The Well-being and relationships of 25-year-olds in Ireland – What CSO data tells us

Overall, it was interesting to see that this group of young people say they have maintained very strong family ties, close friendships, and were involved in romantic relationships.  

The quality of their relationship with their mother and father was mainly positive, with very few of our group of 25-year-olds saying their relationship with a parent had disimproved since they were previously interviewed at age 20.

The pattern was broadly similar whether respondents were still living in the family home or had moved out. Only a very small number were living outside both the parental home and the region they had lived in when they were nine years old, which gives an indication of the close relationship and strong ties between adult children and their parents in Ireland.

We asked our respondents who they could confide in with issues and feelings, and both men and women said they would go to a friend, a partner, or their mother with personal issues. Most of the group said some of their friends were close friends, however, nearly 6% of respondents said they had no close friends.  

When it comes to intimate relationships, almost 60% of this group were in a relationship and of those, just over a quarter were living with their partner.

When we look at the area of mental health, we asked if this group were ever diagnosed with depression or anxiety by a medical professional.  It is certainly noteworthy that the rates of diagnoses have increased since we met this same group at age 20, with 25% saying they had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety by the age of 25.

While rates of diagnoses have risen over time for both men and women, the gap between the sexes in terms of a diagnosis of depression or anxiety has also increased. More than three in ten (31.5%) women reported a depression or anxiety diagnosis compared with less than two in ten (18.3%) men.  

The gap was also evident in terms of self-esteem, with the women in our group of 25-year-olds reporting low self-esteem (23.5%) while for men it was 18.2%. When asked about stress, nearly 22% of women reported moderate or higher levels of stress, compared with 15.3% of men who reported the same levels.

Yes, in addition to mental health, participation in exercise and alcohol use also differed by sex. Looking at exercise, we saw that the women in our group were taking part in vigorous exercise less often than men. More than two-thirds of men (67.9%) reported they had done at least 30 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise – defined as causing a large increase in the heart rate and breathing - in the week before completing the survey. This compares with less than half (49.2%) of women who had exercised vigorously in the week before completing the survey.  

We also observed different patterns when we looked at alcohol use with the men in our group more at risk than women.

We used a measure from the World Health Organisation (WHO) to assess levels of drinking in our respondents. When we spoke to this group at age 20 just over two in five of our respondents reported levels of drinking that could be categorised as risky or hazardous. 

At age 25, this figure had decreased slightly to just under two in five   respondents reporting this level of drinking. Men (44.5%) recorded a risky or hazardous level of drinking more frequently than women (33.6%), with men educated to degree level or higher most at risk of hazardous consumption of alcohol at 51.2%.  

Overall, though, most 25-year-olds said they were in excellent (22.7%) or very good (42.1%) general health at the time of the survey; and out of a maximum score of 10, life satisfaction for this group was on average 6.5.