Rising numbers of young Australians believe mental health is the most pressing issue facing the nation, according to an extensive survey of teenagers.
The Mission Australia survey of 22,000 young people aged between 15 to 19 found that coping with stress, school or study problems, and body image were the three top issues of personal concern.
One in five young Indigenous Australians had experienced racial discrimination and one in seven young women had experienced sexism, the survey released on Monday found.
The Christian charity also found twice as many young women had experienced unfair treatment or discrimination than men.
Asked what they considered the most important issues facing Australia, 28.7% nominated alcohol and drugs, 27% said equality and discrimination, and 20.6% said mental health.
Mental health has never been listed in the top three issues in the survey’s 15-year history.
Mission Australia chief executive, Catherine Yeomans, said her staff had received reports of children as young as eight expressing thoughts about suicide, something she described as “shocking”.
Yeomans warned that some cohorts, including those identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, were more at risk of mental health issues.
“We should never ignore when somebody is raising the issue of mental health, and it is a real concern that young people are identifying it as one of the top three issues facing the nation,” Yeomans said.
“I think it’s incumbent on us to think about how we better target our mental health programs, so they are reaching more young people in a consistent and coordinated way,” she said.
Yeomans warned against dismissing the concerns as teenage angst. “I think we do that at our peril,” she said. “It’s a high pressure time for a young person and it’s incumbent on us to help young people to navigate that period of their lives safely.”
The organisation is calling for a “coordinated, comprehensive and cohesive national plan” to deliver support programs to young Australians.
Yeomans said the government needed to rethink how youth mental health services were provided, particularly to those in regional and remote communities. She said additional funding to youth mental health was needed.
“We need to make sure that young people, no matter where they live ... all young people can access the right services and supports where and when they need it,” she said.
The survey asked the teenagers where they would most likely go to seek help. Roughly a third nominated a teacher or school counsellor, while the vast majority said they would go to friends, parents, relatives or family friends.
Yeomans said it was crucial that families were properly equipped to support young people, or help link them with the services they need. “Are we doing enough that these people, in trusted relationships, are able to provide supports as well, or are able to direct young people to the right supports?”
The vast majority of respondents said they wanted to stay in school to complete year 12, and more than two-thirds said they wanted to go university.