12th December, 2005

DAVID ADAMS

Australia’s youth rank suicide and self-harm, physical and sexual abuse and family conflicts as the three most significant issues of concern, according to Mission Australia's latest annual survey of youth attitudes.

Asked to rank 10 issues according to their level of importance, more than 41 per cent of the 11,300 youth who took part in this year’s survey ranked suicide and self harm in their top three responses - a significant increase on last year’s figure of 33.7 per cent.

A VOLATILE GROUP: Mission Australia's surveys have found youth attitudes towards issues like suicide and alcohol and other drugs have changed significantly in terms of their level of importance from one year to the next. PICTURE: Grzegorz Niewiadomski (www.sxc.hu) Anne Hampshire says that while it’s hard to pinpoint what has caused the change in the issues of greatest concern, one theory was that issues such as suicide, physical and sexual abuse and family conflict are now “much more prominent in the media and also in society generally”.

Physical/sexual abuse was the second issue most frequently ranked in their top three responses with 37.5 per cent of respondents doing so while 34.8 per cent ranked family conflict among the top three responses.

Anne Hampshire, national manager of research and social policy at Mission Australia - a non-denominational Christian organisation providing support services to the disadvantaged and isolated across Australia including families, youth, the long-term unemployed and homeless people, says that none of the three highest ranked responses from this year were ranked in the top three in last year’s survey when alcohol and other drugs, bullying and emotional abuse and coping with stress were most frequently ranked as the top three concerns.

“One of the things that flags to us I think is that we regularly talk to young people and not assume that the issues of concern for last year are still the issues of concern for this year,” she says.

“There seems to be quite a lot of volatility in what concerns young people.”

Ms Hampshire says that while it’s hard to pinpoint what has caused the change in the issues of greatest concern, one theory was that issues such as suicide, physical and sexual abuse and family conflict are now “much more prominent in the media and also in society generally”.

“Certainly family conflict is now much more of a reality than it might have been in the past,” she says.

“There are now some quite good strategies around suicide prevention in schools and across the country and it’s much more in the media than it has been in the past and similarly with physical and sexual abuse. So it could be that that is a contributing factor.”

This is the fourth time the annual survey has been conducted. Of the 11,300 people that took part this year, about 1,500 people responded online with the remainder filling out hardcopy forms through schools, universities, libraries, community services and youth organisations.

While the bulk of those who responded were aged between 11 and 19 years (more than 94 per cent), this year there was an increase in the number of 20 to 24 year olds taking part.

Interestingly, the survey found that while 45.3 per cent of females rated suicide and self-harm as one of their three top concerns, only 34.8 per cent of males did. For males, alcohol and other drugs ranked as the highest issue of concern with 36.9 per cent putting it in their top three concerns compared to only 31.4 per cent for females.

Around one in five males also ranked sexuality as one of their top three issues - a figure which was much lower for females.

There were also differences in the issue of most concern dependent on age with both younger age brackets - those aged between 11 and 14 years and those aged between 15 and 19 years - ranking suicide and self-harm as the key issue while the oldest group - those aged between 20 and 24 years - ranked depression as the issue of greatest concern.

About 600 indigenous young people took part in the survey. They ranked alcohol and other drugs as the issue of greatest concern to them.

The survey also asked what young people value most, who they turn to for advice or support and what organisations or people they most admire.

More than 73 per cent of respondents ranked family and relationships as one of the top three things they valued followed by other friendships (68.3 per cent) and being independent (36 per cent).

The results also showed indigenous respondents valued getting a job (30.7 per cent) and financial security (23.1 per cent) more than non-indigenous people (16.6 per cent and 15.8 per cent respectively).

In terms of who people turn to when they need advice and support, the three most popular responses were friends (87.3 per cent), parents (75.7 per cent) and relatives or family friends (64.9 per cent).

Males were more likely than females to turn to the internet for advice (20.8 per cent compared with 12.8 per cent as were those of the 20 to 24 year-old age group (29 per cent compared with 10.9 per cent of those aged between 11 and 14 years).

The survey also showed that there was a significant jump in the young people involved in arts or cultural activities, up from 32.7 per cent to 40.7 per cent.

Ms Hampshire says Mission Australia - which supported 20,000 young people in the past financial year - will be using the results to inform their own work and will be distributing the results to other organisations working in the field, government and families.

“It really becomes a useful point of reference so people can discussions with young people themselves about ‘How can we better support you on the issues that are of concern to you’?”

~ To download a free copy of the report or to obtain a hardcopy, visit www.missionaustralia.com.au