YOUNG people in Kent are generally healthy, happy, like where they live and prefer to spend any spare time watching TV or surfing the internet, a major survey has found.

But while many are content, the same survey said a third had experienced being picked on or bullied at school.

The wide-ranging survey was commissioned by Kent County Council to examine children’s attitudes to life and their lifestyles. It gives a revealing and often surprising glimpse into their views about school, health and their hopes for the future.

Many of its main conclusions are in stark contrast to other surveys that have portrayed children today as dissatisfied with their lives, under stress and pessimistic about their future.

Nearly 43,000 children aged seven to 19 from all parts of the county took part in the survey, one of the most comprehensive conducted to examine the opinions of young people about a range of issues.

It throws up some predictable and less predictable findings, with some occasionally contradictory attitudes to issues such as health, learning and their prospects once they become adults.

Unsurprisingly, many young people appear to recognise the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle, with two thirds of seven-to-eleven-year-olds and half of older children saying they eat five or more portions of fruit or vegetables.

But despite this, a third of those surveyed eat take-away food once a week and six out of ten confess to eating sweets and crisps most days. The survey concludes that while there was “good awareness” of how to be healthy, not all children were “leading such healthy lifestyles.”

The reliance on the Internet and computer technology for leisure is reflected by the fact that among 11-to-16-year-olds, it was even more popular than watching television.

When it comes to education, more than half of older children said they liked school and four out five primary aged children did.

Eight out ten secondary aged pupils thought they were doing “quite well” at school but when asked what disturbed their lessons, more than half cited disruptive pupils.

There was a high degree of optimism among children about their future. Among 11-to-16-year-olds, nearly 70 per cent described themselves as positive about their future with more than half saying they expected to get a job and 66 per cent knowing what job they wanted.

The full results of the survey can be found at www.kent.gov.uk