Minister O’Gorman publishes Spotlight report on the Mental Health of Children and Young People in Ireland

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, has today published a report, which provides data on some of the protective factors and risk factors impacting children and young people’s mental health in Ireland, and examines the prevalence of mental health disorders among children and young people aged 10 to 25. The report also presents data on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth mental health, as well as trends in mental health service provision in Ireland.

Speaking about the report, Minister O’Gorman said:

This is the tenth report in the Statistical Spotlight series. A Statistical Spotlight is a publication focused on a specific topic, gathering together available statistical data to highlight trends or patterns in the data. The publications include a short commentary on the data, detailing (where relevant) trends and comparisons (for example: comparisons between sex, age groups, points in time).

This Spotlight aims to highlight trends and features observed in the data. Therefore, although it could serve as the basis for further research, none of the information contained therein should in and of itself be used to ascribe cause and effect between any two variables.

Protective factors for poor mental health

• in 2012 and 2019, self-esteem; optimism and life satisfaction levels in adolescents in Ireland have been highest among those in first year of secondary school, and lowest among those in sixth year
• although optimism levels among adolescents in Ireland have decreased between 2012 and 2019, optimism about the future among 18-24 year olds has improved between 2011 and 2016, and has been consistently higher than the EU average
• while life satisfaction levels among adolescents in Ireland have reduced between 2012 and 2019, life satisfaction among 16-24 year olds in Ireland has significantly improved between 2013 and 2018 and has also remained higher than the EU average

Risk factors for poor mental health

• the share of young people who felt tense most or all of the time, and the percentage who felt lonely most or all of the time, also decreased substantially between 2011 and 2016
• the share of 15 year olds who experienced any bullying act at least a few times a month increased between 2015 and 2018
• the proportion of young people who ever experienced suicidal ideation increased by approximately 40% from 2012 to 2019, with almost two in every three young people reporting that they thought about taking their own life in 2019

Mental health disorders

• anxiety and depressive disorders represented roughly half of all mental health disorders among 10-24 year olds globally in 2019, and almost two thirds of all mental disorders among 10-24 year olds in Ireland
• while females were more likely to have an anxiety disorder; a depressive disorder or an eating disorder during this time, males were more than three times more likely to have A.D.H.D or a conduct disorder
• the percentage of 15-24 year olds that reported that they experienced any depressive symptoms decreased slightly between 2014 and 2019, and was lower in Ireland than the EU average in both years
• in both 2012 and 2019, the prevalence of very severe anxiety and depression symptoms was higher among adolescents with low levels of support from a special adult, and among young people who identified as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Asexual and Pansexual

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health

• both 12 year olds and 22 year olds felt that they had missed out on mental health support services due to the pandemic
• the most commonly reported difficultly during the pandemic for both 15-17 year olds and 18-24 year olds was missing friends, followed by school/college problems, and the effect on their physical and mental health
• those most likely to mention mental health concerns included those with disabilities and illnesses; users of mental health services; and LGBTI+ young people
• almost half of all 15-17 year olds and 18-24 year olds reported that their mental health had worsened since the beginning of COVID-19 restrictions, with females more likely to report a decline in their mental health than males

Mental Health Service Provision

• the number of children in receipt of clinical psychology services in Ireland increased by over 150% between 2019 and 2020, while the number of children in need of services increased by half during this time
• the percentage of 15 – 24 year olds in Ireland that ever attended a psychiatrist, psychologist or psychotherapist consultation increased between 2015 and 2019, and was almost twice as high among females in 2019
• the number of children admitted to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) units increased by almost a third between 2017 and 2021, however the number of child admissions to adult mental health units decreased by almost two thirds
• the percentage of CAMHS bed days used increased steadily from 2017 to 2021, and the number of CAMHS referrals seen by mental health services increased by a fifth during this time

Sources of information include OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, UCD School of Psychology and Jigsaw’s My World Surveys, Growing Up in Ireland, the European Quality of Life Survey, the Central Statistics Office’s and Eurostat’s Survey on Income and Living Conditions, Central Statistics Office’s Irish Health Survey, the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), the Global Burden of Disease Study, the Health Service Executive, the Healthy Ireland Survey 2021, the DCEDIY report ‘How's your head? Young Voices During COVID-19’, the Health Research Board’s National Psychiatric In-patient Reporting System and National Ability Supports System, and the Mental Health Commission.