Fewer Irish teenagers are taking up smoking at a young age, however many are not satisfied with their lives and feel that they do not get enough support from their family and friends, a new survey has found.

The pan-European World Health Organization (WHO) survey looked at almost 220,000 young people living in 42 countries and regions in Europe and North America. The Irish arm of the survey was carried out by the Health Promotion Research Centre at NUI Galway.

The survey revealed that throughout Europe, 15-year-olds who reported having their first cigarette at the age of 13 or younger fell from 24% in 2009/2010 to 17% in 2013/2014. There was a bigger reduction among girls during this time period (22% to 13%) when compared with boys (26% to 22%).

The Irish arm of the survey noted that ‘drinking behaviours and tobacco use are improving in Ireland when compared to other countries'.

However when it came to life satisfaction and support, Irish teenagers did not score well.

In fact, Irish 15-year-olds were found to be in the bottom 10 countries when asked about high life satisfaction, and were ranked in the bottom four countries when asked if they received high family support.

They were also in the bottom one-third of countries when asked if they had high peer support.

Other key findings included:

-Irish teenagers were ranked within the top 12 countries when it came to daily fruit consumption
-When it comes to meeting physical activity recommendations of one hour of vigorous activity per day, Irish boys are much more likely to achieve this than girls
-Ireland ranked within the top 10 countries when it came to the proportion of young people who have daily electronic media contact with friends
-There is a strong age effect when it comes to cyberbullying, with older children much more likely than younger children to report having been cyberbullied at least two or three times a month.

According to the principal investigator in Ireland, Dr Saoirse Nic Gabhainnof NUI Galway, this survey provides ‘valuable insight into the health and wellbeing of children in Ireland'.

"It also provides us with the opportunity to compare the health and health behaviours of Irish children with children from other countries. We have seen improvements in some health enhancing behaviours such as daily fruit consumption and reductions in risk taking behaviours like alcohol consumption and tobacco use over time. However, there are also some areas of concern. For example, compared to other countries, Irish children report lower levels of feeling high family and peer support," she commented.

The report can be viewed here