Official Statistics

Statistical commentary: children living with parents in emotional distress, March 2022 update

Updated 27 February 2024

New in this update

This statistical commentary explains the content of the data release on the proportion of children living with parents in emotional distress, for the period 2019 to 2020.

It is based on UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) main survey (wave 11). It does not include the UKHLS COVID-19 survey data collected specifically to help understand the impact of the pandemic. However, the survey data included in this commentary covers the 2020 period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic impacted on the data collection method of the survey and the response rate. Background and further information section below and the methodology and supporting information provide further details – sensitivity analysis carried out indicates that the impact on the reported proportions in this commentary is likely to be small.

Parental emotional distress (in mothers and fathers) can lead to mental health problems including anxiety or depression in children. It is associated with an increased risk of behavioural and emotional difficulties in later childhood and adulthood.

This update includes new data on the proportion of children living with either one or both parents reporting symptoms of emotional distress overall. Children living with at least one parent reporting symptoms of emotional distress is broken down by:

• family type (lone parent or couple parent family)

• work status (working or workless family)

This release also includes:

• data tables for all indicators, including estimates for previous years

• full background and method document

All indicators are based on self reported questionnaire data.

The term ‘workless family’ is used when a child is living in a family where no adult (parent or guardian) is in paid employment. This definition applies to both ‘lone parent’ and ‘couple parent’ families as a child can live with a different parent or guardian throughout the year or from one wave of the survey to the next.

Main findings

This update shows that for the period 2019 to 2020 in England:

• around 1 in 3 children lived with at least one parent reporting emotional distress – this measure includes children living in either a lone or couple parent family

• around 1 in 4 children lived with a mother (in either a lone or couple parent family) reporting emotional distress

• around 1 in 7 children lived with a father (in either a lone or couple parent family) reporting emotional distress

• around 1 in 18 children lived with 2 parents reporting emotional distress – this measure includes children living in couple parent families only

All 4 indicators show an increase on the proportions reported for the period 2018 to 2019.

Children living in couple parent families were more likely to live with a parent reporting emotional distress if both parents were out of work compared to families with at least one parent working. This difference between working and workless families was also reported for lone parent families although this was smaller.

Summary

This summary adds to the main findings in relation to:

• change over time in the overall indicators

• differences by family type and work status

Confidence intervals are not provided for the indicators and differences in proportions may not be statistically significant.

Parental emotional distress: change over time

Compared to the previous period (2018 to 2019), in the period 2019 to 2020 the proportion of children living with parents in emotional distress increased across all 4 measures:

1. There was 2.7% points increase in the proportion of children living with at least one parent reporting emotional distress – 1.2% points increase was reported in the previous survey wave. This is the fifth consecutive study wave to show an increase for this indicator – a rise from 25.6% in 2014 to 2015 to 34.3% in the latest period.

2. The proportion of children living with a mother reporting emotional distress increased by 2.8% points, from 24.1% to 26.9%. In the previous study wave this increase was less than 1%. This was also the fifth consecutive increase, beginning with a figure of 19.1% for the period 2014 to 2015.

3. The proportion of children living with a father reporting emotional distress increased by less than 1%. This was higher in the previous wave with a change of 1.7%. This was the fourth consecutive increase, beginning with a figure of 11.4% for the period 2015 to 2016 to 14.9% in the latest period.

4. The proportion of children living with both parents reporting emotional distress increased from 4.5% to 5.6% in the most recent study wave. In the previous study wave this increase was also less than 1%. This was the fourth consecutive increase, beginning with a figure of 3.3% for the period 2015 to 2016.

Parental emotional distress: family type and work status

Children living in workless households between 2019 to 2020, were more likely to have a parent reporting emotional distress regardless of family type.

Over half of children (51.7%) living with both parents out of work, had at least one parent reporting symptoms of emotional distress. This compared to nearly one third of children (32.4%) living in couple families where at least one parent is in paid employment.

For children in lone parent families, the difference between working and workless families was less pronounced.

For household with a lone parent who was unemployed 39.3% children were living with a parent who reported symptoms of emotional distress. This compares to 38.1% for children living with a lone parent in paid employment.

Background and further information

This publication provides an estimate of the proportion of children whose parents are experiencing emotional distress. It also provides information on the role that being a lone parent and being not in work play in parental mental health.

This data is based on the self reported 12-item General Health Questionnaire as collected in the Understanding Society Longitudinal Study from 2010 to 2020. Further details about the methodology are available in the supplementary information in this publication and from the Understanding Society survey documentation.

During the pandemic the Understanding Society survey have suspended all face-to-face interviews. However, the survey already used a mixed mode interview approach from 2016 to 2017 wave onwards. This means that a larger proportion of interviews were administered online before the onset of the pandemic. The survey also reported a 1.5% points drop in the response rate for the 2020 sample compared to 2019. The methodology and supporting information document provide a summary of additional analysis carried out.

COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing surveillance report provides further, useful information on population mental health and wellbeing in England during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a parents and carers spotlight.

Further analysis and findings are available from Improving lives: helping workless families – indicators and evidence base published by Department of Work and Pensions.

Responsible statisticians: Lanre Segilola, Gabi Price

Product leads: Cam Lugton, Julia Verne

For queries relating to this publication, please contact mhdnin@phe.gov.uk.