Teenage girls want to see major cultural and societal shifts to help tackle a growing increase in mental health problems, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Manchester have been working directly with young women to find out what would help stem the incidence of low mood, depression and anxiety.
They found that girls are twice as likely as boys to experience depression by the age of 15, and believe this gap has been growing for more than a decade.
In discussion with 32 teenage girls across England, academics found that girls want long-term practical solutions to their problems rather than quick fixes.
They identified pressure from the education system, social media and gender expectations as key influences, and said schools needed to be safer and to offer more support.
Girls don’t just want coping strategies – they want real changes in the environments where they live and learn
The study, published in NIHR Public Health Journal, cited the impact of social media as a major problem, with girls admitting they needed help recognising that what they see online is often fake.
They also wanted advice on how to care for themselves while online.
Meanwhile, schools needed to do more to challenge gender stereotypes, they said, with better training for teachers. This included zero tolerance of sexual harassment, which demanded clearer and more consistent responses and better support for those affected.
Space to belong
Young women also wanted more spaces where they could belong and be themselves without other pressures.
And they viewed good mental health as equally as important as exam grades, which required schools to be more caring and relationship-focussed.
Dr Ola Demkowicz, senior lecturer at the Manchester Institute of Education and co-lead author of the study, said: “We talk a lot about girls’ mental health and why it might be worsening, but a lot of the available research does not engage with girls’ own views on this.
“Here, we wanted to work with girls as a starting point to explore how we can approach this issue in ways that can meet their needs.
“The girls we spoke with made it clear that they don’t just want coping strategies – they want real changes in the environments where they live and learn.”
Meeting girls’ needs
She added: “If we truly want to improve girls’ mental health, we must start by asking them what they need – and then we can further explore, test and expand.
“This research shows that teenage girls and young women are able to play an important role in how we understand and approach the issues facing them.”
Co-author Dr Rebecca Jefferson, who helped to run focus groups, added: “The girls spoke powerfully about pressures from school, social media and gender expectations.
“They had thought-through, actionable ideas – not just for support, but for changing the systems that affect them.”
