In 2021, girls reported not only far more emotional problems than four years earlier, but also more behavioural problems and hyperactivity/attention problems. Mental health has also declined among boys. For example, the life satisfaction rating given by both girls and boys has never been as low as it was in 2021: an average of 7.1. In previous years, this figure was well above 7.5, and in 2001 it was even 8. Nevertheless, the extent of the decline in mental health among boys is nowhere near that among girls. Lead researcher Gonneke Stevens of Utrecht University says: “Between 2017 and 2021, the percentage of girls in secondary education with emotional problems rose from 28% to 43%. Among girls in the final year of primary school, this increased from 14% to 33% during the same period. There is also cause for concern in other areas.” According to the researchers, these results underline the importance of the new government approach Mental Health: From All of Us, which pays specific attention to young people.
Pressure from schoolwork tripled in 20 years
As between 2013 and 2017, the percentage of pupils experiencing pressure from schoolwork increased considerably during the period 2017–2021. Over the past 20 years, this percentage has even tripled. Stevens says: “In 2001, only 16% of young people in secondary education said that they experienced (rather) a lot of pressure from schoolwork. In 2021, this had risen to 45%. Here too, we see a less favourable development among girls than among boys.”
Good social relationships
Ever since the first measurement in 2001, young people in the Netherlands have stood out for their good social relationships with their parents, classmates and friends. This was still the case in 2021. For example, the percentage of young people who said they could talk very easily with their father, mother or best friend was just as high in 2021 as in 2017. However, between 2017 and 2021, girls in secondary education became somewhat less positive about support from friends, the atmosphere among classmates and their relationship with teachers. The percentage of young people who said they were often bullied online or bullied others online also increased between 2017 and 2021. Among girls in primary school, for example, the percentage who said they were often bullied online rose from 1% to 6%. In the same group, the percentage of problematic social media users increased from 2% to 5% between 2017 and 2021.
Impact of the coronavirus crisis
The deterioration in mental health, particularly among girls, is probably related to a considerable extent to the coronavirus crisis. Stevens says: “But this does not mean that the problem will be solved once the coronavirus crisis is a thing of the past.” According to the Utrecht youth researcher, it is quite possible that the mental vulnerability that has developed among girls will not simply disappear. Nor should a decline in the percentage of pupils experiencing pressure from schoolwork necessarily be expected. “The educational delays resulting from the coronavirus crisis may have acted as a catalyst for an existing social development: the increasing importance that young people, their parents and society in general attach to academic performance,” Stevens says.
Smoking and alcohol consumption still too high
After a long period during which smoking and alcohol consumption among young people declined, they have not fallen any further in recent years. The percentage of young people who smoke or drink was still too high in 2021. For example, of 15- and 16-year-olds, 42% and 60%, respectively, had consumed alcohol in the previous month in 2021. And these young people drink a lot. Between 74% and 83% of these alcohol users had consumed five or more glasses of alcohol on one occasion at some point during the previous month. In addition, one in ten young people had smoked during the previous month in 2021. It is also striking that, whereas boys smoked and drank alcohol more often than girls in previous years, these differences had disappeared in 2021.
The HBSC study has been conducted every four years since 2001 by researchers from Utrecht University, the Trimbos Institute and the Netherlands Institute for Social Research. The 2021 HBSC report, funded by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, also covers other topics, such as eating behaviour, physical activity, sexual behaviour and gaming. For all topics, differences by age, gender, educational level, migration background, family structure and family affluence are studied.