Children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing are key priorities for Public Health and the council and are central to the work of partner organisations working to improve children’s lives. However, very little information is available about these priority areas with regard to younger children in particular, nor about their lifestyle choices. We therefore proposed that research should be undertaken to help fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge. This took the form of a Health and Happiness Survey of 10 to 11-year old children.
The survey links in with the work of Public Health and supports the Public Health Plan, the West Sussex Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2019-2024, the Wellbeing and Resilience Framework 2018 and the West Sussex Local Transformation Plan for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing 2015-2021.
This survey is complemented by a technical report on emotional regulation strategies as predictors of wellbeing in children and young people. In this report, two different emotional regulation strategies were tested against a range of emotional wellbeing indicators, in a sample of 1,200 Year 6 pupils in West Sussex. Statistical findings show that improving emotional regulation strategies was linked with a marked improvement in emotional wellbeing.
Downloads
Health and Happiness Survey Report (PDF, 1.5Mb)
Emotional regulation strategies as predictors of wellbeing in CYP (PDF, 2.5Mb)