We talk a lot about why adolescent girls report more low mood and anxiety, and why this might be getting worse. But what do girls themselves think might explain this? As you might have guessed, we don’t really know. So, we asked them: doi.org/10.1186/s129... 1/8 - ThreadSky

olademk.bsky.social • 18 days ago

We talk a lot about why adolescent girls report more low mood and anxiety, and why this might be getting worse.

But what do girls themselves think might explain this? As you might have guessed, we don’t really know.

So, we asked them: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03517-x

1/8

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christinesayshi.bsky.social•18 days ago

truedrdoom.bsky.social•18 days ago

I was just wondering about this question this very week, and here’s a wonderful new paper on it. Thanks for doing this important work!

nickschurch.bsky.social•18 days ago

32 girls aged 16-18 is a pretty small, and limited, sample....

olademk.bsky.social•17 days ago

Certainly this is exploratory and we encourage lots more research - but it wouldn’t be considered small in the context of qual methods and there’s lots of nuanced considerations around generalisability in that paradigm. We do talk in the paper about decisions here and offer critical reflections.

nickschurch.bsky.social•17 days ago

Yeah, I'm not convinced. The strengths and weaknesses section doesn't mention the sample size (literally ~one school class!) as a limitation!

nickschurch.bsky.social•17 days ago

The paper also makes a point to saying it includes diverse voices, but it's hard to see how much representation there can be in such a small sample without having a painfully small number of each diversity characteristic!

pabloredux.bsky.social•14 days ago

Ideally you'd do a similar exercise looking at potential subgroups. E.g. where I lived when I was growing up, the pressures on Jewish children and, a few years later, those with South Asian parents, might have been in some ways similar, but from Caribbean backgrounds in some ways different. Etc.

olademk.bsky.social•18 days ago

It was striking that they framed this as ‘normal’ for girls nowadays (and to some degree, for adolescents in general).

There were mixed views about MH normalisation. Many framed this as helpful, some pointed to romanticisation and caution in overestimating how ok it *really* is to not be OK.

2/8

olademk.bsky.social•18 days ago

Participants talked about reiterated gendered norms from early childhood and judgement of their presentation/behaviour, with implications for identity, self-esteem, and MH.

“People think insecure girls is just someone who thinks, oh, my hair isn’t good enough, but it’s so much deeper”

3/8

olademk.bsky.social•18 days ago

They reflected on restrictive, pressurising educational experiences. They felt some aspects may be more complex for girls, eg because high achievement is simply expected.

“if a boy fails, then, you know, it’s not that bad, but I feel like if a girl does, it means a lot more”

4/8

olademk.bsky.social•18 days ago

They explored challenges in peer relationships, including comparison and conflict, that can be stressful and prompt low mood and anxiety.

“It became a competition to see if you could eat the least at lunch basically.”

5/8

olademk.bsky.social•18 days ago

Finally, participants framed social media as a place where comparison and insecurity are normalised and where various standards, often unrealistic, are reiterated in ways that can affect mood and create worry.

“You can compare yourself to everyone else, and I think that’s really damaging”

6/8

olademk.bsky.social•18 days ago

Participants cautioned against oversimplified explanations.

They emphasised individual differences and intersecting identities, and said that these issues affect more than just girls.

They were sceptical about how easy change is - but were clear that incremental progress is still progress.

7/8

pabloredux.bsky.social•14 days ago

That's so so sad.

pabloredux.bsky.social•14 days ago

Be interesting to look at "high-achiever" environments for boys to see if expectations there create matching problems or if still differences there. I expect in some areas nowadays there's also the opposite problem, with potential long-term consequences, where boys are expected to fail.

olademk.bsky.social•14 days ago

I think there’s lots of pockets of identity and experience where these things are likely experienced with a lot of similar dimensions. This may well be one!

pabloredux.bsky.social•14 days ago

I think mental health is multi-dimensional on many levels.

pabloredux.bsky.social•14 days ago

Might be helpful to do a similar study for boys, to see differences and similarities? The whole social media "influencer" culture, some of it extremely gendered, feels alien to an oldie like me, and the open talk about mental health is fairly recent, while other factors feel much older.

olademk.bsky.social•14 days ago

Thanks Paul - some future work I’m planning at the moment will include more engagement with girls and boys also to help explore gendered narratives and experiences as it will be helpful to grapple with those nuances

pabloredux.bsky.social•14 days ago

Thanks! Ironically, greater awareness of mental health seems to have created new problems as well as benefits: increased backlogs, token responses, unhealthy subgroups, anti-"woke" prejudice.

pabloredux.bsky.social•13 days ago

P.S. Just looking at what's going on in America, the new lot would probably want to stop funding all research like yours and your post-grads, it's monstrous! :-(

olademk.bsky.social•13 days ago

Absolutely, I’ve felt painfully aware of this the last couple of weeks. So much important work being ground to a halt, it’s just awful.

yarbvark.bsky.social•18 days ago

Is it because boys are praised for being less than mediocre and girls are criticized no matter what they do? And boys think they’re the isht bc they get so much praise and bully girls who they see as a threat? And society perpetuates that dynamic 24/7/365?

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