FAILING A GENERATION - THE IMPACT OF CULTURE ON THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF YOUTH

Trends in suicide, mental disorders, drug abuse and crime suggest west ern industrial societies are becoming increasingly harmful to psycholo gical and social well-being. These trends are usually explained in per sonal, social and economic terms; problems in personal relationships, poverty, family conflict and breakdown, unemployment, homelessness, ed ucation pressures and demographic changes. The contribution of the cul ture of western societies to our worsening predicament, most evident a mong our youth, may be seriously under-estimated because it is more di fficult to assess. Yet modern western culture arguably fails to meet t he most fundamental requirements of any culture: to provide a sense of belonging and purpose, and so a sense of meaning and self-worth, and a moral framework to guide our conduct. This cultural failing may be m ore apparent in Australia, and other `new' western nations because the y are young, heterogeneous peoples, without a long, shared cultural he ritage or a strong sense of identity.