As psychological challenges among Chinese students persist, experts emphasize the urgent need for innovative interventions and multidisciplinary approaches to tackle the mounting issues faced by adolescents. Qiao Zhihong, the Secretary-General of the National Advisory Committee for Students’ Mental Health, highlights key factors contributing to the mental health struggles of adolescents, including an unforgiving education system, diminishing family structures, and challenging social environments.
Qiao, also serving as the Party chief of the faculty of psychology at Beijing Normal University, criticizes the score-oriented education system, asserting that it fails to recognize individual personalities. According to him, this system exerts immense pressure on students, urging them to work relentlessly without reaping personal benefits. Consequently, many students lose the joy of life and learning, making them susceptible to mental health issues.
A report by the Institute of Psychology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences reveals alarming statistics from 2020, indicating that nearly 25 percent of Chinese adolescents experienced mild to severe depression. Moreover, over 30 million children and adolescents under the age of 17 encountered emotional or behavioral problems. The report underscores the severity of the situation, emphasizing that around 50 percent of those suffering from depression were school students, with 41 percent suspending schooling due to mental health challenges.
Qiao identifies the absence of core family members, resulting in single-parent families, as a significant factor contributing to children’s mental problems. He emphasizes that the pressure from the education system exacerbates parents’ misguided care for their children, negatively impacting their mental well-being. Qiao urges parents to prioritize respecting their children’s feelings, offering support rather than solely imposing demands and pressures.
The internet also emerges as a threat to children’s mental health, exposing them to global events that may induce negative thoughts about the world. Qiao stresses that the lack of professional teams remains a substantial challenge in addressing mental health issues, with schools and parents making limited progress. To address this, he highlights initiatives at Beijing Normal University, where students, particularly future teachers, are required to study educational psychology to enhance their ability to handle mental health challenges.
The National Advisory Committee for Students’ Mental Health, established to strengthen the country’s response to students’ mental health, aims to integrate resources from education, health, and non-profit sectors. Led by the Ministry of Education, the committee, headed by BNU professor Dong Qi and Lu Lin, president of Peking University Sixth Hospital, will engage higher education institutes, middle schools, health authorities, and hospitals in research, consultation, monitoring, evaluation, and scientific outreach.
To ensure proactive measures, the committee plans to organize at least one evaluation of students’ mental health and one major event addressing concerns in each of the seven designated regions every academic year. The establishment of this committee reflects a comprehensive effort to prioritize and enhance the mental health of Chinese students through collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches.