With vast numbers of children concerned about ‘adult issues’ including family finances, most parents and grandparents we polled in Scotland fear childhood is getting worse – and one in four children agreed.

Action for Children with YouGov polled three UK generations – quantitative surveys of over 5,000 children and adults - to explore the biggest issues affecting childhood post-pandemic in a revisit of its landmark study from 2019.

Amongst the children surveyed in Scotland, 26% said they worry about their family having enough money to live comfortably while 47% said they worry about people suffering because they don’t have enough money. Experts warn[i] the UK could be facing the biggest income squeeze in nearly fifty years with rising fuel and food prices, with the growing conflict in Ukraine likely to push up living costs even further.

Top issues children identified as preventing them from fulfilling their potential are the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic (47%), too much pressure from school (42%) and poor mental health (40%). Two years on from the first national lockdown, mental health is now a much bigger worry for children. It ranked in the top five things they worried about with 39% citing their mental health as something they were concerned about.

Covering up a worry is common for children with nearly six in ten (57%) of those surveyed admitting to hiding worries from their parents. Mental health issues were the most covered up issue at 28%, and parents appear more in tune with this behaviour, with 55% believing their child keeps their worries hidden from them – up significantly from 38% pre-pandemic in 2019.

Family support would help build stronger relationships between children and parents where there are issues. However, almost three quarters of Scottish parents surveyed (72%) felt the Government was investing too little into services that support childhoods.

Encouragingly though, children do feel more optimistic about their own prospects, with 34% of those surveyed in Scotland believing they have a brighter future than their parents.

Pessimism grows through the generations, however, with almost half of parents (45%) and 51% of grandparents surveyed in Scotland saying their child or grandchild will not have a brighter future. The older generations and children were also clearly divided when it came to social media use. Almost half of parents (49%) and grandparents (48%) that we polled felt that too much time spent on devices and social media would make it more difficult for children to fulfil their potential – only a third of children (33%) agreed.

Paul Carberry, national director of Action for Children in Scotland, said: “It is the fundamental responsibility of any government to make sure every generation of children has a better childhood and a brighter future than the last.

“The Scottish Government state they want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up however, our survey of children, parents, and grandparents, found that many families do not see this reflected in their own lives. For this aspiration to become a reality, we need to listen to and act accordingly to what these children, parents, and grandparents are telling us.

“Child poverty remains a stubborn stain on the fabric of Scottish life with one in four children in Scotland growing up in poverty. The Scottish Government must do more to address this with more support for families, many of whom were already on the brink of poverty before the cos of living crisis intensified. The Scottish Government has recently made welcome steps in the right direction, with their newly published Tackling Child Poverty delivery plan, but giant leaps are needed to truly achieve Scotland’s child poverty targets.

“Through our work with children and young people, we know we are all shaped by our earliest relationships and experiences which is why early intervention is paramount. The worries children are exhibiting around their mental health and coping financially will be felt long into children’s futures unless we act now.”

He added: “Our mental health services for young people have been shown to be incredibly impactful but long waiting lists mean many are not receiving the support they need when they need it. Family support is another service which could help tackle the mental health crisis among our young people. It builds on the strengths of families, promotes parenting skills and increases the parents’ ability to nurture successfully, while developing the resilience of children and young people. Both of these areas require more investment and development if the Scottish Government is ever to meet its ambition.

“The likely fall-out of the Ukraine conflict with even higher energy bills and inflation rates not seen for a generation, is a double blow for low-income families, already locked in a crippling cost of living crisis. The pandemic also continues to hang heavy, and its impact will be felt long into children’s futures.”