An increasing number of female pupils are hiding signs of distress from teachers, making it harder for schools to identify problems and provide support, according to a major new study of students’ mental health.
Findings seen by Tes show that while 60 per cent of secondary schoolgirls did this previously, the proportion has risen to 80 per cent since the pandemic.
The research was carried out by company STEER Education, which provides an online assessment tool for schools to alert them about students at risk of mental health issues.
How Covid has affected students’ mental health
The analysis of data from 15,000 secondary school students across the UK reveals:
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Girls aged 11 are now 30 per cent more likely to suffer from poor mental health than boys of the same age. By the time girls reach 18, they are now more than twice as likely to experience poor mental health than boys of the same age.
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Increasing numbers of girls now go to great lengths to conceal signs of distress, making it harder for teachers and education staff to identify and help them. Unhealthy perfectionism and extreme self-control are also far more common. While 20 per cent of secondary schoolgirls had these traits before the pandemic, an alarming 80 per cent do so now.
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The pandemic appears to have affected girls’ mental health much more severely than boys’: girls are now 33 per cent more likely to experience poor mental health compared with those of the same age as them before the pandemic. In contrast, boys are 12 per cent more likely to do so.
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Compared with 2018, both boys and girls are now 40 per cent less trusting of others, 25 per cent less likely to take risks and 25 per cent less able to choose an appropriate and measured response to life’s everyday challenges.
Simon Antwis, STEER Education’s senior education consultant and a former headteacher and school inspector, said it was “particularly concerning” that girls are keeping their fears to themselves because it makes it “much more difficult for their teachers to identify them as vulnerable and in need of support.”
“The growing gulf between boys’ and girls’ mental health looks to be one of the long-lasting effects of the pandemic, with recovery from school closures taking a long time,” he added.
Mr Antwis said many schools use student voice tools, such as online surveys and chat hubs, to identify vulnerable students, but he warned that these “only detect a fraction of those who need support”.
“They fail to spot the ‘hidden middle’ - those who may be showing early signs of self-harm, bullying, anxiety and unhealthy self-control,” he said.
STEER worked in partnership with the social enterprise Minds Ahead to analyse online responses from students in 92 state secondary schools at least twice a year, and mostly every term, from before the start of the pandemic to December 2021.
Students were asked questions for the study about their trust of themselves and of others, their willingness to seek change and their self-regulation - factors said to be vital for wellbeing, strong relationships and learning.
The STEER online assessment is designed to alerts schools to students who may have emerging mental health risks but are not showing visible signs of vulnerability. It also identifies students who may be hiding safeguarding concerns.
Andrew Rodgers, principal of Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough, which uses the STEER tool, said: ”We know that the pandemic has had a detrimental impact on young people’s mental health.
“Our multi-academy trust has prioritised the wellbeing and mental health of our students by proactively measuring and tracking their self-regulation and mental health so that we’re able to provide timely support to those students who have been struggling.”
