UK teens the most unhappy in Europe

[coffeeandteav]

www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/29/uk-teenagers-low-life-satisfaction-europe

Why is this? Many reasons discussed in the media today. What do you think has caused this?

I can say as a teacher and having a 16 year old it is sadly very true.

Lots of suggestions some sensible others not so much.
Why are we different to Europe? They have video games and tech. So what is it?

1.	The weather lack of vit d. ( thats not new though)
2.	Rise of the nuclear family. No more it takes a village..... Europe has more involvement with extended families.
3.	Loss of youth clubs. Apparently they have them in Germany and its cheap and relaxed.
4.	Too many organised activities kids can't be bored anymore and all their time is structured.
5.	Cost of living and see the pressure on their parents so no hope for things being better than them.
6.	Strict army style school system vs 90s uk and Europe.Blazer uniforms even if hot. Screamed at if have a coat on in the corridor, silent corridors.  Toilet control.
7.	Affordable houses, some parents can't even afford to buy.
8.	Brexit knock on effect of costs and schemes such as erasmus being defunct.
9.	Lack of resilience and entitlement here in UK.
10.	Helicopter parents and mollycoddling . Kirsey Allsopp highlighted this. A Dutch lady said kids walk to school at 8 in Holland. Apparently since M.Mcann as a nation we are more fearful ( don't know how true)
11.	Nursery from 9 hours a day. Does this happen abroad?
12.	Sewage in water ( that would be adults too though)
13.	Too much homework. 
14.	The diet.
15.15.	Constant media input about the poor pensioners eg. The vast majority of pensioners are richer than the childs parents. ( obviously a lot are not but a high portion are) so shows a lack of understanding for youth. 
16.	Underfunding health and mental heath services.

All of the above? Some of the above?

Anymore?

Absolutely. We are on skeleton staff. Huge classes and more high individual needs.
It is impossible sometimes.

And did you ever think of taking photos of those outfits and sharing with friends? Nope! People would have thought you were up yourself and been very uncool thing to do.

But in some European countries you get held back a year if you don’t pass. That could be far more damaging to mental health!

https://www.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/aug/28/the-real-unfairness-and-scandal-of-gcse-exams?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3Mwpkcy3lfHBBiGy7OSTSeTlnRyA8Mtp0FFsqJvx1DlMiihW-xJ2Aba4aemmPMk9a2lVJ30FobfLxWDiHg&ai=

Have a look at the French system. It's not exactly child centric.

On the weather issue, earlier winter darkness I think has an impact. Countries on a time zone an hour ahead such as Belgium and the Netherlands I have visited in winter and notice the difference.

Agree about academic specialisation too early too.

i agree. Discontentment breeds discontentment. There’s no incentive to look on the bright side

@Nuggetnuggety It’s not really blame, no. However people do have to take responsibility at some point in their lives. It’s actually better for them if they use opportunities to improve, eg stop smoking, eat healthier food. Go for a walk. Play with dc. I know some people find these things difficult and come from generations of people who have not taken responsibility. If we did, no need for SS.

If they don't do well enough in English or Maths here they have to resit.

But my point is that regardless, giving over 4 years of teenagers' lives to exam pressure (mocks, GCSEs that dictate what you can do at very narrow A levels, mocks that determine your provisional university offers, actual A levels) doesn't feel particularly healthy. Coming from another system I find it pretty shocking.

I am not sure how high France rates on the happiness system, but all the French parents and children I know are obsessed with the Bacc and how they are doing.
In Belgium they are assessed continuously and if they fail they have to either repeat a year or transfer to another school if they're at the Grammar type school.
Again Belgian friends and family talk a lot about their exams and results etc.

Huge pressure on exam results? My niece is an average student in theory, but she works so hard to excel - she has just got the equivalent of straight As but is gutted she didn't get A*s. In my day, Bs and C's were impressive results.

Also, just something I notice - so many of my friends with kids have messy, unhomely feeling houses, some have chaotic messy houses. This seems to be the norm? I'm sure that a crazy messy house contributes to mental health negatively.

Part of it is everyone in the house works full-time, part of it is, it's so hard to constantly pick up after kids and part (I think) is we've been bred to think household domestic chores are unimportant & even beneath us.

