Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) conducted a sample survey among students aged 12 to 17 in Taiwan using the DASS21 Emotional Self-Assessment Scale and found that more than 10% of the students’ stress level has reached the severe level, and the stress index of high school students (16.0%) is nearly twice as high as that of junior high school students (8.2%). In addition, according to the statistical report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2021, "suicide" has climbed to the second cause of death among youngsters aged 15 to 24, which clearly shows that mental health problems of youngsters are imminent. Pai, Li-Fang, CEO of CWLF expressed, “It is our hope that children grow up healthily and happily. However, as children grow older, they would face more stress that drives them further away from happiness. We hope that through and the follow-up series of community advocacy, society will pay attention to the problems of youth depression and shall work together to support the emotional umbrella so that  youths can face it with a positive attitude even when they are depressed.”

Through the DASS21 Emotional Self-Assessment Scale, CWLF found that more than ten per cent of the students (12.2%) have a level of stress at a severe level (severe 7.7%, extremely severe 4.5 %), and the stress index of high school students (16.0%) is nearly twice as high as that of junior high school students (8.2%).

The top three sources of stress for modern children are schoolwork (76.9%), prospects (67.3%) and interpersonal relationships (43.0%). In addition, appearance (35.2%), the economic status of one’s family (20.2%), and parents-children relationship (20.3%) are also common troubles for teenagers. It is worth noting that nearly twenty per cent (19.6%) of the students in this survey expressed their concerns about their health and disease, showing that the COVID-19 raging in the past three years has resulted in a considerable impact on children's physical and mental health.

The survey also revealed that 17% of teenagers rated their depression as severe or above (severe 8.1%, extremely severe 8.9%), and the number spiked to 23% for high schoolers. Children who encountered issues or suffer from depression are in urgent need of care and attention from adults, yet they lack the channels to express their emotions. According to the survey’s results, as many as 70% of students will first turn to classmates and friends when they encounter emotional distress, followed by parents (40.6%), however, 17% of children do not talk to anyone and deal with negative emotions on their own. Students’ willingness to seek school teachers for help is low (10.5%), and there are more children (9.8%) rather seek help from netizens than from counsellors with professional knowledge (5.6%). Many would concern about whether the unorthodox opinion-sharing and guidance will make adolescents misunderstand depression and hinder them from learning how to relieve themselves.

In addition to the academic pressure, teenagers will continue to face challenges from family, peers, and themselves during their growth stage. If they can develop sufficient social competence through good interpersonal relationships and team spirit cultivation, they could effectively improve their regulation of emotion when encountering different forms of challenges. The cross-analysis data also suggested that students with higher social competence will experience relatively lower degrees of stress and depression, and the proportion of those with severe depression can even be nearly halved (21.2% vs 11.8%). CWLF CEO Bai, Li-Fang expressed that “It is essential to help young people develop social abilities including communication, cooperation, declaration, responsibility, participation, empathy and self-control, etc. It will help children build a better, healthier psychological state.”

Same as social competence, no matter whom teenagers get social support from, as long as someone is willing to listen, understand and make them feel loved and cared for, the children's depression and stress index will be significantly reduced. Yet another worrisome discovery derived from the result is that nearly forty per cent (37.9%) of teenagers in Taiwan do not hold sufficient capacity for social competence, or social support, which leads to severe depression among these children reaching as high as 23.7%. How adults could best use social and family resources to help teenagers regain a healthy mind is the top issue to reflect on.

In the digital age where technology has caused interpersonal indifference, "teenage depression" has become a major challenge affecting children's physical and mental development. Due to the immature emotional regulation ability and problem-solving ability of many adolescents, their distress calls to the outside world are easily interpreted as "rebellious", "strawberry generation" and "low-stress resistance" by adults, which aggravates depression mood, even leading to self-harm, violence and other behaviours. We invited the Wang family, including Wang, Zhong-Ping, Yu, Hao-Ran (Wang’s wife), and Han, Fei (Daughter) to the press conference this time to serve as love ambassadors sharing their experience of positive family communication. In addition, the CWLF will also arrange a symposium inviting the graphic creator, Mr Doumiao, to discuss about how he healed himself and others through illustrations and his journey of the heart to fight against depression. Teng, Shan-Ting, a consulting psychologist, will also put forward guidance on emotional communication and anti-depression solutions from a professional medical point of view.

• Chat with kids more and provide positive encouragement and assistance

Parental support has a particularly significant impact on the mental health of adolescents. However, adolescent children tend to have conflicts with their parents and often feel misunderstood. Parents are advised to spend more time talking with their children and give positive encouragement and assistance.

• Learn more about children’s mental health

Adolescent children are very delicate. They tend to feel lonely due to the lack of connection with friends or family members. Besides, they also actively seek self-identity and a sense of security in interpersonal interactions. Through emotional education, children can learn how to perceive negative emotions correctly and express themselves actively to reduce the chance of depression.

• Expand online tutoring resources and increase the accessibility of campus tutoring resources

According to the 2022 survey conducted by CWLF, as many as 78.5% of students refuse to use the counseling room due to reasons such as lack of time, too far away from the classroom, and insufficient privacy protection. CWLF suggests that schools should strengthen the function of publicizing the counseling room and coordinate with students to adjust the meeting time, and increase the confidentiality of counseling resources, such as adding online one-on-one conversation function, so that children can obtain channels of expression at any time when they encounter emotional difficulties.

• Incorporate mental health into regular routine checkups

Children's social competence can be gradually cultivated and exercised in daily life. CWLF provides a special line for teenagers and LINE@online chat service, so that children aged 13-18 can talk to social workers at any time to share about various troubles in life. In addition, CWLF "Youth+" is also set up in Taichung Yizhong Street to provide children with a multi-dimensional space to relax and learn about interpersonal interaction. For caregivers with children under the age of 18, CWLF has also set up a parenting hotline, where professional social workers listen to parents' parenting difficulties and work together to find the most suitable solution.
【Junior Line】0800-001-769
【Youth LINE@】@youthplus_cwlf
【Parenting hotline】 0800-532-880
【IG Interactive Post Game】Play link https://pse.is/4s6efc
【Passport for Heart Protection】Download link https://bit.ly/3XQRPXB
Source of Heart-Heart Passport: Depression subscale of DASS21 scale (Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21)