UK Girls becoming Unhappier
31st August 2016
A recent Children’s Society report has suggested that teenage girls in the UK are becoming less happy. The report highlights that over the last 5 years the levels of unhappiness reported by girls aged 10-15 has increased significantly. In contrast, it was found that teenage boy’s levels of unhappiness have remained largely unchanged.
Significant findings include the fact that the number of girls reporting being unhappy with their looks has risen from 30% to 34% in the period the report examined (2013-2014). It won’t come as a surprise to many that teenage girls are under ever increasing amounts of pressure to look a certain way. This appears to have only been compounded by the ever increasing saturation of social media into our daily lives. Beauty and fashion bloggers, celebrities, advertising…it all serves to make young women feel bad about the way they look. This combined with the report’s finding that teenage girls are more likely to spend an extended amount of time on social media means it’s not hard to see why more and more girls are struggling with their body image.
The finding that boys happiness has largely remained stable is comforting in many respects however it may be worth thinking about whether the reasons for this are due to a reluctance or inability to voice concerns or to admit unhappiness or mental health issues.
The gender gap in happiness is something to be taken seriously. It appears that more needs to be done to support girls at a young age, to promote healthy body image and to educate them on the pitfalls of social media and celebrity culture.