This NHS Digital report looks at the mental health of children and young people in England in July 2020, and changes since 2017. It reveals that the proportion of children who experiencing mental health difficulties has increased over the past three years, from one in nine in 2017, to one in six as of July 2020. The increase was evident in both boys and girls.
Since the onset of the Coronavirus(COVID-19) pandemic in the UK in March 2020, children and young people have experienced major changes in their lives. These have affected their family situation as well as their access to education, leisure and other services.
The aims of the report were to compare mental health between 2017 and 2020, and describing life during the COVID-19 pandemic - the report examines the circumstances and experiences of children and young people in July 2020 and the preceding months.
The data is broken down by gender and age bands of 5 to 10 year olds and 11 to 16 year olds for all categories, and 17 to 22 years old for certain categories, as well as by whether a child is unlikely to have a mental health disorder, possibly has a mental health disorder and probably has a mental health disorder.
Main Findings:
- Rates of probable mental disorder have increased since 2017. In 2020, one in six (16.0%) children were identified as having a probable mental disorder, increasing from one in nine (10.8%) children in 2017. The increase was evident in both boys and girls
- Amongst 17 to 22 year olds, 20.0% were identified as having a probable mental disorder in 2020. There is a clear difference between young women (27.2%) and young men (13.3%) of having a probable mental disorder.
- In 2020, 30.2%of children whose parent experienced psychological distress had a probable mental disorder, compared with9.3%of children whose parent was not experiencing psychological distress.
- In 2020, children with a probable mental disorder were more likely to be living in a family who reported problems with family functioning (28.3%) compared with children unlikely to have a mental disorder (11.7%)
- Children whose parent experienced psychological distress were more likely to be living in families who reported problems with functioning (25.3%) than those whose parent showed little to no evidence of psychological distress (11.1%)
- In 2020, 63.8% of 11 to 16 year old girls with a probable mental disorder had seen or heard an argument among adults in the household, compared with 46.8% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder.
- Children with a probable mental disorder were more likely to have a parent that thought that they were worried about; catching COVID-19 (36.1%), family and friends catching COVID-19 (50.2%), leaving the house (18.0%),and transmitting the infection (23.8%), than children unlikely to have a mental disorder (18.6%, 33.2%, 5.1% and 14.6% respectively).
- Among those aged 5 to 22 years, 58.9%with a probable mental disorder reported having sleep problems. Young people aged 17 to 22 years with a probable mental disorder were more likely to report sleep problems (69.6%) than those aged 11 to 16 (50.5%) and 5 to 10 (52.5%)
- One in ten (10.1%) children and young people aged 11 to 22 years said that they often or always felt lonely. This was more common in girls (13.8%) than boys (6.5%), and prevalence again was higher for those with a probable mental disorder.
- Just under half (47.0%) of children did not attend school between late March and July 2020 because their school was closed. A further 30.0% returned to attending in June or July 2020, either on a full or part time basis, and 6.8%attended school throughout this time due to their parent/carer being a keyworker, being considered vulnerable or for other reasons. The remaining 16.1% did not attend school even though it was open/reopened. There were no differences between those unlikely to have a mental disorder and those with a probable mental disorder
- About six in ten (62.6%) children with a probable mental disorder had regular support from their school or college, compared with 76.4% of children unlikely to have a mental disorder
- About one in twelve (8.2%) children with a probable mental disorder had parents who decided not to seek help for a concern regarding their child’s mental health. A further 5.9% of children with a probable mental disorder had parents who decided not to seek help for concerns regarding both their child’s mental and physical health
- More than one in five (21.7%) 17 to 22 year olds with a probable mental disorder reported that they had decided not to seek help for a mental health concern due to the pandemic and a further 22.9% reported that they had decided not to seek help for both a mental and physical health concern.
- Nearly half (46.7%) of children had a parent who reported working from home more often since the pandemic began, while one in five (20.5%) children had a parent who reported working more hours or having taken on additional work. More than one in four (28.7%)children had a parent who had been furloughed or made use of the self-employed support scheme Children with a probable mental disorder were more than twice as likely to live in a household that had fallen behind with payments (16.3%) than children unlikely to have a mental disorder (6.4%)
- Children and young people with a probable mental disorder were more likely to say that lockdown had made their life worse(54.1% of 11 to 16 year olds, and 59.0% of 17 to 22 year olds), than those unlikely to have a mental disorder(39.2% and 37.3% respectively)
- Children with a probable mental disorder were about five times more likely not to have eaten a family meal all week (4.8%), and not to have spent time together with their family (6.0%) than those unlikely to have a mental disorder (0.9% and 1.0%, respectively). This pattern was evident for most activities.