Sugar and Spice...

"What are little boys made of?
Snips and Snails and puppy dog tails.
That's what little boys are made of.
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and Spice and all things nice.
That's what little girls are made of"

The last couple of weeks I have been thinking a great deal about the differences between the rich and poor, adult and teenager, and girls and boys. In our ministry we are very blessed to have a group of young people that are well off, that have enough to eat, and have the ability to study and learn a trade for themselves. Our teens are well enough educated and have a lot of opportunity in their life, so when these two aspects are dealt with, what is left of them that they might need help with? Sometimes it is easy to look at our youth and think how lucky they are, it is too easy to assume that their attitudes are based on arrogance, and that as they NEED for nothing (material) that they must not NEED for anything. This is so far from the truth. 

It has been somewhat a learning curve for me to be involved in ministries where the immediate needs aren't material. Food, Education, Shelter, Sanitation. It was almost too easy to help people like that. You find yourself in a position where you can make a direct impact in a meaningful way on people's lives, and to show them the love that Jesus has for them. And to come from that into a situation where the needs are much more hidden and much more emotional and thus harder to fill - This has been the challenge.

Many have a view of student ministry as something where you have activities and games and throw in a talk about Jesus, and I have been trying to work on this paradigm, but although it has it's merits, it isn't as effective as it could be deemed to be. The biggest need of our particular set of youth is not food, sanitation, education. It is attention, boredom and emotional crisis. Our youth need to feel needed. They need to feel wanted, they need to feel accepted, and above all they need Jesus.

The other thing that they need is to be recognized for their basic differences. We live in a culture where equality is very important (and I come from a society that expects women and men to react and be exactly the same), and I have begun to notice that instead of fulfilling the needs to of the youth this has pushed them to the edge of a scary and complicated place. Girls are expected to be as sexually needy as boys, and to not to be held back about it. Even though the chemicals that they are biologically working are completely different in relation to this. Boy are put under pressure to be interested in looking a certain way and being more conscious of mainstream trends. Both are treated like children, but expected to act like adults. 

In order to tackle our ministry in the way that is Edifying to God, that brings the gospel into the lives of the Youth and looks to take care of their needs, we NEED to be able to recognize these differences and build our programme on that basis. What this means is a little more theoretical. But I am looking to put it into practice. Help me, and help them. 

Ems

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3002946.stm

From the Guardian

Today's youth: anxious, depressed, anti-social

Three-generation survey reveals sharp decline in teenage mental health

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• Madeleine Bunting
• The Guardian, Monday 13 September 2004 18.42 BST

The mental health of teenagers has sharply declined in the last 25 years and the chances that 15-year-olds will have behavioural problems such as lying, stealing and being disobedient, have more than doubled.

The rate of emotional problems such as anxiety and depression has increased by 70% among adolescents, according to the biggest time trend study conducted in Britain.

Boys are more likely to exhibit behavioural problems and girls are more likely to suffer emotional problems. The rate is higher for emotional problems, now running at one in five of 15-year-old girls. The study found no increase in aggressive behaviour, such as fighting and bullying, and no increase in rates of hyperactivity.

The study looked at three generations of 15-year-olds, in 1974, 1986 and 1999. Behavioural problems increased over the whole period, while emotional problems were stable until 1986 and have subsequently shot up. The increases cannot be explained by the rise in divorce and single parenthood, argues the team of researchers, because they found comparable increases in all types of families, although there is a higher rate of adolescent mental health problems in single-parent families.

Nor can growing inequality over the 25 years explain the rise in problem teenagers because rates of increase were comparable in all social classes. There was no difference between white and ethnic minority teenagers.

The research found that the rising rate of 15-year-olds with behavioural problems correlated to their increased chances of experiencing a range of poor outcomes as adults, such as homelessness, being sacked, dependency on benefits and poor mental and physical health. This indicated that the rise in problems cannot be attributed to a greater likelihood to report them.

The deterioration of adolescents' mental health in Britain is in contrast to the findings of research in the US which showed that a comparable decline tailed off in the 90s, while in Holland, there was no decline at all.

The study, Time Trends in Adolescent Mental Health, to be published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry in November, is the first to provide evidence in support of the increasing concern from parents and teachers about the welfare of teenagers.

The research conducted by a team from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, and the University of Manchester, provides specific evidence for Britain which is in line with the World Health Organisation's warning last year that the fastest-growing mental health problem in the world, and particularly in the developed world, was among adolescents. "We are doing something peculiarly unhelpful for adolescent mental health in Britain," said Sharon Witherspoon, deputy director of the Nuffield Foundation which funded the research. "This is not a trend which is being driven by a small number of kids who are getting worse. It is not a small tail pulling down the average but a more widespread malaise."

"The route people take to adulthood has become much more difficult with the pressure on for qualifications," said John Coleman, director of the Trust for the Study of Adolescence. "When young people are faced with all these choices, they say they have to 'make it up as they go along'."

The study was not focused on the most serious cases such as suicide and self-harm where other recent studies have shown significant increases, but the more general experience of adolescents which is less likely to reach the point of needing professional intervention.

The findings are likely to fuel debates about how we are raising our children and whether they reflect parenting in early years or are linked to Britain's secondary education system with its emphasis on academic achievement, and poor record of out of school activities.

A recent survey showed that discipline in secondary schools comes ahead of funding as parents' greatest concern.

Next month, the Tomlinson report into 14-19 year-old education and training - commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills - is due to be published; a green paper on youth services is also expected this autumn.

The study did not look into possible causes, which are to be the subject of further research.

Also subject to further research is whether there has been a comparable rise in emotional and behavioural disorders among younger age groups or whether this is a specific problem in adolescence.