SA Child Gauge 2021/2022 Child and adolescent mental health

In our 2021 Annual Report we introduced the 2021/2022 SA Child Gauge which focused on child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing. This edition was supported by the CoE-HUMAN and involved pieces written by our researchers, including a Foreword from Distinguished Professor Linda Richter. The full report is now accessible online (http://www.ci.uct.ac.za/ci/cg20212022-child-and-adolescent-mental-health).

Prof Richter writes:

“In a country beset by poverty, inequality, social exclusion and violence, our most important responsibility is to our children and adolescents. We need to identify those who face difficulties early on and try to rectify or ameliorate these problems so that children can continue their life-long journey with strength and resources.”

Short summaries of key content, many produced by CoE affiliated researchers, are shown below.

A life-course perspective on the biological, psychological and social development of child mental health

Tamsen Rochat and Stephanie Redinger

This chapter explores how exposures, including positive and negative life events, can impact on normal and necessary developmental processes – which in turn impact mental health.

Mental health over the life course –findings from the Birth to Thirty Cohort Study

Sara Naicker, Shane Norris & Linda Richter healthyl ifestyle choicest hatr educe risk of genetic predispositions healthy behavioursa nd interaction modelled

This case highlights the key findings from Bt30 on the antecedents and consequences of mental ill health, organised by life stage from the study’s inception to date. The evidence from Bt30 has collectively demonstrated that mental health problems have their origins in early life, perhaps even before conception, and that they can be passed from parents to children intergenerationally through the interplay of social and biological factors.

Families: Foundations for child and adolescent mental health and well-being

Sara Naicker, Lizette Berry, Roisin Drysdale, Tawanda Makusha and Linda Richter

This chapter explores the central role of families in protecting and promoting child and adolescent mental health, the ways in which family form and function can contribute to mental health problems, and the ways in which families can be encouraged and supported to enhance child and adolescent mental health.

Child and adolescent mental health and the digital world: A doubleedged sword

Rachana Desai and Patrick Burton

The COVID-19 pandemic and the digital revolution has led to an exponential rise in technology and internet use. This chapter aims to bring together diverse perspectives and interrogate the impact of digital worlds on children’s mental health and to provide recommendations for policy and practice. This includes recognising the role that parents and caregivers, educators, government regulators and industry, and children themselves have to play in promoting children’s mental health and wellbeing in all aspects of children’s online engagement, from online play to learning to civic partic-