Parents of children who suffer from psychological issues may want to get them help quickly, as prolonging the condition could have long-term economic and social impacts during the child's life course.

According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academics of Sciences, children who have psychological issues at a young age go on to reduce their average income and have a harder time establishing long-term social relationships.

Researchers examined a large group of British residents and found that family income was one-fourth lower for people who had psychological issues as a child compared to those with no problems. Additionally, those who had problems at a young age had a lesser chance of getting married or had fewer stable relationships.

"These findings demonstrate that childhood psychological problems can have significant negative impacts over the course of an individual's life, much more so than childhood physical health problems," said James P. Smith, one of the study's authors and a senior economist at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization.