasn’t conclusive, but it was encouraging. So did the media as a whole leap on reporting it? Nope “The incipient positive turn in youth well-being is not receiving the same amount of attention as the negative trendlines before it,” she wrote at the time
This muted reaction to good news continued as more bits of evidence piled up. Scientific American did run a long article arguing that “surprising studies show young people are doing better than previous generations in many way.” But the general cultural tone about kids and mental health has remained anxious and concerned.
Source: www.inc.com
