UK teens the most unhappy in Europe

Agree that there has always been inequality and that things are better now materially than they were in the past. However the more unequal a (developed) society is the worse outcomes there are. There's loads of data on this. The book the spirit level goes into it in great detail - worth a read.
The UK is more unequal than most other countries in Europe

I don’t think they do. I don’t think they’re actually aware of it, they’re too caught up in their online life etc

Sounds lovely (genuinely) but what time do they get up for school/nursery?

The perception of the divide has a depressing effect

I agree, it feels it has got wider & dc seem to notice more, maybe due to social media

Interestingly, the UK scores badly (last, close to last) across all age groups. Including in happiness of over 60's . This means it isn't parenting, or SM or shit dads is it?

Everyone; adults & children are just more stressed here I think.

This.

And teens know that good schools with nice facilities, university application advisors, co-curricular and extra curricular activities are only for those who can afford them, whether they are state schools in leafy areas or private/ independent schools.

The perception of the divide has a depressing effect. Kids shouldn't have their noses rubbed in the fact that they have "their place" in society.

This is absolutely untrue. In Spain where we live it is extremely common to send children to nursery from a younger age and got both parents to work. It is, however, heavily subsidised and here we dont put our children in bed at 7pm, it's normal for kids to go to bed around 10 and very unusual for children not to spend the evening with their family, all eat dinner together around 8pm etc. I collect my kids from school/nursery at 5pm and then take them to the park until about 7pm then home, cook dinner, eat around 8pm shower bed at 10.

Also, other people like kids here. It is normal for children to be fussed over in the street by adults and also older children when they are little. Children are welcomed pretty much everywhere.

We also spend a lot more time with our kids when we are not working, I think. In the UK it seems unusual for kids to go to restaurants with their parents, here it is not.

Also we don't have the same issues with drinking, violence, bullying because of clothing (this is just a complete non event here, noone is getting teased for having the "wrong" shoes and none of my kids wear uniform to school) so it is less stressful.

Yes , but the discussion is about comparing with other countries. Apparently other countries don't have shit dads, crappy parents , Christmas celebrations. It's all ridiculous .
There's no real analysis or looking at actual differences.

If it was why are our teens/children so unhappy your post would've been IT. It applies to primary too so it starts early.

Speaking of starting early, maybe that's why. UK schools start too early and you have the shortest summer holidays.Problem solved .

Isn’t a combination of all the things mentioned & a general lack of hope? What do they have to look forward to?

@NowImNotDoingIt however whilst it's not necessarily comparing like for like on schooling - it is really an overall picture of where things are at- and the same would be true of any survey about life satisfaction- with adults too-you would never get a totally accurate picture unless comparing a totally identical set of circumstances-

Sending kids to nursery from a very young age for extremely long time periods (ie the equivalent of an adult's working day) is something unique to the UK and possibly plays a significant role in child and teen MH issues. A significant number of EU countries offer generous paid maternity leave, often a year or even two years. Nursery pickups are typically around 2pm. Leaving kids until 5 or 6pm is virtually unheard of and most childcare facilities are closed by then.

Of course, they deal with their own systemic problems such as difficulty finding full-time childcare or nurseries being permanently closed during summer holidays. In many European countries, one parent is essentially forced to go PT or become a SAHM. However the result is still that children end up spending more time with their parents rather than in a childcare environment.

A friend of mine is a “mental health practitioner” in schools, she says that most of the time the kids aren’t anxious it’s the parents!

The kids she sees have normal worries (friendships, exams), a few have serious life events like bereavement or homelessness. She’ll see them once or twice then they’ll be fine. Number of kids to date with actual mental illness: 0

But we know that our kids are massively unhappy. We know there's a mental health crisis in children. We have our own figures to back this up.

This is what bothers me about the study.

One cohort will be incredibly stressed, exams looming, prep,with a lot of expectations, threat of not getting on their A level course , considered nearly a grownup , again more expectations (from peers, society, parents) etc.

Once is basically a year out of (upper) primary, their first big exam (maths, native language and history or geography)is done and dusted(before entering high school), and they have to go to school and not much else. Longer school hours where I am.

It's not exactly comparing like for like is it?

@soupfiend I agree on that too- I think people are naive if they don't think 'some' young people like these labels simply as a form of attention seeking at that particular age or an excuse for piss poor manners/ behaviour - basically the 'don't be nasty to me or put expectations on me ' method . Yes there are young people who genuinely have mental health problems - but equally there are others whose real problem is not wanting to feel left out ( which I guess might be a problem in itself)

We lie to our teens. We tell them that success equals a good job and that you can only get a good job if you go to a good university. That you can only get into a good university if you get good A levels. That you can only get good A levels if you get good GCSEs. That you can only get good GCSE's if you get into top sets in a good school. That you need to live in catchment for a good state secondary or have parents who can pay to send you private or fund a tutor for 11 plus. That you need to do well in your SATS to get into top sets (that one is most definitely not true, but is widely believed).

We tell children that they are destined to fail from Primary and wonder why their mental health is shit. And it's mostly bollocks. Happiness doesn't need a 2:1 from an RG Uni. Nor does being a decent human being.

We pile pressure on children. We solve their problems when we should be teaching resilience. We don't let them decompress after school. We don't let them be silly and we don't let them be children.

Schools are an absolute shitshow. Kid are expected to spend a large part of their week in a place where the adults are in constant churn, there aren't enough resources, classrooms are often too hot or too cold, and the buildings are often tatty and filthy. We've had to make most of the learning support assistants redundant, they're regularly in cover lessons where the class just piss around and they learn nothing, sometimes their teacher doesn't know what they're doing, and if they form any sort of relationship with a pastoral member of staff, like a form tutor or head of year, chances are that that member of staff will leave the school at some point. Even little things like the library where nerdier kids might spend their lunchtimes are now often closed at lunch as librarians have been let go.

Lunchtimes are now reduced to about half an hour to save the school money and to counter behaviour issues. Clubs that used to happen at lunchtime are now severely curtailed, particularly sports.

There's no wonder that we have a major issue with non-attendance at school, and when kids do turn up to school, we have major issues with them just not attending lessons.

Aside from this, children's mental health services have collapsed under the weight of referrals. It is very difficult to be seen by a professional even if the child is considering suicide, if they haven't made an active attempt. Any dealing with the children's mental health crisis is merely firefighting at the extreme end.

@NowImNotDoingIt oh I agree about the exam thing totally!!

@soupfiend ha- you've brought up one of my most hated expressions 'making memories' matched only by 'the one' - I see this in expectations by my sons ( lovely) girlfriend. I guess I'm an older cynic these days but the expectation that things in life will always be amazing means many younger people have a lack of stoicism when life stuff goes shitty because the expectations are so high. I see this in everything from careers to motherhood to marriages and family relationships - you only have to be on this site to be aware that there's often plenty of amazing mixed in with plenty of not amazing at all grind.

You see a lot of that in other countries now too ime. A lot of Europeans have bought into the whole SM bullshit just as much as we all have, sadly.

The Flemish are some of the worst for this; it's all about the new car, the perfect architect built house, the holidays...I think it causes a lot of stress and one of the reasons so many of them split up.