YOUNG people have poorer mental health and gamble and smoke more than their counterparts elsewhere in Fife, a new report has indicated.

Results of a survey on health and wellbeing completed by school pupils across the Kingdom has highlighted areas where Dunfermline was rated 'worse' than other areas.

Highlighted to members of the City of Dunfermline area committee, local youngsters were deemed to have worse mental health than in other parts of Fife, particularly around body image and resilience.

They were higher numbers who reported gambling – in betting shops and online – while there was a greater percentage of young people in Dunfermline smoking between one and six cigarettes a week.

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Areas where city kids were doing better included physical activity and hobbies, and social media with young people reporting less use than the rest of Fife, while fewer incidents of bullying was also noted.

A report to councillors said: "Gathering the information is especially important, at this time, to help form an accurate picture of young people’s wellbeing after the pandemic and to help support their recovery."

Committee convener, councillor James Calder, called for a multi-agency approach to help tackle problem areas.

"These are issues for a number of different services and not necessarily just the council services," he said. "There are potentially issues for things like policing.

"From my perspective, what is really important is looking at next steps. It is important we get kept up to date with how we are progressing with what is taking place at an area level.

"There are obviously some issues in Dunfermline and presumably that needs some co-ordinated action to deal with that."

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Pamela Colburn, from Fife Council, confirmed that they were not tackling problems in isolation.

She added: "Mental health is a huge concern across all aspects of Fife. We are working closely to see what we need to do better. We know if we tackle mental health across the board, it will have a positive impact.

"We are keen to explore with the young people what we can do to tackle mental health."

Dunfermline South councillor Naz Anis-Miah said: "It is really refreshing to see young people have reported less in terms of bullying in the Dunfermline area.

"That is definitely a result of anti-bullying campaigns."