Presentation of youth and wellbeing survey in Alcobendas
On Thursday, 20 November, a technical conference was held to present the results of the Alcobendas Youth and Wellbeing Survey (Region of Madrid, Spain). The study helps to identify and rethink where the challenges are as a City Council and as citizens and where we should focus on maintaining and improving social, physical and emotional well-being.
The survey covered health, participation, emancipation, training, employment and professional development, leisure and free time, and the assessment of municipal services and facilities without forgetting the city's expectations. A total of 400 young people between 14 and 35 years old from different districts and educational centres were surveyed to ensure that all young people were represented.
Based on the ratings recorded on possible concerns suggested, the aspects can be classified into three groups according to their importance:
1) Aspects of utmost concern: family, health, work, friends, studies, economic situation, and emotional situation. In all of them, the average concern is >7.5 and the percentage of those who value 9 and 10 >50%.
2) Aspects of high concern: the average concern ranges between 6.5 and 7.5. These are emancipation, leisure and free time, freedom at home, physical appearance and sporting activities.
3) Aspects of lesser concern for young people: the average rating, although not low, is always X<6.5 and in one of the aspects, the scores for least concern are higher than those for most concern. There are three aspects: affective relationships or relationships with a partner, sexual life and participation in groups or associations.
Conclusions on Emotional Health:
- The general tendency that young people in Alcobendas have about their state of mind tends to be more positive, although it should be noted that among women, the percentage of those who feel overwhelmed, sad, angry and bored stands out. The percentage of sadness is also higher among those who are not emancipated.
- In addition, most of the spontaneous mentions of other possible moods focus on negative moods, alluding to symptoms that are directly identified with mental health: anxiety, depression, stress, overwhelm, and nerves.
- More than half of young people say that their economic situation, family situation, health and personal relationships are factors that worsen their mood. This opinion increases with age and among women. The employment situation is also mentioned spontaneously and in the majority of cases.
- To feel better, four out of ten young people mainly turn to their family environment (40.2%) and 33.5% to their friends. But when they turn to a single person, the most common resource is their partner, followed by their mother. 8% of young people do not turn to anyone.
The results of the survey were presented to the youth workers of the City Council at a conference. Three working groups were organised, and strong ideas came out to row in the same direction.
