Young People &Well-being: contemporary science debates

in Wales

ISCI 2011 - July 29th 2011

Background Context• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)– Develop appropriate indicators– Views of children/ YP must be taken into account

• Shift from child welfare to child wellbeing– Social actors in their own right

• Voices of children and young people missing

Wellbeing Domains for YP & Children

What does wellbeing mean for young people in Wales(16-19)?

Individual Post-its

Categories

Individual Post-its (Top 10) Rank Post-its Word

Count%

1 Friends 78 6.672 Family 77 6.593 Sports 50 4.284 Money 44 3.765 Food 42 3.596 Music 39 3.347 Health 36 3.088 Fastfood 33 2.829 Education 32 2.7410 Alcohol 30 2.57

Categories: Post-its (Top 5)Rank Categories Word

Count%

1 Socialising 10 5.78

2 Education, Food 8 4.62

3 Health, Relationships

7 4.05

4 Family, Sports 6 3.47

5 Essentials, Money, Needs, Wants

5 2.89

Friends, family, socialising “Family and friends is number 1 because like we said family and friends that’s

what your life is built around…without any of them, …the others don’t really count… at bottom of list ‘entertainment” ….without your family and friends , you wouldn’t be very happy” (Male, Fairwater, Year 14)

“We chose socialising because like a lot of things go under socialising like we’ve got confidence, because when you like socialise, you’ve got more confidence and friends…and it gives you more confidence in yourself…..and friends….school…because like with school you meet friends and Facebook which is like a socialising network anywhere” (Female, Cwm Rhymni, Year 12)

“Without them, you wouldn’t be where you are today, they set your morals and your norms” (Female, Cwm Rhymni, Year 12)

Sports (3), Money (4)“Sport is most important because it’s an everyday thing…it’s what we do

everyday”(Male, Fairwater, year 12)

“…because if you don’t have money, you can’t….buy anything….and stress! ….it’s like organising to go somewhere and you’re like…I can’t because I’ve not got any money…”(Female, Cwm Rhymni, Year 12)

“…if you’re poor you’d want money, if you were rich, you’d take it for granted… you

need that happy medium” (Female, Cwm Rhymni, Year 12)

“Being out of work affects your wellbeing because it’s money, innit. If you haven’t

got money, you won’t be able to afford… if you haven’t got money, you haven’t got nothing have you. You can’t do anything really…” (Female, Coleg Gwent, WBQ1)

Food (5), Music (6), Health (7)

“Food… you always need it… you need it to stay alive… it’s cause it’s amazing in general…” (Female, Archbishop McGrath, Year 12)

“…healthy lifestyles because it’s important to stay healthy otherwise you could die” (Male, Archbishop McGrath, Year 12)

“…if you weren’t fit and healthy and like in all emotional ways… then nothing would go right, would they, in your life… you wouldn’t have a life” (Female, Archbishop McGrath, Year 12)

“I think if you haven’t got health you can’t be happy – you could have all the money in the world but you wouldn’t be happy” (Female, Heolddu, Year 12)

Fastfood (8)“I love KFC, McDonalds, Rustler burgers, lucozade….Dominoes…”(Male, Bridgend 2, Year 12)

“…can you imagine life without KFC, McDonalds or Subways… or bread?” (Female, Archbishop McGrath, Year 12)

“Parents probably wouldn’t put food down as a category. Well, we’ve picked things like Chinese, they don’t think that would be appropriate for us, they think we should eat healthy…” (Male, Cwm Rhymni, Year 12,)

Education (9) “If you didn’t have education, how are you going to

get a job, and how are you going to get a home if you haven’t got a job?”(Male, Bridgend 1, Year 12)

“It’s scary – I’m stressed. I’m not excited, because going into work now with the courses I’m picking… I don’t know it if will lead to a job. That stresses me out... the stress starts in year 9 because you have to get good grades to get onto these courses that are young to put you on the right university course.” (Female, Heolddu, year 13)

Alcohol (10)“ …experiences…alcohol gives you

confidence”(Female, Year 12, Cwm, Rhymni, )

“…we drink…go out with our mates…socialising…by getting steaming…go out and get a kebab’….”(Males & Females discussing, Cwm Rhymni, Year 12)

“…because society is so tight these days, it’s the only way of letting go…but….it depends….because loads of people in our group don’t like drinking…” (Male, Cwm Rhymni, Year 12)

Other issues• Role of technology in facilitating socialising– Social networking sites (pos & neg)– Mobile phones and video games

• Importance of humour, comedy and LOL (laughing out loud), having fun

• Independence: being able to do the things that you want to do

• Feelings and emotions (being happy): at root of other categories (necessities, lifestyle, love)

“I think if you’re happy with yourself and if you’re happy with everything that’s going on around you, then everything will almost come together more than anything…I mean……I think that’s really the core of wellbeing, being happy” (Female , Cwm Rhymni, Year 12)

