Just don’t talk about it

Girls who complain about their problems at greater risk of developing anxiety and depression How’s that for an attention grabbing headline? It’s the lead on a press release put out by the University of Missouri-Columbia about a study done by associate psychology professor Amanda Rose on co-ruminating: excessively talking with friends about problems and concerns.

Some of the quotes attributed to Ms. Rose are very alarming. “Co-rumination also may lead to depression and anxiety because it takes so much time – time that could be used to engage in other, more positive activities that could help distract youth from their problems. This is especially true for problems that girls can’t control, such as whether a particular boy likes them, or whether they get invited to a party that all of the popular kids are attending.”

“Some kids, especially girls, are taking talking about problems to an extreme. When that happens, the balance tips, and talking about problems with friends can become emotionally unhealthy.”

“They also should engage in other activities, like sports, which can help them take their minds off their problems, especially problems that they can’t control,” she said.

In other words, adolescent girls confiding in their best friends are making themselves sick. Very disturbing indeed. Since mental health, including that of teenagers, is of great interest to me, I searched out the journal publishing the study hoping to learn more, and was lucky to find not just an abstract, but the piece in its entirety.

In comparison to the press release, the study itself is far more objective, though to my untrained eye it still overlooks some major factors. The self-reported increase in depression and anxiety over the course of 6 months, according to the text, only “approaches significance.” Mathematically speaking, it’s not much beyond the margin of confidence. That is not a definitive result.

The study states that unlike girls, boys can share their problems endlessly without only positive results, an increase in strong friendship levels which are considered a positive sign of adjustment and mental health. Only girls can “talk too much.” Note the connection to the press release headline. Girls “complain,” a negative value judgment.

No mention is made in the study of the subjects the girls talk about with their friends, let alone boys and parties. Likewise, nothing in the study shows any benefit to distracting activities; that theory is not tested at all. As for taking their minds off things they can’t control, this is the single most glaring failing to me in the study.

Adolescent girls can have very real worries, and a lot of the things that impact them are outside their control, such as problems in the home like substance abuse or violence. To ignore this is to trivialize their experiences.

A related factor is the percentage of girls who would struggle with depression and anxiety even with no best friend to talk to. That could indeed be even higher than the number self-reporting those symptoms at the end of the study. If so, talking out their problems with friends could actually decrease the incidence of anxiety and depression. But we’ll never know, because the study ignores this factor.

Ms. Rose may well have identified a major trend in mental health, but given that the study only ran 6 months and contained only 2 datapoints, it’s hard to say. In my opinion, there’s not enough here to back up the press release, and certainly not enough to draw any firm conclusions on helping teenaged girls. But that wouldn’t have been press-worthy, now would it?