Analysing data from the Millennium Cohort Study at age 14, the research found that a quarter of girls (24%) and one in 10 boys (9%) reported symptoms of depression. It also found that parents’ reports of their children’s mental health often differed to the children’s own reports.

These findings highlighted for the first time the extent of mental ill-health among young people, at a national level. As lead author, Dr Praveetha Patalay, said: “In recent years, there has been a growing policy focus on children’s mental health. However, until now, there has been a lack of estimates of mental health problems across the UK for this generation.”

A follow up study looked into some of the potential factors linked to poor mental health at age 14, to identify the groups most at risk.

It found that teenage girls from less well-off families were more likely to experience mental ill-health. Other factors, such as being overweight, not getting along with peers and being bullied, were also associated with high levels of depressive symptoms at age 14 for both boys and girls.

In a separate study, researchers investigated links between parental separation and young people’s mental health. The research found that the timing of the separation can make a difference to young people’s mental health. In particular, there was evidence that parental separation in late, but not early, childhood impacts negatively on adolescent mental health.

A study using data from the MCS Age 11 Sweep has shown that high (low) wellbeing and good (poor) mental health do not go hand in hand. Public health policy had focussed on mental health service provision, with little attention given to promoting wellbeing. These findings challenged that approach by showing that the absence of mental health difficulties was not equivalent to good wellbeing. The research also found that the factors linked to mental health difficulties and to poor wellbeing are often different.

Using data from MCS and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, researchers compared 14-year-olds across generations, between 2005 and 2015. They found that depressive symptoms and self-harm increased over this decade, antisocial and substance use behaviours decreased, and other outcomes like obesity, insufficient sleep and poor body image increased.

The research based on MCS age 14 data highlighted for the first time the extent of mental ill-health among young people across the UK. Through widespread dissemination in the media, it was instrumental in bringing the scale of the issue to public consciousness. Coverage included front-page headlines and follow-up features in a variety of national newspapers, and high profile interviews in the broadcast media. As NHS England’s National Mental Health Director stated to The Guardian in response to the research: ‘After decades in the shadows, children’s mental health is finally in the spotlight’.

There was also extensive coverage for the findings on changes in mental health over time, and on the links between parental break-up and children’s mental health.

Selected coverage:

The Times – Quarter of girls are depressed at 14 in mental health crisis

BBC News – Quarter of 14-year-old girls ‘have signs of depression’

BBC Analysis podcast ‘Do children of married parents do better?’

The Guardian – Poorest and brightest girls more likely to be depressed – UK study

The Telegraph – Depression and self harm on the rise among Millennials

CLS academics, Emla Fitzsimons and Praveetha Patalay, wrote accessible briefing papers which were shared with government departments. The extensive media coverage about the research drew huge interest from policymakers, practitioners, parents, and educators. The research rapidly became part of the bloodstream of public discussion of young people’s mental health.

The researchers hosted an ESRC Festival of Social Science event, attended by policymakers and third sector, participated in the Public Health England Special Interest Group on young people’s mental health, and presented at a Conservative Party roundtable on youth mental health, and at the Public Health England (PHE) annual conference.

To help communicate the distinction between mental health and wellbeing, the researchers translated complex statistical analysis into an infographic showing risk and protective factors at age 11. This was used in several contexts and by practitioners in public health, including PHE, the Department for Education and many local government and child mental health training programmes.

Click here to download the infographic as a larger version

Concrete policy impacts include decisions to increase children and young people’s (CYP) mental health services capacity and changes to PHE strategies for tackling CYP mental health. For example, due to this work, PHE has expanded its focus from one that had previously been on mental health, to also include mental wellbeing. It also adapted the framework it uses to identify how to best support young people, by extending the range of multi-level and multi-setting risk and protective factors associated with mental health and wellbeing.

This work has also framed discussion among policymakers at the Department for Education.