“….but happiness…I think that’s what makes life good as well…like being happy to do them things that you want to do….that makes you happy… it’s about how you feel about things” (Female, Cwm Rhymni, Year 12)

Story cards

Rank 1“…you get different qualities when do get jobs, you socialise with other people and you just get more respect from people” (Male, Fairwater Year 12)

“We chose it cause job’s pretty much important, without a job, you’ve got no money…without money, no house…..and people are losing their jobs…and less jobs happening now…and we’re in the same situation…(Female, Cwm Rhymni, Year 12)

Rank 2

“…if I was in that situation I’d be upset and sad, it would affect her wellbeing because she’s got no family, love and friends the stuff we take for granted” (Female, Heolddu, Year 12)

“…because if one of us applied for a job, she could get it over us. …it’s a possibility…If she got a job over anyone in this room, she could be lying…if she applied for job, she might get it…” (Male, Fairwater, Year 12)

Rank 3 “It’s all rubbish. People need to understand it’s all airbrushed and they don’t really look like that” (Female, Heolddu, Year 12)

“….media having such an effect on people our age and not just our age, older as well…. and you would get like a column saying how to get to a size six, but you wouldn’t get one about how to get to a size 16 would you? …you wouldn’t so….so it’s just as important…I think you should just be happy with how you are” (Male, Cwm Rhymni, Year 12)

Information Cards

Rank 1“It’s not fair that most youths get tarred with the same brush. People make judgements, they’re afraid. Hoodies – that’s the nickname they’re given. They assume they’re going to rebel against society. I used to cross the road to avoid people” (Male, Heolddu, Year 12)

“I think everyone’s got happiness, but when they have got wealth, it just makes everything a bit better”. (Male, Coleg Gwent, WBQ1).

“ It depends what you make as your top goal in life. If money’s your top goal in life, if you haven’t got it then you aren’t going to be happy” (Male, Coleg Gwent, WBQ1).

Rank 2“If you say to someone, your mental health is abnormal, I say, we’re 6.5bn people on this earth. Show me a brain that is normal, and then you can call someone abnormal when you know what is normal. It’s all subjective” (Male, Coleg Gwent, WBQ1)

“We agreed with it to a point… nature/nurture.. a person could be mentally unhealthy …..someone could work harder to be a better person when they grow up” (Female, Bridgend 1, Year 12)

“You can’t get jobs, just because you’ve got a disability. People are afraid to help that person. They get discarded really. They feel like they’re a wasted human really” (Male, Coleg Gwent, WBQ1)

Rank 3“What’s portrayed in the media shapes what people tend to think. The media is based on getting the biggest story to make the most amount of money. Youths may be good, but they wouldn’t have in the newspaper ‘18 year old helps woman cross the road’, cause it just wouldn’t sell. But an 18 year old doing a drive by, that’s got to sell”. (Male, Coleg Gwent, WBQ1)

“cause everyone has a negative image of teenagers…just cause you wear a hoodie, like a jumper with your hood up…why would you assume that we are going to do something wrong” (Female, Archbishop McGrath, Year 12)

Is measuring WB worthwhile?“Yes, we never get noticed. Always getting stereotyped, it is

important that everyone is heard”“Yes because that ages are very unreliable and their emotions

effect them more than a younger or older person. Also at this stage of life has big effect on the rest of your life and can have an affect on their children’s life”

“The current 16-19 year olds are the ones coming out of schools, college, university to look for work and help bolster the economy, so they should always be considered as well”

“Yes, it’s a ‘fork in the road’ moment. To find if things need to be changed”

Is measuring WB worthwhile?“If you ask the children what they think about it…it’s doesn’t

necessarily mean that they’ll take the information on board and actually do something about it….like yeah, we’ve been asked…but when you think about it they’re not going to impact on it…because don’t think that our views are important…it’s like they ask the adults and stuff about what they want to do in opinion polls ….but they don’t ask the children, even when they do ask, they don’t ask us directly….” (Female, Archbishop McGrath, Year 12)

“Yes, we’ve got lots of opinions and they need to do more lobbying about us and things are changing…because our opinions is just as important as anyone else, and the future is going to affect us, not the older generation” (Female and Male talking together, Cwm Rhymni, Year 12).

Summary• Innovative methodology for engaging YP on wellbeing• Insights into relevant domains of wellbeing for young

people (16-19) in Wales– Importance of family, friends (people you socialise with),

places/times in which you socialise, and how you socialise– Other: sports, money, food, health, music, fastfood,

education, alcohol– Technology, humour, importance of feelings/emotions

• Important that WB measured for this age group: moment of transition & stress

• Strong views on having their voice heard

For further information

Project website:http://goo.gl/6bzlN (BRASS - includes summary document for

schools)http://www.ons.gov.uk/well-being/wellbeing/child-wellbeing/index.html

(ONS)

Julie Newton: newtonj2@cardiff.ac.ukCerys Ponting: pontingc@cardiff.ac.uk