A survey carried out by the CSA institute for the LMDE student mutual insurance company and which franceinfo reveals to you exclusively on Monday July 11, carried out among more than 3,000 young people, reveals that 70% of students say they are in a situation of ill-being. The figure is up five points compared to 2019, the date of the previous survey.
>> TESTIMONIALS. “They put a lot of pressure on themselves”: how to explain this feeling of malaise more and more widespread among students
Worrying mental health, depressive signs, even suicidal thoughts, this survey paints a rather gloomy picture of the mental health of young people. While 70% of students surveyed say they are optimistic about their personal and professional future, two-thirds are very pessimistic about the future of French society and future generations, and 80% are pessimistic about climate change. This last point concerns the director general of LMDE, Fabrice Grière on franceinfo on Monday: “Psychologists even speak of eco-anxiety, which would make the bed of other disorders”.
DIRECT – 70% of students in a situation of ill-being according to a study for LMDE ➡️ “The previous survey dated from 2019. This is a basic trend. They tell us of great pessimism about the future of the society”, for Fabrice Grière, Managing Director of LMDE. pic.twitter.com/8YBqVRTsWc
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) July 11, 2022
70% of the students surveyed believe they are in a situation of ill-being, 68% mention depressive symptoms and 36% admit to having had suicidal thoughts, a figure up 6 points compared to 2019. For 46% of respondents, depression is one of the main fears of disease, compared to 22% in the general population. An alarming finding that does not necessarily push them to consult since 38% have given up medical care in the last twelve months. 49% said they did so because of their finances.
The financial situation also aggravates this feeling of ill-being (45% consider themselves in financial difficulty) as does the health crisis (68% say that the Covid has negatively impacted their student life, 52% make this observation on their social interactions with their relatives). The health crisis has “cut off all students from all social ties”, according to the director general of LMDE. Health professionals also fear “what is called a carryover effect, that is to say that we would only see a visible part of the effects of Covid and that we expect long-term effects”he says.
Peer prevention against suicidal thoughts
La Mutuelle des Étudiants has also identified the cheap diploma syndrome in young people. “These students who say to themselves, ‘I graduated during confinement. It will have less value in the eyes of employers'”, specifies Fabrice Grière. And this reinforces the feeling of anxiety in these young people.
The proportion of students having had suicidal thoughts is up sharply compared to 2019. “It is all the more worrying that half of these students say they do not talk about it, do not confide”, underlines the director general of the LMDE on franceinfo. La Mutuelle des Étudiants has just set up a telephone hotline to respond to this emergency. She also offers a “peer prevention” who “is really something highly anticipated and appreciated by students”according to Fabrice Grière. “As parents, we have all experienced the fact that prevention messages to these children do not always go over very well. Except that when it is other young people who talk to young people, the messages get through much more” and better, he explains.
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