Stress, anxiety, sleep disturbances, mood swings, use of drugs, bad eating habits and much more. These are the side effects of the first near-post-pandemic Maturity exam, at least in the format given the return of the writings. And if we add to this the weight of a difficult three-year period, not only from a scholastic point of view, we can well understand how the impact of the exam on the psyche and body of the candidates is greater than in the past. And in fact, 7 out of 10 graduates, about a month after the start, were already experiencing tension and stress. This was reported by a research conducted by the Skuola.net portal together with the team of psychologists and psychotherapists of the Di.Te. (Technological addictions, Gap, cyberbullying), on a sample of 1,909 girls and boys who in a few days will have to take the state exam.
Over 1 in 2 – 51% – are certain that their physical condition will suffer other negative shocks in the immediate eve of the tests. Many more – 65%, practically 2 out of 3 – think that their emotional state curve will worsen further. Already today, 71% confess that they are dealing with severe mood swings due to worry about the exam. More generally, more than 3 out of 5 report negative impressions – such as anxiety, anger, despondency, desire to escape – if they think about the exam. Positive emotions, on the other hand, are rare commodities: tranquility, a sense of ‘possibility’, the pleasure of facing trials are all things that affect less than 1 in 10.
The more maturity approaches, the more anxiety becomes a companion from which it is almost impossible to separate. Over 4 out of 5 already know that they will have to deal with it: for 34% it will have a very strong role, for 46% it will be quite present. And 72% think that the same anxiety will affect their exam (for 24% “very much”, for 48% “enough”). So, looking forward, more or less the same people (70%) think they will never be ready enough to face the test. With 73% blaming the negative feelings on the outcome of the exam to what they experienced, especially in the school environment, during the pandemic.
The problem, psychologists and psychotherapists point out, is that all this stressful load often results in dangerous changes in normal habits or, even worse, in the adoption or intensification of bad habits. Some examples? Almost 70% are reacting by changing their relationship with food: 37% tend to overeat, 31% too little. While about 1 in 2 – 48% – say that lately they are sleeping much less than usual due to exams.
Not only. Many students – about 2 out of 5 – to ease the tension, admit that they are resorting to various forms of ‘help’ to face the final review in a more efficient way: 38% have increased the use of coffee, 40% say that is smoking more than usual, another 40% who are using medications and supplements for more physical and mental energy. And about 1 in 3 has increased the consumption of substances that can have a psychotropic effect, such as alcohol or drugs. Finally, speaking of “distractions”, 1 in 2 noted that they had increased the time spent on their smartphone for reasons not related to study needs.
“These data – underlines Giuseppe Lavenia, psychologist psychotherapist and president of the National Association of Technological Addictions, Gap and Cyberbullying ‘Di.Te.’ – confirm that investing in children’s mental health is a priority. Unfortunately, once again, the opportunity to return to being authoritative adults has been missed. The return to an exam similar to the pre-pandemic period, in fact, means denying the reality and above all the suffering that the students have also suffered this last year. There are children who have very strong panic attacks, hypochondria and eating disorders have exploded and voluntary social isolation is growing rapidly. And do we want to tell them that this year (and the past!) Have been normal years? Do we want to pretend that everything is fine when we are still in a pandemic and in a war? 51% of high school graduates cannot even desire a future, and not wanting means taking away the driving force of life. A boy who does not imagine a future is a depressed and worried boy – warns the expert – who will most likely have great difficulty returning to a normal life “.
“It is nothing new that the month before graduation in the life of every student brings with it a considerable load of stress, we all remember it well. But, this time, the return of an almost complete exam, at the end of a three-year period. also from a scholastic point of view that we cannot define as normal for children – adds Daniele Grassucci, director of Skuola.net – could have been the famous straw that broke the camel’s back, sending the minds of many graduates into a tailspin. there is disorientation, a little less that the situation degenerates into dangerous behaviors. Fundamental, to reassure them, will be the support, above all psychological, that the teachers who will have to judge them – fortunately, again this year, they will be teachers inside the school, the same ones who followed them in the march towards the exam – they will be able to give them in the coming weeks “, he says.