I recently watched Simon Reeve in Cornwall, part of the show discussed apprenticeships and that the main push at schools is for university, approximately 50% of students now go to Uni. In other European countries they offer real Apprenticeships in trades and see that these are as important as getting a degree.

At my daughter’s school her head of year told her she’d only amount to being a hairdresser 😲, what a bastard. Her school was awful, it was all about getting to Uni. I had to battle for an assessment as she was struggling with revision for her GCSEs, student services discovered that she is dyslexic, they had missed this right up until year 11, that’s why she bloody struggled. The comment about being a hairdresser was disgraceful, where does he have his hair cut? What a dick!!

I think teens across the board are having a harder time of it with social media etc but it is interesting that UK teens are a pretty significant outlier vs European peers. I'm Irish but lived in the UK for over a decade before moving home and still have lots of UK friends who are parents (primary school kids).

Of the OPs list of potential reasons, most of those would also apply here in Ireland - lack of affordable housing/ lack of supply of decent CAMHS support and, of course the weather. The only anecdotal difference I see is the lack of freedom of our UK friends kids vs our own - in terms of being allowed to play out/ hang around with friends/ walk to and from school (they're all London based so appreciate I'm not seeing a representation of the whole of UK!)

I've noticed a real difference in the confidence of my 8 year old since he started being allowed some independence - that ability to build resilience has to be important in later years and I wonder what we're losing as a result of that increase in fear as referenced by PPs. There's a quote by the author Jonathan Haidt ('The Anxious Generation') that, paraphrased, is something along the lines of us overestimating real life risks for our kids in terms of being allowed freedom and underestimating the risks of the online world - it can seem safer to have your primary/ young teen kids in the house on the screen that wandering around outdoors, I guess?

@Snippit No they don’t, it’s 38%. 50% of the workforce has a degree but that’s including all adults and immigrants. Cornwall has a different economy in that it’s 30% tourist based, so it’s very dependent on others. Plus he’s wrong about professional roles. They exist in the nhs and schools and services. However dc mostly leave Cornwall to go to uni. That’s inevitable. As over 60% of 18 year olds don’t go to uni, many will do apprenticeships and be hairdressers. Of course, and why not?

Oh dear, what's wrong with being a hairdresser?! The beauty industry is massive, and consistent. Seems a dated, snobbish comment. We have snobbish attitudes in the UK which is another issue. Not everyone is going to be a lawyer or an accountant.

That might be an issus if Post16 education consisisted just of Alevels ,but there are load s of courses available, that suit different people due to their different learning styles .

In what way as I thought those countries were quite child centric? Do you mean re being quite formally polite to adults even from a young age? Or do they shout/smack?

Exactly takes skill. I couldn't do it.

That might be an issus if Post16 education consisisted just of Alevels ,but there are load s of courses available, that suit different people due to their different learning styles

But colleges tend to have entry requirements for non A-level courses? Which ones do you know that don’t?

And the vast majority of jobs will want a pass in Maths & English. Obviously a lawyer or accountant requires a lot more than that…

If they don't meet the entity requirement they can. Start at a lower level and work their way up its not uncommon, yes most work places. Want a pass at maths and english but many accept functional skills as an alternative.

Do they?

We're in Wales. Our children had freedom to roam especially in the summer, have skateboard/bike they roamed freely. Their children go to friends in the same road and walk to the park using the traffic crossing, so they have more freedom.

But I don't know what it's like in other places. Is it really not safe?

News- this is reported 24 hours a day seven days a week. All the wars, violence, state of the economy etc. it's all there 24 7. When I was growing up my parents only really watched the 10 o clk news and I was usually upstairs in bed. You just can't escape what is really going on in the world.

If children repeat a year it is after discussion with the child and their parents. There may be more extreme cases, but generally it has a positive outcome with the children coping better at school (socially and academically).

"But I don't know what it's like in other places. Is it really not safe?"

I think it depends on individual parent risk assessment.

Basically every time I leave the house, I witness some kind of ASB or addiction/sweary ranting behaviour that I wouldn't want my teens to see. Most of it can be safely ignored, it's just vile and depressing.

But in my municipal area there have been 4 teens (that I know of) robbed of their bikes at knifepoint in the past year. Knife incident outside dd's school. She tells me she sees Y11s dealing drugs outside the school. Random men make comments/ogle her in the street frequently enough to make her absolutely hate walking anywhere.