The Education Policy Institute (EPI) and The Prince’s Trust have published a major study on the mental health and wellbeing of young people.

The research shows that while the wellbeing of all young people declines by the end of their teenage years, there is a strong gender divide within this: girls see far lower levels of wellbeing and self-esteem than boys – driven by a sharp fall of both during mid-adolescence.

Girls experience more depressive symptoms than boys – such as feeling worthless or hopeless – while they are also more likely to feel unhappy about their physical appearance. The proportion of girls that feel unhappy about their appearance rises considerably between age 11 and 14, from 1 in 7 to around 1 in 3.

Social media also plays a key role for the generation of “digital natives”, with the new findings showing that very frequent use has an adverse effect on the wellbeing of boys and girls, along with the self-esteem of girls.

The EPI recommends that the government should urgently introduce a £650m funding package specifically for supporting children and young people’s wellbeing. This funding would allow schools to hire additional staff to deliver mental health support to pupils and teaching staff, run interventions to address socio-emotional skills gaps, improve links with local CAMHS, and deliver training to teachers.

The EPI also calls on the government to build on existing mental health content in the Health Education and Relationships and Sex Education curriculum, to reflect existing evidence and improve the capacity of school staff to support children with mental health needs.

Develop an evidence-based policy to prevent and tackle bullying including clear plans for funding, delivery and accountability.

Other recommendations are to publish a plan for rollout of a four-week waiting time for specialist mental healthcare across the country including clear details on funding and staffing requirements, and to improve young people’s access to resources and areas for physical activity.