The Children's Society and Barnardo's collaborated on a joint project using Understanding Society to investigate the predictive and protective factors for young people to have good mental health.
Barnardo’s and The Children’s Society worked with the Understanding Society Policy and Partnerships Unit on analysis to uncover the different trajectories of mental health in young people and to understand which factors were associated with better mental health outcomes for 10-15 year olds. The research used data from the Understanding Society youth survey.
The project looked at predictive and protective factors, such as exercise, diet, family relationships, bullying and screen time, which could be identified as helping or hindering young people’s mental health. The charities were also interested in which factors could be influenced through intervention programmes, schools or changes to family life. The results of the project were used in a joint report on factors affecting children’s mental health over time.
- Family support at age 10-11 had a statistically significant correlation with the emotional symptoms scale at age 14-15. Children at age 10-11 who felt either supported by their family in only some of the things they do or not supported by their family in any of the things they do were significantly more likely (3.6 times) to have emotional symptoms at age 14-15 compared to children who felt supported by their families in most or all the things they do at age 10-11.
- A number of factors at age 10-11 had a statistically significant association with subsequent peer relationship problems at age 14-15. At age 10-11, how children felt about school, if children reported that they were bullied, and if children felt supported by their family, were significantly correlated with peer problems at age 14-15. Of these factors, the most important was being bullied: a child who was bullied a lot (a few times every week) at age 10-11 was over 14 times more likely to have peer problems at age 14-15 than a child who reported never being bullied at age 10-11. In addition, children who felt unhappy about school were over 2.5 times more likely to have peer problems at age 14-15 relative to those who felt happy about school.
- The analysis indicated that children at age 10-11 who felt unhappy with their family were over 10 times more likely to have conduct problems at age 14-15 compared to children who felt happy with their family at age 10-11.
Read the report
This research used Understanding Society data Waves 1-5
Young people
