By Loraine Sweeney

Young people living in poor communities in the North East gave their views to the author on family life, where they live, adult attitudes to young people, and the issues that concern them most and their future. This report, published by ippr, summarises what they said.

One of the main findings was a feeling among the young people of being disconnected from society. They also felt that adults, such as those from the local community, shopkeepers, the police and bus drivers, often had very negative views about them.

Worryingly, some young people said that adults were sometimes verbally abusive and threatening towards them. This was backed up by youth workers, who described young people as feeling like they were not a part of their local community.

Other main themes related to tension at home, often due to a lack of money. Some young people had left home to live with older siblings as a result of this and others wanted to leave home. Some young people also faced significant caring responsibilities which affected their free time, meaning they could not socialize with friends, and this affected their schooling and further education.

Young people’s views about where they lived were predominantly negative, which was mainly due to a lack of facilities for their age groups. And where there were facilities, they were considered too expensive for them to use regularly. The cost of transport was another major problem, although fares varied across different areas. Those living in rural areas were particularly badly affected by high Transport costs.

Your Shout is available from ippr. http://www.ippr.org/publicationsandreports/publications.asp?title=your+shout&author=&pubdate=&theme=&search=search