Nurturing Souls, a platform focused on conscious parenting to promote children's mental health and well-being, has unveiled insights from its recent study. Based on comprehensive coaching sessions involving over 1000 parents, the study underscores a troubling trend: parents are identified as the primary contributors to their children's mental health and stress challenges in nearly 50 per cent of cases. Other stakeholders, including teachers, extended family, and friends, account for an additional 30-40 per cent of these issues, exacerbated by social media's role in fostering constant comparisons.
The study offers a detailed breakdown of the various stressors affecting children today. Among the most prevalent issues are social media addiction, affecting 60 per cent of children, and bullying, impacting 30 per cent. Moreover, 4 per cent face pressure to use drugs, and 6 per cent to consume alcohol. Anxiety is reported in 50 per cent of cases, while 40 per cent of children struggle with a lack of concentration.
Other significant pressures include the need to appear attractive (29 per cent) and fit in socially (28 per cent). Alarmingly, academic pressures concerning studies, examinations, and results are a major source of anxiety for 81 per cent of school-going children, significantly impacting their performance.
“Data also suggests that an estimated 31.9% of students suffer from some form of anxiety disorder, and poor sleep quality affects 50% of children. Additionally, 4.7% of a certain age group reported using drugs at least once in 2018, with mood swings and gender/sexual issues affecting 43% and 10% of children respectively. Twenty percent of children struggle to manage failure” said Nikhil Gupta, Conscious Parenting Coach & Founder of Nurturing Souls.
The study's methodology involved data collection from parents coached by the Nurturing Souls team, alongside data from a company working with students across various age groups on mental health and well-being. Supplementary data was sourced from reputable studies and reports, including those by the American Psychological Association, UCLA Health, Pew Research Center, NCERT, and the World Drug Report 2020.
The demographic of the study participants predominantly included parents from Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities, educated, and with children aged between 8 and 20 years. The study also encompassed feedback from almost 2000 students.
Several key factors link parental behavior to children's mental health issues. These include parents' inability to refrain from living their aspirations through their children, the imposition of unrealistic expectations, the impact of parental relationships, and the undue stress placed on education taken as a return on investment. Other detrimental behaviors identified include continuous overdosing on guidance, hypocrisy in actions, unrealistic expectations of success, and an over-reliance on rewards and punishments which drive children to act based on consequences rather than basic understanding of the action. Comparison with others also emerged as a significant stressor.
“We were particularly struck by the high incidence of children talking about depression, suicidal thoughts, and feelings of worthlessness. These findings underscore the urgent need for parents to become more aware and proactive in nurturing their children's mental health,” Gupta added.