A recent study results on our current crop of youths indicates all is not well
I was surprised at the study on youth mental health published in the upcoming July issue of Pediatrics, where it highlights that nearly 15 per cent of American teens believe they won’t live beyond 35 years old.
The researcher was quoted, “Prior research has shown that typically teenagers are no worse than adults in terms of viewing their own vulnerability, and, thankfully, most adolescents in this country do not believe that their risk of early death is high. But we found that more than one in seven youths do have a pessimistic view about their future mortality and are more likely to take risks.”
That’s startling results as it indicates that such mentality will lead and are linked to risky behavior.
Risky behaviours I’m referring to are acts such as suicides, drugs, fights, unprotected sex and getting arrested.
The scientists added, “We know that schools matter, and homes and parents matter. The concept of parents and family connectedness is so important with youth: having fun with your family and having parents you can communicate with and who tell you they love you. And having schools that create a climate where students feel connected and safe is very important. Positive media messages also play a role. These are all things that might prevent the development of a pessimistic view among youth.”
Well the study suggest that teens that has such pessimistic outlook are more likely to engage in such risky behaviour.
Such teens has also been linked to poverty.
The researcher lastly added and advised, “Particularly where there’s a high concentration of people who live in poverty often minority youth living in blighted neighborhoods with very high violence rates and drug use, this kind of finding is certainly not surprising. So it’s important to think about strategies intervention programs like the ones we have that work with kids around mental health issues, to get kids to be more optimistic. And it’s also very important to have physicians and other clinicians recognize that these expectations of an early death as a marker for high-risk behavior.”
