Four in 10 young people in deprived areas struggle to get mental health support when needed

A quarter of Year 13 students in England have sought some form of mental health support in the last year, yet many struggle to access help, finds a new national study led by UCL researchers.

Of those who sought help, 35% said they were either on a waiting list or had otherwise yet to receive it, according to the study surveying over 11,000 people aged 17-18.

Importantly, the research reveals that young people in the most deprived parts of the country are 11 percentage points more likely to say they are still waiting or have not received the support they applied for, at 39% compared to 28% of those in the most affluent areas.

The disparities in access to more specialist mental health support services, such as NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), were even more stark. Young people living in the poorest areas were more than twice as likely to have not received specialist support as the most affluent pupils—39% in deprived areas had not received or were still waiting for support, compared to just 18% in more affluent areas.

The new data comes from the COSMO study, jointly led by the UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities, the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies, and the Sutton Trust. It is the largest study of its kind and aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on educational inequality, well-being, and social mobility.

Overall, the study shows that 44% of Year 13s could be classified as experiencing high psychological distress between November 2022 and April 2023, the same proportion as in the previous COSMO study last year (October 2021-April 2022) and considerably higher than 35% in 2017 and 23% in 2007 in studies of similar age groups. This underscores the alarming trend that the mental health of the current generation is worse than that of previous generations.

A link can also be drawn between the increased rate of high psychological distress and ongoing high persistent school absence levels, which have risen from 13% pre-pandemic to 22% this year.

Previous COSMO analysis has highlighted that psychological distress is an important predictor of persistent school absence, and persistent absence is having a significant impact on young people's learning. It's therefore crucial that those experiencing high psychological distress are provided appropriate and timely support, so they miss as little learning time as possible.

The research also finds that over a quarter (28%) of students in school or college said their mental health support was not good enough. State school students were twice as likely as private school pupils to say that their school's mental health support was not good enough (32% compared to 16%).

These findings point to a significant divide in access to mental health support for this cohort of young people, with those in the poorest parts of England the least likely to receive it when requested. This has the potential to store up long-term consequences for disadvantaged young people's life chances.

Furthermore, the study finds that non-binary+ young people (67%) and girls (33%) were more likely to report seeking support with their mental health than boys (15%).

It finds further evidence that bullying and harassment specifically related to an individual's identity are more common for those from marginalized groups, including those of an ethnic minority (15% of Black participants have been harassed regarding their skin color or ethnicity) and those outside the gender binary (44% non-binary+ students have been harassed about their sex, gender or gender identity).

However, White (40%) respondents and those of mixed/other ethnicities (39%) classified as experiencing high psychological distress were much more likely to report seeking mental health support compared to Asian (25%) and Black (30%) respondents.

The report's authors are calling for sustainable and well-funded support for young people experiencing mental health issues, with a focus on improving services in the most deprived areas. They also call on schools to develop more tailored support for non-binary+ and LGBTQ+ students with input from professionals who have been trained to understand the needs of these young people.

Dr. Jake Anders, Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO), and COSMO's Principal Investigator, said, "The scale of the crisis in young people's mental health is already well known. But these new findings from COSMO show that we are simply not doing enough to tackle it. It is vital that we properly resource mental health services across the country. There is no quick, cheap fix to achieving that."

"We must also ensure that these services are targeted to where there is the most need. If more young people living in worse-off areas are not receiving the support that they need, this will widen existing gaps in life chances."

Sir Peter Lampl, Founder and Chairman of the Sutton Trust and Chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation, said, "This research underscores the severity of the mental health crisis facing youngsters, who have endured significant disruption to their education and social lives since the pandemic."

"It's particularly troubling that young people from the poorest parts of England and those from working class backgrounds are struggling the most to access mental health support. There can be no doubt that this is likely to harm their future life chances if it is not addressed."

"The Sutton Trust would like to see sustainable and well-funded support for young people experiencing mental health issues, including preventative and early intervention services. Further support should be targeted at the most deprived areas, to provide better access to mental health support."

More information:
Research briefing: cosmostudy.uk/publications/men … -and-physical-health

Provided by University College London