It’s official – 1 in 4 children are unhappy. This was according to the Children’s society’s recent survey of teenagers which reported that more than a quarter of 14 to 16-year-olds said that they frequently ‘felt depressed’. But what is this really telling us? Should we interpret it as a sign that the stress epidemic that affects adults has now spread to children? Or is it more to do with the fact that children are using the word ‘depressed’ to describe feeling sad, but are not really clinically depressed?
Undoubtedly, children can be clinically depressed, but are 1 in 4 teenagers really clinically depressed? If they are, what is that saying about our society? In 2007, UNICEF rated the UK bottom of a league of industrialised countries for child well-being, saying our children were under-educated, unhappy and unhealthy compared with other European countries. Pretty depressing stuff!
One of the possible causes has to be the ‘adultisation’ of childhood (or should we now call it kidulthood?) – that is, the imposition of adult values on the lives children. It is well documented that the pressures on children are now greater than ever before – the target-based nature of schooling means that our kids essentially go to a version of 9-to-5 office work from the age of five or six – so it’s no surprise they are starting to exhibit the behaviors and psychological problems associated with adults at such an early age. Of course, parents play their role by ramping up expectations and the media contribute by ensuring that children are also worried about how they look and whether they have the right accessories to be ‘cool’. And it’s no coincidence that the Children’s Society survey focused on teenagers – this is the group of children that are closest to adulthood and so, naturally, some of the pressures we all feel every day are leaking through into their world.
The BBC recently reported the results of a survey by their children’s news programme, Newsround, involving 8000 children. Many said they felt under pressure from school, their classmates, and family expectations. Seven out of ten said they felt the need to “look good”, and were on a diet some or all of the time.
School is very much like the adult world of work - doing well is important, but unless there’s space to have fun and enjoy the experience, what’s the point?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7363332.stm
