Publication, Part of Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England
Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England, 2023
National statistics, Accredited official statistics
Correction to school lessons and guidance (part 12)
Following the initial publication it was discovered that teacher responses from volunteer schools had not been excluded from the analysis (see Appendix A8 for information about volunteer schools). This was corrected and the affected tables and commentary have been re-issued including only teacher responses from sampled schools.
Only Part 12: School lessons and guidance was affected, specifically tables 12.4, 12.5, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8, 12.9 and 12.10, and the associated charts and commentary in the sections 'Frequency of lessons about tobacco, alcohol and drugs' and 'Lesson contributors and sources of information used to prepare lessons'. Though some of the quoted figures changed by 0-5 percentage points, there was no effect to the order of the most common contributors and sources of information to lessons.
13 February 2025 17:00 PM
Part 13: Wellbeing and loneliness
Introduction
Wellbeing
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
Loneliness
For the 2023 survey, pupils were asked questions about loneliness recommended and used by the Office for National Statistics.
Direct question
- How often do you feel lonely?
Indirect questions
- How often do you feel that you have no one to talk to?
- How often do you feel left out?
- How often do you feel alone?
Indirect loneliness composite score
Each response to the indirect questions was assigned a score from 1 to 3:
1 = Hardly ever or never
2 = Some of the time
3 = Often
For each pupil, the scores for the 3 questions were added together to create a total called the indirect loneliness composite score. The lowest possible composite score is 3 and the highest is 9.
In this report the indirect loneliness composite score is reported in 3 groups:
- Score of 3 or 4 - feel lonely least often
- Score of 5, 6 or 7
- Score of 8 or 9 - feel lonely most often
This part provides a summary of the outcomes from these wellbeing and loneliness 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
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; 60% and 59% 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; 30% reporting a high level of anxiety yesterday, and 24% reporting a low level of happiness yesterday.
19% of pupils reported a low level of life satisfaction, and 18% a low feeling in relation to the things they do in life being worthwhile.
Low wellbeing, by year
There have been statistically significant decreases in low wellbeing for three of the four measures (low life satisfaction, low feeling of the things they do in life being worthwhile, low happiness) compared to 2021.
5% of pupils reported 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), a decrease from 8% in 2021, and the same as in 2018.
Low wellbeing, by gender
20% of pupils with another gender identity reported low wellbeing for all four measures compared to 7% of girls and 3% of boys.
Pupils of another gender identity reported lower levels of wellbeing across all four measures; 49% reported a low satisfaction with life nowadays, 49% a low level of happiness yesterday, 46% a low feeling of the things they do in life being worthwhile, and 46% high anxiety yesterday.
Low wellbeing, by age
Low wellbeing is generally higher in older pupils.
The proportion of pupils reporting low wellbeing for all four measures was 3% of 11 year olds, compared to 6% of 15 year olds.
Amongst 15 year olds, 36% reported a high level of anxiety yesterday, and 28% reported a low level of happiness yesterday.
For more data relating to this section:
Tables 13.1 to 13.14, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2023
Summary of loneliness
Loneliness outcomes
Overall, 44% of pupils said they hardly ever or never felt lonely, whilst 10% of pupils reported often or always feeling lonely.
When asked about loneliness indirectly, pupils were most likely to report low levels of loneliness when asked if they ever felt alone: 46% saying hardly ever or never. 42% said they hardly ever or never felt left out, and 42% hardly ever or never felt that they had no-one to talk to.
18% of pupils felt they often had no-one to talk to, 17% felt they often felt alone, and 15% said they often felt left out.
Loneliness, by gender
Pupils with another gender identity were more likely to report often or always feeling lonely; 24% compared to 7% of boys and 11% of girls.
Pupils with another gender identity reported higher levels of loneliness across all indirect measures, with 44% saying they often felt alone, and 38% often feeling they have no one to talk to.
Loneliness, by age
Older pupils were more likely than younger pupils to report being lonely often or always; 11% of 15 year olds compared to 7% of 11 year olds.
Across the indirect measures, 11 year old pupils were the least likely to report that they often had no-one to talk to, or often felt alone. There were no clear differences across other ages. This is reflected in the overall indirect loneliness composite scores, with a similar proportion of pupils with the highest scores (feel lonely most often) across ages 12 to 15 (see Table 13.17).
For more data relating to this section:
Tables 13.15 to 13.21, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2023
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
39% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month, and 38% of pupils who smoked in the last week reported low life satisfaction nowadays, compared to 19% for all pupils (see earlier summary section). Low life satisfaction was reported by 28% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week.
31% of pupils with one recent behaviour reported a low level of life satisfaction, as did 36% of pupils with two behaviours, compared to 18% for no behaviours. 37% of pupils with all three behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use) reported a low level of life satisfaction.
Happiness felt yesterday
52% of pupils who smoked in the last week reported a low level of happiness felt yesterday, compared to 24% for all pupils (see earlier summary section). A low level of happiness was reported by 47% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month, and 36% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week.
38% of pupils with one recent behaviour reported a low level of happiness, as did 46% of pupils with two behaviours and 56% of pupils with all three behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use), compared to 22% for no behaviours. While the likelihood of pupils reporting a low level of happiness generally increased with the number of behaviours, differences were not statistically significant.
To what extent pupils feel that the things they do in life are worthwhile
41% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month, and 39% of pupils who smoked in the last week reported a low feeling that the things they do in life are worthwhile, compared to 18% for all pupils (see earlier summary section). A low feeling that things they do in life are worthwile was reported by 29% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week.
31% of pupils with one recent behaviour reported a low feeling, as did 35% of pupils with two behaviours and 53% of pupils with all three behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use), compared to 16% for no behaviours. While the likelihood of pupils reporting a low feeling generally increased with the number of behaviours, differences were not statistically significant.
Anxiety felt yesterday
50% of pupils who smoked in the last week, 43% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month, and 42% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week, reported a high level of anxiety felt yesterday, compared to 30% for all pupils (see earlier summary section).
40% of pupils with one recent behaviour reported a high level of anxiety, as did 45% of pupils with two behaviours and 60% of pupils with all three behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use), compared to 29% for no behaviours. While the likelihood of pupils reporting a high level of anxiety generally increased with the number of behaviours, differences were not statistically significant.
For more data relating to this section:
Tables 13.22 to 13.25, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2023
Loneliness by recent behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use)
Feeling lonely
28% of pupils who smoked in the last week, 23% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month, and 15% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week reported often or always feeling lonely, compared to 10% for all pupils. (see earlier summary section).
15% of pupils with one recent behaviour reported often or always feeling lonely, as did 19% of pupils with two behaviours and 38% of pupils with all three behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use), compared to 9% for no behaviours. While the likelihood of pupils reporting often or always feeling lonely generally increased with the number of behaviours, differences were not statistically significant.
Indirect loneliness composite score
31% of pupils who smoked in the last week, 28% of pupils who took drugs in the last month, and 17% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week had high indirect loneliness composite scores, indicating feeling lonely most often, compared to 13% for all pupils (see earlier summary section).
19% of pupils with one recent behaviour had a high indirect loneliness composite score, as did 25% of pupils with two behaviours, compared to 12% for no behaviours. 35% of pupils with all three behaviours (smoking, drinking and drug use) had a high indirect loneliness composite score.
For more data relating to this section:
Tables 13.26 and 13.27, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2023
Last edited: 13 February 2025 4:59 pm