Background to the Research

• The health and social wellbeing of young people is an important priority for any society. Furthermore, young people's social behaviour, attitudes and knowledge all have major implications for service provision and this report provides such a source of information in the areas of health promotion and health education for the NHSSB.
  

Research Approach

• The research consisted of 3 strands of questionnaires ascertaining the health needs of young people aged 16-21 years. Strand One surveyed 157 young people aged 18-21 in Higher Education; Strand two surveyed 75 young people aged 16-17 who attended a range of youth provisions throughout the Board's area and Strand three surveyed by postal questionnaire 157 young people aged 18-21 year randomly selected throughout the NHSSB area. The results were analysed using SPSS for Windows.
  

Main Findings

• Whilst the majority of respondents understood the information concerning healthy eating, around half did not eat breakfast everyday and approximately one quarter perceived healthy eating to be boring. Around one-fifth of respondents had been on a diet within the past 2 years and the majority of these were female.
• Respondents participated in a range of physical activities throughout the week, however traditional sports did not feature widely. The most popular reason given for doing so was 'for enjoyment'.
• The majority of young people consumed alcohol regularly, mainly at the weekends. Alcohol was the most commonly used drug with a significant proportion of those using alcohol drinking more than the recommended limit. The main reason given for consuming alcohol was 'to have a laugh or have fun'.
• Over one third of respondents smoked at the time of the survey and smoking was most common among females. The majority of smokers indicated a desire to stop smoking and would like help to do so.
• Over half of young people surveyed had been offered drugs, just over one third took drugs on at least one occasion and around one fifth used drugs on a more regular basis. The most commonly offered and used drugs were cannabis/marijuana and Ecstasy. Although respondents claimed to have good knowledge of drugs and their effects, a high proportion experienced ill effects.