According to a study carried out by the New Economics Foundation, primary schoolchildren are a lot happier than their secondary counterparts. The study looked at two measures of well-being in more than 1,000 youngsters aged 7 to 19 attending Nottingham schools. The study claims that the well-being and overall happiness of young people drops drastically when they switch from primary to secondary school, with significant effects on their personal development. It finds that a third of children are so badly affected by the transition that they become vulnerable to mental illness.

http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/news_youthwb.aspx

A much greater emphasis has been placed on successful transioning from primary to secondary school in recent years. I start working with vulnerable Yr6 and give them additional visits and time to ask questions . It often appears to be an even more anxious time for parents as well and I am sure that significant anxiety is often transferred from parent to child.Surely much of this so called drop in wellbeing could be due to the onset of adolescence and all its insecurities.