In the Teen Mental Health Crisis podcast by NPR, I was surprised not just at the amount that mental health has declined for children/adolescents in our country, but also at how little people are aware of this ongoing crisis. We constantly hear of the Opioid Epidemic in our country, rightfully so, but the teen mental health crisis seems to be an issue everyone has forgotten about. The podcast cited research that states episodes of major depression have risen somewhere around 60% among adolescents and teens since 2007. This is astonishing when looking at how stable the rates were from 2000-2007, and then seeing a sharp increase in episodes of major depression, self harm, and suicide, which also rose around 60% since 2007. The most troubling information however is the suicide attempt rates that have had an even more dramatic rise among Black adolescents and teens. The 80% increase among Black adolescents/teens puts them at the fastest increasing rate over every other ethnic group. With this information I am left to wonder why the increase is so much greater among Black youths? Later in the podcast Matt Richtel and the host discussed the mismatch between White therapists and Black youths and how this can lead to misdiagnosis instead of taking into consideration the client’s background. But this information is purely a cut and dry measurement of suicide attempts which leaves me with more questions than answers following the podcast.
As these dramatic increases have come to a head in recent years, especially around the Covid-19 pandemic, Matt Richtel on the podcast also spoke on what has decreased in recent years. The usual issues that everyone used to focus on surrounding teens such as; cigarette/tobacco use, binge drinking, drinking and driving, or overall drug use are all on the decline. In the podcast he describes these differences as internalized risks and externalized risks. For example, an internalized risk would be suicidal ideation, and self harm, while an externalized risk would be cigarette use, binge drinking, and teen pregnancy. So in short, we have seen the number of internalized risks skyrocket, while externalized risks have been steadily declining. Richtel also gives examples of how people in more rural environments do not have access to the mental health specialists needed to treat those struggling with these issues. In a lot of cases, primary care doctors are having to deal with more mental health issues instead of physical issues as they used to. I view this as the biggest issue with the mental health crisis taking place among adolescents and teens. Sadly the number is rising, but without the proper help and attention needed for these mental health emergencies, the statistics seem like they will only get worse. Until there can be enough readily available options for those struggling with these issues to get help, nothing will change or slow this trend.
Although there is no clear cut answer as to why we have seen these mental health issues spike in recent years, there are a few hypotheses which point to various reasons. The leading hypothesis discussed in the Fresh Air Podcast was the ‘neurological mismatch’ taking place in teens today within their brains. More specifically, the mismatch as the brain enters puberty early is sometimes ahead of the rest of the brain as Richtel described. This was such an eye opening hypothesis to me as I had no idea this was taking place in the teens and adolescents of today. But as Matt Richtel gave examples of nutrition and obesity in today’s world, which triggers as to why our bodies are maturing at a quicker age. I feel like there are other issues that were not addressed as in depth as I would have liked in the podcast. For one, I think the effect of social media was understated in the podcast and that it has more of an impact than people realize. I also feel the issue of doctors who are not mental health professionals may over prescribe medications that they are not used to, often affecting the client in a larger way than they realize. The insight Matt Richtel shared in this podcast was very useful in shining a light on the issues that teens and adolescents are facing in our country that has never been seen at this magnitude before.
Literature Review:
Suicide and self harm among adolescents and teens is up an exponential since the introduction to smart phone devices and social media. As more studies are being conducted, we are often left with more questions than answers to this current issue. One of the key components of this issue is how easily accessible this technology is at such a young age. So now more than ever, at a young age teens and adolescents a direct line of contact with the rest of the world at all times. This is starting show how problematic it can be. Among many of these social media websites these teens and adolescents have access to content showing graphic images or descriptions of self-harming behaviors/tendencies. At the same time, there is, “scant mention of recovery resources on these platforms” (Memon, A.M. et, al., 2018). Oftentimes these platforms show graphic images and activities under key words such as ‘depression’ or ‘cutting’, while offering little to no resources around recovery of these activities. Many of these social media websites have information on how to self harm, pictures and quotes surrounding the issues, but none offering help or speaking negatively on the matter.
As it was previously stated, social media use can have effects on the developing mind of a teen/adolescent. But there are also studies pointing to the correlation between the reversal as well. In an article “Social media use intensity, social media use problems, and mental health among adolescents: Investigating directionality and mediating processes” they concluded that, “pre-existing psychopathology, such as depression, drive maladaptive cognitions about social media” (Boer M. et al., 2020) Teens and adolescents who are currently dealing with mental health difficulties such as depression or anxiety are more susceptible to social media use issues and developing addiction-like social media dependency issues. Because these issues are able to go from one to another so easily, it points to just how social media can affect teens and adolescents’ mental health.
