Teenage girls who say they can’t cope with life

Half of all teenage girls say they cannot cope with the pressures of modern life, a study has found.

Many of those questioned blamed their depression on the breakdown of the family and the easy availability of drink and drugs.

A significant 35 per cent said they were unhappy, while six per cent went as far as saying life was not worth living. 

Half of those questioned said they could not cope with modern life and two-thirds said they thought it was easier for their parents when they were young.
The study - commissioned by the teenage magazine Bliss - questioned 2,000 girls with an average age of 14.

Bliss editor Lisa Smosarski said the survey reflected the growing insecurities of its readership.

“We live in a rough, tough world and there are no society safeguards any more to protect young people,” she said.

“They have gradually been eroded over the years and even the few remaining ones are being ripped down.

“Cannabis has been downgraded and 24-hour-a-day drinking is on the horizon. It’s a free-for-all, but young people need boundaries to feel secure. They also need the love of stable parents.

“Teenage girls are expected to cope with a cocktail of broken homes, endless school work, emotional pressures and the availability of drink and drugs. It is a cocktail that is seriously damaging the psyche of teenage girls.”

‘Emotional wrecks’

Thirty-seven per cent of the girls surveyed said they come from broken homes and only 32 per cent said they felt ‘greatly loved’ by their parents.

Forty-four per cent of those with divorced parents said they were ‘emotionally knocked’ by their separation. More than one in three (36 per cent) of those surveyed say they ‘haven’t got a happy family’.

Around half of those girls surveyed who have a stepfather or stepmother said they did not like their new parent.

And 91 per cent think that the Government should do more to protect young people from drink and drugs.

Today’s teenage girls are also being driven to despair by the pressure to ‘look good’, according to the survey.

It is sapping their confidence, with six out of ten admitting they feel ‘insecure’ and one in ten describing themselves as ‘emotional wrecks’.

They say they are pushed too hard at school and eight out of ten say they have cried over their homework.

Of the 14 per cent of 14-year-old girls who admitted having sex, half said they regretted it.

Ironically, magazines like Bliss have been criticised for giving explicit advice on sex.

‘Risky behaviour’

Psychotherapist Tina Radziszewicz said: “We live in a society where adults deal with the stresses of modern life by misusing alcohol and drugs and jumping from one partner to another. Sadly, young people are copying what they see around them.

“The risky behaviour brings a whole new set of problems to girls already struggling with worries about their exams, parents’ relationships, boyfriends, bullying and the pressure to look perfect.

“We need to wake up to the fact that the emotional and mental health of our young people is in crisis.”

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