Youth seems positive about personal health and happiness

Young people generally indicated being in good health and feeling happy. Most did not report having any mental health problems and/or suicidal thoughts. However, it does appear that more young people had mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. A minority felt stressed or lonely and/or had physical symptoms. A little over half of the young people felt positive about the future.

Varying impact of coronavirus measures

About half of those surveyed indicated that the coronavirus measures had positively affected their relationships with family and friends, while 15% reported that the measures had a negative influence on their friendships. In addition, 19% of the young people indicated that they were still suffering from something they experienced during the COVID-19 period. This group of young people often have perceived poorer health.

More frequent feelings of depression, anxiety and severe stress

More often than before the pandemic (2019), young people (aged 15-24 years) visited their GP for symptoms such as severe stress or crisis and feelings of depression. Young children (0-4 years) were more likely to suffer from respiratory symptoms. This may have been related to the RSV outbreak that took place during the summer. The occurrence of most other reviewed symptoms was about the same as in 2019.

Minority feels a need for additional care and support

Although the majority felt no need for additional help or support, there were also many young people who did. This is mainly about mental support and assistance at school. Luckily, many young people have someone around that they can talk to if something is bothering them.

Girls and older age group are doing less well

Girls in the entire age group and young people in the upper range of the age group were more likely see their GP for mental and neurological symptoms. In response to the survey, these groups also indicated they were more likely to suffer from mental health problems; this also applied to young people not living with their parents. Young people who are still suffering from the impact of an intense experience are also in poorer perceived physical and mental health. Socio-economic status has a varying impact on perceived health.

Situation overview: the COVID-19 crisis and current measures

From 20 September to 7 October 2021, the panel survey questionnaire was sent to young people aged 12–25 years, asking them to look back on the past three months. The primary care data analysis focuses on the same period of time. This period was characterised by more relaxed measures and a decreasing number of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Face masks were no longer mandatory in most public places, and people no longer had to stay 1.5 metres apart. Clubs and nightlife venues were open until midnight and events were held on a trial basis (Testing for Access).

Approach used in the quarterly youth study

The quarterly study is based on two data sources. The first data source is a survey-based study among youth. From 20 September to 7 October 2021, a total of 4,807 young people between the ages of 12 and 25 years answered questions about their mental and physical health. They were also able to indicate what kind of additional help or support they needed during the COVID-19 period and the effect this period had on their lives. This is relevant because both groups of study participants are representative of Dutch young people (based on gender, age, education and region).

To identify which young people are more vulnerable, we looked at various risk factors in this quarterly study: gender (boys vs. girls), age (12-17 years vs. 18-25 years), living situation (living with parents vs. not living with parents), socio-economic status (high vs. low) and events experienced during the COVID-19 period (bothered by experienced events vs. not bothered by experienced events/no experienced events).

The second data source consists of data from general practitioners (recorded in the primary care database maintained by Nivel – the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research). This data comprises weekly figures on symptoms and conditions among the Dutch population based on (anonymised) data from electronic medical records from GP practices.

The data comes from about 350 GP practices, offering healthcare services to roughly 1.3 million registered patients (8% of the Dutch population). The quarterly study includes listed figures for 20 different symptoms, such as headache, sleep disturbance and tiredness. Figures for 2021 were compared to the figures for 2020 and 2019, differentiating between age groups (0-4, 5-14 and 15-24 years), gender and provinces.