Queen’s survey reveals teenage habits

Seven out of ten 16-year-old’s in Northern Ireland have drunk alcohol and more than a third have smoked tobacco, a new survey has revealed.

The Young Life and Times (YLT) Survey entitled, 'Drinking, Smoking, Drugs and Sexual Intercourse - Education and Influences for Young People in Northern Ireland', was undertaken by Queen’s University to tackle issues such as binge drinking, smoking and sexual health among young people.

It found that 38% of females and 31% of males had smoked tobacco a few or many times while 20% of males were more likely than females (15%) to say that they had had sexual intercourse.

Illegal drug use was more frequent among males (16%) than females (10%) while respondents were most likely to have received lessons on illegal drugs (80%) and least likely to have had lessons on solvents (65%).

Commenting on the figures, Sarah Hannaford, the author of the report, said: "One of the most interesting findings in terms of future health promotion policies in Northern Ireland is that young people living in urban and inner-city areas were much more likely to have taken any of the substances or to have had sexual intercourse.

“It was also interesting to see that young people who reported high levels of boredom in school were more likely to report experiences of drinking, smoking, illegal drug use and sexual intercourse."

YLT is an annual Northern Ireland wide survey of 16-year-olds undertaken by ARK (Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive), a joint project between Queen's University Belfast and University of Ulster.

The full report can be found on the ARK website at www.ark.ac.uk/publications.

(MB/SP)