Parents report suffering depression and anxiety at a similar rate of teens @ יואל קסלר
בפוסט הזו ביואל קסלר .קום- אנו מפרסמים מאמר חדש מאוניברסיטת הרברד
בעוד שבריאות הנפש של מתבגרים זכתה לתשומת לב משמעותית בתקשורת בשנים האחרונות, זו של הוריהם קיבלה פחות. החוקרים מציעים ששיעורים הן בקרב בני נוער והן בהורים נוטים להיות גבוהים יותר כאשר ההורים יודעים פחות על המצבים הרגשיים והרווחה של בני הנוער שלהם. התקציר המנהלי מודפס מחדש להלן. קישור לפרסום המקורי ניתן למצוא כאן.
In a newly released publication from the Harvard Graduate School for Education –
Caring for the Caregivers
The Critical Link Between Parent and Teen Mental Health
Richard Weissbourd, Milena Batanova, Mary Laski, Joseph McIntyre, Eric Torres, and Nick Balisciano with Shanae Irving, Sawsan Eskander, and Kiran Bhai present data that many parents are suffering from self reported symptoms of depression and anxiety as their teens. While the mental health of adolescents has received significant attention in the media in recent years, that of their parents has had less. The researchers suggest that rates in both teens and parents tend to be higher when parents are less knowledgable about their teens emotional states and well being. The Executive summary is reprinted below. A link to the original publication can be found here.
"Teens’ mental health challenges have drawn a huge amount of attention over the last year, with researchers and pundits pointing to many possible causes or contributing factors, including social media, sleep deprivation, achievement pressure, and political hostility and polarization.1 But left largely untold is the story of those who are commonly central in teens’ lives—their parents and caregivers.2 Parents’ and teens’ emotional health is deeply interwoven, and our data indicate that parents are suffering anxiety and depression at about the same rates as teens. It would be just as right to sound the alarm about parents’ mental health as about teens’ mental health. In December 2022, we conducted two nationally representative surveys in the U.S., one survey with teens and young adults and another with parents or caregivers. While 18% of teens reported suffering anxiety, about 20% of mothers and 15% of fathers reported anxiety. While 15% of teens reported depression, about 16% of mothers and 10% of fathers did, too. According to estimates based on our parent data, over 1/3 of teens had at least one parent who reported anxiety or depression. Almost 40% of teens also reported being at least “somewhat worried” about the mental health of at least one of their parents. Depressed and anxious parents are often terrific parents despite—and sometimes because of—these challenges. At the same time, depression and anxiety in parents are linked to emotional, social, physical, and academic problems in children.3 This harm can be
compounded when both a teen and one or both of their parents are depressed or anxious— depressed or anxious parents and teens can inflame and wound each other in many ways. And our data indicate that depressed teens are about five times more likely than non- depressed teens to have a depressed parent, and that anxious teens are about three times more likely than non-anxious teens to have an anxious parent.
A great deal of research also underscores the importance for healthy child development of parents knowing their children and tuning into their emotional states. Our data suggest that while a significant majority of parents are attuned to their teens’ emotional states and perspectives, many parents are not; this disconnect is strongly linked to depression and anxiety in both parents and teens.
We asked parents in these dyads a series of questions about their teens’ emotions and perspectives and then asked their teens to answer these same questions about themselves. Misalignment in parents’ and teens’ responses was strongly associated with depression and anxiety in both teens and parents, and the greater the misalignment, the greater the chances that both parents and teens reported these emotional challenges."
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