PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG OLDER ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG-ADULTS IN AUSTRALIA

Youth mental health has been specially targeted in the National Health Goals and Targets process for mental health. The incidence of suicide among Australia's youth is one of the highest in the world. Yet there is little information on the mental health of young people in Austral ia. The most recent national data come from the longitudinal Australia n Youth Survey conducted by the Department of Education, Employment an d Training. In the 1994 wave of the survey, 8350 adolescents and young adults aged between 16 and 24 were surveyed. Psychological distress w as measured by the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). High le vels of psychological distress were evident, with girls being more dis tressed than boys at all ages. Forty-one per cent of girls were classi fied by the GHQ as mild or moderate cases, compared with 26 per cent o f boys. Levels of distress peaked at age 17 for both boys and girls an d tended to decrease with age for girls, but to be relatively stable o ver time for boys.