A new study from the Centre for Mental Health, commissioned by Impact on Urban Health, reveals that children’s mental health is increasingly at risk due to financial pressures on parents, overcrowded living conditions, and a lack of safe green spaces.
The research underscores the crucial role parents and caregivers play in a child’s healthy social development but emphasises the strain on families caused by the current cost-of-living crisis and other financial burdens.
The report, titled Growing Stronger Together, seeks to understand behavioural problems in children, which are among the most prevalent childhood mental health issues. Contrary to common blame placed on parents for their children’s behavioural challenges, the study suggests that these issues often stem from exposure to multiple risks, including poverty, financial strain, racism, and inadequate, overcrowded housing.
While behavioural problems in childhood are considered normal and transient, the report highlights that some children may become trapped in challenging behavioural patterns, affecting their social, emotional, and learning outcomes. This predicament increases the risk of adverse outcomes such as school exclusion.
The study collected insights from parents in the London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark. These parents expressed the difficulty of supporting their children’s well-being while working long hours to make ends meet or living in insecure and overcrowded housing. Additionally, they highlighted the impact of racism on children’s well-being, contributing to mental health difficulties and behavioural problems.
In response to these concerning findings, the report calls on:
- The Government to commit to ending child poverty through a Child Poverty Act
- The Government to increase funding for local councils, so that they can invest in parenting programmes and address the housing crisis
- Local councils to develop an overarching strategy to support children and families impacted by trauma who present with behavioural problems
- Local councils to increase the availability of good quality social housing, promptly address issues of disrepair and overcrowding, and invest in safe green spaces in the community
- Department for Education to work with racialised communities to develop and embed an anti-racist and diverse curriculum that incorporates the histories and contributions of all racialised communities in the UK.
Read the report here.
