Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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526. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which her Department has conducted studies among young persons with a view to determination of the issues most likely to affect their confidence and self-esteem; the measures if any that were put in place by way of response; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54365/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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My Department has both sponsored studies in this area and collated relevant evidence from other studies. Since 2006, my Department has produced a biennial publication which includes data on a wide range of well being indicators affecting the lives of children in Ireland. The study includes a section containing data on social, emotional and behavioural outcomes relating to children. Data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey (HBSC) relating to self esteem, found that 57.3% of children reported feeling happy with the way they are, although this percentage reduced with older children. There were also regional differences with 60.9% children living in the South-West reporting feeling happy with the way they are compared to 53.6% in the West.

The "How We see It: Report of a Survey on Young People’s Body Image" report was conducted by young people from the Dáil na nÓg Council in 2011 and published in October 2013. 2,156 young people, aged between 10 and 21 years completed the survey, which was anonymous. The findings from this survey clearly demonstrate that body image is a burning and complex issue for young people in contemporary Ireland, with 77% of participants ranking body image as important to them. Key findings included:

- Two out of 3 participants say that they were fairly or very satisfied with their body image with more than twice as many boys as girls being satisfied (22% male; 8% female) and girls expressing considerably stronger dissatisfaction (26% female; 10% male).

- 97% of the young people who took part in the survey do some type of exercise, and activity and sports were cited as most important in supporting positive body image. However, girls are twice as likely as boys not to take enough exercise to stay healthy, while boys are more than twice as likely as girls to feel that they take more exercise than is healthy.

- 60% of all participants said they feel pressurised to look good for other people. Girls (70%) were far more likely to say this than boys (46%).

- More than half of all the young people surveyed said their body image interferes with their participation in certain activities (such as swimming, dating, putting photographs on Facebook) and girls are up to twice as likely as boys to find it harder to take part in all of the listed activities.

My Department also recently published ‘Youth work: A systematic map of the research literature’ (2013). This publication provides an international review of the available evidence relating to the contribution that youth work can make to improve the lives of young people. ‘Sense of self’ was identified as one of seven key human and social capital outcomes for young people where youth work was seen to make a valuable contribution. These findings will inform my Department in developing its policy objectives for young people and in supporting quality-based and outcomes-focused youth work and related provision.