The psychological well-being conditions of 14-19 year olds have worsened in 2021. This is what emerges from Wellbeing and Health Report (BES) 2021, presented by Istat. The BES project has led the country to have a continuously evolving system of measures of real progress and allows us to give timely and collective answers to the simple and at the same time very difficult question: "How is life in Italy?" ?”. Thanks to the report, explained the president of Istat, Gian Carlo Blangiardo, it is possible highlight the areas where inequalities occur And identify the most disadvantaged groups, directing the demand on solid evidence of targeted policies.
Many gaps have remained, or even widened: from life expectancy at birth to avoidable mortality, from municipal spending on culture to the impact of forest fires and illegal building, which is stronger in the southern regions.
The pandemic has mostly resulted in setbacks in the well-being of the female population: for example, in levels of psychological well-being and employment, especially for mothers with young children.
But they were even children, adolescents and very young people pay a very high price to the pandemic and the restrictions imposed by measures to combat infections. It is they who require, today and in the years to come, the utmost attention from politicians.
During the pandemic years, young people between 14 and 19 are the only ones who have known a significant deterioration in life satisfaction, with the percentage of very satisfied people moving from 56.9% in 2019 to 52.3% in 2021.
If dissatisfied adolescents with a low mental health score in 2019 were 3.2% of the total, in 2021 this percentage has doubled (6.2%). These are approximately 220 thousand children between 14 and 19 years old who declare themselves dissatisfied with their lives and find themselves, at the same time, in a condition of poor psychological well-being.
On the other hand, the same phenomena of bullying, violence and vandalism by very young people, which have occupied the news in recent months, are extreme manifestations of widespread and perhaps not transitory suffering and restlessness.
In this same age group, the sedentary lifestyle it went from 18.6 to 20.9%, given the impossibility for many to continuously carry out sporting activities. And, among 14-17 year olds, they have been observed high shares of alcohol consumers at risk of damaging their psychological well-being (23,6%).
Among young people, for whom peer relationships are of the utmost importance for harmonious development, it is satisfaction with relationships with friends also tangibly decreased. The share of very satisfied 14-19 year olds has lost 6.5 points in two years. Between 2019 and 2021, the percentage of young people aged 14-24 who say they meet up with friends at least once a week fell from 89.8% to 73.8%. In this age group, the percentage of those who declared themselves very satisfied with their family relationships also decreased (-4 points).
It is not difficult to understand the reasons for this disaffection: in 2021, the continuation of the difficulties for parents and children in sharing domestic spaces also for working and attending lessons, the reduced possibilities of hanging out with fellow students due to the alternation of teaching in presence and at a distance for a good part of the school or academic year, the limitations in the possibility of practicing sporting and recreational activities have contributed to a sort of desertification of affections, which has eroded the foundations of youth satisfaction.
Volunteering activity, which remained stable in the first year of the pandemic: in 2021 recorded a contraction of almost 5 points among young people aged 14-19. Between 2019 and 2021, social participation also decreases significantly, by around 11 points, in the 14-24 age group.
Our country, on the eve of the pandemic, had not yet recovered the profound losses in terms of youth employment rate linked to the economic recession and had increased the distance from the European average. In 2019 in Italy the employment rate of young people aged 25-34 continued to remain the lowest of all European countries, with a particularly wide gap for girls. With the arrival of the pandemic, the situation of young people on the job market has further deteriorated, especially for women, whose employment rate has suffered the greatest losses.
Italy has a sad record in Europe for the number of young people between 15 and 29 who are no longer included in a school or training course or even engaged in a working activity, known as NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training).
Another critical factor is represented by thehigh number of early dropouts: the share of young people aged 18-24 who leave the education and training system without having obtained a diploma or qualification, also called Early Leavers from Education and Training (ELET) in 2021 is equal to 12.7% in Italy, the highest value than that set as the maximum limit at European level (10%), already reached on average by the EU.
For the most educated and qualified young people, Italy does not yet offer adequate opportunities. And so, despite the limitations on mobility imposed during the first year of the pandemic, and the uncertainty that characterized 2020, the emigration abroad of young Italian graduates has intensified compared to 2019.
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