Young people who experience performance pressure feel tired, insecure and demotivated, and no longer enjoy things. They overthink everything they do (52%), experience a lot of stress (51%), feel frustrated when things do not work out (47%), often feel tired (47%), and are afraid of not doing things well (46%).

These findings reinforce and add to what has emerged from various studies, including the KidsRights Index 2025: young people’s mental health is under great pressure worldwide, and certainly in the Netherlands as well. The results of this study also conflict with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (Convention on the Rights of the Child). This is particularly pressing in relation to SDG 3 on good health and well-being and Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which gives children the right to the highest attainable standard of health care.

In the coming period, in response to these research results, State of Youth NL will engage in discussions with young people, schools, parents and policymakers to contribute to relief from performance pressure. The message is from and to young people: your life is not successful only when everything goes perfectly, with high grades, a busy social life, a successful career and a relationship. Being successful does not always mean striving for the highest level. You are allowed to grow, have doubts and make mistakes. That is not a sign of failure, but of development.

State of Youth NL, an initiative of KidsRights, is the megaphone of the new generation: a unique, representative online youth panel for young people in the Netherlands, whose mission is to represent and strengthen the voice of all young people in the Netherlands. State of Youth NL’s partners are: the National Youth Council (NJR), Social Service Time (MDT) and the Augeo Foundation. Vfonds, Fonds21, Janivo Foundation, Dioraphte, MDT and the Augeo Foundation provide financial support for State of Youth NL.

Call from KidsRights chair Marc Dullaert: Put an end to unhealthy performance pressure

KidsRights chair Marc Dullaert: “Performing well is fine. But performance pressure must not result in young people suffering under it and even dropping out. That is what we are seeing happen, and it is serious. That is why we are calling on politicians, educational institutions and the VO Council (the sector organisation for secondary education) to work with young people now to put an end to unhealthy performance pressure. In our study, young people are reaching out and proposing concrete solutions; 68% of young people say they themselves have an influence on performance pressure, but they must be heard and supported by schools, parents and the government, among others.”

Chair Lotte Prins of the National Youth Council (NJR): “In a world where, as a young person, you have to meet an entire package of sky-high expectations, your younger years are no longer the best years of your life. It is time to truly recognise performance pressure as a problem instead of sweeping it under the carpet, and to do something about it together.”

Eveline Crone is professor of neurocognitive developmental psychology at Leiden University. There, she heads the Developmental and Educational Psychology department of the Institute of Psychology. “Over the past 20 years, performance pressure among young people has tripled. As a society, we often ask a great deal of them, but forget that rest and recovery are just as important for learning and growing. Young people themselves indicate what they need: room to make mistakes and support so they do not always have to be perfect. This is an important message that we must take seriously.”

Solutions

Young people see the following as important solutions for reducing performance pressure at school and during their studies:

  • teachers coordinating better with one another about what is being required in other subjects, including homework (52%);
  • schools and educational programmes scheduling tests or exams before rather than after holidays (43%);
  • schools and educational programmes placing less emphasis on high grades and good performance and more on the student’s development (42%).

Young people also have many ideas and suggestions for themselves to experience less performance pressure:

  • teaching yourself that you do not have to do everything, that you may say no and that not everything has to be perfect (57%);
  • learning not to see ‘failure’ and ‘making mistakes’ as something negative, but as a way to learn (50%);
  • focusing more on the positive things in your life (44%).

Young people also have many ideas and suggestions for helping other young people:

  • providing distraction by doing something fun with someone experiencing performance pressure (50%);
  • explaining how you deal with performance pressure yourself and offering tips for doing so (40%).

Difference between girls and boys

Young people between the ages of 18 and 24, in particular, experience notably high levels of performance pressure from themselves (74%). In addition, women and girls notably often indicate that they themselves have an influence on their performance pressure (73% compared with 62% among boys and men). The performance pressure experienced by young people is also influenced by school/studies and teachers (40%), followed by their own parents (32%). Young people do not experience performance pressure when they are on holiday (52%), watching films or series (49%), chatting with friends (47%), engaged in their hobbies (44%), exercising (31%) or gaming (30%).

According to State of Youth NL, it is now up to schools, parents, employers, politicians and policymakers to listen to the results of this study and work towards greater relief from performance pressure. On a scale from 0 to 100, young people in the study on performance pressure gave an average score of 36.6 for the way in which their opinions are listened to, while the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that children have the right to express their opinions and to be heard.

About the study

The study into experienced performance pressure took place from 22 April to 10 June this year. No fewer than 3,026 young people aged 12 to 29 participated in the study, 519 of whom were recruited through a representative sample of the Stempunt panel. Among others, SYNC Lab of Erasmus University Rotterdam, LAKS and MIND Us supported this study, for which State of Youth NL is also collaborating with Motivaction’s market research agency Glocalities.

The study can be downloaded here.