Child and adolescent health and wellbeing: evidence review
Maps available national data on child health and wellbeing against the SHANNARI domains, to produce a full and detailed picture of ‘where we are now’ on child health and wellbeing in Scotland.
7. Respected
7.1 Elements within the Respected domain
The Respected domain is defined as 'Having the opportunity, along with carers, to be heard and involved in decisions that affect them'. The key indicators identified here are around public attitudes to young people, and young people's decision making in various contexts.
Public attitudes to young people
As noted in the Nurtured and Achieving chapters, positive relationships between young people and their families, as well as their teachers, are a crucial prerequisite for young people's health and wellbeing. Relationships with any services young people use are also important. Consultation with children and young people has highlighted the importance of being respected and seen as individuals, within the home, schools, the community and by government. However, children and young people report often feeling looked down on or stigmatised, and say that this is one of the major issues affecting their confidence, wellbeing and potentially life outcomes ( lxiii).
Participation in decision making
One aspect of a positive relationship is that the young person feels listened to and recognises that their views are valued, through involvement in decisions about their lives. Children and young people have stressed that they want their views to be heard and to make a meaningful contribution to making things better ( lxiv). Involving young people in decision-making requires supporting them to take meaningful, responsible, age-appropriate roles working in co-operation with professionals and parents/carers ( lxv). Where young people feel like they aren't listened to this can lead to disaffection and potentially withdrawal from personal relationships, school and services, with further knock on effects on wider health and wellbeing ( lxvi).
Conversely, participation in civic engagement groups has been found to be associated with increased confidence and mental wellbeing as well as positive health and wellbeing outcomes for children and adolescents ( lxvii). Involving people in decision making can further improve service and policy design to meet the needs of young people, leading to longer term positive impacts ( lxviii).
This domain has been relatively under researched in the past and there are no long term quantitative national measures. However, a number of surveys have been conducted recently to support the Year of Young People, with a desire to repeat the surveys or incorporate questions into national data collections.
7.2 Current position
| Indicator |
Headline figure |
Date |
Data source |
Next data |
Time trend |
Key inequalities |
International comparisons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public attitudes to young people |
|||||||
| Percentage of adults in Scotland who agree that young people are trustworthy |
41% |
2017 |
SG (custom omnibus) |
TBC |
/ |
* Age People aged 18-24 and over 65 were most likely to agree (49% and 50%), while those aged 25-49 were least likely to agree (32%) * Relationship with young people People who personally knew a young person were substantially more likely to agree (47%) than those who didn't (30%) * Occupational group Higher occupational grades ( ABC1) were substantially more likely to agree than lower social grades ( C2DE) (47% vs. 34%) * SIMD Attitudes improved as area deprivation increased - 33% in SIMD1 agreed, compared with 46% in SIMD5 * Household income Those with an income of under 20K were least likely to agree (37%), and those with over 60K most likely to agree * Brexit vote People who voted Remain in the EU referendum were substantially more likely to agree (48%) than Leave voters (34%) |
/ |
| Percentage of adults in Scotland who agree that young people take responsibility for their own actions |
26% |
2017 |
SG (custom omnibus) |
TBC |
/ |
* Relationship with young people People who knew a young person were more likely to agree (29%) than those who didn't (20%) * Household income 37% of those in the 60K+ income group agreed, while agreement was lowest in the 20-39K (26%) * Brexit vote People who voted Remain in the EU referendum were substantially more likely to agree that young people take responsibility for their own actions (35%) than those that voted Leave (21%) * There were no statistically significant differences by age, SIMD or occupational groups. |
/ |
| Percentage of adults in Scotland who say that 11-15 year olds should have 'a great deal' or 'quite a lot' of say over decisions that affect their life |
31% |
2017 |
SSAS |
TBC |
/ |
* Age The percentage broadly decreased with age, from 41% among 18-24 year olds to 21% among 60-64 year olds * Marital status The percentage was higher among respondents who had never been married (38%) than other marital status groups (29%) * Children in household The percentage was higher among respondents who lived with children (37%) than those who didn't (28 %) There was no meaningful difference by gender or SIMD. |
/ |
| Percentage of adults in Scotland who say that 16-18 year olds should have 'a great deal' or 'quite a lot' of say over decisions that affect their life |
77% |
2017 |
SSAS |
TBC |
/ |
There was no meaningful difference by age, gender or SIMD |
/ |
| Percentage of adults in Scotland who say that secondary school pupils should have 'a great deal' or 'quite a lot' of say over how their school is run |
38% |
2017 |
SSAS |
TBC |
/ |
