The report was presented to Queen Máxima on Wednesday.
(image anp / Pool Mischa Schoemaker)
The percentage of girls in secondary education who say they have emotional problems increased from 28 to 43 percent between 2017 and 2021. Among girls from group 8 it also went up, from 14 to 33 percent. The decline is “probably to a significant extent” related to the corona crisis, the researchers said.
Mental health also deteriorated among boys, but according to the researchers this is not in proportion to the developments among girls. Yet the boys, like the girls, only give their lives an average of 7.1. And although that is still more than sufficient, previously it was a 7.5 and in 2001 even an 8.
Girls reported not only much more emotional problems in 2021 than four years earlier, but also more behavioral problems, hyperactivity and attention problems.
school work
Just like between 2013 and 2017, the previous period that was studied, the percentage of students who experience pressure due to schoolwork has also grown considerably in the period 2017-2021. ‘In the past twenty years, this percentage has even tripled’, according to the researchers. In 2001, 16 percent of students in secondary education reported experiencing (quite) a lot of pressure due to schoolwork, in 2021 this has increased to 45 percent. Here too we see a more unfavorable development for girls than for boys.’
The likely relationship of the corona crisis with the problems does not mean that those problems will automatically diminish because corona puts less pressure on society, the researchers fear. And a decrease in the percentage of pupils who are burdened by schoolwork is ‘not necessarily’ to be expected. ‘The educational disadvantages as a result of the corona crisis may have been a catalyst for an already existing social development: the increased importance that young people, their parents and society attach to performing at school.’
Furthermore, it appeared that smoking and drinking, after a long period in which smoking and alcohol consumption among young people decreased, has not decreased further in recent years.
Since 2001, the HBSC survey has been conducted every four years by Utrecht University, the Trimbos Institute and the Social and Cultural Planning Office. The report was presented to Queen Máxima on Wednesday.