NO WORRIES?
Young People and Mental Health
Publication date: 1998. Price: £10 Incl. p&p
See also 'Trends: Young People and Emotional Health and Well-Being 1983-2003'
Dear Colleague:
NO WORRIES? Young People and Mental Health (published 1998)
What will young people be concerned about in the 21st Century? One thing seems certain: they are going to keep on worrying. We have been monitoring the 'worry levels' of secondary-school pupils since 1991. This 1998 report examines what they worry about, with whom they share their problems, and if some levels of worry have changed during the 1990s.
As Ted Wragg says in his Foreword:
John Balding
Schools Health Education Unit
Publication date: 1998. Price: £10 Incl. p&p
See also 'Trends: Young People and Emotional Health and Well-Being 1983-2003'
Dear Colleague:
NO WORRIES? Young People and Mental Health (published 1998)
What will young people be concerned about in the 21st Century? One thing seems certain: they are going to keep on worrying. We have been monitoring the 'worry levels' of secondary-school pupils since 1991. This 1998 report examines what they worry about, with whom they share their problems, and if some levels of worry have changed during the 1990s.
As Ted Wragg says in his Foreword:
- "This important study of young people's worries in the 1990s offers a most illuminating account of what concerns them... [it] is an invaluable part of the weaponry for dealing all the better with the problems besetting those who will live most of their lives in the next millennium.'
John Balding
Schools Health Education Unit
NO WORRIES?
Young people and mental health
John Balding, David Regis & Anne Wise
A study of the worries and concerns that affect young teenagers in our society.
From the Foreword
To sum up...
We have been asked: "What do young people need?"
It is flattering to be asked, even though none of us feels sufficiently expert to know.
Perhaps our best ’expert’ view is:
YOUNG PEOPLE NEED TO BE HEARD.
To order NO WORRIES, please use Order Publications.
See also 'Trends: Young People and Emotional Health and Well-Being 1983-2003'
Young people and mental health
John Balding, David Regis & Anne Wise
A study of the worries and concerns that affect young teenagers in our society.
From the Foreword
-
"In order to cope with worry we must first understand the nature of it. This comprehensive and detailed account of what worries young people as the 21st century dawns is an invaluable part of the weaponry for dealing all the better with the problems besetting those who will live most of their lives in the next millennium."
| 1. Introduction 1.1 What is this report about? 1.2 The source 1.3 Mental, social & physical health 1.4 It is normal to worry 1.5 What do young people worry about? 1.6 The background of young people’s mental ill-health 1.7 Taking young people seriously 1.8 Summary [TOP] |
The data were gathered through the widespread use of the General Health Related Behaviour Questionnaire (HRBQ), version 19, during 1997. In this report we look at young people's mental health in the context of their social relationships and certain aspects of their physical health. |
| 2. The ‘worry’ questions 2.1 The structure of the worry question 2.2 Links with other questions Worry about SMOKING Worry about DRUGS Worry about THE WAY YOU LOOK 2.3 Links between worry items 2.4 Summary [TOP] |
Current ‘highs’ among the list of things young people may worry about include the way you look, family and school; ‘lows’ include gambling and drinking. It is quite likely that worries about family and school affect the young people themselves, but worrying about drinking or smoking may be anxiety about the habits of someone else, or even concern about society in general. All the worry items are inter-related, so that scoring high on one means a pupil is more likely to score high on the other items. The close connections suggest that in fact the aggregate score on all the different worry items might be used as a measure of each individual’s worry level. |
| 3. ‘Worry’ trends, 1991-96 3.1 Trends in worry levels . . . The ‘Top 6’ worries How we present the ‘trend’ data Year 8 males and females Year 10 males and females 3.2 Summary [TOP] |
In terms of trends in these data over the last few years, worries that have been growing include drugs, family and friends, and maybe also school; on the wane is worry about HIV/AIDS, and worry about gambling. Overall, some clear patterns can be seen. For the top three worries, two are always family and the way you look. For boys the third is drugs, and for girls it is friends. For girls, worrying about the way you look is not just top of the list, it is markedly higher than anything else. Although drugs is in third place for boys, girls still worry about drugs more than boys do. Boys worry more than girls only about unemployment; girls worry more than boys about everything else. Older pupils worry more than younger pupils about career. |
| 4. The Worry Index 4.1 The worry index 4.2 The structure of the worry index 4.3 Links with the worry index 4.4 Summary [TOP] |
A ‘worry index’ was devised by adding together all the scores (0-4) for all the 13 worry items, making a scale of worries running from 0 to 52. This index is the main focus of the rest of this report. The statistics of our computed worry scale lend support to its use as a reliable measure. The HRBQ survey data, as well as providing a profile of different aspects of young people's lives, can also be used to investigate links between measures of mental health and other survey items. |
| 5. Worrying and other aspects of mental health 5.1 Worrying and Self-esteem 5.2 Worrying and HEALTH LOCUS OF CONTROL 5.3 Worrying and Satisfaction with life 5.4 Worrying and Fear of bullying 5.5 Worrying and Confidence with GP 5.6 Summary [TOP] |
