Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England 2018 [NS]

From 2018 the survey moved to measuring wellbeing using questions recommended by the Office for National Statistics. These questions represent a harmonised standard for measuring personal wellbeing and are used in many surveys across the UK.

Pupils were asked to rank their feelings from 0 to 10 in relation to the following questions:

• Overall, how satisfied are you with life nowadays?
• Overall, to what extent do you feel that the things you do in life are worthwhile?
• Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?
• Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?

The responses were then allocated to one of four categories per wellbeing question as shown below:

Life satisfaction, life worthwhile, and happiness scores

• 0 to 4 = Low
• 5 to 6 = Medium
• 7 to 8 = High
• 9 to 10 = Very high

Anxiety scores

• 0 to 1 = Very low
• 2 to 3 = Low
• 4 to 5 = Medium
• 6 to 10 = High

This part provides a summary of the outcomes from these wellbeing questions, and presents them against recent behaviours; smoking in the last week, drinking alcohol in the last week, and drug use in the last month. 

Summary of wellbeing outcomes

High levels of wellbeing were most commonly reported in relation to the question on life satisfaction; 64% of pupils reported high or very high life satisfaction.

Low levels of wellbeing were most commonly reported in relation to the questions about happiness and anxiety; 25% reporting a low level of happiness yesterday, and 27% reporting a high level of anxiety yesterday.

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For more data relating to this section:

Life satisfaction

Life satisfaction was examined against the following recent behaviours: smoking in the last week, drinking alcohol in the last week, and drug use in the last month. 

40% of recent smokers reported low life satisfaction nowadays, compared to 18% for all pupils (see earlier summary section).  Low life satisfaction was reported by 33% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month, and 28% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week.

The likelihood of pupils reporting a low level of life satisfaction increased with the number of recent behaviours; 15% for no behaviours, compared to 26% for one, and 38% for all three behaviours.

Happiness felt yesterday

50% of recent smokers reported a low level of happiness felt yesterday, compared to 25% for all pupils (see earlier summary section).  A low level of happiness was reported by 42% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month, and 40% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week.

The likelihood of pupils reporting a low level of happiness increased with the number of recent behaviours; 22% for no behaviours, compared to 36% for one, and 51% for all three behaviours.

To what extent pupils feel that the things they do in life are worthwhile

42% of recent smokers reported a low feeling that the things they do in life are worthwhile, compared to 18% for all pupils (see earlier summary section).  A low feeling was reported by 35% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month, and 29% of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week.

The likelihood of pupils reporting a low feeling increased with the number of recent behaviours; 15% for no behaviours, compared to 25% for one, and 41% for all three behaviours.

Anxiety felt yesterday

38% of recent smokers and 36% of recent drinkers reported a high level of anxiety felt yesterday, compared to 27% for all pupils (see earlier summary section).  A high level of anxiety was reported by 32% of pupils who had taken drugs in the last month.

The likelihood of pupils reporting a high level of anxiety increased with the number of recent behaviours; 25% for no behaviours, compared to 32% for one, and 38% for all three behaviours.

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For more data relating to this section: