Intelligence Squared The Teen Mental Health Crisis and How Adolescence Shapes Us, with Lucy Foulkes and Pandora Sykes (Part 2)
Jan 8, 2025
Lucy Foulkes, an academic psychologist from Oxford and author of 'Coming of Age', teams up with journalist Pandora Sykes to dive into the teenage mental health crisis. They explore how adolescence is a pivotal time shaped by peer pressure, social media, and risk-taking. Foulkes argues against blanket smartphone bans, suggesting that experiencing challenges is vital for development. They also discuss the impact of pornography on teens' perceptions of sex and the need for open dialogue around sexual education, highlighting the confusion surrounding extreme content.
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Multifactorial Teen Anxiety
- The sharp uptick in teen mental health issues isn't solely due to smartphones, as some suggest.
- Multiple factors like economic circumstances and increased academic pressure play a role.
Other Factors in Teen Anxiety
- Increased academic pressure, economic factors, and even obesity correlate with rising mental health problems in teens.
- COVID-19, while more recent, has also exacerbated these issues for some young people.
Awareness and Self-Reporting
- Increased awareness of mental health might contribute to higher self-reported issues.
- It's difficult to compare data across generations due to changing interpretations of questions and self-reporting biases.
