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Britain’s teenagers’ social skills gap widens

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06 November 2006

It is no longer enough for young people to rely on qualifications, according to new research from the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) published today (Mon). It shows that the shift to a service economy has made the acquisition of personal and social skills more important than ever before.

ippr’s analysis of surveys with people born in 1958 and 1970, shows that personal and social skills - like communication, self esteem, planning and self control -became 33 times more important, between generations, in determining earnings later in life. Poor children who have high levels of application and concentration are 14 percent more likely to be well-off by age 30, than the average poor child. The report shows social mobility has stalled. Twenty two percent of the decrease in social mobility was because working class kids lacked personal and social skills.

But the report says qualifications still matter. GCSEs add around 10 percent to wages compared to those with no qualifications, A-levels add a further 15 percent for women and 20 percent for men and a degree adds a further 25 percent for women and 15 percent for men.

The report says the best way for children to learn the skills that they need outside the family is through structured activities where they mix with children of other ages and backgrounds but are mentored by adult activity leaders and work towards specific goals. Examples include the Scouts, Cadets, martial arts, drama clubs and sporting teams.

Nick Pearce, ippr Director, said:

“There have always been class divides in education. But in the post-war period there were no social class gaps in how children were socialised into developing personal and social skills. Now there is a personal skills class divide and it is contributing in the decrease in social mobility.

“Adolescence is also being stretched at both ends, with children becoming ‘teenagers’ earlier and ‘adults’ later. For too many young people this transition to adulthood is complex, messy and unsuccessful.”

The report concludes that learning ‘soft skills’ has become more important because of:

The structure of firms and the shift towards a service economy, which has led to an increase in both high skilled and low skilled ‘technology-proof’ jobs that cannot be outsourced.
Greater choice of different courses in further and higher education than ever before.
A shift in public policy, which has emphasised choice, voice, personalisation and individual customised public services.
Widening inequality in the 1980s and stalling social mobility, which have increased the gap between the best and worst-off.

ippr’s report, Freedom’s Orphans: Raising Youth in a Changing World, recommends:

Participation of every secondary school pupil (from 11- to 16-years-old) in at least two hours a week of structured and purposeful extracurricular activities – such as martial arts, drama clubs, sports, cadets and Scouts. This would take place through extended school hours of between 8am and 6pm and would involve a legal extension of the school day. Parents who did not ensure their child attended two hours a week of activities might ultimately be fined, in the same way as parents are punished for their child’s persistent truancy.
More school ‘house systems’ and more multi-age classes to strengthen children’s self-esteem and help develop their social skills.
A ban on commercial television and print media advertising designed to capture the attention of children of primary school age. This will be a first step, while further consultation should be encouraged to determine the appropriate age limit.
A ban on commercial advertising through mobile phone and 3G platforms to handsets registered to children of primary school age. Parents should have the option of registering phone numbers with a dedicated body to ensure this happens.
Monitoring by Ofsted of commercial advertising in primary schools and other educational institutions for the primary age group must be carefully.
Investment in a range of relationship support services for parents and couples, particularly lone parents. This needs to include new skills for professionals as part of workforce development in the NHS and social services, to enable them to identify and respond to relationship difficulties in couples.
Inclusion of couple relationship support training and training on working with men and fathers in social worker, health visitor and perinatal training and development, and a pilot scheme to test supportive interventions.
Development of information and support services for fathers at key transition points, notably in perinatal services and during separation.
Establishment of a UK cohort study to explore how relationships within families can best be supported by policy.
Roll-out of community-based perpetrator programmes for fathers with violent behaviour.
A role for the Child Support Agency in supporting families through divorce and separation. This should be modelled on the Australian Child Support Agency, which takes an active role in facilitating better relations between separating parents.

Notes to Editors

Freedom’s Orphans: Raising Youth in a Changing World, is available to journalists on request and to order at www.ippr.org.

The report shows that participation in structured youth activities is better for young people than unstructured youth clubs. ippr’s analysis of data from cohorts born in 1958 and 1970 shows that by the age of 30, young people who participated in sports or community centres at age 16 were three percent less likely to be depressed; five percent less likely to be single, separated or divorced; three percent less likely to be in social housing; two percent less likely to have no qualifications; four percent less likely not to have achieved level two qualifications; and three percent less likely to be on a low income. Attending uniformed activities (like the Scouts, sports or martial arts) mean you were three percent less likely not to achieve level two qualifications, three percent less likely to be on a low income and less likely to be depressed in adulthood. Young people who attended church were two percent less likely to smoke in adulthood, three percent more likely to experience psychological distress in adulthood and less likely to have no qualifications, low income or be an offender.

