Youth Online Survey 2008 – A Summary

1. Introduction

• The Youth Online Survey took place with Year 10 students (aged 14-15) during November and December 2008.

•  1437 completed responses were received (49% response rate for Tameside as a whole).

•  The data has been weighted to reflect the profile of the Year 10 Tameside population in terms of gender, ethnicity and special needs/disabilities.

•  Results were generally positive although some areas of concern are evident within the key findings illustrated below:

2. You and Your Area

• Nearly half of respondents feel their area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together. (This is the same for white students and for students from black and minority ethnic communities).

•  Many students (more than 1 in 3) feel they won’t be living in Tameside in 10 years time. More than 2 years earlier.

•  Nearly half (48%) feel that Tameside Council does not listen to what young people have to say, 5% points lower than in 2006, whilst over 2 in 5 (44%) feel that the Council does not tell people what it is responsible for

•  Seven in ten (70%) believe they have heard negative stories about young people in the media, a decrease of 6% points on 2006 (76%).

•  Two thirds (66%) believe that the media portrayal of young people is not fair, in line with 2006 (65%)

•  86% claim to have done something to help others in the four weeks leading up to the survey and more than half had helped raise money for a charitable cause during the last year.

3. Health & Well being

• The vast majority (around 9 out of 10) feel they “have some great friends” and often “enjoy themselves”.

• Around 80% say they have people to talk to and two thirds say they feel confident most of the time.

• According to the survey there are now fewer year 10 students smoking than there were 2 years ago, although those that do smoke appear to be smoking more heavily. The vast majority (6 out of 7) do not smoke.

• 45% of young people claim to drink alcohol at least once per month – fewer than in 2006 when 58% students claimed to drink alcohol at least once a month

• Over three quarters (77%) have never tried drugs. This is an improvement on the 2006 results where 68% of the students had never tried drugs. Cannabis is the drug most common tried and most frequently used, as was the case 2 years earlier.

• Most have never had sex – more than 2 years ago – although a third of those that had did not use contraception on their first sexual experience,

4. Personal Safety

• Most feel that bullying is a problem with a third feeling it to be a very big problem

• Nearly a quarter have been affected somewhat by violence at home, in line with 2006

• A third have been a victim of anti-social behaviour although more are now reporting this to someone (mostly parents or police) than was the case 2 years ago.

• More than one in ten have been affected by pressure to have sex when they did not want to and a similar number have been affected to some degree by abusive relationships with their boyfriends or girlfriends.

5. A perspective from young people with learning difficulties or any sort of disability 

A report is also being produced that focuses on the experience of young people with learning difficulties or any sort of disability. In general the experiences of these pupils are not as positive as for other young people, for instance they are more likely to smoke or drink heavily and more likely to feel unsafe.

6. What happens next?

There are many other important findings within the survey which will be used to help plan and improve services. A report has also been produced for each school that took part to help support improvements.

We are hoping in addition to involve a group of young people in producing a ‘young persons’ version of the survey report.