Social media to blame for mental illness among young women - study

barasa velma

January 15, 2018 5:24 PM

Young women between the ages of 16 and 24 are three times more likely to suffer from mental illness symptoms compared to men of the same age.

A worrying study has found that more than a quarter of young women are suffering from mental illness and social media is to blame for this.

According to the report, there is a rise in mental illness among both males and females but young women between the ages of 16 and 24 are three times more likely to suffer from the symptoms of mental illness as compared to their male counterparts.

How the survey was conducted

The survey published by the National health Survey was conducted by providing a GHQ-12 questionnaire seeking the participants’ views on their level of happiness, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance and self-confidence.

The findings revealed that 28 percent of the women aged between 16 and 24 provided detailed answers that suggested probably mental illness.

Lead author of the study, Sally McManus, that women in that demographic age experienced high rates of anxiety and depression.

This could be due to violence, abuse and also the fact that these women are part of the ‘first cohort to come age in social media ubiquity’.

How social media affects young women’s mental health

A lot of young women live in some sort of illusion that social media users can sometimes portray.

For instance having flawless skin or a flawless body as seen on many social media feeds. This causes a lot of pressure for the young women to live up to what they are seeing and if they don't match up, the problems begin.