Why are College Women So Depressed?
February 28, 2011
by Patricia Garrison
|When I posted The New Agenda’s recent video on eating disorders to my Facebook page, something unusual happened. I got comments. Similar posts to my wall typically generate digital silence, but this time, parents thanked me for sharing on a topic that not only doesn’t get enough attention, but when it does, manages to be completely off the mark.
Ask why the rates of eating disorders and depression in young females are escalating and you’ll get a bunch of quick and facile expert explanations that either blame the victim, her hormones or genetics. To be sure, biology and familial predisposition play a role in a girl’s emotional health, but I suspect not nearly as great as researchers and experts would have us believe. The overwhelming majority of people with eating disorders are females between the ages of 12 and 25.
Depression and suicide attempts are far more prevalent in females than males, and girls have higher rates of anxiety (often manifested as self-harm or ‘cutting’) than boys. And it’s not just because girls get a menstrual period.
A recent survey, ‘The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010” noted that that the emotional well-being of first-year college students dropped to its lowest level in 25 years. The percentage of students who said their emotional health was above average fell to 52 % from 64 % in 1985. But the levels of emotional distress were not equal. About 60% of females said they felt depressed, as compared with 40% of men. Also, young women were far more likely to describe themselves as overwhelmed during senior year of high school (40% vs. 20% for males).
The reasons for the gender disparity were barely acknowledged by experts and academicians. Instead, the pointed fingers at the economy, binge drinking, social media, and helicopter parents who had failed to prepare their children for the independence of college. Why was the gender gap barely mentioned, and when it was, why were college women somehow blamed for their predicament and faulted for being too focused on what their professors think and taking on volunteer work (?!) rather than – like men — blowing off stress with physical activity? Even if the expert explanations are valid, they leave out the fundamental life experience of a female versus male college student and the pressure that some young women had the courage to express online in response to the report: A hook-up culture that finds young women giving all to a man for “five minutes of attention”, the need to be thin, look effortlessly beautiful and excel academically – all a toxic mix that is deeply intertwined with drinking, eating disorders, depression and stress levels.
I used to think that the experts and the professionals often quoted in the media reports of these statistics would come around to recognizing the impact of gender on the emotional health of young women. And many do, contributing their insights and their expertise to reducing depression and stress for all of our young people. But, despite their diligence and dedication, the overriding narrative that gender differences are not worth noting — and if they are, than girls are to blame for their problems — remains dominant.
I was a little slow to catch on, but it seems obvious to me that real substantive change for young women in or out of college won’t come from the “experts”. It will happen as changes almost always does — on the ground, with young women (and those of us who care about them – see The New Agenda on Campus), working with them to make a difference.
This is troubling Pat. As both a mother and an advocate for women and girls. It is also incredibly sad.
I know the media speaks of a generation of lost boys. But what is happening to our girls?
Very sad. Media based culture is toxic to girls and women. In my daughters neighborhood Catholic grade school, 6 of 30 girls were in treatment for eating disorders by 8th grade. Media culture is controlled by men and many church based cultures are controlled by men. This is what a male controlled culture creates, distortions of femaleness, blame for being female, restrictions of females.
And I also think having every possible male partner have their psyche and sexuality steeped in pornographic distortion is depressing to many young women.
I’m no expert, but as a teacher, I see great silences among the girls. The boys express themselves — their anger and disappointments — verbally and physically. Girls are often told to hide their feelings or “write” them out in journals and diaries. Of course, this helped me also, but girls are not given physical alternatives through which to exercise their bodies and minds or even learn to combat stresses the way boys are. Boys are taught to not care what anyone thinks about them and to lash out against those who do — but not girls. It’s not polite of acceptable behavior. So what happens to girls when they are not given adequate tools with which to express their anger, their desires? They internalize. A great book that I have read about anger and women is “The Dance of Anger,” and it really examines the way our feelings are suppressed — and how like the many women we see in politics and other public venues — when their anger is vocalized, they are reduced in size and denigrated for their audacity in expressing said anger.
not to forget the stress produced by the double standard women and girls have to endure, as the saying goes something like “women can perform as well as men even going backwards in high heels”. and finally realizing how the higher performance still does not get you anywhere. and if you had achieved, the results will for the most part be quickly silenced and there will be hardly any memory for many of our heroes. that gets you back to the non existent anger management strategies, none fit into the female stereotype.
on top of all the stress to look good, sexy hot and desirable, there is the unspoken part that you should not show off being competent. well and if you do this you’ll be overlooked in promotions.
of course women and girls can do anything and right after we hear such statements, we can observe how roll models for female competence are purged from any public display. the hugs and kisses and laudations come, when you have accepted to offer services and be subordinate.
sorry meant heroines
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