These results stand in marked contrast to youth club attendees, who were six percent more likely to smoke in adulthood, one percent more likely to be a single parent, one percent more likely to be a victim of crime, five percent more likely to have no qualifications and seven percent more likely not to have reached level two qualifications. They were also five percent more likely to be an offender and two percent more likely to be on a low income.

At the moment, just one in four young people have access to ‘structured’ youth activities. There are 11,095 youth clubs in England providing for 1.2 million 11- to 16-year-olds. There are 4.6 million 11- to 16-year-olds in England to be provided for.

ippr’s report paints a picture of computer-literate, fashion-conscious children who are subject to more consumer choice and more pressure to ‘grow up quickly’ than any recent generation. The report says that contemporary British youth live accelerated lives and that the UK youth market of £30bn a year is being aggressively targeted by increasingly innovative advertising. The report shows:

On average children spend half their spare time watching television, playing computer games and using the internet, even before the age of 10. Eight out of ten children aged five to 16 have a TV in their room and over half have a personal video recorder or DVD to go with it. And around one in five children – nearly 1.5 million young people – have access to the internet in their own room. Almost half of children (49 percent) between aged 8 and 11, and eight out of ten aged 12 to 15 have their own mobile phone.
Fifty-seven percent of children have reported having come into contact with online porn, most of it accidentally such as in the form of pop-ups, and one in four had received pornographic spam. Although around half of all parents with internet access had some kind of blocking in place to stop their children viewing certain types of websites, last year just seven percent of parents were aware that their child has received sexual comments through this form of media.

ippr’s report shows that growing up in a poor home is having a greater and greater effect on children’s self esteem:

56 percent of children aged 10-12 from a disadvantaged background agreed with the statement: “I wish my parents earned more money”, but only 27 percent of children from an advantaged background agreed.
75 percent of children aged 10-12 from a disadvantaged background agreed with the statement: “I like clothes with popular labels”, but only 61 percent of children from an advantaged background agreed.
54 percent of children aged 10-12 from a disadvantaged background agreed with the statement: “I wish my parents gave me more money to spend”, but only 45 percent of children from an advantaged background agreed.
55 percent of children aged 10-12 from a disadvantaged background agreed with the statement “When I buy something the brand name I buy is important to me”, but only 47 percent of children from an advantaged background agreed.

ippr’s report shows that British teenagers are physically and emotionally vulnerable:

One in five girls aged 15 to 17 said they had self-harmed and nearly a quarter had considered doing so.
A conservative estimate is that there are 24,000 cases of attempted suicide by young people aged between 10 and 19 each year in England and Wales – equivalent to one attempt every 22 minutes. Although women are more likely to self-harm, young men are much more likely to commit suicide; this remains the most common cause of death in men aged under 35.
Thirty-five percent of children aged 10-15 were victims of crime in 2003, with 19 percent experiencing five or more incidents, with children from disadvantaged backgrounds more likely to be victims. As many as 59 percent of children from deprived ‘On Track’ areas were victims of crime in 2004, with more than 25 percent of boys and 10 percent of girls having been physically attacked in the last year. Important risk factors seem to be poverty, difficult relationships with parents and having committed anti-social behaviour in the last year.

ippr’s report says that children who have witnessed domestic violence suffer similar impacts to those who have been physically abused. They are also more likely to show aggressive and antisocial behaviour, suffer from low self esteem and tend to do less well at school. More than one in five women aged between 16 and 59 have been a victim of domestic violence at least once in their lifetimes and 17 percent have been sexually victimised in some way.

ippr’s report shows that between 1995 and 2003, surveys consistently revealed that around 28 percent of girls and 20 percent of boys aged 12 to 13 felt “sometimes afraid of going to school because of bullying”. For children, aged 14 to 15, the figures hover at around 22 percent for girls and 15 percent for boys. The report also says that black children, looked-after children or children who have been excluded from school are all significantly more likely to be bullied by their peers. The research says that children who are bullied are more likely than their peers to be depressed, lonely, and anxious; have low self-esteem; feel unwell; have more migraine headaches; and think about suicide.

