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Mental health and well-being trends among children and young people in the UK., 1995–2014: Analysis of repeated cross-sectional national health surveys
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: There is a growing concern about the mental health of children and young people (CYP) in the UK, with increasing demand for counselling services, admissions for self-harm and referrals to mental health services. We investigated whether there have been similar recent trends in selected mental health outcomes among CYP in national health surveys from England, Scotland and Wales. METHODS: Data were analysed from 140 830 participants (4-24 years, stratified into 4-12, 13-15, 16-24 years) in 36 national surveys in England, Scotland and Wales, 1995-2014. Regression models were used to examine time trends in seven parent/self-reported variables: general health, any long-standing health condition, long-standing mental health condition; Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Score (WEMWBS), above-threshold Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Total (SDQT) score, SDQ Emotion (SDQE) score, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) score. RESULTS: Across all participants aged 4-24, long-standing mental health conditions increased in England (0.8-4.8% over 19 years), Scotland (2.3-6.0%, 11 years) and Wales (2.6-4.1%, 7 years) (all p < 0.001). Among young children (4-12 years), the proportion reporting high SDQT and SDQE scores decreased significantly among both boys and girls in England [SDQE: odds ratio (OR) 0.97 (0.96-0.98), p < 0.001] and girls in Scotland [SDQE: OR 0.96 (0.93-0.99), p = 0.005]. The proportion with high SDQE scores (13-15 years) decreased in England [OR 0.98 (0.96-0.99), p = 0.006] but increased in Wales [OR 1.07 (1.03-1.10), p < 0.001]. The proportion with high GHQ scores decreased among English women (16-24 years) [OR 0.98 (0.98-0.99), p = 0.002]. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a striking increase in the reported prevalence of long-standing mental health conditions among UK CYP, there was relatively little change in questionnaire scores reflecting psychological distress and emotional well-being.
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“An increase in the prevalence of mental health problems and suicide among young people has also been reported in other countries (Padmanathan, Bould, Winstone, Moran, & Gunnell, 2020;Pitchforth et al., 2018;Thorisdottir, Asgeirsdottir, Sigurvinsdottir, Allegrante, & Sigfusdottir, 2017;Wiens et al., 2020).”
From The relationship between screen time and mental health in young people: A systematic review of longitudinal studies (2021) · cites this paper as Pitchforth et al., 2018
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Metadata
- Authors
- Pitchforth, J., Fahy, K., Ford, T., Wolpert, M., Viner, R. M., & Hargreaves, D. S.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- Anna Freud Centre (GB)
- Nuffield Trust (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Hargreaves, Dougal S.
- Venue
- Psychological Medicine
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2018-09-11
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1275-1285
- ISSN
- 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8978
- PMC
- PMC6518382
- OpenAlex
- W2891723609
- Cited by
- 227
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 19.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Open Research Exeter (University of Exeter) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Spiral (Imperial College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Apollo (cc-by)
- Funders
- McGill University
- University of Cambridge
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Health and Medical Studies
- Keywords
- child and adolescent mental health, mental health trends, well-being, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, General Health Questionnaire, emotional symptoms, self-rated mental health, sex differences, age differences, health status, chronic disease
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Mental Disorders, Child, Child, Preschool, Cross-Sectional Studies, England, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Psychometrics, Regression Analysis, Scotland, Wales, Prevalence, Young Adult
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