Credit: Public domain.
An annual study by the Ministry of Education 교육부 and Disease Control and Prevention Agency 질병관리청 found that mental health declined among elementary, middle and high school students in 2022. 24.2% of male students and 33.5% of female students reported feeling a sense of depression, an increase of 1.8% and 2.1% respectively over the previous year.
Among male students, 36.0% reported experiencing stress, an increase of 3.7%; the number for female students was 47.0%, an increase of 1.4%. More students also reported episodes of loneliness and anxiety.
Perhaps relatedly, 15.0% of male students and 10.9% of female students said they had taken at least one alcoholic drink in the past month - an increase of 2.6% and 2.0% respectively. The prevalence of smoking, however, largely remained the same. On the other hand, 46.6% of male students and 25.8% of female students said they exercised for more than 20 minutes at a time at least three days out of the week - an increase of 6.5% and 5.8% respectively.
