Introduction

Getting entranced by those around us has been common ever since the beginning of time, yet many times we fail to look deeper than surface level - and often incite a whole new chain of predicaments in the brains of certain individuals. For several years, we have observed the heavy patterns in other teens around us. We saw our peers struggling with declining mental health, unhealthy addictions to both substances and video games, panic attacks and anxiety, and the effect of social media on teens’ bodies and to the extent of affecting who they are as individuals - so we asked ourselves what we could do to help. The Covid-19 pandemic has and will continue to impact so many individuals, most notably the youth, around the globe. To get an idea of its widespread impact on the newer generations and to brainstorm solutions, a few youth from around the United States have enlisted the guidance of mental health experts and mentors to help us create several questionnaires composed of meaningful questions about youth lives. These questionnaires anonymously delve into the people filling out the surveys’ lives and what their mental health is like after quarantines, remote learning, and loss of family members or friends. They ask about how home life, substance abuse, and inevitable exposure and use of technology affects mental health. Finally, they ask about how anxiety affects social and home lives. Figure 1 is a representation of the various areas of teen’s mental health crises today. The goal of these questionnaires was to gather enough physical data and analyze the results of the findings. After analyzing them, the results have been summarized into self-publishable articles. Beyond this, the findings are also being provided to build solutions for accelerating the restoration of normalcy amongst youth from a mental health perspective. 

Survey Preparation:

This project started when the teens in this group met together to discuss common problems facing teens in society today. We ultimately reached a consensus to research more about a topic that not many people talk about: how different things affect teens’ mental health. We each prepared a questionnaire filled with questions that we wanted to collect statistics on and then those questionnaires underwent rigorous editing by an ASU professor, a mental health specialist, and a psychologist. After receiving helpful inputs and adjusting our questionnaire accordingly, we each sent out google forms targeting only the age group from 14-19 years old. 

Survey Administration:

We believed that people would take their time answering a simple survey, so we chose questions that were simple and easy to read - that way, the data gathered would be easier to identify, resulting in a more accurate analysis. We collected data using our social media platforms and we also physically stood in front of gyms and department stores and asked people to fill out the forms in person. The surveys were also posted on the ChandanShamalaLibrary website, enabling us to gather responses from an international audience in addition to national and local participants. All of our data was gathered through separate google forms that coordinated with each different topic.

Survey Results Analysis: 

In some of our surveys for the different topics, we had more than five questions. We analyzed the data received for each of the questions in each survey and decided to pick the top five responses that we received in each topic. In the following sections we have presented the analysis of those responses by topic area. 

Figure 1: Representation of various areas of mental health focus 

Topic - Anxiety:

In a survey about anxiety, there were 20 responders from ages 14-19. Most respondents who felt symptoms of social anxiety felt afraid people would judge them. Most who felt symptoms of generalized anxiety have difficulty controlling feelings of worry. Most respondents who felt symptoms of panic disorder felt dizziness, lightheadedness, or faintness.  Respondents noted that their anxiety causes them to be more stressed out, which hinders them from doing things they need to do or things they enjoy doing. Some responded that it keeps them from making or keeping friends. When asked what might cause these symptoms, 47.6% of the teens reported that it was because of their environment (i.e. a history of teasing or bullying, learned behavior, or because of anxious or overprotective parents). Unfortunately, 76.2% of those who experienced anxiety reported that they have not received help for this. Figure 2 shows the graphical representation of the top 5 responses in this section along with the corresponding question.

Figure 2. Top Five responses for survey vs the question in topic area Anxiety

Topic - Effect of Surroundings on Mental Health

In this survey about mental health and how the surroundings and the people around one  affect how they view themselves, there were 51 responses total, with 44 responses being from the actual 14-19 age group. For the question asking whether or not people made an effort to talk to or be there for their friends whenever life got tough, 93.3% of the respondents said yes. This question had the highest percentage of an answer to a question of the entire questionnaire. The second highest was the question asking people to verify if they were on medication for anxiety/panic attacks, for which 93.2% of people said that they were not. The third highest was the responses to the question “How much does one believe the surroundings/the people around them affect how they viewed themselves?” - to which 64.4% of people stated that they believed it affected them “very strongly”. Next, to a question asking whether people found themselves holding back aspects of their personalities from certain people, 57.8% of people said that they did find themselves gatekeeping parts of themselves around certain people. Lastly, for a question talking about whether or not people believed that a clean/organized room brought a healthy mindset or lifestyle, around 50% of the people stated yes and detailed why they believed so in the next question. Figure 3 shows the graphical representation of the top 5 responses in this section along with the corresponding question.

Figure 3. Top five responses vs the question in the area of impact of surroundings  

Topic - Effect of Social Media and Technology

This survey was designed to determine the effect of social media and technology on teenagers’ mental health. The main question that had the highest percentage of responses asked at what age people started using technology and social media platforms. This question received 93.2% of responses that claimed that they were older than 9 years old. Another prominent question asked in what ways technology has improved their mental health. This question received 90.9% of responses claiming that technology opened up multiple opportunities to stay connected to people and stay involved. Thirdly, exactly half of the responders claimed that they felt happy when they saw likes and comments on their posts, while the rest were evenly divided between feeling indifferent, stressed, and anxious. Lastly, the last question asked whether or not people took breaks from social media if they felt mentally exhausted. This question received relatively equally mixed results as 43.2% of people said that they only take breaks from social media sometimes when they feel mentally exhausted. Figure 4 shows the graphical representation of the top 5 responses in this section along with the corresponding question.

Figure 4. Top five responses vs. the question in the area of social media and technology 

Topic - Substance Abuse

The first question of the survey asked about the age of the youngest individuals affected by substance abuse. The individuals who participated in the survey believed that the youngest individual who may be affected by substance abuse may be the age of 1-5. Next, the survey asked what substances the participants were aware of. The results indicate that participants were aware of a variety of substances.  The third question asked if they were aware of any addictive chemicals in substances. All participants replied that they were aware of chemicals. Finally, the last question asked why they thought people would use substances. This question resulted in a tie. People believed that choice and trauma were reasons people took substances.  Figure 5 shows the graphical representation of the top 5 responses in this section along with the corresponding question.

Figure 5. Top five responses in the area of substance abuse

Topic - Effect of Video Games on Mental Health

In this survey about the effects of video games on mental health, there were 33 respondents aged 14 or older. When asked about why they play video games, 100% of the respondents noted that they play video games for fun and 97% of them said that they play to stay connected with friends. When respondents were asked if playing video games caused them to get angry to the point of breaking something, 84.8% of respondents said that they have not experienced this. 72.7% of respondents said that they play over 10 hours of video games every week. Respondents were asked if not being able to play video games caused them to become agitated or anxious due to it, but 72.7% of them said that they do not. When asked about the effects that video games have on their ability to perform their daily responsibilities such as chores and homework, 63.6% of respondents noted that it had no effect on their ability to do them. A graphical representation of this data is shown in Figure #6.

Figure 6: Top five responses vs the question in the area of Video Games