SINGAPORE — A significant proportion of youth in Singapore has experienced severe or very severe symptoms of depression, anxiety or stress, the first nationwide survey on youth mental health by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) found.

Nearly a third of young people aged 15 to 35 reported symptoms that included feeling empty, tense or upset most of the time, according to the National Youth Mental Health Study.

"Navigating the complexities of youth is challenging enough, but young people today are grappling with unique issues that previous generations did not," said Associate Professor Swapna Verma, who chairs IMH's medical board and was co-principal investigator of the study.

"For instance, social media exposes them to constant comparisons, intensifying concerns about body image.

"The anonymity of the online world has also given rise to cyber bullying, which adds a new dimension of harassment that can be relentless and far-reaching."

Young people were more likely to report having symptoms if they had experienced cyber bullying, had moderate to severe concerns about their body shape or spent more than three hours daily on social media, said IMH, which released the results on Sept 19.

The nationwide epidemiological study established the prevalence of severe symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, along with their associated factors including cyber bullying, body shape concerns and excessive social media use, as well as the treatment gap and sources of support among young people here.

The one-third figure is similar to the findings of other research studies that are based on self-reporting, said the Health, Education, and Social and Family Development ministries in a joint release on Sept 19.

In particular, a higher prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms was found among those aged 15 to 24, and in the Malay ethnic group.

Between October 2022 and June 2023, a total of 2,600 Singaporeans and permanent residents completed a set of questionnaires on their own, using tablets provided by an interviewer. They received an inconvenience fee of $50 for completing the questionnaires.

They also went through several scales, including the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales, a set of three self-reporting scales designed to measure emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress experienced by an individual in the preceding week.

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The youth study found that anxiety was the most common mental...