One - quarter of girls and one - tenth of boys are depressed at age 14 . This is according tonew researchfrom academic at the University of Liverpool and University College London , with experts saying we ’re at crisis point .
" This study of thousands of children give us the most compelling evidence available about the extent of genial ill - health among tiddler in the UK , " explained Anna Feuchtwang , Chief Executive of the National Children ’s Burea , in astatement .
" With a fourth part of 14 - yr - old young lady showing polarity of depression , it ’s now beyond doubt that this problem is reach crisis point . "
Some have suggested social media play a part , adding to the pressure many girl already face during adolescence .
“ We hump that adolescent girls confront a vast grasp of pressure , include stress at school , physical structure range of a function issue , bullying , and the pressure produce by social media , ” says Marc Bush , the main insurance policy advisor at the charity Young Minds , reports theGuardian .
Another disgraceful find was the huge disparity between parents ' report of their fry ’s well - being and the stripling ' ego - coverage . Whereas 24 percentage of girls and 9 percentage of boys described symptoms of depression , parents ' recognise these symptom only 18 pct of the time in females and 12 percentage of the time in male .
" It ’s vital that both children and their parents can make their interpreter heard to maximise the chances of former identification and admission to specialist support,“saidFeuchtwang .
Aside from having two ' X ' chromosome , investigator mark two other factor than increase teens ' likelihood of developing depression – ethnicity and income .
White and motley - slipstream girl were the most likely to report feelings of depression ( 25 percentage ) , whereas black African young lady were the least ( 10 pct ) . In boys , those with a motley - race or " other " background were the most likely to reveal depressive symptom ( 15 percent ) and those with a Bangladeshi or Amerindic background least ( less than 5 percent ) .
The researchers also recover that girls from higher - income category were less likely to describe feelings of depression than their match from low - income families . jerk the vogue were girls from the poorest 20 percent of families , who report less depressive symptoms than those from the second and third quintile income brackets .
In both the above case , it is not obvious whether there are pregnant difference in the rate of low among unlike groups or if some are more likely to cover it than others .
This data was collect from theMillenium Cohort Study , a task that follows the aliveness of over 19,000 children in the UK who were bear around the turn of the millennia . Researchers have been keeping tabs on their mental wellness since they were three , asking parents to discharge a survey every few age .
When they were 14 years older , investigator also asked the teen themselves how often they agreed with a series of statements , include " I felt miserable or unhappy " , " I felt I was no good anymore " or " I was a spoilt person " .
This is a in particular crucial time in a person ’s mental development , the authors note . “ one-half of all cases of adult genial illness start by the eld of 14 , mean prevention and other reenforcement for children is vital . ”
While the results are extremely useful in showing the disturbingly high level of depression among teenager today ( and girls in peculiar ) , more is necessitate to better understand the cause behind the trend and explain its moment .
