But young people are well balanced and have a diverse range of views, writes CEO Toby Hall.How well do you know your children?
How often do you try to talk to the teenager in your house about some of the big issues - drugs, body image, suicide - and receive a roll of the eyes and a quick brush-off?
Mission Australia began conducting a national survey of young people eight years ago to help bridge the gulf that can exist between parents and their adolescent kids around these concerns.
It's now developed into the country's biggest annual poll of young Australians providing a unique snapshot of their mindset - their concerns, who they turn to for advice, what they value and who they admire-on a massive scale.
Close to 48,000 young people, aged between 11 and 24, took part in this year's survey, including 2300 indigenous respondents, 6800 who spoke a language other than English at home and more than 1000 who were either in custody, homeless or in foster care.
It was an extraordinary crosssection. This year's results show that while young Australians are facing a range of serious issues, when it comes to their priorities and values they are also incredibly well-balanced and have a diverse range ofviews.
But, as it does every year, our survey uncovered information that should make us, as parents and as a community, sit up and take notice.
When asked to rank their concern about 15 issues, drugs were ranked most frequently in the top three by 26.8 per cent of respondents, closely followed by suicide at 26.3 per cent and body image at 25.5 per cent. Drugs were also the primary concern for 11-to 14-year-olds, with 31 per cent including it in their top three - almost twice the proportion of 20- to 24-year-olds.
So what do the results mean? First, our survey suggests that 11- to 14-year-olds don't feel equipped to deal with the issue of drugs. They not only have a significant level of personal concern about the issue, they are worried about the impact of drugs on friends, families and their community.
Let's be clear-this concern doesn't equate to drug use- only around 5 per cent of 11- to 14-yearolds use drugs.
But what it does show is that while campaigns have raised anxiety among our teens about the dangers of drugs, they haven't done enough to educate young teens on how to handle peer pressure about the issue.
Drug-education campaigns need to be changed so they strengthen young people and give them the skills to respond appropriately if drugs enter their lives or the lives of friends and family.
In terms of body image, the issue is less a personal concern and more a worry related to the unrealistic portrayal of "the perfect body" in themedia and elsewhere. But the action taken by governments, welfare groups and youth agencies to address negative body image over the past few years appears to be having an impact.
In 2007, more than 32 per cent of participants had body image top of mind compared to 25.5 this year- so concern is on the decline.
As for suicide, it's not surprising to see young people so highly concerned. Many Australian families, schools and communities have been touched in some way by suicide. It has a deep impact on young people. But we need to be clear that this is not about young people themselves considering self-harm, it's an expression of concern for friends and family who may be going through tough times.
Because we know young people go to their friends, parents and other family members first when under pressure, the key is to make sure we invest in support that assist these groups so they have the skills to help young people.
This includes peer-to-peer education and programs targeted at family members. One of the significant results this year has been the decline in the number of young people involved in extra-curricular activities. The number of young people involved in an arts or cultural activity -such as drama, music or dance - has almost halved since the 2008 survey, from 44 per cent down to 23.4. In fact, across every single activity we surveyed, participation was down.
What these figures suggest is that when the global financial crisis hit some families and young people opted to spend less on things such as dance or piano lessons or tickets to the football.
The final take-out of this year's survey is that, overall, young Australians are well-placed to tackle the issues affecting their transition from youth to adulthood. But parents and the broader community, need to be aware of the problems facing our kids - and their deeper implications - so we can make their passage easier.
Toby Hall is chief executive officer of Mission Australia.
youthsurvey
For previous year's reports please click here:
www.missionaustralia.com.au/document-downloads/cat_view/67-national-survey-of-young-australians-2005-2008
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