Fears about the future are affecting young people: A study shows alarming trends!

Fears about the future are affecting young people: A study shows alarming trends!

The international conference of the European Association of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment (EACLIPT), which took place from May 28th to 30th in Frankfurt am Main, brought together experts from clinical psychology and psychotherapy. Under the main theme “Clinical Psychology in Transition”, workshops and scientific symposia were offered that deal with current challenges and developments in the field of clinical psychology.

Professor Steven Hayes from the USA, Professor Bruce Chorpita from PracticeWise, Dr. Pia Pechtel from Canada and Professor Richard Bryant from Australia were among the keynote speakers. A central theme of the conference was young people's fear of the future, a topic also discussed by Prof. Dr. Betteke van Noort was covered in a poster session. Together with Aylin Dörfel and Tabea Raimon, he presented the results of a study that examined the significant negative influence of fears about the future on the quality of life of young people between the ages of 16 and 18. These fears are moderated by self-efficacy and internalized locus of control, meaning that one's sense of control over one's life is crucial.

Challenges of youth

Another interesting contribution to the conference came from Dr. Annemarie Miano, who presented the results of a study on lie detection ability in borderline personality disorder. Together with Annegret Köhrer, Kirstin Tinnes and Prof. Dr. Sven Barnow from the University of Heidelberg found that people with this personality disorder may be better at distinguishing between lies and truth than mentally healthy control subjects, taking their depression into account.

In a comprehensive study by Professor Dr. Inge Seiffge-Krenke revealed that fear of the future is the biggest stressor among young people worldwide. In their research, which involved a variety of universities and surveyed over 17,742 adolescents aged 15, it became clear that fears are highest in southern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Young people from North America, on the other hand, experienced the lowest levels of anxiety about the future. These results correlate strongly with youth unemployment in each region, indicating that economic concerns have a significant impact on young people's mental distress.

Mental health in transition

A study by the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) shows that fears about the future have increased among children and young people in Germany. While worries about the coronavirus pandemic have decreased, fears about climate change, economic problems and wars have increased. According to this study, around 20% of the children and young people surveyed continue to have a reduced quality of life, which is significantly lower than before the pandemic.

The results of the current studies make it clear that spending time with family, social support and coping skills in difficult situations are crucial to mitigating the effects of fears about the future. It is also emphasized that actively dealing with these fears can significantly reduce the risk of mental disorders such as depression and suicidality. Despite rising fears, a sense of hope remains among young people, which is positive for the future development of their mental health.

For many adolescents, the use of social media such as Instagram and TikTok is increasingly perceived as an influencing factor in their mental health. These platforms can both promote and limit the perception of stress and the confrontation with fears about the future, which makes a differentiated view necessary.

In summary, it is hoped that the scientific findings and discussions from conferences such as EACLIPT will help to improve the situation of young people and find new ways to deal with the challenges of their time.

medicalschool-berlin.de reports, thieme.com informs, and ndr.de added the context of these relevant topics.