(UK) Scotland: Quarter of girls depressed; schools need to change priorities

Sept 20, 2017, Dundee, Scotland, Sunday Post: Study finds one in four girls aged 14 has depression https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/study-finds-one-in-four-girls-aged-14-has-depression/ ALMOST one in four teenage girls are depressed, researchers have found. Experts found that 24% of 14-year-old girls and 9% of boys the same age are depressed. The authors said the figures showed “worryingly high rates of depression” among youngsters. They also questioned whether parents know the true extent of levels of depression among teenage girls after finding a discrepancy between self-reported depressive symptoms and the estimations of parents. Researchers from the UCL (University College London) Institute of Education and the University of Liverpool examined data on more than 10,000 children born in 2000/01 who are taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study. .... “To make matters worse, it can be extremely difficult for teenagers to get the right support if they’re struggling to cope. “That’s why it’s crucial that mental health services are properly funded, with a focus on early intervention. “As a society, we also need to do far more to prevent mental health problems from developing in the first place. To start with, we need to rebalance our education system, so that schools are able to prioritise wellbeing and not just exam results.”