In 2022, after two years of successive confinements to combat the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic, more than nine out of ten 17-year-olds declared they were satisfied with their health, but nearly one in ten showed signs of depression or anxiety. These difficulties were more prevalent among young people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, who reported poorer physical and mental health, and made less use of healthcare than those from more privileged backgrounds.

Young people from privileged backgrounds were more likely to experiment with psychoactive substances (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis), but less likely to use them regularly. Within disadvantaged backgrounds, children of working-class parents were more likely to consume alcohol, but less likely to use illicit drugs than children of the economically inactive.

Schooling status at age 17 played an even more important role than social category, although it is strongly determined by the latter: young people in apprenticeships and those no longer in the school system were clearly more vulnerable to unhappiness and substance use than young people in vocational high schools, who were themselves slightly more exposed than young people in general or technological high schools.