ippr’s report cites evidence that identifies seven types of cyber-bullying, ranging from abusive text messages, e-mails and phone calls to bullying in internet chatrooms, social networking sites and instant messaging. It says that up to one in five pupils in London schools have experienced some form of cyber-bullying and that the psychological impact was similar to or worse than traditional bullying, partly because it allows the bully to accost the victim outside of school hours. And worryingly, a third of victims had never told an adult about the problem: in 2005 just four percent said that their child had been bullied online.

ippr’s report shows that British teenagers spend more time with other teenagers than in other countries. The proportion of 15-year-olds spending time with friends four or more evenings a week:

60 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls in Ukraine,
59 percent of boys and 48 percent of girls in Scotland,
54 percent of boys and 46 percent of girls in Finland,
51 percent of boys and 47 percent of girls in Norway,
45 percent of boys and 34 percent of girls in England,
45 percent of boys and 34 percent of girls in Wales,
44 percent of boys and 31 percent of girls in Canada,
41 percent of boys and 35 percent of girls in Spain,
41 percent of boys and 30 percent of girls in Israel,
37 percent of boys and 31 percent of girls in the USA,
35 percent of boys and 33 percent of boys in Ireland,
34 percent of boys and 29 percent of girls in the Netherlands,
31 percent of boys and 21 percent of girls in Sweden,
29 percent of boys and 27 percent of girls in Germany,
28 percent of boys and 26 percent of girls in Denmark,
28 percent of boys and 20 percent of girls in Poland,
25 percent of boys and 14 percent of girls in Italy,
20 percent of boys and 13 percent of girls in Greece,
18 percent of boys and 15 percent of girls in Switzerland,
17 percent of boys and 10 percent of girls in France,
16 percent of boys and 12 percent of girls in Hungary,
14 percent of boys and 8 percent of girls in Belgium,
7 percent of boys and 3 percent of girls in Portugal.

The proportion of young people whose parents eat a main meal with them around a table several times a week was:

59 percent in Finland,
62 percent in the USA,
63 percent in New Zealand,
64 percent in the UK,
69 percent in Greece,
71 percent in Austria,
72 percent in Canada,
74 percent in Hungary,
76 percent in Ireland,
80 percent in Germany,
81 percent in Argentina,
82 percent in Japan,
82 percent in Spain,
83 percent in Denmark,
83 percent in Sweden,
85 percent in Portugal,
87 percent in Belgium,
87 percent in Russia,
89 percent in France,
90 percent in Hong Kong,
93 percent in Italy.

The proportion of young people whose parents spend time ‘just talking’ to them several times a week:

41 percent in Germany,
47 percent in Canada,
51 percent in Sweden,
51 percent in Australia,
51 percent in New Zealand,
58 percent in Japan,
59 percent in Spain,
61 percent in Ireland,
62 percent in the UK,
63 percent in Norway,
63 percent in France,
64 percent in the USA,
69 percent in Portugal,
69 percent in Denmark,
78 percent in Finland,
86 pre cent in Italy,
89 percent in Hungary.

The report also shows young people in Britain are much more likely to spend time ‘with friends’ on four or more evenings a week than those in other countries:

Scotland: 59 percent of boys and 48 percent of girls,
England and Wales: 45 percent of boys and 34 percent of girls,
USA: 37 percent of boys and 31 percent of girls,
Sweden: 31 percent of boys and 21 percent of girls,
France: 17 percent of boys and ten percent of girls.

Almost half of parents in one survey said they did not know exactly where their children were, who they were with or what they were doing after school, at the weekends or during the holidays.

Young people who got on badly with at least one parent were 2.1 times as likely as those who got on well with both parents to engage in antisocial behaviour. Similarly, those who spent little or no time with parents were 1.6 times as likely, and those who said their parents were favourable to delinquent behaviour were twice as likely.
Recent polls have shown that while 15 percent of parents say their main concern is ‘not spending enough time with children’, 24 percent of children say their parents are not always there when they need them, 35 percent say their parents do not make them feel loved and cared for, and 44 percent say they are unable to talk to their parents about problems.

