Impact of mental health on youths’ overall wellbeing and positive outlook

This article reports on the overall wellbeing and positive outlook of 106 pupils in a city secondary school in England. The pupils were in Year 7 (n = 38) [age 11–12], Year 8 (n = 31) [age 12–13], and Year 10 (n = 37) [age 14–15]. The demographic experienced high levels of socio-economic challenge with a range of social, emotional, and mental health needs requiring support. The percentage of Free School Meals (FSM) and Pupil Premium (PP) across the year groups ranged from 32.4% to 48.4%. All pupils were involved in school intervention to support their mental health literacy and wellbeing between April and July 2024. The findings demonstrated that in-school intervention supported pupils to understand aspects of poor mental health and maintain a positive wellbeing. In Year 7 and Year 8, 68% and 90% of pupils respectively knew what caused poor mental health which increased by 32% for Year 8 pupils and slightly decreased by 3% for year 7 pupils post-intervention. There was less surety in the causes of poor mental health amongst Year 10s with a decrease of 11% post-intervention. There was an observable statistical difference (determined by Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient) in the outlook of Year 8 pupils with just 22.6% reporting a positive general attitude to life.