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Understanding Children and Young People’s Mental Health

Long-term effects

Mental ill health beginning early in life can have profound long-term consequences,
affecting the life chances of the individuals concerned in several ways.

Key Fact

Poor mental well-being increases the likelihood in later life of:

• Poor educational attainment

• Antisocial behaviour
• Drug and alcohol misuse

• Teenage pregnancy

• Involvement in criminal activity

• Mental ill health.

Source: www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-mental-health-
jsna-toolkit/5-children-and-young-people

Anxiety disorders are associated with poor educational attainment and often lower
earnings in employment later in life due to having missed school on many occasions
and the inability to concentrate while there.

We know that later in life, people with mental ill health are overrepresented in lower
paid jobs, part-time and temporary work. Mental ill health is a common feature of
people who are homeless, and more people in this group have experienced psychosis.

Without the help they need, people can feel that they have ‘lost’ years of their life
battling against the odds with mental ill health as the quote below demonstrates:

‘If I’d had the help in my teens that I finally got in my thirties, I wouldn’t have
lost my twenties.’

Source: The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health: Independent
Taskforce Report February 2016

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