By Vanessa Chalmers Health Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 10:36 GMT, 19 February 2019 | Updated: 10:36 GMT, 19 February 2019
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Children with depression may do worse at school because their memory is altered, a study suggests.
The mental health condition appears to affect young people's ability to remember and use information, which is crucial during exams.
Researchers have warned teachers and parents to avoid dismissing a child as lazy or not hardworking, when they in fact may be suffering with depression.
Statistics show that ten per cent of young people aged five-16 have a clinically diagnosable mental problem.
Children with depression may do worse at school because their memory is altered, a study at the University of Reading suggests
The study, involving 58 children aged between 12 and 17, tested teenagers who had high depressive symptoms with teenagers who had none or low.
The researchers, led by Jeni Fisk, a pHd student at University of Reading, looked at how well the youngsters could hold and use information to accomplish a task.
This is a measure of working memory, which is similar to short term memory in that it has a limited capacity, and the information is being processed while used - when writing a phone number down, for example.
Children as young as two are developing mental health problems because of smartphones and tablets, scientists warned in November.
Just an hour a day staring at a screen can be enough to make children more likely to be anxious or depressed.
This could be making them less curious, less able to finish tasks, less emotionally stable and lowering their self-control.
Although teenagers are most at risk from the damaging devices, children under the age of 10 and toddlers' still-developing brains are also being affected.
Researchers at San Diego State University and the University of Georgia analysed data provided by the parents
