Children and young people

Our research in the area of children, young people and families has included research on: the effects of bullying; the economic impacts of youth mental health; support and treatment for people with anorexia nervosa; effective treatments for people with neurodevelopmental disorders; the effectiveness of parenting programmes; benefits and potential cost savings of early years’ prevention; and troubled families.

Key findings

Rolling out evidence-based school bullying interventions could prevent over 24,000 cases of bullying each year, significantly improving mental health for thousands of young people and saving the UK economy £348 million per year group
Childhood bullying has a strong link to mental health service use throughout a person’s life, putting additional strain on an “already overstretched” UK healthcare system
More than half of teenagers and young people with mental health problems in the UK do not receive any clinical treatment

Current studies

The APPLAUSE study is exploring how young people with mental health problems currently interact with both formal mental health services and informal social and familial support structures in the UK and Brazil.

The ETHOS project is evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of school-based, humanistic counselling by conducting the first randomised controlled trial of this type of intervention.

The NCore study aims to develop a mobile app which facilitates access to mental health services and treatments for young people with mental health problems; and to assess its feasibility, acceptability and potential clinical and costeffectiveness.

The OOTLES study is evaluating the long-term economic impacts of mental health problems experienced by children and young people in three British birth cohorts (1946, 1958 and 1970) and implications for policy and service provision.

Share

Children and young people

Key findings

Current studies

APPLAUSE: Adolescent precursors to psychiatric disorders – learning from user service engagement

ETHOS: Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of humanistic counselling in schools

NCore: Networking and care - helping young people with mental health problems through outreach and eHealth

OOTLES: Long-term economic impact of childhood emotional and behavioural problems

Key findings

Current studies

Youth mental health Martin Knapp describes findings from research on the economic consequences of youth mental health