Being a 20-year-old in Ireland: Stressed out, online, and living with parents

Over half of all 20-year-olds surveyed said they typically spent more than three hours online per day, with one in five (20%) usually spending five hours or more online. File photo

Stressed out, online, and living at home with their parents — new research published today gives us fresh insights into being a 20-year-old in Ireland.

Published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the survey gives a comprehensive look at the lives of more than 5,000 young adults who have been followed by researchers since they were just nine years old.

One in four (25%) of all 20-year-olds reported ‘above normal’ stress scores, with a difficulty in making ends meet financially associated with higher stress levels. 

More than a fifth of young men (22%), and almost a third of young women (32%), report experiencing symptoms of depression.

The vast majority (95%) are in education, training, or employment while more than two out of three (68%) 20-year-olds are still living at home with their parents. 

Only 31% of the young people still living at home said their situation had nothing to do with their finances.

The ESRI survey is part of the Growing Up in Ireland study, which has collected information on two groups of children since 2007. It captures data from a key phase in young adults’ lives. Taken right before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, its data will be crucial in understanding the impact of the emergency in the months and years to come.

Over half of all 20-year-olds surveyed said they typically spent more than three hours online per day, with one in five (20%) usually spending five hours or more online. More than 90% said they used the internet for social media, watching video content, searching for information, and messaging and calling people.

The study also found marked gender differences in online activity; young men were more likely to use the internet for pornography — 64% compared to 13% of young women. They were also more likely to use it for gaming, 68% versus 16%, betting, 16% versus 3%, and dating 30% versus 21%.

At 20 years of age, nearly a quarter (24%) were overweight and more than one in ten (13%) were obese. This represents an increase since the age of 17 and 18 when one in five (20%) were overweight and 8% were obese. 

More than one in five (22%) report drinking alcohol two to three times per week, and almost half said they drank two to four times per month.

More than half of the young people taking part in the study were in a romantic relationship of some kind at the time of the survey. 

Just a third of sexually active 20-year-olds used condoms on every occasion of sexual intercourse, although most (85%) answered that a condom would be the most effective method of preventing STDs. Dr Desmond O’Mahony, the report’s co-lead author, described the high proportion of young adults reporting symptoms of depression as a “worrying trend for the mental health of Ireland’s young adults.”