Stressed young ‘fearing for health’

SOCIETY: Rising numbers of young people regularly feel stressed and fear for their emotional health as they struggle with worries about money and the their future, research by the Prince’s Trust has found.

RISING NUMBERS of young people regularly feel stressed and fear for their emotional health as they struggle with worries about money and the their future, research has found.

A study by the Prince’s Trust found that 59 per cent of young people in Yorkshire and Humber were regularly stressed and a fifth went as far as to say they felt “hopeless”.

The national survey of more than 2,000 16 to 25-year-olds found that young people’s happiness and confidence in their emotional health had fallen to its lowest level since the study was first carried out in 2009. Some 42 per cent of local young people said they have experienced a mental health problem, according to the Prince’s Trust study.

More than a third of young people thought they put too much pressure on themselves to achieve success. Some 50 per cent were worried about their finances.

But almost a third said they would not ask for help if they were feeling overwhelmed by something.

Nick Stace, UK Chief Executive of the Prince’s Trust, said: “It should ring alarm bells for us all that young people are feeling more despondent about their emotional health than ever before.

“This is a generation rapidly losing faith in their ability to achieve their goals in life, who are increasingly wary of and disillusioned with the jobs market and at risk of leaving a wealth of untapped potential in their wake.

“One of the most important things we can do to stem this flow is to show young people that it’s worth having high aspirations, that opportunities to earn a good living and progress in a career are out there and that they’ll be supported along the way to live, learn and earn.”

“For this to happen, it is vital that government, charities and employers across the UK invest more in developing young people’s skills and in providing opportunities for them to progress in fulfilling, sustainable careers.”

Seven per cent of those surveyed had experienced losing a job through redundancy, having a contract terminated or not renewed unexpectedly, or being fired.

Some 60 per cent agreed that having a job would give them a sense of purpose, and 47 per cent think that having a job is good for their mental health.

Meanwhile, a separate survey by the bank Santander has found that parents believe their children understand the value of money at 10 years old on average,.

This is the age they stop believing money is infinite, that it must be earned, and it is important to save, according to the research.

While the average age across the survey for parents thinking their child had grasped how money works was 10, one in 14 parents believed their child had understood the concept of money by the age of five.

The survey, which included the views of five to 15-year-olds as well as parents, found nearly nine in 10 boys said they like to save money for the future, compared with just over three-quarters of girls.

When children were asked why they like to save money, 47 per cent wanted to buy sweets or entertainment products, while days out and holiday spending money were also found to be behind children’s motivations to save money.

A third of children saved to buy gifts for their family and one in five were thinking ahead about university.

More than a quarter of parents said they were not taught the value of financial planning by their parents when they were young.

It should ring alarm bells that young people feel despondent. Nick Stace, UK Chief Executive of the Prince’s Trust.