A “WORRINGLY-HIGH” number of stressed teenagers risk dropping out of university because they are inadequately prepared for undergraduate life, a psychiatrist has warned.

Brighton-based Richard Bowskill said schools and parents needed to do more to ensure young people were equipped to settle and study in unfamiliar settings, often hundreds of miles from home.

The call comes after thousands of students have arrived at universities in Brighton and Chichester for the start of the academic year.

Dr Bowskill, medical director of Priory’s Brighton and Hove Hospital, said: “Empty nest syndrome, when the final child leaves home, is real and well discussed.

“But students struggling in their first year at university, ‘failing fledglings’ I call them, is not sufficiently addressed and it can be very traumatic for some young people.

“Teenagers need to prepare for a massive change in social circumstances. The likelihood is that old friendships will be dismantled, first romances may end. These can be traumatic in themselves.

“Teens have worked hard, got their grades but they have no idea what living away from home with strangers is like.

“Their expectations are huge, the social pressures enormous, and they can turn to drink or drugs to numb their insecurities and homesickness.

“Then they risk dropping out. It is a real problem and one I increasingly see in my hospital.

“They also have financial worries, hectic extracurricular schedules and self-imposed pressures.”

A recent study has found the number of students at the UK’s top universities seeking help for depression, anxiety and mental health problems has soared.

Dr Bowskill said he had noticed “over the last few years that the numbers of students being referred in the first term of university is increasing”.

He said: “All stages in life, when there are major transitions in living and social arrangements, can trigger mental health problems.

“First year university students face substantial changes in their social circumstances as they transition from life at school and living with parents to the first year of university study.

“Young students and schools face an enormous amount of pressure attaining high ‘A’ level grades.

“Students are often very well supported in their final year at sixth form. Then they need to think about how they will adapt to university student life.”

The universities of Brighton and Sussex have services in place to support freshers, offering information, where to go for help and welfare support.

A University of Brighton spokesman said: “It is very important to make first years feel welcome and supported.”