A new survey conducted by the National Working Committee of the Chinese Young Pioneers reveals that Chinese youngsters are suffering from stress and anxiety in their daily lives.

Thursday's Beijing Youth Daily reported that the study to discover and understand children's inner worries, received 400,000 letters from across the nation.

Experts categorized the causes of anxiety into 28 groups, stressing that adults could understand and help children only when they realized their troubles.

According to the survey, young people are worried by either too much or too little guidance from their parents, what they consider to be improper methods used in their upbringing, problems at home and at school caused by parental friction, communication barriers with classmates, teachers, friends, and in society, the newspaper revealed.

Some young respondents complained about social problems such as inadequate community facilities and environmental protection.

They also suffered from confidence problems caused by incapability of self-evaluation and self-control, or puzzled by physical changes in adolescence. Some even worry about their futures in higher education or career prospects.

(China Daily May 30, 2002)