Life at age 17: initial findings from the Growing Up in Scotland study (Sweep 11)

10 General health, physical activity, and sleep

In this last chapter, findings are presented on general health, aspects of body image, physical activity, diet, and sleep patterns.

10.1 General health

When asked to rate their general health, just over half of young people said they viewed their health as either ‘excellent’ (13.0%) or ‘very good’ (39.8%), whilst 12.8% rated their health as either ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ (Figure 10‑A). Young disabled people were less positive in their ratings of their general health: 32.2% rated their health as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ compared with 57.8% of young non-disabled people^[24].

Base: All young people (2356)

Young people in more deprived areas rated their general health less positively than those in less deprived areas. For example, 45.4% of young people in SIMD 1 (the most deprived quintile) rated their health as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ compared with 63.4% of those in SIMD 5.

10.2 Body image

10.2.1 Perception of body size

Young people were asked about how they viewed their own body. They were asked whether they thought their body was too thin or too fat, or about the right size. As shown in Figure 10‑B, 43.0% said they were ‘about the right size’, while 41.9% said they were either ‘a bit too fat’ or ‘much too fat’.

Young women were more likely than young men to view their body as ‘a bit too fat’ or ‘much too fat’ (51.5% compared with 30.6%) and young men more likely than young women to view their body as ‘a bit too thin’ or ‘much too thin’ (24.4% compared with 7.4%).

Base: All young people (1903); young men (869); young women (1029)

Young disabled people were less likely to say that they were ‘about the right size’ than young non-disabled people (28.1% compared with 47.6%). Young people from the most deprived quintile were less likely than those from the least deprived quintile to say that they were ‘about the right size’ (32.6% compared with 44.2%).

10.2.2 Happiness with appearance

Young people were also asked how happy they felt about the way they looked. As shown in Figure 10‑C, 55.8% of young people said they were ‘quite happy’, and 11.3% said they were ‘very happy’, while 27.4% stated they were ‘not very happy’, and a small minority (5.6%) said they were ‘not at all happy’.

Young men were more likely than young women to say they were ‘very happy’ or ‘quite happy’ (75.9% compared with 59.6%), while young women were more likely than young men to state that they were ‘not very happy’ or ‘not at all happy’ (40.5% compared with 24.0%).

Base: All young people (1902); young men (868); young women (1029)

Young disabled people were more likely than young non-disabled people to say they were ‘not very happy’ or ‘not at all happy’ (47.3% compared with 27.9%).

10.3 Physical activity

Young people were asked how many hours a week they were usually physically active^[25]. As shown in Figure 10‑D, 51.9% said they were usually active less than 7 hours a week, which is less than the NHS recommended average of at least 60 minutes of activity per day^[26].

Young men were active for more hours per week than young women. For example, 54.9% of young men were active 7 or more hours per week compared with 41.3% of young women. Those in less deprived areas were also active for more hours per week than those in more deprived areas. For example, 53.3% of those in the least deprived quintile were active for 7 or more hours per week compared with 42.2% of those in the most deprived quintile.

Base: All young people (2346); young men (1150); young women (1195)

10.4 Diet

10.4.1 Dietary preference

In relation to diet, young people were asked if any of the following options applied to them: ‘vegan’, ‘completely vegetarian’, ‘semi-vegetarian’ or ‘none of the above’. The majority of young people (90.1%) selected ‘none of the above’, while 6.0% stated ‘semi-vegetarian’ and a further 3.2% stated ‘completely vegetarian’. Fewer than 1% said that they were ‘vegan’.

Young women were more likely than young men to say that they were either vegetarian or vegan, including semi-vegetarian (15.7% compared with 3.8%). Young people in the least deprived areas were more likely than those in the most deprived areas to say that they were vegan, vegetarian, or semi-vegetarian (12.7% in SIMD 5 compared with 6.7% in SIMD 1).

Young people who identified as ‘vegetarian’ or ‘vegan’, were asked to select their main reason for their dietary preferences^[27]. The reasons most commonly selected were ‘it’s better for the environment’ (23.2%) and ‘I don’t like the taste/enjoy eating meat’ (23.8%). A further 16.4% said ‘I’m concerned about animal welfare’, 11.0% said ‘my parents are vegetarian/vegan’, 10.9% said ‘it’s better for my health’, 8.0% said ‘I think it’s unethical to eat meat’ and 2.7% said ‘because of my religion or beliefs’. For 4.1%, there was an ‘other reason’ they were vegetarian/vegan.

10.4.2 Energy drink consumption

All young people were also asked how many times a week they usually consumed energy drinks such as Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar. As shown in Figure 10‑E, 48.9% ‘never’ consumed energy drinks and a further 23.2% ‘less than once a week’.

Base: All young people (2356)

Young men were more likely than young women to drink energy drinks (31.3% compared with 24.5%). Young disabled people reported more frequent consumption of energy drinks (6.7% consumed energy drinks every day compared with 2.7% of young non-disabled people).

Young people in more deprived areas reported more frequent consumption of energy drinks than those in less deprived areas – 8.5% in SIMD 1 consumed energy drinks every day compared with 1.9% in SIMD 5.

10.5 Sleep

Young people were asked three questions about their sleep. When asked how many hours of sleep they get when they have school, college, or work the next day^[28], 10.5% said they slept for more than 8 hours, the NHS recommended amount for this age group^[29]. Additionally, 67.7% of young people said they slept between 6 and 8 hours, while 21.9% slept for 6 hours or less.

Young people were also asked how many hours of sleep they usually got when they did not have school, college, or work the next day^[30]. As shown in Figure 10-F, on these days, 54.9% slept for more than 8 hours.

Base: All young people (varies per item 2355-2356)

Young disabled people were less likely than young non-disabled people to get more than 8 hours of sleep when they did not have school, college, or work the next day (48.7% compared with 58.0%).

Young people were also asked how long it usually took them to fall asleep at night^[31]. As shown in Figure 10‑G, 70.6% reported that it took them up to 30 minutes to fall asleep – 33.7% fell asleep within 15 minutes while 36.9% took between 16 and 30 minutes. A minority (7.0%) took more than an hour to fall asleep.

Base: All young people (2355)

Young men reported falling asleep more quickly than young women, with 75.1% of young men falling asleep within 30 minutes, compared with 66.2% of young women. Young disabled people reported taking longer to fall asleep - 23.6% reported taking 45 minutes or more to fall asleep compared with 11.2% of young non-disabled people. Young people in the most deprived quintile were also more likely than those in the least deprived quintile to report taking 45 minutes or more to fall asleep (20.1% compared with 10.5%).