Facebook and Twitter leading to low self-esteem in teenagers

Martin Knight, head of health improvement at Public Health, says that the Health Department is working with the Island’s head teachers to identify and offer support to young people who may be suffering from mental health issues.

His comments come after a recent study published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking found that teenagers who use social networking websites for more than two hours a day are more likely to have feelings of depression.

A survey by the Health Department revealed that 55 per cent of 14- and 15-year-olds spend two hours or more a day online, and there has also been a decrease in ‘medium to high’ self-esteem in the same age bracket, particularly among teenage girls.

Mr Knight said that although the Health Department had not yet analysed the relationship between online behaviour and mental health in Jersey, it was looking at the data and at global trends.

‘I think it is something to be wary of and something to watch,’ Mr Knight said. ‘There is a strong recognition, not just in Jersey but globally, that we need to support young people to understand their feelings and emotions.’

Figures from Jersey’s 2014 A Picture of Health, a survey published earlier this year which was completed by 2,675 school pupils aged between the ages of ten and 15, revealed that 38 per cent of 14- and 15-year-olds spend three or more hours online a day. The data also revealed that there was a decrease in medium-high self-esteem from 87 per cent in 2002 to 75 per cent in 2014.

Following the survey, Mr Knight said that he had been in contact with the Island’s head teachers to flag up concerns within their particular schools.

However, he stressed that the recent study linking online behaviour with mental health issues was limited in number and should not spur a ‘knee-jerk reaction’. He added that the internet was useful in providing information to both parents and young people about mental health.

Susan Turnbull, Jersey’s Medical Officer of Health, said: ‘Navigating uncharted waters, and moving so fast that the parental generation cannot keep up, many young people make sense of their maturing, hormone-driven world through the medium of the screen.

‘With this comes the impacts – good and not so good – of social media, of unlimited and often explicit sexual material easily accessible on the internet, along with the world of celebrity culture and the quest for the perfect life and the perfect body.

‘Couple this with the new and growing threat of new psychoactive substances, and it is clear that for young people growing up in today’s western world, there’s a whole new meaning to peer pressure.’

DRUGS, diet and exercise are among the topics that schoolchildren have been questioned about to enable a health profile of the Island’s youth to be drawn up.

The Young People’s Health Survey, which was published in full on Monday, is carried out every four years and questions children aged between ten and 15.

It is used by the Health Department to introduce initiatives to improve health.

Forty schools took part in the survey last year, with pupils in Years 6, 8 and 10 answering questions on a range of health and lifestyle behaviours. In total,

2,675 pupils responded to the questionnaire, representing 86 per cent of all young people of these ages in Jersey.

Smoking

More young people are reporting that they have never smoked. The percentage who have never lit up has increased year on year, from 53 per cent in 1998 to 84 per cent in 2014.
Meanwhile, the poll showed that smoking behaviour patterns in Jersey are similar to those in the UK and Guernsey.
The number of 14 to 15-year-olds who smoke heavily has not changed since the last survey 51 per cent of this group reported that they smoked more than 25 cigarettes a week.
Within this category of regular smokers, 43 per cent said they got their cigarettes from a friend.
Nearly three quarters of this group have attempted to kick the habit, with 38 per cent saying that they would like help to quit.

Alcohol

The percentage of young people who have never drunk alcohol has increased.
Fifty per cent of 12 to 13-year-olds report never drinking alcohol compared with 20 per cent in 2010.
One in five 14 to 15-year-olds say they have never drunk alcohol compared with nine per cent in 2010.
The data suggests that at least 41 per cent of 14 to 15-year-olds who did drink did so at a level that would be considered harmful for adults more than three daily units for females and four for males on at least one day a week.
And 15 per cent drank at a level that would be considered to be binge drinking more than six daily units for females and eight for males.
Cider was drunk by the greatest percentage of young people in the seven days leading up to the survey, closely followed by spirits and beer.
The top three drinks consumed by girls were spirits, wine and cider. This is a change from 2010 when alcopops were the second most consumed drink for this group.
There has also been a shift in where young people drink. In 2010 nearly 50 per cent of 14 to 15-year-olds reported drinking in a public place.
Most people in this age bracket now say that they drink at home or at a friends house, with 25 per cent reporting drinking at a disco and 25 per cent in a public place.

Drugs

The percentage of young people in Jersey reporting that they have taken drugs is similar to the UK but greater than in Guernsey.
Two per cent of ten to 11-year-olds report being offered cannabis, compared with 33 per cent of 14 to 15-year-olds.
Cannabis was reported to have been the drug the greatest number of 14 to 15-year-olds have tried followed by new psychoactive substances, laughing gas, the synthetic marijuana Spice and solvents.
There has been little change in the percentage of young people who have been offered drugs since the last survey in 2010, when there had been a decrease from 2002.
Reported drug use has also changed very little since the last survey.
Overall there has been a downward trend in cannabis use among 14 to 15 year-olds over the past 12 years from a high of 36 per cent in 2002.
Of those 14 to 15-year-olds who have taken drugs, 21 per cent have reported taking more than one type of drug on the same occasion.
Meanwhile, eight per cent of this group say they have taken drugs and alcohol together.

Diet and obesity

According to self-reported height and weight figures, the majority of young people were classified as being a healthy weight. Nearly one in five 18 per cent were overweight or obese and 11 per cent were underweight.
Seventy-eight per cent of young people said that they had not eaten the daily recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables the day before the survey. The average daily portion of fruit and vegetables consumed is three similar to the UK.
And 85 per cent of young people do not drink the recommended two litres of water a day, with seven per cent reporting that they drank no water on the day before the survey.

Physical activity

In the week before the survey, just under a quarter of ten to 13-year-olds met the nationally recommended level of undertaking at least an hours exercise a day.
This decreased to 17 per cent for 14 to 15-year-olds.
A higher proportion of boys meet the recommended level of exercise than girls.
Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of 14 to 15-year-olds reported watching at least three hours of television the day before the survey.
And one in seven 14 to 15-year-old boys spent five or more hours playing computer games the day before the survey.
Thirty-eight per cent of 14 to 15-year-olds reported spending more than two hours online a day.
The percentage of young people who reported spending two or more hours a day on a sedentary activity such as watching TV or playing computer games is lower in Jersey than in England across all age groups.
The only exception was 14 to 15-year-olds playing computer games, where a similar proportion played for two or more hours the day before the survey compared with England.[/breakout]