* Age The percentage was higher among 18-24 year olds (52%) than age groups * Marital status The percentage was higher among respondents who had never been married (53%) than other marital status groups (33%). There was no meaningful difference by gender or SIMD. |
/ |
| Percentage of adults in Scotland who say that young people aged 11 to 18 in Scotland today have a lot or a bit more opportunity to get on in life than young people 20 years ago |
49% |
2017 |
SSAS |
TBC |
/ |
* Age The percentage broadly decreased with age, from 53% among 18-24 year olds to 38% among 60-64 year olds * Marital status The percentage was higher among respondents who had never been married (55%) than other marital status groups (47%) * Household income The percentage was highest among respondents from the lowest income quartile (43%) and highest among those from the highest income quartile (55%) There was no meaningful difference by gender or SIMD |
/ |
| Involvement in decision making overall |
|||||||
| Percentage of secondary school pupils who agree that adults in general, such as their family, teachers, youth workers, sport coaches and Scouts/Guides leaders, are good at listening to their views |
58% |
2017 |
YPiS |
TBC |
/ |
* Gender Boys were more positive than girls (62% vs 55%) * Age The percentage decreased consistently between S1 (79%) and S5 (45%). However, perceptions improved in S6 (56%) * Health conditions Pupils with physical or mental health conditions were less likely to feel listened to (51%) than those without a health condition (63%) |
/ |
| Percentage of secondary school pupils who agree that adults in general, such as their family, teachers, youth workers, sport coaches and Scouts/Guides leaders, are good at taking their views into account when making decisions that affect them |
53% |
2017 |
YPiS |
TBC |
/ |
* Gender Boys were more positive (58% agreed) than girls (51%) * Age The percentage decreased consistently between S1 (72%) and S5 (42%). However, perceptions improved in S6 (51%) * Health conditions Pupils with physical or mental health conditions were much less likely to feel listened to (47%) than those without a health condition (58%) |
/ |
| Decision making in schools |
|||||||
| Percentage of secondary school pupils who say they have a lot or some say over what they learn |
33% |
2017 |
YPiS |
TBC |
/ |
* Gender Boys were more positive (37%) than girls (31%) * Age The percentage decreased from S1 (48%) to S4-S6 (26-31%) * SIMD There was no consistent pattern by area deprivation. |
/ |
| Percentage of secondary school pupils who say they have a lot or some say over how they learn |
39% |
2017 |
YPiS |
TBC |
/ |
* Age Those in S1 were more positive than other school years (52%) * There were no other meaningful socio-demographic differences |
/ |
| Percentage of secondary school pupils who say they have a lot or some say over decisions that affect their school as a whole |
31% |
2017 |
YPiS |
TBC |
/ |
* Age Those in S1 were more positive than other school years (41%) * There were no other meaningful socio-demographic differences in findings |
/ |
| Decision-making in out of school activities |
|||||||
| Percentage of secondary school pupils who agree that they feel able to let the adults running out of school activities or groups know their views on how those groups/activities are run |
70% |
2017 |
YPiS |
TBC |
/ |
* Gender Boys were more positive (74%) than girls (67%) * Health conditions Pupils with a physical or mental health condition were less likely to agree (64%) than those without one (73%) * There were no other meaningful socio-demographic differences in findings |
/ |
| Percentage of secondary school pupils who agree that the adults running out of school activities or groups are good at listening to their views, in those groups/activities |
70% |
2017 |
YPiS |
TBC |
/ |
* Gender The gender difference was relatively small (73% boys vs 68% girls) * Age S1 pupils were most likely to agree (79%), and S5 pupils the least likely (65%). * SIMD Pupils from SIMD5 were more likely to agree (76%) than other quintiles (66 to 71%) |
/ |
| Percentage of secondary school pupils who agree that that adults running out of school groups or activities were good at taking their views into account when making decisions that affect them |
66% |
2017 |
YPiS |
TBC |
/ |
* Age S1 pupils were most likely to agree (75%), and S5 pupils the least likely (59%). There was no consistent pattern for other years * SIMD Pupils from SIMD5 were most likely to agree (72%) compared with other quintiles (61% to 66%) |
/ |
| Decision making by parents |
|||||||
| Percentage of parents of 15 year olds who agree that 'My child's school provides an inviting atmosphere for parents to get involved' |
86% |
2015 |
PISA |
2018 |
/ |
/ |
/ |
| Percentage of parents of 15 year olds who agree that 'My child's school involves parents in the school's decision-making process'. |
73.9% |
2015 |
PISA |
2018 |
/ |
/ |
/ |
7.3 Key Points
- Attitudes to young people were mixed. Only around four in ten adults in Scotland agreed that young people are trustworthy, and around a quarter agreed that young people take responsibility for their own actions. It should be noted that a large percentage of people neither agreed nor disagreed.
- Young people's views on their influence on decision making varied depending on the context of decision making. Around seven in ten agreed that they are being listened to and have their views taken into account in after school activities, around five in ten with adults in general, and around a third felt that they have a lot or some say on decision making in schools.
- Young people's perceptions of their influence were most positive in S1 and substantially less positive in the older school years. Boys were slightly more positive than girls.
Contact
There is a problem
Thanks for your feedback