policy & reform
campusreview.com.au
What concerns teens most
Mission Australia recently surveyed older
teenagers about the issues that most worried
them, and the results were surprising.
By Loren Smith
“As a uni student who just moved out of home, being able to
pay rent as well as survive without a job or parental help was my
biggest stress … The availability of jobs to uni students, especially
new ones, I think is something that should be a lot better than
it is.” – Male, 18, Tasmania
“Australia [must] acknowledge the fact that mental health is a huge
issue and do something about it, and the other issues surrounding
mental health such as drug use, homelessness and family
breakdowns.” – Female, 19, WA
T
hese anecdotes, collected in the 16th annual Mission
Australia Youth Survey, reflect its most significant finding:
mental health is young Australians’ biggest national concern.
After canvassing over 24,000 people aged 15–19, the survey yielded
this result for the first time ever. Moreover, more than double the
number of respondents named mental health as the nation’s most
pressing issue (33.7 per cent) compared to last year (14.9 per cent).
The next largest national issues, which, like mental health,
respondents provided as open answers, were alcohol and drugs,
followed by equity and discrimination.
When it came to areas of personal concern, respondents denoted
coping with stress, school and body image as key anxieties.
MENTAL (ILL) HEALTH
Mission Australia CEO James Toomey thinks mental health could have
risen to the top of teens’ worry pile due to “greater destigmatisation of
mental health in public over the last couple of years, [and], at the same
time, perhaps greater understanding that the issues that confront
them are connected to mental health and wellbeing”.
As the survey indicates, young people are more likely to seek
counsel for mental health issues from their friends, family and
even the internet, rather than their teachers or school counsellors.
Toomey says education institutions can do a lot more to help in this
respect, “particularly when we see that exam stress and school and
study stress are particular areas of concern”.
However, he’s not expecting education institutions to provide
holistic solutions; their signposting of external resources is
equally important.
STUDY STRESS
Toomey says the survey reveals a correlation between what young
people see as the most important issues in Australia today and their
personal areas of concern. For instance, mental health, a national
issue, is linked to school-related stress, a personal one.
The survey found that, since 2015, the proportion of young
people lacking confidence in their ability to achieve their post-
school goals has doubled – from 10.4 per cent to 19.1 per cent.
Males were almost three times more likely than females to see their
academic ability as a barrier to post-school success.
Toomey says increasingly university is “the only route perceived
as having value”, and this may have contributed to young
people’s doubts.
To him, it’s clear that aside from ensuring young people are
more educationally engaged, for the perennially disengaged, more
alternatives must be created.
“I think it comes back to the central opportunities for schools
to be continuously engaged with young people across a range of
domains, not just education,” he said.
SUPPORT FOR ADDICTS
Given that young people, especially those in regional areas, noted
drugs and al cohol as the second biggest area of national concern,
what can be done about this?
“The concern … is actually about the chaotic use of drugs and
alcohol, and the lack of sources of support or treatment for [young]
people with [these] problems,” Toomey says.
“We provide specific services but they’re pretty rare.”
For example, young people have told him things like: “I don’t
want to attend rehab with a 55-year-old heroin addict – I’m a
17-year-old girl.”
Toomey says drug and alcohol services need to be more
age-specific and more coherent: young people should be able
to “get guidance at the first point of asking, instead of being
bounced around”. ■
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