The mental condition of youth has hardly deteriorated

Het Centraal The Bureau of Statistics studied the mental well-being of young people aged 18 to 25 on the basis of five questions about their state of mind, including: "Did you feel very nervous? these last four weeks? " And "were you so worried that nothing could cheer you up?" This shows that 10.9% of 18-25 year olds felt psychologically unhealthy between 2015 and 2017. That percentage was 8.8% 10 years ago

Remarkable

According to Statistics Netherlands, it is a very slight increase. "This is remarkable, given the many alarming reports of the recent period. It shows that students are suffering from more and more anxiety, stress and gloom. Increased pressure on ubiquitous performance and social media are considered causes.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives asked the Minister to define as soon as possible the psychological help provided to MBO, HBO and WO students. to ensure a low threshold offer. Previously, student organizations and other agencies had put in place an action plan for the protection of the student

"Inevitably bulky"

How all can this be reconciled with the slight increase in the number of complaints in the research of Statistics Netherlands Jolien Dopmeijer, researcher at the Windesheim Hogeschool and co-author of the action plan, is not surprised. "I have been researching this since 2012 and I do not see a huge increase in that time," she says. "I would say that the complaints are still strong."

Ten years ago, the pressure of study was already high. "We have put in place all kinds of measures in higher education to increase performance, but in the meantime, we have paid little attention to the student." The situation is changing and so we see what these measurements are doing to them, so the pressure and the complaints are not new, they are only paying attention to them. "

HOP, Steffi Weber