BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Among China's 367 million teenagers, about 30 million under 17 are reported to have emotional or behavioral problems, according to a joint report issued by China Youth & Children Research Center and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League recently.

    "About 21.6 to 32 percent students from primary and middle schools have suffered from psychological problems," said the China Youth Development Report.

    According to the report, 16 to 25.4 percent of college students have psychological problems, and the number is rising.

    With China's society and economy changing dramatically since its reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, its younger generation is growing up in a demanding environment that includes pressures from studying, job-hunting, and economic and personal relationships.

    Government figure shows that China has 367 million youngsters under the age of 18, accounting for 28 percent of the Chinese population.

    According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Health, China had 16 million young people suffering from mental illness last year, or 20 percent of the total number of patients.

    Many neglected to seek treatment in the early stage of their illness partially because the Chinese public, adults as well as youth, don't have a good awareness of mental illness and psychological problems, the ministry said.

    The Chinese Communist Youth League, the Ministry of Public Health, and the Ministry of Education jointly kicked off a program in 2004 to improve psychological education and counseling in schools.

    Teachers in primary and high schools in outlying rural areas will receive training in psychology while a website is being established and a manual published for college students to deal with their psychological problems, according to the three to five-year program.

    On Feb. 23 last year, Ma Jiajue, a student at Yunnan University in southwest China killed four classmates in his dormitory. The press attributed the slaying much to his psychological problems. Enditem