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?

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

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.

@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-

Someone has suggested are we are seeing the cry it out Gina Ford kids.

Surely 1930s was like that.

We definitely have serious mental health issues in schools. My own SEN child does. I am living it and it's hell to be honest.

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

And I didn't do cry it out.

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 .

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.

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.

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

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?

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

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

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

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

Schools have been essentially the same for decades. The rules are basically the same, the uniform the same, expectations are slightly higher but not massively.

Parents just don’t want to admit that they have their kids phones to keep the peace and it is making them more anxious and stressed.

And there is not solution to this issue until people will admit this to themselves.

No mention of technology /social media . For me the most important factor - also impact of these on sleep

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

Of course they are! Every year 6 has discussions about schools , where they are going and why, where they don't want to go, 11+ (there's a hierarchy for these as well, not just any grammar will do) , results, waiting lists etc.

Never mind once they're actually in those schools.

Why do you have such a poor opinion of kids?

Things are significantly worse than they were in the 90s. The number of parents skipping meals for example is much higher. Food bank use is enormous. Rents are so high and eviction leading to homelessness is higher.

None of the other European countries have social media and tech then?

I agree, there’s an awful lot of school blame. DD’s school is basically an exact replica of the one I went to in the 90s, only about 70 miles away. They do the same things, then uniform is the same, the expectations actually seem more relaxed - our teachers screamed at us with impunity and carried out punishments such as ‘the chair’ which would NEVER be allowed now.

Rather than look at the core elements of their child’s life - diet, exercise, screen usage, fresh air, constructive hobbies - they bung them a load of neglect gadgets to make their lives easier, then complain the school ‘isn’t doing anything’ when the child retreats into the online world and becomes depressed, impatient and unsociable.

Every post on here about an unhappy child is met with ‘what are the school doing?’. I feel like saying you’re the blooming parent, if you don’t know why your kid is depressed and what they need, why would the school?

I wonder how much of the shit on TikTok and so on being in English makes a difference?

Aside from comparisons , has to be one of greatest reasons for poor MH in teens

Not much. Europeans teens nearly all speak very good English.

The Netherlands scored the highest in happiness.

Dutch official statistics (CBS) currently indicate that 94% of 12-year-old children already have a phone.

And a graph(however, fairly out of date as it's 2016). Complete assumption on my part, but I'd say the numbers are higher or similar now.