This longitudinal analysis of Co-SPACE data examined changes in 3322 children and adolescents’ (aged 4–16 years) mental health between March 2020 and May 2021. Some key findings include:
- The average trend in young people’s mental health appeared to follow changes in national guidelines regarding the pandemic.
- While most young people followed low stable (62%–85%) or moderate stable (28%) symptom trajectories, 14%–31% experienced very high, high stable or increasing mental health difficulties.
- Young people following high stable trajectories were more likely to have special educational needs and/or neurodevelopmental disorders, parents reporting higher levels of distress and parent-child conflict, and were less likely to have at least one close friend.
The full paper is available to read and download here.