I was looking online for information about adolescent girls and self-esteem, when I stumbled across some information about depression in adolescent girls. Although I have looked into this information, I still find the statistics shocking. A statistic I cannot get over is that almost 1 in 6 adolescents are diagnosed with major depression, girls being diagnosed twice as much as boys. Not only is that depressing, but also almost 1-4% of teenage girls have been diagnosed with an eating disorder. Adolescent boys and girls are at the greatest vulnerability for the onset of eating disorders and depression. I found these statistics from a journal article by Boes, McCormick, Coryell, & Nopoulos, 2008.
Adolescent kids are struggling with their changing body and raging hormones and are trying to discover themselves. They want to be accepted by their peers and want to fit into society. Adolescents have a high need for relatedness and autonomy in their lives. According to Reeve, "behaviors, emotions, and ways of thinking originate not only within the self but also within the social context and society" (Reeve, pg. 283, 2009). Teenagers want to have some control within their lives but also seek approval from their peers and society. When adolescents do not feel good about themselves, they may withdrawal from their surroundings and suffer in silence.
Especially in American society, where we are surrounded by beautiful, thin people. It is sad to admit that we are engrained to think only tall and thin people can be considered beautiful. We need to continue to emphasize in schools and at home that we must embrace our differences. However, this view will not be accepted until our society changes the requirements for models, actors/actresses, and so on.
Do you think classes talking about the negative side effects of eating disorders in classes and/or the importance for accepting yourself would improve these statistics or cause adolescents to hide their insecurities even more? Would a requirement of being involved in a program outside of school help decrease insecurities? These programs could involve art, sports, theater, whatever students are interested in.
I completely agree with your stand point here on how astonishing the statistics are for adolescent depression. I know we've all been there and can understand to some extent what these teens are going through. However what I don't think these kids have are support groups that allow them to just be themselves and not have to constantly feel all of the pressures put on them from their peers. I do think that if there were support groups similar to that of an AA meeting for example, would give them a safe, unanimous outlet to express their feelings and get support and feed back. I know personaly the road to recovery lies within yourself but not without some self actualization and support from people who know what they are talking about. So I guess to answer your question about providing classes for adolescents or requiring them to be in a program outside of school, I absolutely think it would help. However I think we need to be careful with posing it as required because you need to want to change yourself to actually change.