Young people have experienced higher rates of psychological distress, job loss and educational disruption than other adults during the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report suggests.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released a report, Australia’s youth, that brings together data about Australians aged 12 to 24 years old, and their experiences of school and higher education, mental health and wellbeing, employment, living circumstances, and personal relationships.
It includes data from the Australian National University’s longitudinal Covid-19 Impact Monitoring Survey Program, which looks at the mental health of Australian adults.
The program found that young adults aged 18–24 seem to have been particularly affected with higher levels of anxiety and worry than older Australians in May, August and October 2020.
Experiences of severe psychological distress among young people aged 18–24 increased from 14 per cent in February 2017, to 22 per cent in April 2020.
Researchers believe the increase is linked to Covid-19 because of the larger negative impacts of the pandemic on the younger age group, including job losses and financial stress.
While there was a slight improvement in psychological distress for all Australians between April and May 2020, among young people the overall score did not return to pre-covid levels in October 2020.
For those aged 18–24, the psychological distress score was 21 per cent higher in October 2020 than before the pandemic in February 2017.
However, AIHW spokeswoman Sally Mills said distress was significantly lower in April this year than what it was in April 2020.
“Ongoing monitoring is needed to fully understand the longer-term impact of the pandemic,” she said.
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Results for Victorian young people have not been published, but in October 2020, adults in Victoria continued to experience higher rates of psychological distress than adults in the rest of Australia.
Job loss was a predictor of psychological distress scores among all adults and young people were significantly impacted by this.
Of the 592,000 Australians who lost employment in April 2020, more than 1 in 3 (38 per cent) were aged 15–24.
It’s believed the pandemic may also be to blame for the increase in young people not in education or employment.
The ABS Labour Force Survey showed the proportion of young people aged 15–24 not in education, employment or training rose from 8.7 per cent in May 2019, to 12 per cent in May 2020.
Since then, the proportion has fallen to 11 per cent in February 2021, a similar rate to February 2020 (10 per cent) before the pandemic.
“Adolescence and young adulthood is a critical period in a person’s life. Young people often experience rapid physical, social and emotional changes in a time where they are transitioning from dependence to independence,” Ms Mills said.
“This is a time when young people are finishing school, pursuing further training and education, entering the workforce, moving out of the family home, and forming relationships.”
In May 2020, just over 1 in 4 (28 per cent) of young people aged 18–24 reported not being able to pay their rent and/or mortgage on time in the previous three months. This compared with 15 per cent of Australians aged 18 and over.
At the same time, though, young people aged 18–24 were optimistic about the future, with two-thirds (69 per cent) thinking their life would be “much” or “a little” better in 2022.
About 59 per cent of teenagers aged 15-19 felt happy or very happy with their lives in 2020, similar to the number in 2019 (61 per cent).
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Young people also look to be healthier than previous generations, with the proportion of those aged 14 to 24 years old who smoke halving from 19.3 per cent in 2001, to 6.8 per cent in 2019.
Rates of young people engaged in drinking at risky levels and recent use of illicit drugs have also fallen dramatically.
Deaths over the past 20 years have also fallen, with only 1300 deaths in 2019.
“Injury remains the leading cause of death among young people (aged 15 to 24), accounting for 73 per cent of deaths in 2017–19,” Ms Mills said.
“Just over half of all injury deaths (54 per cent) were intentional, with the remainder classified as unintentional or undetermined intent.”
Other causes included cancer and diseases of the nervous system.
The report is AIHW’s first comprehensive publication on young people since 2015.
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