The report finds that British teenagers are involved in more violence, drug taking and binge drinking than teenagers in other European countries. The proportion of 15-year-olds who have been involved in a physical fight in the previous 12 months:

25 percent in Finland,
28 percent in Germany,
35 percent in Sweden,
35 percent in Portugal,
36 percent in France,
38 percent in Italy,
38 percent in Denmark,
39 percent Poland,
39 percent in Austria,
40 percent in Ireland,
40 percent in Latvia,
40 percent in Spain,
41 percent in Slovenia,
42 percent in Malta,
44 percent in the United Kingdom,
44 percent in Greece,
45 percent in Belgium,
48 percent in Estonia,
48 percent in Czech Republic,
48 percent in Hungary,
49 percent in Lithuania.

ippr’s report shows that cannabis remains by far the most common drug among young people, with 12 percent of 11- to 15-year-olds having taken this in the last year, but that while trends in cannabis and class A drugs use rose only slightly over the last seven years, the use of stimulants such as poppers doubled from three percent (84,000 children) to six percent (144,000) and the abuse of glue and solvents increased sevenfold from one percent (28,000 children) to seven percent (168,000).

ippr’s reports shows that the numbers of teenagers drinking has shown little change since the late 1980s but that for those who do drink, consumption levels are steadily increasing and children are starting to drink earlier, particularly at younger ages.

In England, the average weekly consumption of alcohol for drinkers aged 11 to 13 more than doubled over the last decade, from 3.4 units in 1992 to 8.2 units in 2005.
For boys aged 15 the average number of units per week rose from 9.6 to 13.1 between 1992 and 2005.
For girls aged 15 the rise was even greater, from 6.0 to 10.5 units.
British adolescents are now ranked as the third worst binge drinkers in Europe, coming close behind Denmark and Ireland, with more than one in four British 15-year-olds claiming they had been drunk more than 20 times.

The proportion of 15-year-olds who had been drunk 20 times or more in 2003 was:

2 percent in Cyprus,
3 percent in France,
3 percent in Greece,
3 percent in Portugal,
4 percent in Malta,
5 percent in Italy,
6 percent in the Netherlands,
7 percent in Belgium,
10 percent in Poland,
11 percent in Hungary,
12 percent in Germany,
14 percent in Latvia,
14 percent in the Slovak Republic,
15 percent in Slovenia,
17 percent in Sweden,
18 percent in the Czech Republic,
21 percent in Austria,
21 percent in Lithuania,
26 percent in Estonia,
26 percent in Finland,
27 percent in the United Kingdom,
30 percent in Ireland,
36 percent in Denmark.

But the report also finds evidence of ‘paedophobia’ among British adults. When asked how confident they would feel intervening personally if they saw a small group of 14 year old boys vandalising a bus shelter, adults said:

In Great Britain, 30 percent would definitely not challenge them, 32 percent would probably not challenge them, 23 percent would probably challenge them and 11 percent would challenge them.
In Germany, 7 percent would definitely not challenge them, 21 percent would probably not challenge them, 40 percent would probably challenge them and 24 percent would challenge them.
In Italy , 13 percent would definitely not challenge them, 28 percent would probably not challenge them, 37 percent would probably challenge them and 30 percent would challenge them.
In Spain, 9 percent didn’t know, 17 percent would definitely not challenge them, 24 percent would probably not challenge them, 34 percent would probably challenge them and 17 percent would challenge them.
In France, 19 percent would definitely not challenge them, 34 percent would probably not challenge them, 31 percent would probably challenge them and 9 percent would challenge them.
In the Netherlands, 19 percent would definitely not challenge them, 30 percent would probably not challenge them, 30 percent would probably challenge them and 13 percent would challenge them.

When British adults were asked how likely they would be to intervene if they saw two or three teenagers…

Spray painting on a building in their street – 36 percent definitely ask them to stop; 24 percent probably ask them to stop; 21 percent probably don’t ask them to stop; 18 percent definitely don’t ask them to stop.
Damaging property or cars in their street – 44 percent definitely ask them to stop; 24 percent probably ask them to stop; 15 percent probably don’t ask them to stop; 15 percent definitely don’t ask them to stop.
Being loud, rowdy or noisy outside their home – 36 percent definitely ask them to stop; 27 percent probably ask them to stop; 21 percent probably don’t ask them to stop; 14 percent definitely don’t ask them to stop.
Abusing, harassing or insulting an elderly person in the street – 68 percent would definitely ask them to stop; 22 percent probably ask them to stop; 4 percent probably don’t ask them to stop; 5 percent definitely don’t ask them to stop.

Contacts

Richard Darlington, ippr media manager, 020 7470 6177 / 07738 320 645 / r.darlington@ippr.org

Kelly O’Sullivan, ippr media assistant, 020 7470 6125