The younger generation are inspiring and yet they have their own problems. It is for the older generation to be supportive of the young people and look to them with pride.
Mental Health
Young people are receiving an unprecedented amount of pressure, beyond what the older generations have experienced.
In a survey by the charity Young Minds produced in January 2014, four in ten 11 to 14 year-olds miss meals in order to remain thin and more than half of the respondents have watched pornography online, with 4 in 10 of those stating that it had affected relationships.
The survey also stated that half of children and young people have been bullied and one-third of the respondents do not know where to turn for help when they are feeling down.
Lucie Russell, the charity’s Director of Campaigns, commented: ‘An increase in under-11s needing mental
health services is a sad and very worrying indictment of the society we live in and the pressures children face.
‘Every day, we hear about the unprecedented toxic climate children and young people face in a 24/7 online culture where they can never switch of, where they experience constant assessments at school, bullying, sexualisation, consumerism and pressure to have the perfect body at a young age.
‘This leads to thousands of young people including children suffering a range of mental health problems such as anxiety, extreme stress and depression…
‘We are sitting on a mental health timebomb.’
a. Self-harming
An online survey, commissioned by four self-harm support groups (Self-harm.co.uk, ChildLine, Youth Net and Young Minds), has shown that the main reason for self-harming is that the person is being bullied (‘Self-harm ‘motivated primarily by bullying’,’ www.bbc.co.uk, 27 February 2014). The report also revealed that most young people were alone when they self-harmed for the first time.
Rachel Welch, from Self-harm.co.uk, stated that the findings were helpful in looking at the problem. She said: ‘Self-harm is an expression of how someone is feeling, it’s not the problem itself, an expression of a very difficult emotional distress.
‘We’ve got into the habit of focusing on what young people are doing, cutting or burning, and we’re forgetting it’s the underlying issue we need to be digging into.’
Bullying is not a new phenomenon but, as Ms Welch added, the new aspect is that it does not necessarily stop at the doorstep. She commented: ‘They can’t escape to their bedrooms away from bullying, because with smartphones and tablets they’re never actually on their own.’
The increase of charities (such as Harmless) that support people who self-harm has stirred up the debate as to whether there is a genuine rise in the problem or whether there is more awareness by the public.
Dr Alys Cole-King, from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, is convinced that self-harming is increasing:
‘Research has shown that self-harm has increased recently, that in particular self-cutting has increased and we know from research that there is some contagion effect from that.’ (The research was by NHS England which showed that 11 per cent more young people were admitted to hospital in 2012 because of self-harming than in the previous year.)
However, Professor Nav Kapur of Manchester University disputes that there is an epidemic. She states: ‘The long-term are actually down but in recent years, the rates in young men have increased. It seems likely it might be related to the wider economic conditions.’
Whether or not the rates have increased, the situation in the UK is also occurring in other developed nations, where there are pressures on children to conform in appearance and to achieve academically are changing the nature of adolescence.
The difference in the UK is that there are more black and Asian teenage girls who are self-harming. Part of the problem could be a cultural reluctance to talk through their problems and also the pressure of forced marriages could be instrumental in these cases.
Reasons for Self-Harming
· Bullying (25%)
· Family relationships (17%)
· Pressure to do well at school (14%)
· Emotional abuse (11%)
· Friendships (11%)
b. Eating Disorders
A form of self-harm can be seen in those experiencing anorexia and bulimia, which is more prevalent among young people.
Hospital admissions for eating disorders rose by 8 per cent in England from 2012 to 2013, in data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Nine times as many females as males were admitted in this period. The most common age for female admissions was 15 years-old, and for males was 13 years-old.
One in five of those taken to hospital with an eating disorder was admitted and discharged on the same day. However, one in 17 remained in hospital for over six months.
Beat, an eating disorder charity, stated that the statistics were ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ as many people did not seek treatment. The spokeswoman said: ‘The figures only show in-patient admissions – we know that the majority of individuals are treated as outpatients within their community as well as in private treatment centres – or worse still, not treated at all.
She continued: ‘The likelihood is that more people are becoming ill. We know that the development of an eating disorder is extremely complex and doesn’t just include one factor but it may be a whole host of reasons.
‘One of these factors is the pressure of society which is affecting a wider range of individuals.’
Unemployment
There are pressures within the job market that might not have been experienced before. The Prince’s Trust Youth Report 2014 links the problems of youth unemployment and mental health together. Four in ten jobless young people have experienced symptoms of mental illness as a direct result of unemployment (which is not negating the experiences of previous generations, only that it is better documented).
The charity stated that young people who had been unemployed for a longer time were more than twice as likely to have been prescribed anti-depressants or feel that they had ‘nothing to live for’ than others in their peer group.
