Students suffer high depression rates
June 02, 2008 01:30am
Article from: AAP
MORE than 20 per cent of female HSC students have severe depression and suffer from stress, while 30
per cent show symptoms of acute anxiety, new figures reveal.
An alarming number of year 12 students are breaking down in psychological distress in their final year of
school as they prepare to sit their final exams, News Limited reports.
More than 11 per cent of year 12 boys are seriously anxious, 18.3 per cent are stressed and 15 per cent
acknowledge they are depressed, new research by Flinders University School of Psychology shows.
Students exhibit a range of symptoms such as awareness of their heart activity when at rest, trembling
hands, panic, lack of motivation and even feeling that their life is meaningless.
Researchers have separated out the impact of exams on students’ psychological health.
More than 53 per cent of male students and more than 60 per cent of female students attribute most of their stress to final year exams.
Dr Julie Robinson from the Flinders School of Psychology said researchers found a `significant number of
boys and girls” had levels of stress, anxiety and depression – far more in the HSC year than in year 11.
“These are alarming numbers… some young people have six times the range of clinical stress that you
would expect,” she said.
