THE psychological wellbeing of children as young as two will be assessed as part of a project to regularly monitor the mental health of youngsters in Scotland for the first time.

A new set of "indicators" has been developed which will enable researchers to build up a detailed nationwide profile of the mental health of Scots aged under 17.

The first survey is due to be published towards the end of 2013 and it will subsequently be updated every four years.

A report on the work, which was published last week, says that one key area which requires to be developed is collecting information on the mental wellbeing of children aged from 24-30 months and upon entry to primary school.

It also recommends children of all ages should be asked about their spirituality, as it is considered by many to be an important factor for mental wellbeing.

Around one in 10 children aged between five and 15 will experience a mental health problem, according to statistics from mental health charities.

However, report author Dr Jane Parkinson, public health adviser with NHS Health Scotland, said the indicators were relevant to all children and young people.

"It is not just those that obviously have a recognised diagnosed problem, but recognising that everyone in the population has a mental health need," she said.

"We need to take the whole population approach and monitor to find out what is happening in the population.

"The report will be updated with new data every four years and with that we can inform the Scottish Government and other key partners about how things are now.

"We can highlight trends and inequalities and point to where focus for action is needed."

A total of 109 suitable indicators of mental health have been identified which can provide a snapshot of how children are faring psychologically as they grow up in Scotland.

They include assessment of the ability to play and to talk to parents, liking school, bullying and the use of drugs and alcohol, as well as external factors such as neighbourhood safety and the strength of social networks, body image and participation in clubs or organisations.

Much of the data is already collected in various surveys, but the report notes that a means of assessing mental wellbeing of very young children would be required to be developed.

Parkinson acknowledged there were difficulties around some other key areas, such as assessing spirituality. "There is a lot of recognition that it [spirituality] is important, but actually getting what it means to everybody in the population and then identifying one or two questions that can easily ask that is a challenge," she said.

"There are a few indicators where we currently don't have the data, but it is recognised they are very important things for children's mental health and wellbeing. We need to do more work to either identify how we would assess them or to get the questions in national surveys to actually get the data.

"That is future work to take forward to improve the picture we are getting over time."

Carolyn Roberts, head of policy and campaigns at the Scottish Association for Mental Health, welcomed the development of the indicators.

"The more we know about children and young people's mental health, the better equipped we are to help them," she said. "The new indicators provide both a source of information and a reason to talk about mental health, and that can only be a good thing."

Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said it was important not to assume that children would just "bounce back" from difficulties. "That has been the received wisdom around children, that they are very resilient," she said. "In fact, the evidence is growing that that is not the case and children actually are deeply impacted by things when they are very young.

"If we have some way of ascertaining that and then supporting children to deal with it, then I think that can only be for the good."

Sue Palmer, author of Toxic Childhood, which examined the impact of the modern world on children, said it was vital to care about the mental health of children but also cautioned it was impossible to try to measure some factors.

"Evidence-based material is useful up to a point," she said. "But there are immeasurables like love, play and care. These things are to do with the individual, the context in which they are growing and these are the ones we have problems measuring in society in general.

"It is terribly difficult to measure that sort of human interaction which is at the bottom of most of our mental health. You cannot measure love."