A staggering 98% of Australian teenagers report feeling anxiety or pessimism, and one in five rated their mental health as poor, new nationwide research shows.
The Australian Youth Barometer, developed by the Monash Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice (CYPEP) in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, examines interconnected dimensions of young people’s lives.
According to the survey, which involved more than 600 young Australians aged between 18-24, just 46% rated their mental health as good or excellence, and around one-fifth received mental health support. Importantly, 10% of young people sought it but did not receive it.
Another worrying finding is that in the last 12 months, just 56% of young Australians felt that they belonged when they spent time with friends.
A worrying path of ‘inertia’
Dr Lucas Walsh, director of the Monash Centre for Youth Policy & Education Practice (CYPEP) and lead author of the Australian Youth Barometer, said this finding is particularly troubling.
“We ask young people about the different context in which they belong, whether it’s family, school, university, etc, but this one about their friendships is really striking,” Dr Walsh said during a webinar discussion following the release of the Australian Youth Barometer 2024 on Thursday.
The youth reference group that informs CYPEP’s work framed these broad systematic pressures on young Australians in terms of inertia – the principle that an object will remain on its existing path unless acted upon by an external force.
“So, reviewing the kind of systematic challenges that young people face across a changing workforce, changing requirements of education, loneliness, and lack of belonging, our youth reference group asks, is this path of inertia what we want for our movement as our generation?” Dr Walsh said.
“To paraphrase my friend and co-author Blake Cutler, ‘young people are not thriving, just surviving’.”
The Barometer also highlighted the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, finding that 86% of young Australians experienced financial difficulties in the last 12 months, and over a quarter (26%) reporting they did so often.
Just half of the respondents (53%) think that it is likely that they will achieve financial security in the future, while a majority (62%) think they will be financially worse off than their parents.
“We cannot drive tangible change if young people don’t have a safe affordable place to lay their head,” Rachel Christie, General Manager of Centre for Evidence and Insights at Mission Australia, said in the webinar discussion.
“It really speaks to the stark reality of not enough homes, and homes we can afford, especially for young people, so we need tangible systems change, and that means building houses.”
Christie said while there is a clear willingness for schools to support young people, without this basic infrastructure, programs like Raise cannot provide the intergenerational change that is needed.
Mentoring program having profound impact
While the findings of the Australian Youth Barometer 2024 were alarming, an independent evaluation of a successful mentoring program found there may be some light at the end of the tunnel.
The Independent Evaluation of the Raise Mentoring Program: Final Outcome Evaluation Report outlined the experiences of Australian youth and provided several solutions for schools and communities to offer much needed support.
Raise’s Data and Youth Insights Director, Lucy Snowball, said research consistently shows that indicated interventions strategies and programs that target groups with behavioural indicators are more effective than strategies for the whole year group.
“Schools that have a whole of school focus on wellbeing, but tailor for the needs of individual students are more effective at creating an environment for all students to thrive and build individual as well as collective wellbeing,” Snowball told The Educator.
“Growing research, including research from the Life Course Centre at the University of Sydney, is showing that teacher wellbeing is heavily linked to student outcomes and performance.”
Snowball said schools that focus on teacher wellbeing alongside student wellbeing will see benefits not only for student wellbeing but also student academic confidence and performance.
“One strategy that schools can use is to have a diverse range of programs available that are targeted and appropriate for the group of students that are aimed at collaborating with students and actively seeking their input into the design of strategies and to assess how they’re working,” she said.
“Schools can also use existing student data effectively and complement with other data [for example participating in the Mission Australia Youth Survey gives schools a comprehensive picture of the mental health and wellbeing of students aged 15+].”
Snowball also pointed to the importance of schools ensuring their strategies are trauma informed and have a sound evidence base that is relevant to the cohort.
“These programs should focus on early intervention and prevention.”
Bringing students out of their shell
One school that has seen the impact of the Raise Mentoring Program firsthand is Barrenjoey High School, located in Sydney, NSW.
“I have seen students who have been part of the Raise Foundation program become more self-aware, increase their self-esteem and confidence, have more empathy and understanding for those around them and even become more focused and engaged on their academic pathways,” Huzzy Rodriguez, a Student Support Officer at the school, told The Educator.
“In every Raise cohort, there are a few students who are very introverted and shy and for students in that boat, it is clear that they gain a lot from the program and are able to express themselves a lot better and have a newfound confident energy. It's really special to see.”
Rodriguez said other SSOs can learn that Raise is a great external program which has the potential to help a group of students who might have otherwise only had access to individual support from the SSO at the school.
“It can make it more difficult to manage our time and efforts. Some students look to SSOs for a mentor, and so Raise can really compliment this well,” Rodriguez said.
“I feel lucky that we have such a well-established routine with Raise at Barrenjoey and I hope it continues for many years to come.”