Education

It’s Children’s Mental Health, Not Their Education, That Is Really Suffering In Lockdown


The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to exacerbate existing mental health problems among children, according to a new report.

And increased isolation caused by lockdowns risks causing long-term damage to the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of young people.

The warning comes after research found that one in six young people now have a probable mental illness, up from one in nine before the pandemic hit.

And it comes as a survey of parents put not seeing friends and socialising as their biggest concern for their children during lockdown, ahead of the impact on their child’s education.

All this underlines that for all the talk of children needing to ‘catch-up’ on lost learning, it’s their mental health and not their education that is really suffering during lockdown.

The potential impact on children’s mental health was highlighted as one of the biggest dangers of lockdown early in the pandemic, and a report published today suggests those fears were well-founded.

Children’s mental health has deteriorated as a result of the pandemic, according to a study on the wellbeing of Generation Z for the Education Policy Institute (EPI), a U.K.-based think tank, and the Prince’s Trust, the youth charity founded by Prince Charles.

Relationships with family and friends, family background, use of social media and physical exercise were all identified as key drivers of young people’s mental health that had been adversely affected by the lockdown.

School closures and lockdown restrictions meant young people have been physically isolated from their friends.

Instead, they have been forced to keep in touch via social media, which can have an adverse effect on the well-being of adolescents, particularly girls, the report finds.

As a result, researchers fear ‘the increased isolation seen over the last year risks causing long-term damage to the wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of young people’, the EPI says.

The link between family income and young people’s mental health means that by exacerbating existing inequalities, the pandemic may put more pressure on children, the report says.

In addition, an inability to take part in sports and activities – which have a positive impact for both boys and girls – is likely to adversely affect mental health, adds the report, based on data from a study of children aged 11, 14 and 17, plus focus groups carried out in November last year.

The result is that ‘the experience of the pandemic is likely to continue to exacerbate existing mental health and wellbeing problems among young people,’ according to the report.

‘Young people already face significant challenges at this stage in their lives, but this generation have also had to deal with a pandemic that will have starved them of the vital relationships and experiences needed to support their journey through adolescence,’ says Whitney Crenna-Jennings, author of the report and senior researcher at the EPI.

‘If we fail to counter the ill-effects of this crisis on young people’s health and development, there is a real risk that it inflicts irreversible damage on their later life chances.’

The report comes after a study late last year found that the rate of probable mental health disorders in children and young people had increased during the pandemic, from one in nine in 2017 to one in six 5-16-year-olds.

Among the EPI’s recommendations are extra funding to support children and young people’s mental health, improving the capacity of school staff to support children with mental health needs and improve access to specialist mental health services.

‘Young people are among the hardest hit by the pandemic, so it is more important than ever that they can access support with their mental health during this critical time in their lives,’ says Jonathan Townsend, U.K. chief executive of the Prince’s Trust.

Fears of the impact of the pandemic on children’s mental health are reinforced by a survey of parents showing that concerns over their child’s well-being outstrip worries that their child is falling behind in their education.

Asked to cite their top concerns during the lockdown, 49% said their child not seeing their friends and socialising was the top concern among parents, while 45% cited worries over their child’s mental health.

In contrast, just 30% said their child falling behind in their education was one of the top concerns, in the survey carried out by Parentkind, a U.K. charity representing parent-teacher associations.

 *Mental health and well-being resources are being made freely available to teachers to help support children through the pandemic.

The iSpaceWellbeing curriculum, which includes more than 140 lesson plans, has switched to a free access model in response to concerns that children’s mental health is suffering as a result of the lockdowns.

‘The current situation is causing childrens’ mental health to deteriorate rapidly and the light at the end of the tunnel keeps moving further away,’ says Paula Talman, iSpaceWellbeing founder.

‘We simply cannot wait any longer as a society to start putting in place the foundations of a mental health education for our children.’



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