The complete mental health of Australia's adolescents and emerging adults: distress and wellbeing across 3 nationally representative community samples.

Abstract

Aims: The high level of psychological distress in young people is a growing concern. However, there are few national surveys that describe the trajectories of mental health and wellbeing through adolescence into early adulthood. Further, existing research has largely focused exclusively on mental ill-health, with little focus on positive mental health. This study provides the first national profile of the mental health and wellbeing of Australians aged 12-25 years.

Methods: Participants completed the National Youth Mental Health survey in 2018 (n₁ = 3832), 2020 (n₂ = 974) or 2022 (n₃ = 961). We applied Keyes' Complete Mental Health (CMH) framework to derive categories of mental health and wellbeing, and examine rates of CMH over time, by age and gender.

Results: While approximately half of those surveyed reported flourishing (high wellbeing without mental illness), rates of flourishing declined between 2018 and 2022. Rates of flourishing generally decreased with age, and flourishing was more prevalent amongst males than females.

Conclusions: The findings provide a unique contrast of youth mental health pre-, during and post- the COVID-19 pandemic. While rates of psychological distress are consistently high, the proportion of youth reporting flourishing highlights the need to consider all aspects of psychological functioning to accurately understand and respond to the mental health needs of young people.