The problem was such that one in three had felt suicidal, whilst one in four had self-harmed.
These jobless young people were more significantly less likely to ask for help than their employed peers if they were struggling to cope, with three-quarters of them expressing that they could not confide in anyone.
Martina Milburn, the Chief Executive of the Prince’s Trust, commented: ‘unemployment is proven to cause devastating, long-lasting mental health problems among young people. Thousands wake up every day belief life isn’t worth living, after struggling for years in the dole queue.
‘More than 430,000 young people are facing long-term unemployment, and it is these young people that urgently need our help. If we fail to act, there is a real danger that these young people will become hopeless, as well as jobless.’
Employment
It is the flexibility that the young generation has that is most attractive to businesses. In response, employers are putting greater emphasis on attitude rather than academic results when they are recruiting young people, so the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Jobs Outlook tracking survey in August 2014.
Of the employers that they contacted, 47 per cent stated that they considered attitude to be the most important factor when employing a young person. A fifth commented that the level of qualification the candidate had achieved was the most important element, but only four per cent said that specific academic results (such as obtaining a 2:1 degree classification) was the most important factor.
The results were consistent with the previous study from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) Employer Skills Survey 2013, which stated that more employers (38 per cent) rejected young applicants because they lacked a professional hard-working attitude, compared with 29 per cent of employers who commented that young candidates were unsuccessful because they did not have the requisite qualifications.
Kevin Green, the Chief Executive of REC, commented: ‘It’s the best time in six years to be a young person coming into the jobs market. Employer hiring intentions are high and more employers are reaching capacity with their existing workforce and will have to take on new staff.
‘Qualifications can be a good indicator of ability but our survey shows employers place a high value on attitude. Our advice is young people need to think about how they project a positive, can-do attitude when applying for jobs.’
Katerina Rudiger, the head of skills and policy campaigns at the CIPD, has been working on the Learning To Work programme, which assists tackling youth employment. She said in People Management (21 August 2014): ‘Employers need to rethink their selection process to place greater emphasis beyond qualifications and help young people understand what that is, how to achieve it and demonstrate the right attitude.’
Healthy Lifestyle
In a survey by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (September 2014), it revealed that many young people are turning away from the excessive lifestyles that was evident in previous generations.
Smoking, drinking and drug taking are all on the decline compared to a decade ago.
The survey revealed that as low as 9 per cent of teenagers had drunk alcohol in the previous week, down from 25 per cent in 2003. The proportion of respondents who had claimed that they had never tried alcohol was up from 39 per cent in 2003 to 61 per cent in the recent survey.
One in six admitted taking drugs compared with 30 per cent. Heroin and crack cocaine usage among teenagers was significantly down on ten years before.
Less than 3 per cent said that they were regular smokers – the lowest rate since the surveys commenced in 1982.
Experts have commented that social media, more expensive beer and cigarettes, and a shift towards cleaner living had been big influences in the new trend.
The Department of Health confirmed that teenage pregnancies are also at their lowest levels since the 1970s.
The number of under-18s having abortions has fallen from 18.2 in every 1,000 girls a decade ago to fewer than 12 in 1,000 last year. It may be that most young people were taking better precautions when involved in sexual intercourse, as Alison Hadley (director of the Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange at Bedfordshire University) ascertains.
The overall demise in unhealthy living has been partly explained by the growing numbers of teenagers from conservative religious migrant backgrounds.
Jane Ellison, the Public Health Minister, commented: ‘Trends in drinking, smoking and teenage pregnancy rates for young people are very encouraging. Young people who adopt healthy lifestyles early on can use them as a building block for success, using that resilience to get on in life.’
Our response
We are encouraged to pass on what we have learned to the next generation.
In Deuteronomy 6: 6 – 7, we are told: ‘These commandments that I gave you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children.’ Moses then outlines the various opportunities to spend time in sharing God’s best way to live to the children and young people.
The psalmist recounts: ‘Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvellous deeds.’ (Psalm 71: 17)
It is important to make the correct foundation with the younger generation, as the Bible tells us: ‘Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come.’ (Ecclesiastes 12: 1)
It has to be an intergenerational activity – a pattern that is illustrated in Ezra 8: 2, where it states that ‘the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand.’ There was no separation due to ages, as we are to encourage one another regardless as to which generation we belong to.
Similarly, in 1 John 2: 12 – 14, the writer exhorts us to share with people of different ages what we have learned and experienced. In addition, there was the intergenerational instruction encouraged in Titus 2: 1 – 8.
We are proud of the next generation, although we recognise that they have difficulties. There must be the passing down of wisdom obtained from previous generations and from our own lives, yet allow them to discover their own paths. It is exciting to see how God will be working in and through the young people.
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