FUNDAMENTAL FACTS ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH 2016

How common are mental health
problems for children and young
people?
• Prevalence rates for child and
adolescent mental health in the
British Isles are out of date. The
Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Surveys, covering England, Scotland
and Wales, were carried out by ONS
in 1999 and 2004. In these surveys,
it was found that 10% of children
and young people (aged 5–16) had a
clinically diagnosable mental health
problem. 131
• The same ONS surveys (1999,
2004), which comprised 7,977
interviews from parents, children
and teachers, found the prevalence
of mental health problems among
children and young people (aged
5–16) to be: 132
––
4% for emotional problems
(depression or anxiety)
––
6% for conduct problems
––
2% for hyperkinetic problems
––
1% for less common problems
(including autism, tics disorder,
eating disorders and selective
mutism)
• A 2005 prevalence study carried
out in the USA predicted that 75%
of mental health problems are
established by the age of 24, with
1 in 10 children and adolescents
experiencing a clinically diagnosable
mental health problem. This study
suggests that lifetime prevalence
estimates for the following mental
health problems are as follows: 133
––
Anxiety disorders: 28.8%
––
Mood disorders: 20.8%
––
Impulse-control disorders: 24.8%
––
Substance use disorders: 14.6%
––
Any mental health problem:
46.4%
• In 2013, the UK ranked 16th out
of 29 developed countries in the
UNICEF league table of child
wellbeing, where rankings are
based on child health and safety,
education, behaviour, housing
conditions and material wellbeing. 134
• England hospital statistics for 2014
recorded that there were 41,921
hospitalisations for self-harm in
young people aged 10–24. Based
on these rates, the prevalence for
young people under 25 is estimated
at 367 per 100,000 population in
England – an increase from 330 per
100,000 population estimated in
2007–08. 135
• Eating disorders in young people
under the age of 25 are recorded
as double the rate of any other
age in the UK – they are estimated
to affect 164.5 young people per
100,000 population. 136
• 2015 UK data from the Higher
Education Funding Council for
England has shown that the
proportion of university students
who formally identify themselves
as having mental health problems
doubled between 2008–09 and
2013–14. 137 This may reflect, to an
extent, different attitudes to the
self-reporting of mental health
problems.
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