Adolescent mental and social health

1. Key messages

2. Self-perceived health

In Belgium in 2022, boys reported more favourable self-perceived health

In 2022, the proportion of adolescents with excellent or good self-perceived health was significantly higher among boys than among girls. The prevalence of good or excellent self-perceived health was significantly higher among younger adolescents (aged 11-12) compared to older ones (aged 15-18), except for boys in the Flemish Community, where a difference was observed only between those aged 11–12 and those aged 17–18.

In 2022, favourable health perception was higher in the Flemish Community

In 2022, a higher proportion of adolescents aged 11-18 perceived their health as good or excellent in the Flemish Community compared to the French Community, with a prevalence of 86% and 83% among the boys and 79% and 73% among the girls, respectively.

Between 2006 and 2022, the prevalence of adolescents reporting their health as favourable remained stable

The proportion of boys and girls with a good or excellent perception of their health remained stable between 2006 and 2022 in both communities.

In 2022, adolescents from families with high affluence reported excellent health more frequently

Among adolescents aged 11, 13, and 15, those from high-affluence families had a higher prevalence of excellent self-perceived health in both communities. In the Flemish Community, the prevalence of excellent health among boys and girls from the highest socio-economic (SE) group was 1.8 times higher than among those in the lowest SE group. In the French Community, the prevalence among boys from the highest SE group was 1.4 times higher than among those from the lowest SE group, while for girls, it was 1.5 times higher.

The proportion of adolescents rating their health as excellent in Belgium was comparable to the EU-14 average in 2022

The 2022 HBSC international report revealed that for the EU-14 countries, 38% of 15-year-old boys and 19% of 15-year-old girls rated their health as excellent. For both boys and girls, the EU-14 average was comparable to the observations in the French Community and Flemish Community.

3. Multiple health complaints

In 2022, a higher proportion of girls reported multiple health complaints

In 2022, the proportion of adolescents reporting multiple health complaints more than once a week was higher in older age categories (15-18) than in younger ones (11-12), except for boys from the French Community, where a difference was observed only between those aged 17-18 and those aged 11-12. Across all ages, more girls than boys reported having multiple health complaints more than once a week.

Difficulty falling asleep, feeling nervous and feeling irritable were the top three symptoms reported weekly by both boys and girls in Belgium [1-2].

In 2022, boys and girls in the French Community reported multiple health complaints more often

The proportion of adolescents reporting multiple health complaints was higher in the French Community (43% for boys and 68% for girls) compared to the Flemish Community (30% for boys and 52% for girls).

In 2022, the prevalence of multiple health complaints was lower in adolescents from families with high affluence

In 2022, adolescents aged 11, 13, and 15 years old from low-affluence families more often reported multiple health complaints more than once a week than those from a high-affluence background.

The socio-economic difference was more pronounced in the Flemish Community: the prevalence of multiple health complaints among boys from the low-affluence families was 1.4 times higher, and among girls, it was 1.2 times higher, compared to boys and girls from the high-affluence families. For the French Community, there was no significant socio-economic difference.

In 2022, adolescents from the French Community reported multiple health complaints more often than the EU-14 average

The 2022 HBSC international report revealed that for the EU-14 countries, an average of 36% of 15-year-old boys and 68% of 15-year-old girls reported multiple health complaints more than once a week. The French Community exceeded the EU-14 average, with 43% of boys and 74% of girls reporting multiple health complaints more than once a week, while the Flemish Community remained just below the average, with 32% of boys and 63% of girls reporting multiple health complaints.

4. Loneliness

In 2022, girls more often reported feelings of loneliness than boys

The proportion of adolescents who felt lonely 'most of the time or always' during the year preceding the survey was significantly higher for girls than for boys in both communities in 2022. For girls, the feeling of loneliness increased with age groups, except between those aged 15-16 and 17-18, where it was comparable. For boys, a significant difference was only observed between those aged 11-12 and those aged 17-18.

In 2022, loneliness was more frequent among adolescents from the French Community

More adolescents aged 11 to 18 reported feeling lonely most of the time or always in the French Community (14% of boys and 31% of girls) than in the Flemish Community (10% of boys and 22% of girls).

In 2022, adolescents from high-affluence families less often reported feelings of loneliness

For adolescents aged 11, 13, and 15 years, those from high-affluence families had a lower proportion of feeling lonely most of the time or always, among girls in both communities and among boys in the Flemish Community.

In the French Community, the prevalence of loneliness among girls from low-affluence families was 1.6 times higher than among those from high-affluence families. In the Flemish Community, the prevalence of loneliness among adolescents from low-affluence families was 2.0 times higher than among those from high-affluence families.

In 2022, the prevalence of loneliness among girls from the French Community was the highest among the EU-14 countries

The 2022 HBSC International report revealed that for EU-14 countries, an average of 11% of boys and 27% of girls aged 15 reported feeling lonely 'always' or 'most of the time' during the past year. The frequency observed in both communities was similar to the EU-14 average, except for girls in the French Community, who had the highest proportion of girls reporting loneliness among EU-14 countries (37%).

