Near doubling in students who are unhappy – researchers point to screen use
More than one in four lower secondary school students are unhappy. That is almost a doubling over ten years. A new study links it to screen use and mental health problems.
Published
Around 2014, researchers in the annual Ungdata survey began to see a decline in well-being in school.
Every year, Norwegian adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 are asked about everything from family and mental health to drugs and sex in a large Norwegian survey called Ungdata.
Ten years later, it became clear that significant changes had occurred. More and more adolescents have a negative relationship with school, and most well-being indicators are moving in the wrong direction, the researchers said when last year's Ungdata report was released (link in Norwegian).
In a new study, researchers have taken a deeper look into the dissatisfaction among lower secondary school students:
Now more than one in four students are dissatisfied.
Three more students in each class are very dissatisfied
- From 2014 to 2022, the group with high well-being at school has halved: From 18 per cent to 9 per cent.
- At the same time, the two groups with most dissatisfaction have increased significantly: From 16 to 27 per cent.
The new study shows the development over these years:
"These are quite significant changes," says Anders Bakken.
He is a researcher and head of the Ungdata Centre at OsloMet.
"If you imagine a class of 30 students, this means three fewer students who enjoy school and three more who are really unhappy," he says.
Big change in a short time
School well-being is still relatively high, the researchers point out. 33 per cent of students are satisfied, but a bit bored.
But the large increase in dissatisfaction has happened over just a few years. More and more also find school boring, says Bakken, and the Norwegian Directorate for Education reports increased absenteeism (link in Norwegian).
That students' relationship with school is changing in a negative direction is also an international trend, the researchers write.
Why is this happening?
Bakken and colleague Jørn Ljunggren see that something else has increased alongside dissatisfaction in school:
Screen time and mental health problems.
Is performance pressure and social media to blame for students feeling so unhappy at school?
A study like this cannot give a definitive yes or no answer. But the statistics show there is a connection.
The satisfied use screens the least
Among the students who were very satisfied with school, there was no increase in mental health problems.
The largest increases were found by researchers in the groups they call 'the somewhat content,' 'those who skip classes a lot,' and 'the very dissatisfied.'
In the group that is doing great at school, 15 per cent reported mental health problems.
Among the very dissatisfied, the number was 60 per cent.
"Mental health problems are an expression of poor quality of life, and how you're doing at school is important here. So it would be strange if there weren't a connection," says Bakken.
The adolescents were asked how much time they spend on screens outside of school on a typical day. The responses ranged from no time to more than six hours.
The time young people spend in front of screens has increased significantly from 2014 to 2022, as expected, the researchers write. This increase has happened independently of how students feel about school, affecting all groups more or less equally.
Throughout the entire period, it is the most satisfied students who spend the least time in front of screens. Those who skip school and those who are unhappy at school spend the most time on screens.
Mental health problems and screen time
According to the researchers, the rise in mental health problems and screen time accounts for half of the increase in dissatisfaction among students.
It also explains a third of the decline in satisfaction among those who are generally content.
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"The findings don't directly indicate causation. But they show that there are connections between adolescents' screen use, mental health problems, and well-being in school, without us being able to say what affects what," says Bakken.
One possibility is that students are more unhappy at school if they spend a lot of time on screens. But it could also be the other way around – that young people spend more time on screens because they are dissatisfied with school.
More adolescents are dissatisfied
The researchers found no significant difference in school well-being between girls and boys.
But they see that more and more younger students are unhappy at school.
In general, those with low socioeconomic status are less happy at school than those with high socioeconomic status, says Bakken.
"That picture hasn't changed much. But some of those with high socioeconomic status are less satisfied, so for that group, things have gotten a bit worse," he says.
In the most recent period the researchers looked at, adolescents were affected by Covid-19 measures. But Ungdata figures from after the pandemic show the same decline in school well-being.
Screens and bullying
"We've seen over time that boredom is increasing and that academic motivation and well-being are declining. The researchers are finding some interesting connections here that should be explored further," says Kjersti Balle Tharaldsen.
She is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Stavanger.
"They go back to 2014, which is right around the time social media really took off among this age group," she says.
A Danish commission recently issued several recommendations to improve well-being among children and adolescents. Among other things, they recommend less screen use and mobile-free primary and lower secondary schools.
Tharaldsen believes that mobile-free schools are a good idea, primarily so that children are not distracted by their phones during the school day.
She is also concerned about the link between screen use and bullying.
"Studies have shown a particularly strong connection between mental health problems and digital bullying. Those who are exposed to it never get a break. Your phone is always with you, and you're always reachable. That's something we need to pay more attention to," she says.
You can be anything you want
Tharaldsen believes adolescents' focus on achievement and perfection is key to understanding the dissatisfaction seen in lower secondary school.
"School has taken on a bigger role in young people's lives, and they're constantly told that if they just work hard enough, they can become anything they want. When something becomes that big and important, it also becomes a source of stress," says Tharaldsen.
When performance becomes important, making mistakes feels embarrassing. Not knowing something turns into something to hide, Tharaldsen explains. Many young people also believe they can achieve things without putting in effort.
"One strategy, then, might be to say that you find something boring, rather than admitting you're struggling with it," she says.
They're not just on their phones
Anders Bakken and his colleagues are now working to find explanations for the rise in dissatisfaction. But he points out that things may not be as bad as some make them out to be – at least when it comes to screen use.
"Some young people do face major challenges with screens at times. It can be a direct cause of various problems. But the idea that it's destroying an entire generation – that's taking it too far," he says.
Last autumn, Ungdata released a report on young people's leisure time (link in Norwegian).
"There are definitely some teenagers who stay inside and spend all their time watching screens. But then we also have many others who go home after school, do their homework, go to practice, eat dinner with their families – and then spend time on social media. There are many different ways to be a teenager," says Bakken, adding:
"The idea that we have a whole generation of young people who are only focused on social media doesn't match the data we have."
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Translated by Alette Bjordal Gjellesvik
Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no
Reference:
Bakken, A. & Ljunggren, J. Well-being in school. Secular trends among secondary school students 2014–2022, Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift, vol. 9, 2025. DOI: 10.18261/nost.9.1.3
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