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30th November 1999: Prince's Trust- YouGov teen confidence survey
The first large-scale index of its kind offers an alarming insight into an unhappy younger generation, with more than one in ten (12 per cent) feeling that life is meaningless.
More than a quarter (27 per cent) of 16 to 25-year-olds admitted they are “often” or “always” down or depressed.
The Prince’s Trust YouGov Youth Index, based on interviews with 2,004 young people across Britain, reveals the state of their lives today and how confident they are about their future.
More than one in four (29 per cent) say they are less happy now than they were as a child and one in five (20 per cent) feels like crying “often” or “always”. Almost half (47 per cent) say they are regularly stressed.
The index is published as the youth charity rolls out new support for thousands of young people on its flagship Team programme, a 12-week scheme developing skills, self-esteem and emotional resilience.
Martina Milburn, chief executive of The Prince’s Trust, said: “The index reveals an increasingly vulnerable generation. Our schemes help steer young people away from false support systems such as drugs, alcohol and dangerous gangs, giving them new direction.”
Working for wellbeing
Young people in the UK are increasingly stressed, depressed and unhappy.
One in five young people will experience a mental health problem and many more lack confidence, motivation and an effective support network.
While Prince’s Trust programmes are principally designed to get young people into jobs and training, they can also have a positive effect on overall wellbeing. Through boosting young people’s confidence and motivation, we enable them to take positive steps towards getting a job. This, in turn, can enhance their emotional health and wellbeing.
To ensure young people get the right support to tackle their issues, we’ve been piloting a mental health assessment tool on The Prince’s Trust Team programme. This has shown to be effective in highlighting mental health issues, enabling us to provide the right support to young people when they need it most. We’re now seeking funding to develop this across different programmes and provide this service to all the young people we support.
More than one in ten felt life was meaningless (12 per cent) or did not feel their life had a sense of purpose (14 per cent). One in ten (10 per cent) did not find life really worth living.
These figures all increased significantly for those young people not in education, employment or training (NEET)
Why are young people unhappy?
Respondents could tick more than one box for the following questions, hence the percentages do not add to 100.
We asked those who said they were unhappy in their current work why this was the case. Some of the main responses were:
44 per cent are bored with what they do
39 per cent would rather do something else
36 per cent don’t know what they want to do
22 per cent said they were in a dead end job
19 per cent are unemployed and want to find work
We asked those who said they were unhappy in their local communities why this was the case. Some of the main responses were:
62 per cent said there is no sense of community
54 per cent don’t feel safe walking around at night
51 per cent said there is nothing to do in the area
We asked those who said they were unhappy with their emotional health why this was the case. Some of the main responses were:
73 per cent feel stressed, anxious, depressed or in a bad mood
64 per cent feel low from time to time for no particular reason
43 per cent don’t feel like they’ve got anything to look forward to
40 per cent don’t have anyone to talk to about their problems
28 per cent said they don’t have enough support in life in general
Young people were also asked which two areas of life they considered to be most important to their overall wellbeing (Figure 5).
Relationships with family (56 per cent) and friends (53 per cent) were considered key. Emotional health (29 per cent), money (16 per cent) and work (14 per cent) were also high priorities.
