Nearly 30 percent of young people surveyed in China were at risk of depression, said a survey on the mental health of Chinese people aged 14-35, which has drawn public attention.
The survey was conducted by the China Youth and Children Research Center, in collaboration with the Institute of Psychology under Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China Youth Daily reported Thursday.
The research team divided respondents into four groups according to ages. Those aged 31-35 are at the highest risk of depression.
A total of 9.1 percent of surveyed males are suffering from the highest risk of depression, higher than females, whose proportion is 7.2 percent. 7.7 percent of high school students, 6.6 percent of college students and 8.8 percent of working youths are at high risk of depression.
The survey has sparked discussions on China's social media, with many netizens commenting that more attention should be paid to young people's mental health.
More than half of the respondents have anxiety problems, with people aged 31-35 and high school students showing the highest rate of severe anxiety. The main sources of youth stress are financial pressure, career confusion and academic pressure, according to the China Youth Daily.
The depression problem among young people is getting more and more serious compared with the survey results in 2008. That year, 75.8 percent of young people were free of depression, 5.3 percentage points lower than in 2018.
