Situation in the world, eco-anxiety, remnants of the health crisis… The mental health of adolescents is far from being in good shape. According to one new study of Ifop for Our Common Future conducted with 1,000 young people aged 11 to 15, one out of two French teenagers is in a state of psychological sufferingwith 53% anxiety symptoms and 48% depressive symptoms.
According to Ifop, 31% of them are even subject to suspicion of generalized anxiety disorder, an increase of six points in the space of a year. A phenomenon which concerns girls as much as boys, but which, for the first time, affects more strongly adolescents from more privileged social categories.
Read also: Anxiety, depression in children or adolescents… What signs should alert parents?
Suicidal thoughts are also increasing among young adolescents: 17% are concerned in 2022 and “ declare themselves invaded », compared to 10% in 2021. 10% of adolescents would even be in severe depression.
What are the causes of adolescent malaise?
The main source of stress for adolescents remains theschool and its grading system : 63% of young people would be “very anxious when they have questions or when we give them notes” and 37% even have “very afraid of some teachers“.
Anxiogenic news also plays a role. “While eco-anxiety remains a strong reality for almost one in two teenagers, the situation in the world stresses them even more“, says the Ipsos study. Indeed, 41% said that the current geopolitical situation has become a source of stress for them, reaching the 3e position of the topics that stress them the most, after violence against children (50%) and the state of the planet and nature (47%). Situations that generate both misunderstanding, anxiety and fear.
While 4 psychiatric unions are calling for a strike this morning for more resources, the investigation @IpsosFrance @NotreAvenirAtous confirms that the psycho state of teenagers is getting worse: 53% report anxiety disorders (+10pts in 1 year), 17% admit to suicidal thoughts (+7pts)
— Mercier Etienne (@MercierEtienne2) November 29, 2022
If they were still particularly marked by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, it is “difficult to attribute this ill-being of adolescents to the confinement phase“, says Hélène Roques, director of the company Notre avenir à tous at Parisian. “France has been in crisis for more than 30 years and we are witnessing a basic trend of deterioration in the well-being of adolescentss,” she continues.
Teenagers underestimate their level of ill-being
These figures are alarming as their level is high. And yet, they would be weaker than in reality, teenagers underestimating their own discomfort. In effect, only 6% of young people surveyed say they are not welldown one point from last year.
And if in the vast majority, they say they can talk about their problems with their loved ones, 1 in 4 teenagers say they have no one to confide in. One out of two teenagers even think that their problems are not serious enough to tell someone about them.
Source :
- 1 out of 2 French teenagers suffer from symptoms of anxiety or depression, Ipsos, November 28, 2022