Youth, meaning and self-harm

I day or two back, I drew attention to a recent report published by the Church of England about youth attitudes to the meaning of life and religion [ Their creed could be defined as: “This world, and all life in it, is meaningful as it is,”]. Well, it clearly should be read in conjunction with another recent report which would indicate that there are clearly problems with meaning among young people and that these are sometimes critical. Remember too that teen/youth suicide rates are unprecedentedly high ...

Mental health problems are common in young people and there is evidence that they are on the increase.
For some young people with mental health problems, a Goth subculture may be attractive, as it may allow them to find a community within which it may be easier for their distress to be understood.
Social support is important for all young people to help them cope with the difficulties they face, and therefore finding a peer group of like-minded Goths may, for some, be adaptive.

Somehow this doesn't sound like a generation of contented, meaning-imbued people. Though I don't doubt that there are many who are reasonably content and unperturbed by meaninglessness and anomie, we shouldn't rush into a moral panic about that. I worry that the CofE's report is partial in its sampling or has failed to get past the posturing and ideological presentations, or both.
Mental Health Foundation: News
Filed in: goths, suicide, teens, self-harm, UK