Young people, health and wellbeing

The Prince’s Trust has published its sixth annual Macquarie Youth Index, which gauges the wellbeing of young people aged 16 to 25 across a range of areas from family life to physical health.

Key points include that:

  • The overall levels of happiness and confidence of young people surveyed has increased from 71 percent to 72 percent in the past year;
  • However there has been a decline in the confidence and happiness of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) during the same period, decreasing from 64 percent to 61 percent;
  • Nine percent of young people believe that they have nothing to live for, a figure which increases to 21 percent amongst the long-term unemployed;
  • 40 percent of jobless young people have faced symptoms of mental illness as a direct result of being unemployed;
  • 11 percent of young people have been prescribed anti-depressants, doubling to 25 percent among those unemployed for six months or more;
  • 33 percent of young people have felt suicidal, compared to 19 percent of young men;
  • 33 percent of young women have experienced panic attacks, in contrast to 12 percent of young men;
  • 29 percent of young people who grew up in poverty say the pressures of day-to-day life forced them to grow up too quickly; and
  • 59 percent of young people agree that a lack of positive role models drives young people to join gangs.

To download the full report visit www.princes-trust.org.uk/PDF/YOUTH_INDEX_2014.pdf.

Youth Access has published a briefing, YIACS: an integrated health and wellbeing model, which explains the Youth Information, Advice and Counselling Services (YIACS) model.

The briefing notes that the 170 services in the Youth Access network that are based on the YIACS model respond to a million enquiries a year. It also sets out:

  • Why YIACS are needed;
  • Who uses YIACS and why;
  • How YIACS respond;
  • The evidence for YIACS' effectiveness; and
  • Ten reasons to commission YIACS.

To download the briefing visit www.youthaccess.org.uk/uploads/documents/YIACS_an_integrated_health_and_wellbeing_model.pdf.