DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-9128-1
title: Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2020: Special Licence Access
title: Surveys of Psychiatric Morbidity, 1993-
title: Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2020: Wave 1 Follow-up to the MHCYP 2017

description: The &lt;i&gt;Surveys of Psychiatric Morbidity in Great Britain&lt;/i&gt; aim to provide up-to-date information about the prevalence of psychiatric problems among people in Great Britain, as well as their associated social disabilities and use of services. The series began in 1993, and so far consists of the following surveys:&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;i&gt;OPCS Surveys of Psychiatric Morbidity: Private Household Survey, 1993&lt;/i&gt;, covering 10,000 adults aged 16-64 years living in private households;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;a supplementary sample of 350 people aged 16-64 with psychosis, living in private households, which was conducted in 1993-1994 and then repeated in 2000;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;i&gt;OPCS Surveys of Psychiatric Morbidity: Institutions Sample, 1994&lt;/i&gt;, which covered 1,200 people aged 16-64 years living in institutions specifically catering for people with mental illness;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;i&gt;OPCS Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity among Homeless People, 1994&lt;/i&gt;, which covered 1,100 homeless people aged 16-64 living in hostels for the homeless or similar institutions. The sample also included 'rough sleepers';&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;i&gt;ONS Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity among Prisoners in England and Wales, 1997&lt;/i&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;i&gt;Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in Great Britain, 1999&lt;/i&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;i&gt;Psychiatric Morbidity among Adults Living in Private Households, 2000&lt;/i&gt;, which repeated the 1993 survey;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;i&gt;Mental Health of Young People Looked After by Local Authorities in Great Britain, 2001-2002&lt;/i&gt;;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;i&gt;Mental Health of Children and Young People in Great Britain, 2004&lt;/i&gt;; this survey repeated the 1999 survey&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;i&gt;Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, 2007&lt;/i&gt;; this survey repeated the 2000 private households survey. The Information Centre for Health and Social Care took over management of the survey in 2007.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;i&gt;Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, 2014: Special Licence Access&lt;/i&gt;; this survey repeated the 2000 and 2007 surveys. NHS Digital are now responsible for the surveys, which are now sometimes also referred to as the 'National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing'. &lt;b&gt;Users should note that from 2014, the APMS is subject to more restrictive Special Licence Access conditions, due to the sensitive nature of the information gathered from respondents&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2017: Special Licence&lt;/span&gt;; this survey repeated the 1999 and 2004 surveys, but only covering England. &lt;b&gt;Users should note that this study is subject to more restrictive Special Licence Access conditions, due to the sensitive nature of the information gathered from respondents&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;The UK Data Service holds data from all the surveys mentioned above apart from the 1993-1994/2000 supplementary samples of people with psychosis. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
 &lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2020: Special Licence Access&lt;/em&gt; (MHCYP) is the first in a series of follow-up surveys to the MHCYP 2017 survey (which in itself was the third survey of its kind - see SN 8467 - with previous MHCYPs carried out in 1999, 2004). The 2020 MHCYP was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and commissioned by NHS England. The survey was carried out by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen Social Research), the Office for National Statistics, the University of Cambridge and the University of Exeter.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The MHCYP surveys provide England's Official Statistics on trends in child mental health. The MHCYP 2017 was conducted face-to-face and involved data collection from a random sample of children and young people (aged 2 to 19 years). MHCYP 2017 participants (now aged 5 to 22 years) who agreed to be re-contacted for future research were invited to take part in a follow-up online survey in July 2020. Therefore, the achieved MHCYP 2020 sample for this (Wave 1) follow-up was based on 3,570 children and young people who took part in MHCYP 2017, with both surveys also drawing on information collected from parents.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The two main aims of MHCYP 2020 were:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;to compare mental health between 2017 and 2020 - the likelihood of a mental disorder was assessed against completion of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in both years; and&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;to describe life during the COVID-19 pandemic.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;