It certainly feels like, as a country, we have come a fair way in terms of mental health awareness since I was a teenager. For example, last month the theme of World Mental Health day was ‘mental health as a universal human right’, and it was great to see so many people engaging with the day on social media and in the workplace.
However, data on mental wellbeing from the COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities (COSMO) study’s first wave (the first time data was collected on this for the study), in which 44% of 16/17-year-olds were classified as experiencing high psychological distress, and findings published today from wave 2 (where COSMO participants were surveyed for the second time), make sobering reading. It is clear there is still a long way to go to achieving universality in good wellbeing and access to mental health services for young people.
Our new findings could not be more timely.
This week sees the launch of wave 2 data from the COSMO study,, covering a cohort of over 11,000 17-18-year-olds. The new data is now accessible for all researchers to use though the UK Data Service with our initial findings on mental and physical health in today’s report.