It is clear that the more worrying a pupil reports, the lower is likely to be their self-esteem score. The proportion of pupils with a very positive view of their control over their own health - about a quarter of all pupils - decreases as worrying increases. Recorded levels of satisfaction with life show, as might be expected, a smaller proportion of ‘worriers’ among the satisfied groups. The association between the worry index and the specific fear of going to school because of bullying is particularly clear in females in the Year 8 group. Confidence with the GP is also related to worrying, where the more uneasy patients are likely to be greater worriers. |
| 6. Worrying and substance use 6.1 Worrying and smoking 6.2 Worrying and drinking alcohol 6.3 Worrying and illegal drugs 6.4 Summary [TOP] |
Overall, for all three types of use of substances - that is, smoking, alcohol and illegal drugs - we have turned up marked positive associations between worrying score and substance use:
|
| 7. Worrying and physical health 7.1 Worrying and asthma 7.2 Worrying and accidents 7.3 Worrying and diet 7.4 Summary [TOP] |
Reported levels of ’wheezing’ (asthma?) are two to three times higher among the higher-scoring worriers. We are not suggesting here that asthma is essentially a psychological condition. There is a modest but important increase in the reporting of accidents among pupils who report more worries. There is a small positive overall correlation of worry index with the proportion of pupils who say they consider health at least quite often when choosing food – so the more they worry, the more careful they are about their diet. |
| 8. Worrying and home background 8.1 Worrying and family characteristics 8.2 Worrying and best adults 8.3 Worrying and trusted adults 8.4 Worrying and help with problems 8.5 Summary [TOP] |
The proportion of young people that live with both mother and father is markedly lower among the ‘worriers’. If a pupil reports that of all adults they get on best with mother and father, they are likely to have a lower worry score. Young people who can trust no adults, or only one, are over-represented in the group of ‘worriers’. The young people who are more likely to turn to mother and father for help with problems are less likely to be ‘worriers’. In this section we have seen how the worry index can be related to a number of aspects of home background and family life. If we needed a reminder about the importance of the family to young people’s health and happiness, this would provide it. |
| 9. Some other ‘mental health’ issues 9.1 Dissatisfaction and eating disorders 9.2 Coping style 9.3 Summary [TOP] |
Questionnaire surveys carried out in 1990 included a number of questions on mental ill-health that were also seen as a way of providing an insight into the development of eating disorders. Disordered eating, a characteristic of anorexia and bulimia, may be seen as a solution to a particular worry caused by having high standards, feeling dissatisfied with their achievements, and feeling that they have little control over important aspects of their life. The overwhelming majority of 14-year-old girls that were concerned about their weight had no medical ‘weight problem’ at all, and some were already under-weight. Coping style describes responses to problems. Taking a piece of paper and trying to write down some ways of dealing with a problem is problem-focussed coping; reaching for a fantasy novel and hoping to escape the anxiety that way is emotion-focussed coping. This is interesting from a health education point of view, in that palliatives such as chocolate, cigarettes, alcohol, or illegal drugs may be used to manage uncomfortable emotions. The most common responses by some margin were problem-focussed (talk to someone; think about it). The most common emotion-focussed strategies were listening to music and keeping busy. |
10. Concluding discussion
[TOP] |
1. Modest levels of worry are not just normal but also may have good effects: if we care about ourselves, our family, friends, our environment and our future, we may be worried to some extent but we will also be careful to plan - we may, because of our care, be reliable, helpful, punctual and so on. 2. Normal young people have worries - this does not mean worries can normally be dismissed. For any pupil, it is likely that some area of their life will at some time cause sufficient anxiety for them to reach out for help. For some young people, the list of worries which apparently concern them at the same time is daunting. How can we all manage our worries better? 3. Worrying seems so bound up with other aspects of mental well-being that we are bound to ask: what more can be done to support young people and their families? 4. The major worries for young people are: the way they look, friends, family, and drugs. This has a number of implications for the ways in which schools, health authorities, and other groups concerned about young people should do their health education, and what its content should be. 5. The data in this report have pointed to the central role of the family. Family type is related directly to worrying, and we can see how family members are the first point of support for the vast majority of young people. How can we seek and provide help inside the family? 6. We need to listen to young people carefully if we are to understand the role that the use of substances like tobacco play in their lives, and if we hope to encourage them to find other ways of meeting their needs. 7. Diet is an arena in which a variety of personal, social and health issues are acted out. While we may be particularly concerned about disordered eating, it seems that the majority of young women are unhappy with their weight. What can we do to support them? 8. Worry can be disabling. There is support available for young people with emotional problems and their families. How many young people, and how many parents, are aware of it, and willing and able to seek help when they need it? |
To sum up...
We have been asked: "What do young people need?"
It is flattering to be asked, even though none of us feels sufficiently expert to know.
Perhaps our best ’expert’ view is:
YOUNG PEOPLE NEED TO BE HEARD.
To order NO WORRIES, please use Order Publications.
See also 'Trends: Young People and Emotional Health and Well-Being 1983-2003'