Call for urgent spend on children's mental health as report shows almost half of teenagers feel 'low'
There has been a call for urgent investment in children's mental health with almost half of teenagers now admitting they feel "low" every week or even more often.
The call has come from the author of a report which showed the number of children feeling "low" has increased since the situation was examined in 1998.
Over half of the teenage girls surveyed said they felt low every week or more frequently in the last six months. This was less obvious for boys at 35.2%, meaning overall an 46% of teenagers are struggling with their mental health, according to the survey.
The co-principal investigator at the Health Promotion Research Centre at University of Galway, Professor Saoirse Nic Gabhainn said fears about the environment and housing are among the main issues cited.
Over 8,000 pupils from 191 schools aged between 10 and 17 took part. They discussed their mental health and also what they eat, whether they smoke or drink alcohol, their sexual behaviour and their relationship with their parents.
Prof Nic Gabhainn told the Irish Examiner the mental health crisis is 'one of the big stories' to emerge from the data.
'It's the same right across Europe,' she said.
Some of them were saying it's okay now to say that you're not OK, there are open conversations about it. But they also said young people are looking at the world around them and asking 'what's the future'.
She welcomed recent Government commitments to youth mental health but said: 'It is urgent now, there is a plan for it so let's just hope that it is enough.'
Two teenagers who spoke at the launch of the report raised similar concerns. They also spoke about the impact of having negative world news in your phone 24/7 and pressures for girls from 'edited Instagram models'.
Prof Nic Gabhainn pointed out the physical health of young people has been improving steadily since the first survey.
Smoking among 10–17-year-olds fell to 4.7% in 2022, down from 22.6% in 1998. Similarly for cannabis use in the past year dropped to 6.5% in 2022, compared to 12.3% in 1998.
Teens are also drinking alcohol less often, with numbers saying they were ever drunk dropping from 33% in 1998 to 17.8% in 2022.
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