Children aged between 10 and 17 are drinking and smoking less than they were twenty years ago.
A NUIG study found that just over 5 per cent of children in that age group in 2018 had smoked tobacco, compared with almost 23 percent in 1998.
19 percent of children in 2018 said they had been drunk before, while a third of people said the same 20 years previous.
The study also found more children feel pressured by school work and "feel low" more frequently than their 1998 counterparts.
Dr Colette Kelly, Co-Principal Investigator at NUIG's Health Promotion Research Centre, says policy changes have made a difference too.
"I think certainly we have to pay tribute to some of the policy changes we've seen like the smoking ban and more recently the public health alcohol bill
"Young people should be applauded as well because they have responded to this.
"We have seen a shift in our culture and our attitude, and in turn our behaviours as well."
