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More than half of S. Korean youth get frequently stressed in daily lives: poll

January 27, 2015

Senior students of a girls’ high school in Seoul take a trial examination in preparation for November’s College Scholastic Ability Test on June 12, 2014. (Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — More than half of South Korean youth feel stressed in their daily lives mainly due to study and job-seeking, a government poll showed Tuesday.

According to the 2014 survey conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in September, 58.1 percent of the respondents said they are occasionally or frequently stressed out in their daily lives, a fall compared to the same survey conducted in 2011.

The latest survey on 3,000 people aged 9 to 24 also found that older children aged 13 to 24 (62.1 percent) and women (63.7 percent) are more vulnerable to stress than younger children aged 9 to 12 (41.6 percent) and men (53.2 percent).

Students attending middle and high schools and universities said their stress mainly comes from college entrance and unemployment problems.

In the same survey, 40.6 percent of the respondents were found to feel the urge to run away from home with 9.8 percent answering they have an experience of leaving home without notice.

About 31.8 percent and 53.1 percent of the youth said they have dialogue with their father and mother for at least an hour a week, up 7.9 percent each from 2011.

Slightly more than 86 percent of the respondents answered they are happy, an increase from 81.4 percent in 2011.

“The longer they talk with their parents, the less stress and urge to leave home and the more happiness youths were found to feel,” the ministry said in a release about the survey.