Researchers from Cardiff University and the Institute of Psychiatry found that there was no change in the number of emotional problems such as anxiety and depression in 11- to 15-year-olds between 1999 and 2004, whereas there had been a 70 per cent increase from 1974 to 1999.
The report, published by the Nuffield Foundation, also found that parental reports of conduct problems such as lying, disobedience, stealing and fighting had decreased slightly, after doubling between 1974 and 1999. Of nine different measures of mental health studied by researchers, eight had decreased or stayed the same.
Despite this, teenagers are still more likely to experience emotional and conduct problems than young people in the 1970s and 1980s. The report draws no conclusion about why this might be, but suggests changes in education, non-school time, family, employment and the social situation for young men would be "useful avenues for future research".
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