Girls' happiness levels are at their lowest levels in 15 years as concerns about appearance, online harms and sexual harassment all trouble young people, an annual survey has found.
The majority of those who took part in the Girls' Attitudes Survey - 89% - said they felt generally worried or anxious.
Less than a fifth of all those who took part described themselves as very happy, down from 40% of respondents in 2009 when the survey organised by the Girlguiding charity began.
Researchers said the sharpest decline in happiness was among the youngest girls - those aged between seven and 10 years old. Just 28% described themselves as very happy this year, compared with 57% back in 2009.
A total of 2,614 girls and young women aged between seven and 21 took part in this year's research between February and April, with the questionnaire being adapted to make it suitable for different age groups.
When it came to appearance, 67% of girls aged between 11 and 21 said they sometimes feel ashamed of the way they look because they are not like girls and women they see in the media and online.
In this age group, 39% said seeing images online where people are edited to look perfect makes them feel bad about how they look and feel.
And while 72% of those surveyed in 2009 said they were happy with how they looked, this fell to 59% this year.
