18.09.2024
Concern at a marked fall in measures of wellbeing in young New Zealanders has triggered a call for action to promote resilience particularly among rangatahi Māori, rainbow youth and young people living in poverty.
There is an urgent need to cultivate resilience in children and ensure they can safely navigate adversity say researchers at a think tank addressing child development.
Dr Felicia Low and Dr Seungyeon Kim from Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures at the University of Auckland are urging policymakers to back programmes that build resilience – starting in early childhood education centres through to high schools – to reach as many children as possible.
That’s in the face of data showing the mental health of young people in Aotearoa New Zealand is rapidly declining.
In a new paper, Promoting resilience in children and young people, the researchers say in 2022 and 2023, more than one in five (21.2%) of 15-24-year-olds experienced high levels of psychological distress.
Symptoms of depression among secondary students increased from 13% in 2012 to 23% in 2019, while the proportion of students meeting the criteria for positive wellbeing decreased from 76% to 69%.
The authors say suicide is the leading cause of death for New Zealand adolescents and our youth suicide rate is one of the highest in the developed world.
Koi Tū director Sir Peter Gluckman has previously described the situation as a “silent and escalating pandemic of psychological distress” amongst youth and that there is no silver bullet solution, instead a systems approach is needed.
Dr Low and Dr Kim’s work – which is funded by the Wright Family Foundation – outlines how our young people can be better equipped to cope with the many pressures on them.
“Programmes should focus on developing capabilities in the young that provide the foundation for resilience,” Dr Low says, “including cognitive function, problem-solving strategies, communication skills, interpersonal skills and self-regulation skills.”
“Having stable and supportive relationships with their caregivers and peers is also important.”
Rangatahi Māori, rainbow youth and young people living in poverty are particularly prone to mental-health distress. National surveys show:
- Māori youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than Pākehā and other European youths.
- Young people living in high-deprivation neighbourhoods are more than three times more likely to attempt suicide than their better-off peers.
- More than half of rainbow youth reported having experienced significant symptoms of depression with a quarter of gender-diverse youth having attempted suicide in 2022.
“Promoting resilience in children and young people can help them adapt to a constantly changing world and is an important preventative approach to reducing the risk of mental distress later in life,” Dr Low says.
“Parents, schools, communities, policymakers and government have an important role and responsibility in promoting resilience in children and young people and helping them flourish.”
Many factors including positive interpersonal relationships, a sense of belonging, personal characteristics such as self-belief and confidence and coping strategies go into building resilience.
Likewise, there is a range of causes for the decline in youth mental health including exposure to stressors during the perinatal and infant period, a difficult transition from childhood to adolescence, complex family situations or relationships with peers and discrimination.
“Discrimination is a highly confronting experience for young people and many face challenges in accessing adequate support. Additionally young people today are steeped in a rapidly changing digital and social environment—the effects of which we are yet to fully understand,” says Dr Low.
Dr Kim says development of resilience in children can be understood metaphorically as a balance between protective factors and positive experiences and risk factors and adverse experiences.
“Programmes that foster cognitive function, problem-solving strategies, communication skills, interpersonal skills and self-regulation skills help tilt the balance in a positive direction,” says Dr Kim.
“Given the rapid and continual decline in young New Zealanders’ mental wellbeing, it is crucial that a preventative approach via policies and programmes that enhance resilience from the earliest years is in place.
“These measures should be responsive to the unique and diverse needs of our young people to provide the foundations upon which they can flourish,” Dr Kim says.
