Nearly half of students have mental health problems
The number of students with mental illnesses and problematic substance use has doubled in 12 years. This is according to a study by the Trimbos Institute published on Wednesday.
Among students, the increase in anxiety disorders, depression and excessive alcohol and drug use is large. In 2009, 22 per cent reported having had such problems during that year. That is now up to 44 per cent. Among working people, it is only 21 per cent.
The students are outliers within a trend seen among Dutch people of almost all ages. Twelve years ago, they numbered 1.9 million and now 3.3 million. This is according to a large-scale population study by the Trimbos Institute. Over the past three years, 6,200 participants were surveyed for the study.
Psychology professor Pim Cuijpers (VU) calls the results alarming in newspaper Trouw. But he says the fact that students are so much more likely to report struggling with problems could also be because they admit these problems more readily.
HOP, Peer van Tetterode
Comments are closed.