PART 4: FORMAL AND INFORMAL SUPPORTS

Public Expenditure on Education for Children and Young People :: Economic security :: Availability of housing for families with children :: Community characteristics :: Environment and places :: Garda Juvenile Diversion Programme referrals :: Antenatal care :: Childhood immunisation :: Accessibility of basic health services for children :: Children and young people in care :: Mental health referrals :: Screening for growth and development

Environment and Places

A well-designed environment is important for ensuring the physical and emotional well-being of the whole community, including children. ⁶⁴

Measure

The percentage of children aged 9-17 who report there are good places in their area to spend their free time.

Key findings

In 2006, 42.2% of children aged 9-17 reported that there are good places in their area to spend their free time (see Table 96).

Table 96: Percentage of children who report that there are good places in their area to spend their
free time, by gender, age and social class (2002 and 2006)

		2002			2006
	Boys	Girls	Total	Boys	Girls	Total
Total	86.7	87.8	87.4	90.4	90.4	90.4
Age
9 years	-	-	-	90.5	89.8	90.2
10-11 years	86.1	88.4	87.4	90.0	89.8	89.9
12-14 years	86.5	88.4	87.6	90.6	90.8	90.7
15-17 years	87.4	86.9	87.1	90.7	90.6	90.7
Social class
SC 1-2	90.6	91.5	91.1	93.7	94.0	93.9
SC 3-4	87.7	87.7	87.7	90.8	90.2	90.5
SC 5-6	84.1	87.6	86.0	88.8	88.2	88.5

Source: HBSC Survey

Download Table 96 Microsoft Excel file

Differences by gender, age and social class

The percentage of children who reported that there are good places to spend their free time was higher among boys and younger children, and those in the lower social classes (see Table 96):
- 45.4% of boys, compared to 39% of girls;
- 77.1% of 9-year-olds, compared to 33.3% of 15-17 year-olds;
- 45.2% of children in SC 5-6, compared to 38.6% of children in SC 1-2.

Differences by geographic area

Children in the Dublin region are more likely (58.4%) to report that there are good places in their area to spend their free time, while children in the West region are least likely (33.4%) to report this (see Table 97).

Table 97: Percentage of children who report that there are good places in their area to spend their free time, by NUTS Region (2006)

	2006
Border	36.5
Midlands	36.7
West	33.4
Dublin	58.4
Mid-East	34.7
Mid-West	36.0
South-East	38.3
South-West	45.1
Overall	42.2

Source: HBSC Survey

Download Table 97 Microsoft Excel file

Differences by geographic area

From the 2006 HBSC Survey, using the ages of 11, 13 and 15 only to draw international comparisons, 45.7% of Irish children reported that there are good places in their area to spend their free time (see Figure 37). This compared with the HBSC average of 64.3%.
Among the 7 countries and regions that used this HBSC item, the lowest percentage for this indicator was found among Irish children (45.7%) and the highest among children from Germany (75.7%). Overall, Irish children ranked 7th (last).
Among the 15 countries and regions that used this HBSC item in 2002, Irish children ranked 14th (45.3%).

Figure 37: Percentage of children who report that there are good places in their area to spend
their free time, by country (2006)

Source: HBSC Survey

Download Figure 37 Microsoft Excel file

Technical notes
All data presented are drawn from self-report, self-completion questionnaires completed by children in schools. Thus, they are subject to potential biases in relation to self-presentation and memory. These measures may suffer from social desirability bias.

Percentage differences are presented for descriptive purposes only and may not reflect a statistically significant finding.

Social class (SC) is classified into one of the following groups (introduced in 1996 by the CSO), defined on the basis of occupation:
SC I: Professional
SC 2: Managerial
SC 3: Non-manual
SC 4: Skilled manual
SC 5: Semi-skilled
SC 6: Unskilled

NUTS is an acronym for the EU Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. This classification was legally established by EU Regulation No. 1059/2003 on 29 May 2003. In Ireland, NUTS is classified hierarchically as Level 1 – Ireland; Level 2 – Regions; and Level 3 – Regional Authorities. The 8 Regional Authorities in Ireland (NUTS 3 regions) were established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (see Appendix 2).

part4

⁶⁴OMCYA (2006) Nic Gabhainn, S. and Sixsmith, J. (2005) Children's Understandings of Well-Being, National Children's Office. Dublin: The Stationery Office. Available at: www.childrensdatabase.ie OR www.omc.gov.ie

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