Health and Wellbeing Census Scotland 2021- 2022

Mental health and wellbeing

Analysis indicates positive mental health and wellbeing decreases with stage, and there are differences by sex and deprivation.

Across most of the measures, positive perceptions of life satisfaction, confidence and loneliness decrease up to S4, but the analysis shows small improvements (or no further decreases) for those in S5 and S6. However, the percentage of pupils who say their body and the way they look affects how they feel about themselves increases as children and young people get older.  Notably, problematic social media use, measured for S2 to S6 pupils, decreases as pupils get older.

The percentage who agree they feel life is just right decreases as children and young people get older, as does agreement with having what they want in life. As pupils get older they are less likely to agree adults are good at listening to what they say and  adults are good at taking into account what they say; less likely to like who they are; less likely to be proud of what they can do; less likely to agree they try their hardest when they do things; less likely to generally feel cheerful and in a good mood; less likely to feel like they will be ok even when they are having a difficult time; more likely to have a lot of things to worry about in their life; less likely to feel confident often or all of the time; less likely to feel happy with their body and the way they look; and more likely to spend three or more hours on a school day, and on weekends on electronic devices. Agreement that they wish they had a different kind of life increases with stage, as does often or always feeling lonely and agreeing that their body and how they look affects how they feel about themselves.

Analysis of the Strengths and Difficulties Questions (SDQ) indicates for those in S2 to S6, the percentage with slightly raised, high or very high total difficulties score decreases with stage, as do the individual scales. The exception is the percentage with slightly raised, high or very high emotional problems score which increases with stage.  The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) average scores decreased between S2 and S4 before increasing for those in S5 and S6 indicating mental wellbeing declining up to S4 before improving for pupils in S5 and S6.

The analysis of the SDQ indicates girls mental health and wellbeing is lower than that for boys, reflected in more girls with slightly raised, high or very high total difficulties scores, and on each of the scales. The exception is the pro-social score where a higher percentage of boys had a slightly low, lowered or very low pro-social score.

The WEMWBS average scores were also noticeably lower for girls compared to boys, indicating that the mental wellbeing of girls is lower than it is for boys.

Boys are more likely to agree their life is just right; they have what they want in life; that adults are good at listening to what they say and that adults are good at taking what they say into account; in general they like who they are; they are proud of the things they can do; they feel like they can make decisions in their lives; generally they are cheerful and in a good mood; even if they are having a difficult time they feel like they will be ok; often or always feeling confident; and be happy with their body and the way they look.

Girls were more likely to agree they wish they had a different kind of life; there are lots of things they worry about in their life; they often or always feel lonely; they sometimes, often or always feel left out of things; and their body and the way they look affects how they feel about themselves. Girls were also more likely to have problematic social media use than boys.

This is replicated in the analysis by deprivation, with mental health and wellbeing being lower for children and young people living in the most deprived areas across SDQ and WEMWBS, and the life satisfaction measures. Children and young people in the most deprived areas were more likely to say they wish they had a different kind of life; less likely to say in general they like who they are; less likely to say they generally feel cheerful and in a good mood; more likely to say there are a lot of things they worry about in their life; less likely to feel confident often or all of the time; less likely to agree they are happy with their body and the way they look; those in P5 – P7 are more likely to spend three or more hours on electronic devices on weekdays and at weekends and for those in S1 – S6 are more likely to spend 6 hours or more on electronic devices on week days and at weekends.  Pupils in the most deprived areas in S2 – S6 were more likely to have problematic social media use.

Table 13 Percentage of children and young people with slightly raised, high, or very high SDQ scores, by total difficulties score, scales, and pupil stage

Table 14 Percentage of children and young people with slightly raised, high, or very high SDQ scores, by total difficulties score, scale, and pupil sex

Table 15 Percentage of children and young people with slightly raised, high, or very high SDQ scores, by total difficulties score, scale, and deprivation

Table 16 Average WEMWBS score by pupil stage and pupil sex

Table 17 Average WEMWBS score by pupil stage and deprivation

Table 18 Percentage of pupils responding to a range of questions in relation to their life satisfaction and wellbeing, by question asked, response given and pupil stage

Table 19 Percentage of pupils responding to a range of questions in relation to their life satisfaction and wellbeing, by question asked, response given and pupil sex

Table 20 Percentage of pupils responding to a range of questions in relation to their life satisfaction and wellbeing, by question asked, response given and deprivation