About The Facts

The Facts website presents data from the 2022 Planet Youth survey of 4,339 15 and 16 year-olds in all of the 91 post primary schools and centres in counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. The website will be updated every two years with the latest information from each biennial Planet Youth survey.

The purpose of the site is to provide teachers with up-to-date and local information that will help inform discussion in the classroom and is intended to support the delivery of modules and lessons in the subject areas of SPHE and also CSPE, RE, RSE and PE.

The responses that the students gave during the survey are presented by county and then topic. Also provided are cross-tabulated results that help begin to show the relationships between categories.

Each topic has different cross-tabulated information as outlined below.

Sleep

What percentage of students said they are getting enough sleep?

The sleep topic shows the percentage of students that are getting the recommended 8 hours or more sleep per night, the amount that are getting 7 hours or less and the amount getting 6 hours sleep per night or less.

This topic also shows comparisons between the students that are getting 8 hours or more sleep and those getting 6 hours or less sleep in the following areas:

Anxiety and Depression
Mental Health
Self Esteem

Bullying

What percentage of students said they were teased by a group in the last year?

What percentage of students said they were attacked by a group in the last year?

The bullying topic shows the percentage of students that reported being teased by a group in the last year and the percentage that reported being attacked by a group in the last year. It also shows the percentages of students that reported being teased more regularly, those that reported being teased three times or more and those that reported being teased five times or more.

This topic also shows comparisons between the students that reported being teased or attacked and the students that did not report this in the following areas:

Anger
Mental Health
Self Esteem

Cyber Bullying

What percentage of students said they were bullied online in the last year?

The cyber-bullying topic shows the percentage of students that reported being bullied online in the last year. It also shows the percentages of students that reported being bullied online more regularly, those that reported this happening three times or more and those that reported this happening five times or more.

This topic also shows comparisons between the students that reported being bullied online and the students that did not report this in the following areas:

Anxiety and Depression
Mental Health
Self Esteem
Want to Quit School

Screen Time

What percentage of students said they spend four hours a day or more on social media?

The screen time topic shows the percentage of students that reported spending four hours a day or more on social media.

This topic also shows comparisons between the students that report this excessive screen use and the students that spend little time on screens in the following areas:

Anxiety and Depression
Schoolwork
Sleeping Problems

Substance Abuse

What percentage of students said they were drunk in the last year?

What percentage of students said that they smoked cannabis in the last year?

The substance use topic shows the percentage of students that reported being drunk in the last year and the percentage reporting cannabis use in the last year. It also shows lifetime and monthly figures for drunkenness.

This topic also shows comparisons between the students that report substance use and those that abstain in the following areas:

Drunk in the last year

  • School Engagement
  • Anger
  • Skipping School

Cannabis use in the last year

  • School Engagement
  • Mental Health
  • Anxiety & Depression
Friendship

What percentage of students said they have friends in school that care about them?

What percentage of students said they have been rejected by friends?

The friendship topic shows the percentage of students that have supportive friends and the percentage of students that reported being rejected by friends once or more.

This topic also shows comparisons between the students that report having supportive friends and those that do not in the following areas:

Wellbeing
Want to Quit School
Self Esteem
Anger

Physical Health:

What percentage of students said that they have good or very good physical health?

The physical health topic shows the percentage of students that reported having good or very good physical health, the percentage that reported it as okay and the percentage that reported their physical health as poor.

This part of the topic also shows comparisons between the students that reported having good (very good, good or okay) physical health and those that reported poor physical health in the following areas:

Anxiety and Depression
Mental Health
Self Esteem

What percentage of students said they never physically exert themselves during the week?

The physical health topic also shows the percentage of students that reported never physically exerting themselves during the week, the percentage that reported physically exerting themselves once a week or more and those doing so three times a week or more.

This section of the topic also shows a comparison between the self-reported mental health of the students that physically exert themselves once a week or more and those that do not.

Mental Health

What percentage of students said that their mental health is good or very good?

The mental health topic shows the percentage of students that reported having good or very good mental health, the percentage that reported it as okay and the percentage that reported their mental health as bad or very bad.

This topic also shows the correlation between mental health and the following categories:

Sleep
Social Media Use
Physical Activity

Being Connected

This topic shows the importance of social relationships and networks.

What percentage of students said it’s easy to talk to their friends about personal matters?

The being connected topic shows the percentage of students that reported it is easy or very easy to talk to their friends about personal matters, the percentage that reported it as being hard and the percentage that reported that it’s very hard to talk to their friends about personal matters.

This part of the topic also shows comparisons between the students that can talk to their friends and those that cannot in the following areas:

Dealing With Problems
Being Happy

What percentage of students said they often or always spend time with their parents at the weekend?

The results here show the percentage of students that often or always spend time with their parents at the weekend, those that sometimes spend time with their parents at the weekend and those that rarely or almost never spend time with their parents at the weekend.

This section also shows comparisons between the students that spend time with their parents and those that do not in the following areas:

Feeling Optimistic
Being Happy
Feeling Lonely

Peer Pressure

This topic looks at the correlations between peer influence and substance use.

What percentage of students agree that sometimes you need to drink alcohol to fit into the peer group?

What percentage of students agree that sometimes you need to smoke cannabis to fit into the peer group?

The peer pressure topic shows the percentage of students that agreed that you need to use substances to fit into the peer group. This topic also shows comparisons between the students who feel this and those who don’t when it come to their own substance use.

The peer pressure topic also shows the correlation between spending spare time hanging out in the streets and substance use.

Sexting

What percentage of students said they have been asked to send sexually explicit images of themselves online?

The sexting pressure topic shows the percentage of students that said they have been asked to send sexually explicit images of themselves online. It also shows the percentage of students that have sent sexually explicit images of themselves online and the percentage that have had sexually explicit images shared online without their permission.

This topic also shows comparisons between the students who have had images shared and those who have not in the following areas:

Self Esteem
Wanting to Change School

Additionally, the sexting topic shows the correlation between spending time on social media and sending sexually explicit images.

Sexual Health

This topic provides information on sexual health and attitudes.

What percentage of students said they had engaged in sexual intercourse in the last year?

The sexual health topic shows the percentage of students that said they have engaged in sexual intercourse in the last year. It also shows the percentage of students that did so without using a condom and the percentage that did so under the influence of alcohol.

What percentage of students said they felt pressured to engage in sexual activity by a sexual partner or their peer group?

This section shows the percentage of students that felt pressured to engage in sexual activity by a sexual partner or their peer group. It also shows this percentage by gender.

What percentage of students said they had used pornography to learn about sex?

This section of the sexual health topic shows the percentage of students that used pornography to learn about sex. It also shows this percentage by gender.