Girls’ diminishing wellbeing across the adolescent years

Abstract

The chapters in this book investigate promoting wellbeing and positive mental health from a range of perspectives. One such perspective is the influence of gender on positive mental health, and the potential for gender differences to inform, and be impacted by, the design and implementation of mental health promotion initiatives. Accordingly, this chapter reports results from three questionnaires about wellbeing and positive mental health which we administered to 1,930 students aged 10 to 15 in eight South Australian schools. Males were more likely than females to report that they were flourishing, had a positive outlook and had a positive emotional state. In contrast, females were more likely to report that they were languishing and had moderate, rather than flourishing, mental health. Furthermore, as the females in the study grew older, they reported less positive mental health. The study suggests that females in the upper-middle school years warrant special attention to adequately address their social and emotional needs. The invaluable information from this study can be used to inform future initiatives to promote students’ wellbeing and positive mental health.