2024-01-29 16:18:37
A survey carried out by Ipsos for the company Our Common Future shows that more than one in four adolescents report experiences that may suggest generalized anxiety disorders.
Alarming data. Nearly one in two adolescents say they are affected by symptoms of anxiety, according to an Ipsos study for the company Our Future to All, unveiled by Le Parisien this Monday, September 29. According to this survey carried out in partnership with the Essec Health Innovation Chair, 49% of young people (11-15 years old) surveyed said they had felt anxiety (ranging from mild to severe) in the previous two weeks.
A slight drop compared to the 2022 barometer, where 53% of adolescents surveyed said they had been bothered by anxiety in the two weeks preceding the questionnaire.
What is anxiety?
It is necessary to differentiate temporary anxiety from anxiety disorders. “Temporary fear or anxiety are normal reactions,” explains Health Insurance on its site. But “when this anxiety lasts excessively, we speak of anxiety disorders”, it is specified.
Inserm defines anxiety disorders as “strong and lasting anxiety unrelated to real danger or threat”, which disrupts the normal functioning and daily activities of the person who suffers from it. According to this public medical research institute, 21% of adults are affected by these disorders during their lifetime and women are up to twice as likely as men.
They “mostly” begin during childhood or adolescence, but are often rarely noticed before adulthood. However, “the earlier the manifestations begin, the more severe the disease is likely to be subsequently,” according to Inserm.
According to the survey carried out by Ipsos, more than one in four adolescents report experiences that may suggest generalized anxiety disorders (29%, -2 points compared to 2022, but +4 points compared to 2021). To arrive at this observation, the respondents were submitted to a screening questionnaire for these disorders.
Recurring sleep problems
According to the Ipsos survey for Our Common Future, nearly a third of adolescents (32%) say they have been hampered in their schooling or their relationships with others by symptoms of anxiety or depression. School also creates quite distressing situations for them: 59% say that they sometimes feel very anxious when they have questions or when they receive grades back. 34% say they are very anxious about going to class.
Furthermore, 54% of these young people encounter sleep problems. Even more people (68%) felt tired or had little energy in the two weeks preceding the survey.
These sleeping problems are linked for 47% of them to the pressure of homework and grades at school. The other reasons most cited are friendly arguments (40%), family situation (33%) and feeling alone and isolated (26%).
39% are bored in class
Furthermore, 39% of respondents say they are bored in class, compared to 36% in 2022. 49% are also found in the sentence “what I learn at school does not allow me to know more about the subjects current events that stress me out”, compared to 53% in 2022.
How to cure eco anxiety?
These subjects are primarily violence against children (48% are stressed when they hear about it), the state of the planet and nature (43%, compared to 47% in 2022) and the global situation (42%). . This news is not always well assimilated either: almost one in two adolescents say they feel incomprehension when faced with the information discovered every day.
Survey conducted by Ipsos for Our Common Future from November 27 to December 12, 2023 among a representative sample of 1,000 adolescents aged 11 to 15, constructed using the quota method (sex and age of the child, profession of the parent, region, agglomeration category).
1706566702
#Depression #sleep #disorder.. #adolescents #affected #anxiety #France #survey