'Teach young children about mental illness'
Simon Vevers
Wednesday, May 5, 2004
Children aged five have a good understanding of physical illness but do not have the same grasp of what mental illness is until they are eight or nine years old, a new study has found. Researchers at Surrey University found that younger children did not always distinguish between mental and physical conditions, often considering mental illness to be contagious.
Researchers at Surrey University found that younger children did not always distinguish between mental and physical conditions, often considering mental illness to be contagious.
The study, conducted by Eithne Buchanan-Barrow and Martyn Barrett, involved 122 children aged five to 11 from Years One to Six at three schools in Warwickshire. The children were divided into three age groups - five to seven years, seven to nine years and nine to 11 years. Then they were read six vignettes, each describing an adult diagnosed with either a physical condition, including chicken pox, a broken arm and a cold, or a mental condition, such as depression, anorexia or dementia.
The children were asked to choose the most likely cause of each illness from the following: caught it, ate something bad, something wrong with her brain, to do with how she thinks and feels, was nasty to her friend, fell off her bicycle. Then they were asked to choose the most likely consequence of each illness: need to see a doctor, have an operation, have therapy, stay at home, need help and support from relatives, always be nice to a friend in the future.
The report said, 'With respect to the physical conditions, there were no differences between the age groups, even the youngest children's responses indicating a theory-like understanding.
'However, the responses of the youngest group often failed to differentiate clearly between the two types of conditions, and tended to give physical-type responses about mental conditions.'
When the youngest age group were asked what caused the adult's depression, 35 per cent said 'she caught it from someone', with 40 per cent also believing dementia was contagious.
Dinah Morley, acting director of the charity Young Minds, said the report 'could be helpful in guiding teachers and parents in the education of children about mental health issues'.
'Understanding mental health problems is bound to be influenced by the way in which the adults in children's lives perceive mental health problems too. This underlines the importance of training in mental health awareness for teachers, and for similar education to be delivered to older pupils - the parents of the future.'
Ms Morley said that increased awareness from childhood of the issues underlying mental problems, disorders and illness 'would almost certainly have a positive effect on reducing stigma', or else 'many young people who need help for mental health problems will not seek it.'
