A place to grow

Exploring the future health of young people in five sites across the UK

December 2018

Martina Kane

Jo Bibby

Publication

Learning report

Children and young people

Social determinants of health

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Key points

In five UK towns and cities, the Young people’s future health inquiry team listened to the perspectives of young people and youth organisations about access to the assets needed for a healthy transition into adulthood.
Our visits uncovered common themes and a strong sense of place, shaping the young people’s identity and how they described themselves.
But young people’s access to the opportunities and relationships that can ensure a healthy future varies across the UK.
Young people are profoundly affected by the nature of their local economy, housing and labour markets, and by the strength of the social fabric around them.

A place to grow is the second report in the Health Foundation’s Young people’s future health inquiry and is the result of engagement with over 600 young people aged 16–24 years from five distinct areas across the UK.

Read the report foreword

This report marks the next step in our inquiry, investigating some of the key issues impacting young people’s transition into adulthood.

Find out how we chose and organised our five site visits, including training young people to become peer researchers in their locality. And read about the common themes we identified across the areas, reflecting wider societal trends or national policies and how they play out in young people’s lives:

location and identity: the power of place
families and place: a changing support system
education and employment: developing the whole person and every person
youth services and opportunities: creating potential
transport: connecting places and people.

The report highlights how optimistic, energetic and committed young people are — but how their health and wellbeing is already being eroded by day-to-day pressures.

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Report