More California youth dealing with mental health struggles, study finds

This article first appeared in EdSource A new survey paints a intricate but optimistic picture of California s youth About of young people in the state stated they experience regular mental healthcare challenges up from in with one-third reporting their mental medical as fair or poor according to a new record by Blue Shield of California and Children Now The survey polled young people age to between April and June of this year across California Other key findings include About who published poor mental soundness are youth of color of those reporting poor mental robustness are LGBTQ Top stressors include gun violence housing affordability discrimination and context change More than a third say they felt too embarrassed to seek professional help Top stressors Young people pointed to socioeconomic issues as weighing on their mental strength according to the survey with concerned with the cost of housing worried about the price of groceries and citing the ability to find a good job as a top concern About cited concerns about gun violence and cited circumstances change and racism as top issues Youths in Los Angeles where communities faced devastating wildfires and ongoing immigration raids communicated the highest levels of poor mental fitness in the state About of L A youths cited housing affordability as a top issue with citing both weather change and discrimination against immigrants as key stressors At a current trainee mental fitness conference in San Diego called Wellness Together school leaders and attendee mental soundness professionals discussed the survey Nicole Stelter director of behavioral healthcare at Blue Shield of California disclosed the results can be a tool for parents and schools to better treat mental soundness among young people The figures shows youth are deeply affected by the world around them from surroundings anxiety and safety to social media pressures Stelter explained It s more key than ever that clinicians educators policymakers and caring adults listen to what our youth are saying and treat this seriously for what it is a youth mental physical condition dilemma Social media s positive and negative effects More than half of the young people in the survey declared they spend more than four hours a day on social media and majority of commented there were trade-offs to being online More than commented social media was beneficial to their mental healthcare with nearly saying social media helped them stay connected to others Parents should know that social media is not all doom and gloom Stelter announced It was a lifeline for young people who missed out on key social-emotional advancement during the pandemic she commented and that reliance is likely reflected in the new content But social media can also seem like a safer way to connect for students who never really made it out of their physical isolation she explained There can be particular good validation on social media where kids feel I m not the only one that feels this way but sometimes that validation is not enough Stelter declared The greater part of that co-development and expansion happens in real-world friendships Nearly a third of young people explained that social media was harmful to their mental strength Also about in stated they have been cyberbullied on social media and about in declared that social media contributed to a negative body image Stelter pointed to young people s exposure to graphic videos on social media such as the latest recorded slaying of conservative speaker Charlie Kirk When young people repeatedly witness traumatic events online from school shootings to state disasters the psychological toll can be more pronounced she revealed At the conference experts addressed the role of social media platforms on youth mental soundness Companies are preying on our young people for profit mentioned Lishaun Francis director of behavioral vitality at Children Now who conducted the survey with Blue Shield There is an algorithm that knows exactly how old your child is and targets them with content that makes them feel bad about themselves Francis described one trainee she worked with who kept seeing advertisements for Pilates classes which the scholar felt targeted her insecurities about body image despite muting certain harmful content Parents tend to look at social media in terms of restricting how much time young people are on it But Willough Jenkins a child psychiatrist and clinical professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego announced parents should ask children How do screens make you feel to help recognize unhealthy attachments to social media on their own If you notice they re staying up late or are more anxious after they use screens pulling away from real-world friendships more irritable or they re saying they re depressed or anxious please take that seriously Jenkins explained Children start to make that connection to how they re emotionally responding to their use of screens and that s where we can help them to make changes to these behaviors Hindrances and hope persist More than a third of young people in the survey who craved professional help for their mental robustness care declared that feeling embarrassed was the main reason they did not seek it More than a fifth announced they could not afford mental medical care and did not know where to find help As walls to care persist students can still find several meaningful encouragement in each other especially in system to their communities Stelter stated If you are into beach cleanup go do that If you are into volunteering at a pet shelter or animal shelter do that Stelter announced You will meet people there who have that common interest and common purpose About two-thirds of young people revealed they were optimistic about the future engaging in efforts like exercise and hobbies to protect their mental soundness and advocating for change About of those concerned about state change for example explained they were taking pro-climate action themselves Young people are not passive They want to be in the driver s seat for their future and they re clearly taking action Francis commented EdSource is California s largest independent newsroom focused on Training