In Viet Nam, for example, the government formally has initiated a process to create psychosocial counselling positions in all primary and secondary education schools. This perspective addresses interactions between risk and protective factors and brain development as key pillars accounting for the emergence of psychopathology in youth. Most mental disorders have a typical onset between 12 and 25 years of age, highlighting the importance of this period for the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of mental ill-health. Internet addiction can predict suicidality among adolescents. Data were collected from 349 adolescents (176 with ADHD and 173 without ADHD at baseline).
Towards a comprehensive child mental health system: Opportunities for a coordinated system of support
- The digital world offers youth avenues for connection, creativity, and support, but also carries significant risks.
- This was partially accounted for by the increasing impact of socio-economic adversity (e.g., insecure housing tenure), mediated by adolescents’ proximal family environment.
- Peer acceptance is a big thing for adolescents, and many of them care about their image as much as a politician running for office, and to them it can feel as serious.
- This gap in data also applies to evidence regarding the time trends of several youth mental health disorders, including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and eating disorders, which tend to be absent from many of the surveys of mental health.
- General anxiety symptoms were assessed using the GAD-7 questionnaire 16, 17.
- Like anxiety, depression is not one disorder but a category of conditions.
Mechanisms underlying this surge remain poorly understood; however, it is likely influenced by a broad range of social and economic changes or “megatrends” (e.g., increasing financial insecurity, family life, educational experiences, and rising health and social inequality) (24). Australia’s national survey of mental health recently found that the 12-month prevalence of mental disorders (i.e., anxiety, affective and substance use disorders) among young people had increased by 50% over the past 15 years, disproportionately affecting females (20). We document mental health trends since the mid-1990s, focusing on mental and substance use disorders among young people and their current needs. Since the mid-20th century, mental illness has become a leading cause of health burden, particularly among adolescents and emerging adults, with most disorders emerging before the age of 25. Our researchers and clinical teams are developing, testing and rolling out new digital treatments for child, adolescent and parent mental health challenges. We are undertaking some of the world’s largest studies into child and adolescent wellbeing, such as the OxWell Student Survey which reached more than 35,000 adolescents in England in 2025.
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Studies have shown a positive relationship between high-quality social relationships and subjective well-being across all ages (255). This holistic approach is exemplified in the Mrazek and Haggerty model (85), which highlights prevention, early intervention, and sustained treatment and recovery support (See Figure 3). A range of robust approaches (e.g., interrupted time series, cross-cohort comparisons) are needed that contribute to the triangulation of findings and increase confidence in inferring causality (242). Conducting comprehensive literature searches, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses can summarize findings, assess the relative importance of different candidate causes, and identify overall trends and patterns (239). A global focus is needed to coordinate national and harmonised surveillance efforts in monitoring trends (226).
Increasing and cumulative exposure to psychosocial stressors during this period of precarity may have increased the risk of mental ill-health and contributed to deteriorating trends (13, 98, 211). Further validation of a true rise can also be provided from related rising trends, including increased rates of suicide (28, 63), co-occurring functional impairment (36, 74), and mental health service use (28, 30, 71, 201, 202). Although potential shifts in respondent reporting and diagnostic approaches have been difficult to unequivocally refute, Twenge et al. (200) found that increases in psychopathology were not explained by a greater willingness to report mental health problems after controlling for socially acceptable and defensive responding. Patrick et al. (183)’s systems dynamics study developed a systems map highlighting the relationships between causal factors (e.g. under theme areas of government, services and structures, personal experience of environmental disasters, and social norms, communication and taking action). There has been one study that looked at the causal relationship between climate change and mental health.
Factors such as climate change, family environment, educational pressures, socio-economic precarity, intergenerational inequality and the rise of social media contribute to this trend, though each only partially explains the increase and many of them may stem from a deeper malaise with political and economic roots. Future research should aim to address these gaps to provide a more comprehensive understanding of mental health trends. If implemented effectively, major gains seen in other areas of health such as cancer and cardiovascular disease are also possible for youth mental health, and the mental health field Supporting early childhood mental health and community globally. Policies aimed at reducing income inequality, improving education systems, and providing health and social safety nets can have positive effects on young people’s mental health (301, 302). Additionally, as discussed in the previous sections, a range of methodological approaches should be utilized to understand the megatrends related to young people’s mental health.
Collaborating with Schools
WHO is working with UNICEF and other partners, including youth, to facilitate platforms to define commitments for children and young people’s mental health and track change. In the past few years, several countries have initiated actions to regulate access to mobile phones and social media for children and adolescents. Presentation of anxiety symptoms in the spectrum from mild to severe differed among time points with 24.8% of children reporting any anxiety symptoms just before the summer holidays (T1), decreasing to 16.2% directly after the summer holidays (T2) before going back up to 25.7% 6 weeks into the new school term (T3). This is even more alarming given that pandemics such as COVID-19 have been found to not only be a precipitating cause of mental health decline , but also to exacerbate pre-existing mental health problems among children and adolescents 3, 7. One in 7 children and adolescents in the WHO European Region lives with a mental health condition, finds new WHO/Europe report