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CHAPTER THREE YOUNG PEOPLE AS A LOCAL PROBLEM

Chapter aims

This chapter addresses the following key questions:

• Do adults see young people as a problem in their area?
• How do issues relating to young people compare with other local problems?
• Do such concerns seem to reflect concern for or concern about young people?
• How do such perceptions vary across different sections of the adult population?

Introduction

There is no doubt that recent years have seen sustained political, media and policy interest in issues relating to community safety, anti-social behaviour and youth crime. What is less clear is the extent to which such issues actually loom large in public views of their own communities. In order to gauge this, at the beginning of the interview (and before the topic of young people or youth crime had been introduced), respondents were shown a list of problems that people might experience in their area and asked to indicate which three they felt were the biggest problems in their own area. This section of the report looks at the overall results of this exercise, compares issues relating to young people with other community problems, and looks at how characterisations of young people as a local problem vary across different sections of the adult population.

Perceptions of key local problems

What is immediately clear from the results (shown in Table 3 below) is that issues relating to young people do figure prominently in adult accounts of the problems facing their own areas. The two most frequently mentioned problems both relate explicitly to young people ('lack of opportunities for children and young people' and 'young people hanging around the streets'), while the next two ('alcohol and drugs' and 'crime and vandalism') do so implicitly. It should be emphasised here that respondents are focusing on their own communities here, rather than on a vague notion of 'Scotland today'. While it is not always possible to separate out 'lived experience' from the conditioning effects of media and political debate, it seems reasonable to assume that such views will be fairly well-grounded.

Table 3 - Perceptions of biggest problems in local area

It is also worth noting that issues relating to young people and (youth) crime easily outscore concern about other local issues, only one of which - litter - is mentioned by more than a quarter of respondents.

That is not to say, of course, that there are no important variations across different sections of the adult population. Interestingly, those in the oldest age group - who are often seen to be in conflict with young people - are least likely to make explicit reference to problems associated with young people, citing litter, drugs and alcohol, and crime and vandalism at the top of the list.

Table 4 - Most frequently mentioned problems in local area, by key variables

Note: Not all categories shown for reasons of space.

Two points are worth noting here about the relationship between contact and the likelihood of mentioning local problems associated with young people. First, those respondents with higher levels of contact with either 11 to 15 year-olds or 16 to 24 year-olds are relatively more likely than those with lower levels of contact to mention problems associated with young people. Secondly, those with higher levels of contact are more likely to frame such problems in terms of 'lack of opportunities' than 'hanging around the streets'; among those with lower levels of contact, there is less of a difference between the two items.

A number of other points are worth noting here. First, respondents in more affluent areas are less likely than those in more deprived areas to identify problems associated with young people in general. Secondly, while respondents in urban areas are more likely to see such problems in terms of 'young people hanging around the streets', those in small towns and rural areas are more likely to focus on 'lack of opportunities' for children and young people.

Finally, and perhaps not surprisingly, respondents with more positive views of young people in general (according to responses to a series of attitude statements discussed in detail in the following chapter) are also more likely to view problems in terms of 'lack of opportunities', while those with the least positive views of young people are more likely to focus on young people 'hanging around'.

Key points from this chapter

• Recent debates about young people, youth crime and anti-social behaviour do seem to be tapping into genuine concern about problems associated with young people, since such issues feature prominently when adults are asked about the biggest problems facing their own areas (and before they are asked to focus specifically on such issues).
• But concerns framed in terms of young people as a problem and the problems faced by young people are relatively evenly balanced overall.
• In general, those with more contact with young people are more likely to focus on the latter and those with less contact to focus on the former.
• There are also important variations in this respect between those in more affluent and more deprived areas and those in urban and non-urban communities.

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