Students cited “study burden” as the top reason for not being happy. (image: Pixabay)
SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The biggest cause of the South Korean children’s declining happiness and sleep deprivation was “studying.”
According to data released Tuesday by Sejong University professor Park Hyun-sun, students’ sense of happiness tended to decline as their grades went up, from 90.4 percent in elementary school to 84 percent in middle school and 76.4 percent in high school.
Park analyzed the report using data of 9,060 students who participated in the 2018 report and data of 1,453 students who participated in the 2016 study data.
Students cited “study burden” as the top reason for not being happy. The ratio stood at 44.5 percent in 2018, up 7.2 percentage points from 37.3 percent five years earlier in 2013.
In particular, 52.4 percent of the students surveyed said they were “deprived of sleep” last year, with 33.8 percent saying they even thought of killing themselves.
Looking at the reasons for sleep deprivation, home study, including homework and Internet lectures topped the list at 19.1 percent, followed by private institutes at 18.4 percent.
Among the students who thought of committing suicide, 37.2 percent cited “school grades” as the main reason, followed by “anxiety about the future,” accounting for 21.9 percent and “family conflict,” accounting for 17.9 percent.
Park stressed that “everyday basic rights, which look trivial, such as sleeping enough and eating regularly, could also pose a risk of survival, where the idea of suicide increases sharply if those rights are not fulfilled continuously.”
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
