Publication, Part of Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England
Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England, 2021
National statistics, Accredited official statistics
Correction to sources of information on drug use data (part 10)
Following the initial publication it was discovered that around half of pupil responses to the question on 'Sources of helpful information about drug use' had been excluded from the results. This was corrected and the affected tables and commentary have been re-issued.
In Part 10: Young people and drugs: the context, the affected outputs were tables 10.19, 10.20 and 10.21, and the associated chart and commentary in the section on 'Sources of helpful information about drug use'. Though some of the quoted figures changed by 0-3 percentage points, there was no effect to the order of contribution of the most common sources.
4 November 2022 00:00 AM
Part 13: Wellbeing
Introduction
From 2018 the survey moved to measuring wellbeing using questions recommended and used by the Office for National Statistics. These questions represent a harmonised standard for measuring personal wellbeing and are used in many surveys across the UK.
Pupils were asked to rank their feelings from 0 to 10 in relation to the following questions:
- Overall, how satisfied are you with life nowadays?
- Overall, to what extent do you feel that the things you do in life are worthwhile?
- Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?
- Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?
The responses were then allocated to one of four categories per wellbeing question as shown below:
Life satisfaction, life worthwhile, and happiness scores
- 0 to 4 = Low
- 5 to 6 = Medium
- 7 to 8 = High
- 9 to 10 = Very high
Anxiety scores
- 0 to 1 = Very low
- 2 to 3 = Low
- 4 to 5 = Medium
- 6 to 10 = High
This part provides a summary of the outcomes from these wellbeing questions, and presents them against recent behaviours; smoking in the last week, drinking alcohol in the last week, and drug use in the last month.
Summary of wellbeing
Summary of wellbeing outcomes
High levels of wellbeing were most commonly reported in relation to questions on the extent to which pupils feel the things they do in life are worthwhile, as well as life satisfaction; 55% and 54% of pupils respectively reported high wellbeing for these questions (includes very high).
Low levels of wellbeing were most commonly reported in relation to questions about happiness and anxiety; 33% reporting a high level of anxiety yesterday, and 30% reporting a low level of happiness yesterday.
Overall, 23% of pupils reported a low level of life satisfaction, and 22% a low feeling in relation to the things they do in life being worthwhile.
Low wellbeing, by year
There have been increases in low wellbeing for each of the four measures since 2018.
The proportion of pupils reporting low wellbeing for all four measures (low life satisfaction, low feeling of the things they do in life being worthwhile, low happiness yesterday, and high anxiety yesterday) was 8% in 2021, compared to 5% in 2018.
Low wellbeing, by sex
Girls reported lower levels of wellbeing across all four measures, with 41% of girls reporting a high level of anxiety yesterday, and 38% a low level of happiness yesterday.
11% of girls reported low wellbeing for all four measures, compared to 4% of boys. This increased to 18% for 15 year olds girls (see later sections on each measure for further age breakdowns).
Low wellbeing, by age
Low wellbeing increased with age for all four measures.
The proportion of pupils reporting low wellbeing for all four measures increases from 3% of 11 year olds to 13% of 15 year olds.
Amongst 15 year olds, 35% reported a low level of happiness yesterday, and 40% reported a high level of anxiety. This rises to 46% and 51% respectively for 15 year old girls (see data table 13.2).
For more data relating to this section:
Tables 13.1 and 13.2, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2021
Wellbeing by recent behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use)
Each measure was examined against the following recent behaviours: smoking in the last week, drinking alcohol in the last week, and drug use in the last month.
Life satisfaction
61% of pupils who smoked in the last week reported low life satisfaction nowadays, compared to 23% for all pupils (see earlier summary section). Low life satisfaction was reported by 47% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month, and 39% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week.
The likelihood of pupils reporting a low level of life satisfaction increased with the number of recent behaviours; 18% for no behaviours, compared to 35% for one, and 57% for all three behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use).
Happiness felt yesterday
60% of pupils who smoked in the last week reported a low level of happiness felt yesterday, compared to 30% for all pupils (see earlier summary section). A low level of happiness was reported by 51% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month, and 43% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week.
The likelihood of pupils reporting a low level of happiness increased with the number of recent behaviours; 26% for no behaviours, compared to 42% for one, and 57% for all three behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use).
To what extent pupils feel that the things they do in life are worthwhile
69% of pupils who smoked in the last week reported a low feeling that the things they do in life are worthwhile, compared to 22% for all pupils (see earlier summary section). A low feeling was reported by 51% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month, and 41% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week.
The likelihood of pupils reporting a low feeling increased with the number of recent behaviours; 17% for no behaviours, compared to 39% for one, and 70% for all three behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use).
Anxiety felt yesterday
44% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week, 42% of pupils who smoked in the last week, and 42% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month reported a high level of anxiety felt yesterday, compared to 33% for all pupils (see earlier summary section).
Though the likelihood of pupils reporting a high level of anxiety did increase somewhat with the number of recent behaviours, the difference was less than for the other measures (see earlier sections); 31% for no behaviours, compared to 41% for one, and 48% for all three behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use).
For more data relating to this section:
Tables 13.15 to 13.18, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2021
Last edited: 10 October 2024 11:40 am