Teenage and adolescent girls in particular are more susceptible to negative impacts that come along with increased use of social media than their male counterparts. A study published in “Acta Psychologica” found that when taking television into consideration for technology/electronic use, there was not much correlation when looking at mental health. But when they took away television from the equation, the article states, “we found that for girls electronic device use is more strongly linked to mental health than injectable drug use, obesity, exercise, having four or more sexual partners, and having sex before age 13, and is similar to heroin use” (Twenge J.M. et al., 2022). The drastic impact electronics and social media have on teenage and adolescent girls shows how hard the mental health crisis is hitting those in this age group. Girls more so than boys are showing the effects that social media and technology dependency is having on those that are growing up with it. This also shows as to why previous generations that had television did not have the same issues as the generation who now has social media and smartphones.
The relationship between teens and social media/technology use has also been proven in many instances to be positively correlated. Most of these teens rely on their technology to get their news, talk to their friends, entertainment, and work done every single day. It does not take too long to realize that those growing up with this technology are forming an attachment and reliability to their devices. In the article, “The relationship between adolescent emotion dysregulation and problematic technology use: Systematic review of the empirical literature”, the research points to a number of studies that all draw the same conclusion, “…other variables (such as anxiety, depression, self-esteem, etc.) were also closely related to emotion dysregulation and problematic technology use” (Yang H. et al., 2022). Research across the board generally points to the same correlation between technology use and issues surrounding mental health with teens and adolescents. Teens and adolescents are developing greater issues that are shown to be caused by technology usage.
Young people in particular are at the forefront of the issue surrounding smartphone use as they have grown up with this technology in the palm of their hands. With this in mind we are aware that this generation is the first facing the issues surrounding technology and social media while growing up. With this new set of circumstances comes new psychopathology that has not been seen before as the effects of technology and social media are taking place. The heightened amount of issues as cited in the NPR podcast, along with research on the subject are finding many different behaviors associated with technology use. In a research article published by BMC Psychiatry, they concluded, “Our review indicates that approximately 1 in 4 CYP are demonstrating problematic smartphone use, a pattern of behaviour that mirrors that of a behavioural addiction” (Sohn, S.Y. et al., 2019). Children and young people (CYP) are now showing behavioral addictions when it comes to their use of smartphones. The mental health of teens and adolescents is plummeting at the hands of the technology they rely on in their daily lives. These issues surrounding mental health and psychopathology can also spring up later on in life as well if gone untreated. In many instances however, a lot of these teens and adolescents do not have the resources or know-how when it comes to getting help for their mental health issues.
Social media and technology have been shown in multiple instances to be problematic for the teens and adolescents of today. Minority groups are now at a greater risk of suicide, anxiety, self harm, among other mental health issues. There has also been examples of the addiction aspect that comes along with social media and how mental health and technology addiction are interchangeable. Every article however points to the obvious problems with social media & technology, and their affect on teen mental health.
References
Boer, M., Stevens, G. W. J. M., Finkenauer, C., Janssen, I., & Van Den Eijnden, R. J. J. M. (2021). Social media use intensity, social media use problems, and mental health among adolescents: Investigating directionality and mediating processes. Computers in Human Behavior, 116, 106645. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106645
Memon, A., Sharma, S., Mohite, S., & Jain, S. (2018). The role of online social networking on deliberate self-harm and suicidality in adolescents: A systematized review of literature. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 60(4), 384. https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_414_17
Sohn, S., Rees, P., Wildridge, B., Kalk, N. J., & Carter, B. E. (2019). Prevalence of problematic smartphone usage and associated mental health outcomes amongst children and young people: a systematic review, meta-analysis and GRADE of the evidence. BMC Psychiatry, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2350-x
Twenge, J. M., Haidt, J., Lozano, J., & Cummins, K. (2022). Specification curve analysis shows that social media use is linked to poor mental health, especially among girls. Acta Psychologica, 224, 103512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103512
Yang, H., Wang, Z., Elhai, J. D., & Montag, C. (2022). The relationship between adolescent emotion dysregulation and problematic technology use: Systematic review of the empirical literature. Journal of Behavioral Addictions. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2022.00038
