Does mental health affect students' academic performance in school?

Shaynasnyder
3 min readJun 4, 2022

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Mental health problems have a major impact on someone’s everyday life. How can you tell when you have mental health issues? How does it affect your learning in school and the effort you put into the work and tests? So it comes down to the question. Does mental health affect students’ academic performance?

Data

In 2019, more than one-third of high school students reported chronic emotions of melancholy or hopelessness, a 40% rise from 2009. As well, in 2019, one in every six teenagers said they had made a suicide plan in the previous year, a 44% incline since 2009. Of students who are diagnosed with these types of mental health issues, about 80% of them go without any sort of help. In the American College Health Association survey, college students specified which types of mental health issues they struggle with the most. Stress (30% of students) Anxiety (22%) Sleep difficulties (20%) Depression (14%)

Why is this important?

Mental health has a tremendous impact on someone’s life and the people’s life around them. It affects how we think, act, and feel. Often, mental health has a ripple effect. This means it can affect our family, friends, and relationships we have with people. Mental health issues in adolescents are frequently associated with additional health and behavioral hazards, such as a higher risk of drug use, violence, and risky sexual activities. Students with poor mental health also struggle with school and grades.

Suicide rates

Expectations for children to succeed from themselves, parents, teachers, peers, colleges, and others are the leading source of stress in schools and suicides. Students stay up late at night studying, doing homework, doing projects, etc. trying to get a good grade for their class. This can cause a lack of sleep and more stress and anxiety for a student. School districts generally give less support at the elementary and middle school levels to help students with serious mental health concerns, such as severe depression, suicidal ideation, and self-injury, as suicide rates among children aged 5 to 11 have grown on average by 15% every year from 2013 to 2020. 19.6% of 6th graders, 21.1% of 7th graders, and 24.7% of 8th graders have all thought about self-harm.

Mental health is a very serious issue in today’s world. Lots of people are struggling and you may not even notice. As well are lots of students because of school and the work. Mental health affects you and everyone around you. There are lots of different solutions to help you go through with this. Therapy is a very good example of a way to help you. Always remember that you are never alone through times like this.

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