A new analysis has highlighted the extent to which young people in Wales experience severe disadvantage during the transition into adulthood.
Researchers from the ADR Wales Housing & Homelessness research team followed roughly 61,000 young people from their 16th birthdays for up to nine years, examining records for mental ill-health, drug misuse, alcohol misuse and youth homelessness. The study found that roughly 1 in 18 young people experienced multiple (two or more) forms of severe disadvantage, meeting the study’s definition of Severe and Multiple Disadvantage (SMD).
Mental ill-health was by far the most commonly recorded disadvantage, experienced by 27% of the cohort, while drug misuse was experienced by 5%, alcohol misuse by 3% and homelessness by 1%. Where young people experienced SMD, the most common combination of disadvantages was mental ill-health and substance misuse, highlighting the extent to which different challenges can overlap during young people’s journeys into adulthood.
Among those young people who experienced homelessness, mental ill-health generally appeared earlier, with substance-related problems also tending to occur before homelessness. The researchers stressed that the findings do not establish a causal relationship, but said the pattern suggests that contact with health and support services could provide opportunities to intervene before young people experience homelessness.
The findings have implications for services seeking to prevent homelessness and address disadvantage among young people in Wales. Stronger cooperation between youth, health, housing and other public services could help identify and support young people before multiple disadvantages become entrenched.
Read the full Data Insight
This post was originally published by ADR Wales, see the original post here