Teen study: 13% had considered suicide

THIRTEEN per cent of 16-19-year-olds in a rural town have contemplated suicide and 8% claim to have committed self-harm.

The survey, conducted among a sample of 2,000 secondary school pupils, also focused on drink and drugs abuse among three different age groups.

Carried out in Fermoy, Co Cork, the survey highlighted pupils’ concerns about education pressures.

It was undertaken by the Fermoy Local Drugs Taskforce Committee in order to gauge problems faced by teenagers.

Of the 12-14 age group, 7.9% admitted consuming alcohol. This rose significantly to 60% in the 14-16 bracket and up to 82% in the 16-19 group.

Most of the younger children said they acquired drink from friends or found it in their own homes.

The older teenagers were more likely to get alcohol from off-licences, it emerged.

More than half of those who admitted drinking, between the ages of 12-16, claimed their parents knew of their behaviour.

Their favourite tipple was invariably spirits and alcopops but beer and cider became more common among older teenagers.

Just 3.5% of those aged 12-14 admitted dabbling in drugs.

In the 14-16 age group, the figure increased to 11.5% and peaked at 19% in the 16-19 bracket.

Of those in the youngest age bracket, 17% claimed they had been offered drugs.

It increased to nearly half in the oldest age group. Of those, 88% said they knew somebody who took drugs.

Around half of those between 14-19 said they knew where they could buy drugs in their area.

Although there isn’t a head shop within a 25-mile radius of the town, 5% of 12-14-year-olds admitted visiting one.

That figure rose to 11% in the 14-16 age group and to 23% in the 16-19 bracket.

Community Garda Andrew Geary said the Fermoy area didn’t have a worse drugs problem than anywhere else and the figures would be used to better understand local youth and to ensure services were in place to help them.

The vast majority of pupils (85%) knew there was a community drugs worker in the town, compared with just 37% of parents.

Parents were also involved in the survey. Of those surveyed, 57.6% saw alcohol consumption as the biggest problem encountered by children.

However, the survey conducted among the youth would suggest they see education and home pressures as their biggest worries – which in several cases made them experiment with drink and drugs.

The survey was completed anonymously in the town’s three secondary schools.

Martina Munnelly, a local community outreach drugs worker, said the results would also help them further in their quest to provide better support services for teenagers.

She was hoping as many people as possible would attend a special open night tonight at the Cloyne Diocesan Youth Services office at Pike Road, Fermoy, where the full results of the survey will be revealed.