5. Read more

View the metadata for this indicator

HBSC Communauté française

HBSC Vlaanderen

Background

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2021, one in seven adolescents aged 10-19 experienced a mental disorder, accounting for 13% of the global burden of disease in this age group [4]. Depression, anxiety, and behavioral disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents. The consequences of failing to address mental health issues during adolescence extend into adulthood, affecting both physical and mental health and limiting opportunities to lead fulfilling lives as adults.

Social interaction is also a basic human need, comparable to other fundamental needs. Feeling insufficiently connected to others is associated with profound and lasting negative consequences on physical and mental health. Adolescence is a sensitive period for social development, during which young people are hypersensitive to social stimuli and to the negative effects of social exclusion [5]. The effect of social isolation and loneliness on mortality is comparable to that of other well-established risk factors such as smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. Social isolation and loneliness are widespread, with an estimated 5-15% of adolescents experiencing loneliness [6].

Although networks providing mental health support for young people are developing in Belgium, national data on children’s mental health remain scarce, especially among the youngest age groups. Existing studies likely reflect only the tip of the iceberg, as many children remain undiagnosed. The COVID-19 pandemic further heightened concerns regarding young people’s mental well-being. In 2018, the Belgian Health Interview Survey (BHIS) extended for the first time its scope to include indicators of child mental health, providing new elements on the subject [7]. The HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children) surveys currently provide the most information on the emotional well-being of Belgian youth aged 11 to 18 years [1-3].

To describe the mental and social well-being of adolescents in Belgium, we used three indicators:

• Self-perceived health
• Multiple health complaints
• Loneliness

The HBSC survey collects data through questionnaires completed by students, drawn from a sample of schools that were randomly selected from the full-time education schools. The surveys provide information among adolescents aged 11 to 18 years. The data used for the French Community covers students from Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region, while the Flemish Community only includes schools from Flanders and not those from the Brussels-Capital Region [1-2]. For international level and socio-economic disparities, data are used from the most recent international reports published by the World Health Organization [3]. The indicators were assessed among adolescents aged 11, 13, and 15 years.

Definitions

Self-perceived health

The perceived state of health of teenagers attending school was assessed using the question: "Would you say that your health is...". Four response categories were proposed: "excellent", "good", "rather good", and "not very good". In this report, only the responses “good” and “excellent” were considered indicative of favorable self-perceived health.

Multiple Health Complaints (psychosomatic symptoms)

Adolescents were classified as having multiple health complaints if they reported experiencing at least two of the following eight symptoms with a frequency of at least once a week in the last six months: headache; stomach ache; backache; feeling low; feeling irritable or bad-tempered; feeling nervous; difficulties in getting to sleep; and feeling dizzy.

Loneliness

The feeling of loneliness was measured by asking how often adolescents had felt lonely during the year preceding the survey. Response options were “never”, “rarely”, “sometimes”, “most of the time”, and “always”. Adolescents who reported feeling alone “most of the time” and “always” were considered to experience loneliness.

Family affluence

The HBSC survey uses the Family Affluence Scale (FAS) to estimate adolescents’ socio-economic status based on household material assets. The FAS includes six items covering family vehicle ownership, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms in the home, holidaying abroad, and family computer and dishwasher ownership. Low- and high-affluence groups represent the lowest 20% and highest 20% in each community [3].

EU-14

The EU-14 corresponds to all countries that belonged to the European Union between 1995 and 2022: Austria, Belgium, Denmark (without Greenland), Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. We compare the Belgian health status to that of the EU-14 rather than the one of the EU-27 because this historical construction has more socio-economic similarities than the EU-27.

References

1. Service for Health Information, Promotion, and Education, Université libre de Bruxelles. 2022. Health behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey in the French community, funded by the Office for Birth and Childhood (ONE), the Walloon Region (AVIQ), and the Brussels Region (Cocof). http://sipes.ulb.ac.be/
2. Health Promotion Research Group of Ghent University (UGent). 2022. The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study in the Flemish Community, under the coordination of the Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Europe, funded by the Flemish Agency for Care and Health. https://www.jongeren-en-gezondheid.ugent.be/ 
3. World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe. 2022. A focus on adolescent mental health and well-being. Findings from the 2021/2022 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey in Europe, Central Asia and Canada. International report. Volume 1. Financial support: Financial support by the WHO Office on Quality of Care and Patient Safety, Athens, Greece and the governments of the Hellenic Republic and Germany. https://hbsc.org/publications/reports/a-focus-on-adolescent-mental-health-and-well-being-in-europe-central-asia-and-canada/
4. Mental health of adolescents, World Health Organization, 2021. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health/
5. Orben, A., Tomova, L. & Blakemore, S-J, 2020. The effects of social deprivation on adolescent development and mental health. Lancet. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30186-3/fulltext?onwardjourney=584162_v1
6. Health interview survey, Sciensano, 2018. https://www.sciensano.be/en/projects/health-interview-survey
7. World Health Organization, 2021. Social isolation and loneliness. https://www.who.int/teams/social-determinants-of-health/demographic-change-and-healthy-ageing/social-isolation-and-loneliness

Please cite this page as: Sciensano. Mental and Social health: Adolescent mental and social health, Health Status Report, 9 October 2025, Brussels, Belgium, https://www.healthybelgium.be/en/health-status/mental-and-social-health/adolescent-mental-and-social-health