Human And Social biology

School-Based Assessment

Theme: Mental Health.

Topic: Mental Health in teenage girls.

Candidate Name: Shiloh Barrett

Candidate Number:
Name of subject: Human and Social Biology
Date of submission: January 18,2024

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 Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................................3
Methodology..............................................................................................................................4
Presentation of Data.................................................................................................................5
Analysis of Data........................................................................................................................8
Recommendations.....................................................................................................................9
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................10
Reflection.................................................................................................................................11
Appendix..................................................................................................................................12
Bibliography............................................................................................................................14

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 Introduction

Background Information

Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of
life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community.
Mental health is more than the absence of mental disorders. It exists on a complex
continuum, which is experienced differently from one person to the next, with varying
degrees of difficulty and distress and potentially very different social and clinical outcomes.
Mental health conditions include mental disorders and psychosocial disabilities as well as
other mental states associated with significant distress, impairment in functioning, or risk of
self-harm. People with mental health conditions are more likely to experience lower levels of
mental well-being, but this is not always or necessarily the case, according to World Health
Organization (2022) Mental Health

Problem Statement-

What are the causes and effects of Mental Health on females?

Aims/objectives -

1. To investigate the causes of mental health in teen girls.

2. The negative and positive effects of mental health.

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 Methodology

The researcher decided to carry out a questionnaire (a set of printed or written questions with
a choice of answers, devised for the purposes of a survey or statistical study). They decided to
employ the use of a questionnaire because it is inexpensive, could be easily understood by the
respondents, and could be easily analysed by the researcher. It took respondents a total of 1
week to complete the questionnaire with a response of 13 teenage girls, the questionnaire
consisted of 13 questions.

LIMIITATION: BECAUSE I CARRIED OUT A QUESTIONNAIRE SOME ANSWERS

WON’T BE CORRECT/THE TOTAL TRUTH.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/10_7TIjJPNIPzlJTh7SNgJtUGtVBl1OhxM_gHutg9-sY/
edit#responses

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 Presentation of Data

TABLE SHOWING THE EFFECTS MENTAL HEALTH HAS ON TEENAGE BOYS

AND GIRLS.

Questions asked during True False

survey

Does society give more of 76.9% 23.1%

their attention to girls
Mental Health rather than
boys?

Are teen girls more 100% 0%

emotional driven than teen
boys?

Does Mental Health affect 38.5% 61.5%

girls more than boys?

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BAR GRAPH SHOWING THE AGES THAT MENTAL HEALTH TENDS TO
AFFECT BOYS AND GIRLS MOST.

Chart Title

Ages 18 and over

Ages 13-17

Ages 1-12

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Females Males

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PIE CHART SHOWING HOW TEENAGE GIRLS RATE THERE MENTAL
HEALTH

0-5% 5-25% 25-50% 50-75% 100-0

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 Analysis of Data

The researcher discovered that Mental Health was a big issue within schools especially with
students. This showed that others who participated in the survey made similar observations to
that of the researcher.

There were a dichotomous questions asked in the questionnaire to help gather more
information but it was mostly about how does mental health affect your life at school vs
home. In a span of 4 weeks 61.5% of students had a problems with their work and daily life
due to their physical health and 92.3% had a problems with their work and daily life due to
emotional problems, such as feeling depressed, sad and anxious? Mental health mostly affects
how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and
make healthy choices as such, the research has shown that 92.3% of students feel pressured
to stay quiet about how they are feeling mentally, 69.2% of boys are more secretive of their
feelings than girls.

The data also shows that 76.9% of society give more of their attention to girls Mental Health
rather than boys. As such it also shows that mental health affects them most at school with a
vote of 61.5% than at home with a home with a vote of 38.5%. The researcher was shocked
to see that the main causes for Mental breakdown in teenage girls was coming from school
because they don’t feel safe to express themselves to adults or anyone with the capability to
support/help them in an environment where they’re not fully familiar with everyone. Students
complained that they feel stressed and pressured to stay quiet about how they feel mentally.
Some students even stated that the decline in teenage mental health could be the reason why
young boys are naturally more aggressive and teen girls are more emotionally driven.

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 Recommendations

The researcher recommend these following strategies in schools across Jamaica;

 Provide students with mental health support in the form of a school counsellor, social
worker, or psychologist.
 Teach stress management skills.

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 Conclusion

Mental Health is an exceeding issue within the world especially in schools. From what I
could gather, the main causes of Mental Health in teenage girls are severe long term stress,
loneliness, pressure from both our peers and adults etc. This has led to a lot of over sleeping,
missing from schools for a long period of time and trying to distract/cheer themselves up with
the worst approach. As such the objectives were met. We can both help and educate
students/teachers/parents to address barriers to help-seeking, take a whole-school approach to
mental health education and nurture social and emotional skills.

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 Reflection

Two lessons learned after undertaking this project is that mental health shouldn’t be
taken for granted and we should try getting help at the first signs of high stress or anything
that affects our daily life/usual self. We shouldn’t judge someone before we know there
situation, most times we think that some students are just lazy when in reality their most
likely suffering behind closed doors because of mental illnesses or high stress. The researcher
can apply this to my personal life by being kinder to people and understanding of their
situations so they can feel safer around others just in case they want to open up about their
struggles.

One social impact this can have on my community if not rectified is high rate of
suicide, the feeling of not knowing how to talk to someone especially if you lack the
guidance of a parent figure could lead to feeling lonely and hopeless which is the main reason
for teenage suicide. One economic impact is low productivity, this can lead to unemployment
because businesses wouldn’t want to employ someone who doesn’t know how to be
productive. One way in which the project could be improved is if the researcher had a wider
range of students to send my questionnaire to, like boys so that the research could have a
better view of mental health struggles from both parties.

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 Appendix

1. During the past 4 weeks, have you had any problems with your work or
daily life due to your physical health?
Yes
No

2. During the past 4 weeks, have you had any problems with your work or
daily life due to any emotional problems, such as feeling depressed, sad
or anxious?
Yes
No

3. Do you feel pressured to stay quiet about how your feeling mentally?
Yes
No

4. Does Mental Health affect girls more than boys?

True
False

5. At what age does Mental Health affect girls most?

Ages 1-12
Ages 13-17
Ages 18 and over

6. At what age does Mental Health affect boys most?

Ages 1-12
Ages 13-17
Ages 18 and over

4. Are teen boys more aggressive than teen girls?

True
False

5. Are teen girls more emotional driven than teen boys?

True
False

6. Which gender tends to be more secretive about how they feel?

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Boys
Girls

7. Does society give more of there attention to girls Mental Health rather
than boys?
True
False

8. Overall how would you rate your mental health?

- 0- 5%
- 5- 25%
- 25- 50%
- 50- 75%
- 75- 100%

9. Where is your Mental Health affected most?

School
Home

10. How do you deal with feeling this way?

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 Bibliography

Englandor, E. (2023). There’s a mental health crisis among teen girls. Here are some ways to
support them. A professor of psychology at Bridgewater State University.

Meghan, K. (2023). There’s a mental health crisis among teen girls. Here are some ways to
support them. An adjunct faculty in psychology and childhood studies at Bridgewater State
University.

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