By NORIHIKO KUWABARA/ Staff Writer
October 27, 2022 at 07:00 JST
A college student attending an online class (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The percentage of young adults born in 2001 who report being mentally healthy and have good relationships with their friends has fallen during the novel coronavirus pandemic, a government survey showed.
The education ministry announced the finding in late September.
“There is a possibility they were affected by restrictions imposed on various activities,” an official said.
The education and health ministries continuously conduct follow-up surveys on the Longitudinal Survey of Babies Born in the 21st century launched in 2001, which has targeted those born in 2001.
This year, the results from the survey conducted when they were 20 years old were published.
About 30,000 people, including parents and guardians, were chosen for the survey. Of these, 24,000 provided valid responses.
Those born in 2001 are either third- or fourth-year students if they have moved on to college right after high school and haven’t repeated a year.
Third-year students saw the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world when they entered college.
When asked about their mental state, 33.2 percent either said they “always” or “almost always” spent their time feeling cheerful and happy, a decrease of 5.9 percentage points from a previous survey conducted when they were third-year high school students.
A total of 85.9 percent of students who responded to the survey said they think they are on good terms with their friends at school “completely” or in a “relative sense,” down by 6.1 percentage points from a previous survey done when they were second-year high school students.
Meanwhile, 81.8 percent said the satisfaction level of their school life was affected by the pandemic.
The survey also asked about their stance on employment.
When they were asked to give multiple answers about what they place importance on when making a career choice, 58.9 percent of male college students, or the largest portion of the respondents, cited “high wages and bonuses.”
But the largest female group, or 64.3 percent, said they want to be in a workplace “with a good working environment.”
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