Young People’s Risk-Taking Behaviours and Enablers/Barriers to Accessing Support and Services

To support the development of Wirral’s offer for children and young people around ‘risk and resilience’, the Qualitative Insight Team gathered insights on young people’s risk-taking behaviours and how the pressures around them are managed by young people and families. The insights also show what helps/stops young people and families getting support, whether at home, at school, or in the community.

Insights gathered: October 2022 - January 2023

Insights gathered by

Qualitative Insight Team, Public Health, Wirral Council.

Aim

To support Wirral’s Children and Young People department in understand the main risk-taking behaviours and pressures young people are experiencing (health-related behaviours in the Healthy Child Programme) and what helps or prevents young people and parents from accessing support and services.

People engaged with

Insights were gathered from 39 people, including young people aged 11–19, parents of young people aged 1–26, and professionals who work in young people’s services. The young people engaged with included Year 7 students (aged 11–12), Year 9 students (aged 13–14), and 17–19-year-olds who were engaged in services.

Methods

Focus groups were held with Year 7 students, Year 9 students, parents, and professionals. The focus groups included activities such as brainstorming, case studies, and designing Snakes and Ladders boards, where snakes represented barriers to accessing support and ladders represented enablers. In addition, semi-structured 1–1 interviews and friendship interviews (where two friends are interviewed together) were held with17–19-year-olds who were engaged in youth services.

Key insights

The main risks and pressures identified were:

Pressures of growing up around, consuming, or dealing in substances, such as vapes, alcohol, cannabis, and Class A drugs. Young people highlighted the negative impacts of vapes in schools, including fears of consuming secondary smoke in the toilets, and anxiety caused by blazer searches before exams.
Pressure to conform to norms around body image, appearance, sexuality, and possessions to avoid bullying or harm. Parents felt pressure to ensure their children fit in, even if it goes against their rules/morals or adds financial pressure.
Pressures of school life, including transitioning to secondary school, pressure to perform well academically, managing ADHD, and fear of judgement for taking a day off for mental health.
Social media and access to misinformation and harmful content, such as videos encouraging self-harm. Parents find it hard to safeguard their children online.
Strong emotional responses to small scale issues due to bottling up of emotions, including aggression and self-harm.
Involvement in gangs, crime, weapons, or “gangster appearance” due to peer pressure, exploitation, financial pressures, or the “inevitability” of growing up in and around deprivation. Mobilisation of gangs from Liverpool to Wirral, and young people wanting to disassociate from East Wirral due to postcode stigma.

Barriers to accessing support/services included:

Reluctance to seek support due to fear of repercussions, fear of judgement, fear of issues being escalated or information shared, mistrust in professionals or not being in the right mind frame.
Lack of knowledge of services, services not being available or in the right location, support being unaffordable, underfunding and lack of parentship working.
Schools having limited resources and skills (such as tailored support for special educational needs), schools having a lack of opportunity to educate about risks, and parent’s not feeling listened to by schools.
Barriers to early prevention included help being offered at crisis point, services having waiting lists and thresholds, lack of self-help skills among families, and PHSE lessons not taken seriously.

Enablers to support/services included:

Trust, respect and consistency – not feeling judged, having someone to talk to with lived experience, having long-term support tailored to their needs.
Accessible services – well advertised support, services that are local and inclusive, equity in funding and resources.
Earlier intervention – identifying ‘sliding door moments’, referrals and partnership working, upskilling parents in self-help and educating about risk-taking behaviours.

Quotes

“If you look strong or athletic – the classic tall, skinny girl – you’re supposed to do well [in PE]. And if you’re the fat, small girl you’re supposed to not do well, and you just sit there and talk or whatever.”

“I wouldn't talk about me taking [drugs] to any other drugs and alcohol worker except from her, because she doesn't say ‘no’. She doesn't say ‘that's bad that’. She understands the situations get in”

How have the insights been used/shared?

The insights contributed to a wider collation of new and existing insights (both qualitative and quantitative) on young people’s risk-taking and health-related behaviours by Wirral’s Public Health Team and Children and Young People department. Together, the insights supported the commissioning of a coordinated ‘risk and resilience’ offer that meets the identified needs and is improving outcomes for families.