Clinical study finds family conflict outweighs academic stress in students’ mental health struggles

While examinations, marks and academic competition have been considered the primary drivers of stress experienced by students, a new study suggests “family conflict” as a more common reason for students seeking psychological support than academic stress.

A clinical study by Cadabams Hospitals — a priviate hospital which draws on over 58,000 student touchpoints across 3,569 documented counselling sessions conducted by Cadabams psychologists embedded across schools and colleges in Bengaluru — observed that emotional struggles of many young people may begin well beyond the classroom.  

Self-harm concerns highest among PU students

In the study, while anxiety accounted for nearly one in three counselling concerns (29%), family conflict (14%) ranked ahead of academic stress (10%), followed by relationship distress (8%) and loneliness (7%).

Students aged 16 to 18 years studying in Pre-University colleges recorded the highest proportion of self-harm concerns among all educational groups assessed.

Mental health concerns of student differed significantly across educational streams.

Engineering students most commonly sought help for relationship distress and ADHD-related concerns, while recording the highest rates of self-referrals. Medical students struggled with the combined burden of academics and clinical responsibilities. Management and architecture students frequently presented with loneliness, homesickness and career uncertainty, while law students recorded the highest density of high-risk mental health cases.

‘Must create safe environments’

Commenting on the findings, Neha Cadabam, Senior Psychologist and Executive Director, Cadabams Hospitals, said, “One of the biggest challenges is that many students continue to suffer silently due to lack of conducive environment for discussing what they are experiencing at home. If we truly want to improve student mental health, we need to move beyond conversations around examinations and create emotionally safe environments where young people feel heard without fear of judgement.” 

The study was conducted across more than 20 educational institutions, with nearly 92% of all student touchpoints from Bengaluru.