Mental health, burnout and stress-related symptoms among youth: prevalence and pandemic effects

IN ENGLISH: The chapter examines youth mental health in Croatia and Slovenia through validated measures of depression, anxiety, stress (DASS9), burnout (BAT-12), and self-reported worries. Results indicate elevated levels of impairment, with over one-quarter of young people in both countries reporting severe depressive symptoms, around 20% reporting severe anxiety, and nearly one-third reporting high stress, with Croatian respondents consistently showing slightly higher levels of depression and stress. Burnout symptoms were more pronounced among students than employed youth, which underlines the role of educational settings as environments of heightened psychological strain. There were statistically significant gender and age disparities observed: young women, particularly in the youngest cohorts, reported the highest levels of mental health difficulties, whereas older women showed improvement. Among men, different age-related trends emerged. Socio-economic status also influenced outcomes, with financially better-off youth reporting fewer symptoms. --------------- IN CROATIAN: Poglavlje analizira mentalno zdravlje mladih u Hrvatskoj i Sloveniji koristeći validirane mjere depresije, anksioznosti i stresa (DASS-9), sagorijevanja (BAT-12) te samoprijavljenih briga. Rezultati ukazuju na povišene razine poteškoća: više od četvrtine mladih u obje zemlje prijavilo je ozbiljne simptome depresije, oko 20% ozbiljnu anksioznost, a gotovo trećina visoku razinu stresa, pri čemu su ispitanici iz Hrvatske dosljedno pokazivali nešto više razine depresije i stresa. Simptomi sagorijevanja bili su izraženiji među studentima nego među zaposlenim mladima, što naglašava ulogu obrazovnog okruženja kao prostora povećanog psihološkog opterećenja. Uočene su statistički značajne razlike prema spolu i dobi: mlade žene, osobito u najmlađim kohortama, prijavile su najviše razine teškoća s mentalnim zdravljem, dok je kod starijih žena primijećeno poboljšanje. Kod muškaraca su se pak pojavili drugačiji dobno specifični obrasci. Socioekonomski status također je utjecao na ishode, pri čemu su financijski bolje stojeći mladi prijavljivali manje simptoma.