Two in three 25-year-olds in Ireland experience some type of discrimination, research has found.
The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) published “Perceived discrimination and young people’s health and wellbeing in Ireland: A longitudinal analysis”, based on data collected by the Growing Up in Ireland study that interviewed young people born in 1998 when they were 17 and 25 years old.
The research found 76 per cent of those aged 17 reported they had experienced some type of discrimination at least a few times a year. This figure falls to 66 per cent at age 25.
At 17, those who had perceived discrimination most often felt it was related to their age, whereas at 25, gender was the most cited ground.
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The ESRI assessed perceived discrimination by using the Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS), which measures how often participants perceive day-to-day experiences such as being “treated with less courtesy or respect” or being “threatened or harassed”.
At 17, young men recorded higher scores in the EDS than young women, but this switched around at age 25.
The research also found that at age 25 and similar to 17, young people who identified as lesbian or gay, bisexual, asexual or those questioning their sexual orientation had higher discrimination scores.
At 25, young people from a minority ethnicity had higher scores on the EDS.
Young people with a disability experienced higher discrimination at both ages of 17 and 25.
The research also found that young people with no religion had higher EDS scores than their Catholic counterparts and those who were not Irish citizens had lower overall EDS scores than their Irish citizen counterparts. The report says: “Citizenship is significant only for the accent ground, where those who are non-Irish are significantly more likely to perceive discrimination on the grounds of their accent compared to those with Irish citizenship.”
It was also found that large amounts of time spent online was associated with higher EDS scores, with those who spend between zero and three hours a day online reporting lower EDS scores than those who spent more than three hours a day online.
Considering their prior level of wellbeing and health at 17, the research found that those who reported having experienced discrimination at age 25 had lower levels of life satisfaction, subjective general health and self-esteem.
Higher perceived discrimination is also associated with a higher probability of depression and problematic alcohol consumption.
The research said legislation could serve best as a deterrent to discriminatory behaviour by institutions and individuals.
It added there had been recent calls to add new grounds for discrimination to Irish legislation, including socio-economic background.
Eva Slevin, co-author of the report, said: “It is concerning to see the high percentage of young people who feel they are discriminated against and the continued level of discrimination experienced by marginalised groups.
“Better resourcing for youth mental health and wellbeing services and strong policy to prevent discrimination in education, work, online and in other settings is of vital importance.”
This project was funded by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality through a joint Research Partnership with the ESRI.
