Indian children are most hesitant about soliciting professional support and counseling for mental stress and disorders. According to a 2021 survey conducted by Unicef and Gallup among 20,000 children and adults in 21 countries, Indian children are hesitant to request mental health support. A mere 41 percent of Indian children and youth between 15-24 years has a positive attitude towards seeking support for mental health problems, compared to an average of 83 percent of 20 countries.

The survey results published in State of the World’s Children 2021 also found that 14 percent of 15-24-year-olds in India — or 1 in 7 — reported often “feeling depressed or having little interest in doing things”. Across 21 countries, the median was 1 in 5 young people.

The report says that the Covid disruption of routines, education, recreation, as well as anxiety about family income and health, has adversely impacted young people making them afraid, angry, and pessimistic about the future. Unicef’s rapid assessment adds that only 60 percent of children in India could access digital classrooms in 2021.

Digital screen time linked to children’s myopia

A recent study undertaken by researchers and eye health experts from Singapore, Australia, China and the UK, reveals that prolonged viewing of electronic screens leads to higher risk and severity of myopia, or short-sightedness in children and young adults.

The researchers examined more than 3,000 studies investigating electronic devices exposure and myopia in children and young adults aged between three months and 33 years. After analysing and statistically combining the studies, the researchers found that prolonged focus on electronic screens, mobile phones included, results in 30 percent higher risk of myopia and, when combined with excessive computer use, that risk rises to 80 percent.

“This research comes at a time when our children have been spending more time than staring at screens for long periods, due to schools closure. It is clear that urgent research is needed to further understand how exposure to digital devices can affect our eyes and vision. We also know that people underestimate their own screen time, so future studies should use objective measures to capture this information,” says Dr. Rupert Bourne, professor of ophthalmology in the Vision and Eye Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University, UK.

Fruits & vegetables improve children’s mental well-being

A fruits and vegetables-rich diet results in better mental well-being among children, especially secondary school students, says a study conducted by UEA Health and Social Care Partners and Norfolk County Council, and published in ScienceDaily (October).

The researchers analysed data of 9,000 children in 50 schools across Norfolk, UK (7,570 secondary and 1,253 primary schoolers), and found that children who consumed five or more portions of fruits and vegetables per day had the highest scores for mental well-being.

“As a potentially modifiable factor at individual and societal levels, nutrition represents an important public health target for strategies to address childhood mental well-being. Public health strategies and school policies should be formulated to ensure that good quality nutrition is available to all children before and during school in order to optimise mental well-being and empower children to fulfil their full potential,” says lead researcher Prof. Ailsa Welch of UEA’s Norwich Medical School.

Teens with mental health problems face exclusion

Teenage children diagnosed with mental health disorders are often excluded from higher education and the labour market as young adults, reveals a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry (October). University of Turku, Finland researchers studied 55,273 individuals after exclusions for intellectual disability, death or emigration and found that 11 percent of adolescents who had received psychiatric diagnosis were shut out of education and the labour market for at least five years in early adulthood; this further makes children hesitant to request mental health support.

“Vocational rehabilitation and tight collaboration between psychiatry and social services are important for enabling adolescents suffering mental health problems to access the labour market,” says lead author David Gyllenberg, assistant professor, child psychiatry, the University of Turku.

Also read: World Mental Health Day 2021: Mental Anguish of Students