One fifth of children live in families with violence, mental illness, or abuse problems

A fifth of children live in families plagued by violence, mental illness, drink problems or drug abuse, research shows.

Analysis by the Office for National Statistics estimates that up to a million are affected – and the number is likely to have leapt in lockdown.

The ONS found that 19.3 per cent of ten to 15-year-olds in England and Wales – 751,000 –were in a household where at least one adult experienced mental ill-health, domestic abuse or substance misuse.

It suggests that around a million children of all ages suffer as a result of this ‘toxic trio’ of problems.

Those from white families were more than twice as likely to be affected as children from black or Asian families.

More than half are in homes blighted by either drug or alcohol abuse – and often both.

Children living in such households are a third more likely to become victims of crime and more likely to take drugs or become involved in knife crime, the ONS said. 

Around one child in 12 living with a parent who abuses drugs or alcohol knows someone who carries a knife. 

The data was gathered by the Crime Survey for England and Wales between March 2017 and March 2019 based on interviews with adults and children aged between 10 and 15 living in the same home.  

An estimated 16.7 per cent of children living with adults with poor mental health had been a victim of some form of crime in the previous 12 months, compared with 10.8% per cent among those who did not. 

Children with a difficult home life were also much more likely to have been bullied, the data showed.

Around one third of children in homes with a mentally unwell adult or domestic violence had been bullied in the past year.

Fewer than a fifth of youngsters living with none of the toxic trio issues said they had been bullied, a similar figure to those just living with substance abuse.

Substance abuse was found to be the lowest risk factor for vulnerabilities in most cases, except in the case of alcohol misuse.

The presence of the toxic trio was more likely to put children at risk of becoming a perpetrator of damaging or criminal behaviour. 

Sophie Sanders, of the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice, said the data had been gathered in response to calls for more evidence about the impact of the three risk factors on children’s lives.

‘(The research) suggests that the presence of one or more of these issues could make children more vulnerable to victimisation and more likely to engage in negative behaviours,’ she said.

But she urged caution when interpreting the figures, pointing out that the majority of children living with one or more of the toxic trio did not report victimisation or negative behaviours in the previous 12 months.

Children’s charity the NSPCC urged the Government to take the data into consideration as the country begins another lockdown.

Policy manager Abigail Gill said: ‘We know that these factors have a concerning impact on young lives and these statistics show that they are also more likely to be a victim of crime.’

She added: ‘It’s vital that the Government puts plans in place to support families as the crisis continues, while services in the community for victims of domestic abuse should be enshrined into law in the Domestic Abuse Bill.’

Dr Bernadka Dubicka, of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said it was vital more people had swift access to mental health and addictions services.

‘Doing so will not only help ensure more people with mental illness and addictions get the support they need, but it can also help prevent a harmful cycle of mental illness and victimisation in our children and young people,’ she said.