A recent study highlights a troubling rise in mental health problems among teenagers, with a marked increase in issues reported by girls compared to boys. In the initial survey period from 2007 to 2008, approximately 10% of girls met the criteria for clinically significant mental health issues. This figure surged to around 30% in the second survey period of 2024 to 2025, indicating a threefold increase.
Read More
While boys have also experienced a rise in mental health problems during the same period, the increase is less pronounced than that seen in girls. The study observed a notable escalation in both self-harm and disordered eating behaviors specifically among girls who reported additional mental health difficulties.
Conversely, among boys, the rise in mental health issues did not coincide with an increase in self-harming behavior. Daiva Daukantaitė, project leader and associate professor of psychology at Lund University, emphasized that the increase in self-harm and disordered eating is confined to girls facing other mental health challenges. She noted that this raises questions about whether self-harm should be classified as an independent diagnosis or as a symptom of broader mental health problems.
The research is published in the journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and is part of the Self-Esteem and Life Situation (SoL) project at Lund University, which Daukantaitė leads. It involved surveying approximately 1,000 students each in two separate periods—2007-2008 and 2024-2025—from the same Swedish city. Students were assessed using validated measures regarding self-injury, disordered eating, and additional mental health issues. The response rates for the surveys were about 90% in 2007-2008 and around 80% in 2024-2025.
The findings prompt a re-evaluation of how these issues are understood and treated within the context of adolescent mental health.