Young adolescents in today’s Ireland have fewer friends than those of a decade ago, with adolescent girls experiencing “increased emotional difficulties,” according to a new report published on Tuesday by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
The report, The Changing Social Worlds of 13-year-olds, draws on data from two cohorts of children, born in 1998 and 2008, sourced from Growing Up In Ireland, with the report analysing their experiences at age 13 in 2011/12 and 2021/22 respectively.
The research notes that this decade was a “period of considerable social and policy change, including reform of the junior cycle, growing digitalisation and the disruption of the pandemic to all aspects of young people’s lives.”
“Changes were also evident in the profile of young people and their families, with increasing cultural diversity, higher education levels among parents, lower levels of financial strain and increasing numbers with a disability among members of Cohort ’08 than among their older cohort counterparts,” the report adds.
The research found that young people report having smaller friendship groups than previously: 53 per cent said they had three or fewer close friends compared with 41 per cent ten years previously. The proportion of 13-year-olds who had two or fewer friends rose from 8.1 per cent in the 1998 grouping to 12.4 per cent in the latter group. While 6.4 per cent of the earlier group had none or just one close friend, this increased to 7.5 per cent for those born in 2008.
The report, authored by Emer Smyth, a Research Professor at the ESRI and an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), found that girls are spending more time online than boys – a reversal of the situation seen ten years previously.
The research pointed to “massive disruption” in the lives of young people born in 2008 and their families in terms of their learning, social relationships and day-to-day activities.
It referred to how the majority of 15-year-olds in Ireland reported a lack of motivation to learn and missing school- organised sports during the period of school closures, with higher levels doing so in Ireland than in the OECD as a whole.
“Young people differed in their access to the resources to support home learning (GUI Study Team, 2021), with consequences for their wellbeing,” the ESRI report noted, adding that two-thirds of the ‘08 cohort had made the transition to second-level education “with less preparation for the adjustment process than would have been the case previously.”
‘STUDENTS BEHIND IN THEIR LEARNING’
It was also noted that less information has been available on how young people have fared since schools have reopened. The report acknowledges that “in 2022, second-level school principals reported that a significant proportion of students were behind in their learning and, in most cases, wellbeing and attendance were worse than before the pandemic.”
According to the report, research on the mental health implications of COVID “is only emerging on whether these effects have persisted into the post-pandemic period.”
Additionally, it points to a number of other policy changes that would have impacted on the two cohorts differently, including the expansion of early years provision, changes in income support for families and the extension of entitlement to leave for parents.
Detailing the changing profile of 13-year-olds and their families, the ESRI notes that the number of adolescents living in rented accommodation (either social housing or private rented) increased from 20 to 25 per cent. It also says there has been a “significant growth in the level and nature of inward migration to Ireland in recent years, a pattern reflected in the increase in migrant-origin2 young people from 8 per cent among Cohort ’98 to 11 per cent among Cohort ’08.”
Positively, mothers and fathers reported much lower levels of conflict with their teenage children over time and mothers are more responsive to the needs of young people than previously.
In discussing their behaviour, parents are more likely to explain what the young person has done wrong (63% compared with 49% always doing so) and much less likely to use punitive approaches like grounding (69% compared with 59% never doing so) or shouting at the young person (41% compared with 28% never doing so).
However, the report said there was a “relative increase in mother-daughter conflict” related to the “greater increase in emotional difficulties for girls”, while rows between mothers and sons saw a decline. “The level of emotional difficulties is found to account for about two-thirds of the relative increase in mother-daughter conflict over time,” the report noted.
Overall, conflict between parents and their 13-year-old is more likely in lone-parent families, those living in rented accommodation, with the report referencing financial strain being “associated with much higher levels of conflict,” and where the child had a disability.
SCHOOL EXPERIENCES
When it came to their experience at school, the cohort of young people born in 2008 had experienced junior cycle reform as well as a change in approaches to teaching and learning at both primary and second-level. This was reflected in improved levels of interest in English (44% to 51%), Maths (32% to 42%), and Science (60% to 68%).
This did not translate into improved attitudes to school, the research said, noting: “Instead, there is a decline in the proportion of girls who say they like school very much (from 35% to 24%). This is at least partly related to increased emotional difficulties over time among girls.”
Relating to day-to-day activities, the research pointed to an increase in weekly involvement in organised sports (from 65% to 70%). There has also been a reduction in the proportion of 13-year-olds who have very low levels of engagement in hard and light exercise.
Levels of engagement in cultural activities (such as drama and dance) have been stable, if not increasing, with over a third of young people involved in these pursuits, the report noted.
However, it also said there is evidence that a “significant” number of young people rarely read for pleasure, with almost half (48%) of boys from working-class or jobless households say that they read less than once a week or never.
Not surprisingly, the report added, there has been a shift away from traditional media (such as TV watching but also playing video/computer games) towards other screen time (time on a phone or other device). High levels of screen time are generally associated with less involvement in sport and cultural activities.
Dr Emer Smyth, author of the report said: “There are very encouraging findings of better-quality relationships between teenagers and their parents, with less conflict and greater discussion. However, financial pressures continue to be a source of friction in families.
“In addition, young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to take part in the kinds of out-of-school activities (like hard exercise and cultural engagement) that enhance their development, highlighting the need for subsidised activities in communities and supports for schools to provide access to a range of extracurricular options.”