September 03, 2020
Pandemic a downer for troubled teens
Psychologists and academics are calling for urgent action on what they are calling a silent pandemic of psychological distress among the country’s rangatahi.
In a commentary on youth mental health prepared for Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, authors Sir Peter Gluckman, Professor Richie Poulton and Rochelle Menzies say it’s in line with global trends which are likely to become worse because of COVID-19.
Preliminary findings of the Youth19 survey of almost 8000 school students aged from 13 to 19 years found 29 percent of females and 17 percent of males reported symptoms of depression, twice the rate in 2012.
The number who has attempted suicide in the previous 12 months had also doubled.
There were also growing ethnic inequities, with 38 percent of Māori females and 37 percent of Pasifika females reporting depression compared to one in four Pākehā females.
They’re calling for a new baseline study of children and adolescents to understand the context and conditions underpinning the mental health of New Zealand’s youth in order to develop effective, targeted interventions.
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