In autumn 2008, the Young Foundation was commissioned by the London Borough of Lewisham to look at how perceptions and expectations of young people in the borough impacted on teenage pregnancy. The Young Foundation carried out detailed ethnographic studies to capture the experiences of young people over a typical day, held focus groups and one-to-one interviews with young people, and meet with service providers on the ground.

Through this research we built a picture of the motivations and drivers of behaviour for young people. We are using this information to work with the local authority to inform new approaches to service delivery.

Lewisham has kindly allowed us to share this research here, in order to help other agencies build a picture of life as a teenager in Britain. To download the report click here.

The project was carried out from August 2008 to March 2009.