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. 2025 Jun 9;30(1):2517086.
doi: 10.1080/02673843.2025.2517086. eCollection 2025.

The stress of prioritizing the future: using video diaries and interviews to understand the everyday pressures experienced by adolescent girls

Rachel A Starr  1 , Joanna Farr  1
Affiliations

The stress of prioritizing the future: using video diaries and interviews to understand the everyday pressures experienced by adolescent girls

Rachel A Starr et al. Int J Adolesc Youth. .

Abstract

Evidence suggests that adolescent girls are struggling in everyday life, possibly contributing to rising mental health difficulties in this group. A better understanding of their situation is required, yet accessing their daily lives is challenging. This study adopted a novel approach, combining Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis with mobile-phone video diaries to explore how adolescent girls experience and make sense of their everyday lives, with a particular focus on what matters most to them. Participants aged 16-17 recorded diaries for two-weeks and were interviewed about the areas identified. Three themes: Sacrificing now under the weight of the future, The future is coming frighteningly fast and I'm not ready to be an adult and Don't relax: struggling with relentless pressure and worry, reveal anguish caused by constantly looking towards the future, bringing a new perspective to this area and highlighting the need to help adolescent girls create space and value in their lives.

Keywords: Adolescent girls; everyday experience; qualitative; school; video diaries; well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Participant demographics.
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