My Health, Our Future - Part two

Healthwatch Suffolk undertook a further wave of their research about the wellbeing of children and young people in Suffolk.  4,889 children and young people responded to a survey.  The survey took place between April and July 2022. This year’s results are split into three reports.  This is the second report of three.

Key findings included:

• There has been a drop in the number of young people who said they currently feel ‘healthy’, from 32% (2021) to 26% (2022). The number of young people who currently feel ‘emotional unwell’ has also dropped since last year. Female, LGBQ, vulnerable and Black/African/Caribbean/Black British students were more likely to say that they were struggling or emotionally unwell.
• A quarter of young people said that they had self-harmed and 8% said that they were currently self harming. Those who described their gender in a different way were most likely to be vulnerable to self harm. Almost all (95%) of young people who currently self harm reported that they are currently struggling or are emotionally unwell.  Half of the young people who reported current self harm didn’t know where to find help to stop.
• Sixteen percent had been bullied online, 28% bullied in school and 15% bullied outside of school. Bullying was experienced more by female students, students who described their gender in another way, LGBQ young people and Arab young people. Half of young people said they didn’t receive any help with bullying. Students who had been bullied were almost three times as likely to currently self harm than students who hadn’t self harmed.