Posted by jrbecker on March 17, 2003, at 13:58:50
News release
3/16/2003 - Children Upset by Lack of Fame
Children are becoming increasingly depressed because they are obsessed with achieving celebrity or having supermodel good looks.
Independent on Sunday via NewsEdge Corporation : Children are becoming increasingly depressed because they are obsessed with achieving celebrity or having supermodel good looks.That is the conclusion of a study of 400 children aged between nine and 12 which was unveiled yesterday at the conference.
Psychologists found that those who believed happiness was linked to unattainable levels of money, fame and beauty were more likely to suffer from depression. Among the group, 16 were found to have clinical depression while 112 were found to be vulnerable to depression in the future.
The research, which was led by Dr Helen Street from the Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre in Western Australia, focused on children's beliefs about happiness and how these related to their goals in life.
A significant relationship was identified between the children's understanding of happiness and their vulnerability to depression.
Depressed children were more likely to believe that happiness was something achieved through the acquisition of money, fame and beauty. These children wanted to be rich and famous above all else in life.
Happier children were more inclined to believe that feeling good was about healthy attitudes and the experience of pursuing goals, whatever the outcomes might be.
They were more likely to seek positive relationships with others and to feel that they were developing personally through life.
Dr Street said that the research highlighted an important link between children who were driven by achieving material goals and their experience of depression.
"It is suggested that unhealthy conceptions of happiness as an outcome dependent upon the acquisition of wealth, fame and beauty are contributing to increasing levels of childhood depression in Western society," she said.
"Misconceptions of happiness as an outcome rather than a process lead to unhealthy motivations controlling goal settings and pursuit and to a tendency to increasing levels of rumination and depression."
Sophie Goodchild
Publication: Independent on Sunday
Distributed by Financial Times Information Limited
http://www.psychiatry24x7.com/news/detail.jhtml?itemname=e0316235.0iw0
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