An extensive research by the Schools Health Education Unit of London, a British organization that conducts studies and research on the world of schools and education in general, reveals unprecedented implications of the recent economic crisis. In fact, the recession would negatively affect the self-esteem of adolescents, especially that of girls, who would also be subject to the growing phenomenon of cyber bullying.
The survey, conducted on a sample of 30 students in the United Kingdom, shows a worrying increase in the number of teenagers who have a low opinion of themselves. From the early 2007s until 2007, however, analysts explain, there had been a constant rise in youth self-esteem, for both males and females. The peak, for both, was reached in 41, with 55% of "satisfied with themselves" for girls, and XNUMX% for boys.
Coinciding with the emergence of economic difficulties, there was a decline in the self-esteem of the youngest, which was of some importance for males but even dramatic for females. According to David Regis, head of the research, the correlation between the beginning of the recession and the increase in the negative perception that young people have of themselves cannot be ignored. Adolescents live immersed in a world where interrelationships and communication are very high and this means that they are overwhelmed by an overabundance of information without often having the maturity and tools to manage, understand and give them the right value.
The fact that girls are affected more than boys is probably due, the conclusions of the study suggest, to the perception that very young girls still have of themselves as the most "fragile" subject of society and to the greater uncertainty about their future. But adolescents are not only burdened by the weight of the economic crisis: the interviews have in fact also highlighted the tragic effects of the dark side of the web, that complex of bullying, mobbing and stalking which mainly targets women and from which the most young people often don't know how to come out.
“2008 was the year in which the recession manifested itself and the data of our research express the discomfort that this created in adolescents,” comments Angela Davis, analyst since 1976, “but we cannot forget that it was also the moment of the boom of social networks and the beginning of a new era in which everything – or almost everything – is online”.
