Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2023 - wave 4 follow up to the 2017 survey

Since the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in England in March 2020, children and young people have experienced major changes in their lives. These affected their family situation as well as their access to education, leisure and other services.

The first and second follow ups to the 2017 Mental Health of Children and Young People (MHCYP) survey in England took place in 2020 (wave 1) and 2021 (wave 2) and provided insight on the initial impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of children and young people.

In February 2022, most of the domestic measures in place to control the spread of COVID-19 were removed. The subsequent surveys therefore focussed on broader issues affecting the daily lives of children, young people and families. The third follow up to the survey (wave 3) took place during April and May 2022, and the fourth follow up (wave 4) took place in February to April 2023. 

This study was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education, commissioned by NHS England, and carried out by the National Centre for Social Research, the Office for National Statistics, University of Cambridge and University of Exeter.
 

The Mental Health of Children and Young People (MHCYP) survey series provides England’s Official Statistics on trends in child mental health. 

The most recent face to face survey in the series took place in 2017 and involved interviews with a random probability sample of children and young people (aged 2 to 19 years) and their parents or carers. During the report we refer to 'parents or carers' as 'parents'.

Those that agreed to future research were invited to take part in the wave 1 MHCYP online follow up survey in 2020, and again in spring 2021, spring 2022 and spring 2023 to complete the wave 2, wave 3 and wave 4 online follow up surveys. 

The age of those taking part has increased over time:

• in 2017 the cohort were aged 2 to 19 years
• in 2020 they were 5 to 22 years
• in 2021 they were 6 to 23 years
• in 2022 they were 7 to 24 years 
• in 2023 they were 8 to 25 years

Due to these changes in age groups, the cross-sectional analyses presented in this report are stand-alone, and should not be compared with those presented in previous reports.

The 2020 and 2021 reports included breakdowns by ethnic group. The standards for ethnicity data published in July 2022 by the Race Disparity Unit recommended using the Government Statistical Service (GSS) harmonised categories when analysing ethnicity data. When reliable data for the full harmonised set of classifications is not available, then the 5 aggregated groups should be used. Aggregating into ‘white’ and ‘non-white’ should be avoided, as this can mask substantial differences between ethnic groups. Comparisons between the 5 category ethnic groups were not included in the 2022 report due to small sample sizes. The latest standards for ethnicity data published in April 2023 continues to recommend using the GSS harmonised categories when analysing ethnicity data. Therefore, breakdowns by ethnic group have not been included in this report due to small sample sizes preventing breakdowns by harmonised categories.