The latest State of the Nation Children’s Report has been published.
The report claims that the happiness levels among children living in Ireland have decreased.
Published by the Children’s Minister, Roderic O’Gorman this week, it reveals key information on children’s health, behavioural and educational outcomes.
In 2018, 88.2% of children reported being happy with their lives at the time, in 2022 that dropped to 78.5%.
It also highlighted that 322 kids were admitted to psychiatric hospitals or units nationwide in child and adolescent units in 2023.
Speaking about what may be contributing to the decrease in reported happiness among children in Ireland, Child and Adolescent psychotherapist, Colman Noctor said:
“You have social media, the fallout from the pandemic lockdowns and really we’re seeing the first group of children that didn’t grow up on the street.
“I think that has a huge impact on their capacity for socialisation, for social fitness, mental fitness.
“We have far more adult-led activities which probably don’t allow children to be more autonomous decision-makers.”
A slight decrease in bullying being experienced by children in Ireland was also noted. In 2022 , 28.6% of children ages between 10 and 17 reported having been bullied at school in the previous months which shows a drop from 31.1% in 2018.
An increase in the number of children on in-patient or day-case waiting lists of 32.5% was noted – with the rise being cited between 2020 and 2023.
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