Young people’s concerns are shifting and differ by gender
Young people's concerns are constantly evolving, reflecting the shifting realities of the world around them. Each year, our evaluation survey provides us with invaluable insights into these changes, allowing us to better support our mentees in navigating the challenges they face. In 2024, we've observed some notable shifts in the concerns that weigh most heavily on the minds of young people.
Shifting Concerns in 2024
The top three concerns for our young people in our 2024 programs are:
- Mental Health
- Crime and Safety
- Environment/Climate Change
Not surprisingly, we saw the issue of Economy/Cost of Living jump up to number six, a rise from number nine last year. For the first time since asking this question, we have seen crime and safety appear in the top three concerns.
Gender Differences in Concerns
When we split the concerns by gender, boys' top concern was crime and safety, while for girls, it was mental health.
For girls, there was a downward trend in concern around discrimination, but a marked increase in concern around crime and safety. Last year, girls rated (in order) mental health, discrimination, and animal rights as their top three concerns. In 2024, this shifted to mental health, crime and safety, and animal rights.
With the boys, the 2024 data shows discrimination dropped out of their top three concerns, with the environment/climate change moving up to take the third spot. Their top three in 2024 are crime/safety/violence, mental health, and the environment.
The Rise of Young Carers
This year, we saw another increase in the number of our young people identifying as carers. About 2 in 5 of Raise mentees are providing care to someone in their family. This may be due to mental health issues, sickness, or disability.
While young carers build strengths such as resilience and empathy, taking on caring responsibilities as well as school can be a lot for a young person, particularly if they don’t have good supports.
According to the Young Carers Network, there are 3 million unpaid carers in Australia, and at least 391,300 of these are young carers. It can be a very stressful, mentally draining, and isolating experience. Young carers are often not recognized by the adults in their lives and may not share or even realize they are a young carer.
You can learn more about young carers and how you can support them on a special episode of our Raise podcast, The Power of Showing Up, here.
For more resources, visit Young Carers Network and Carers NSW.
Challenges in Seeking Help
Only 38% of our mentees feel comfortable going to their school for help, and only 1 in 3 feel they belong at school. Less than half feel they fit in with the other young people around them.
More than half of our mentees have a hard time making it through stressful times, and nearly 60% don’t feel they have ways to help them deal with stress.
Only 1 in 3 are confident in their communication skills, and only 1 in 3 of our mentees are confident in their ability to cope when things go wrong. 1 in 3 don’t have someone to go to if they are lonely.
Interpreting the Data
When we asked our young people, "When you have a problem, do you feel able to ask for help?" 11% said "almost never" and 31% said "sometimes." This equates to over 900 young people in our programs this year who can’t or only sometimes turn to someone if they need help.
Data Represented as a Cohort
We have around 15 young people in each of our school programs. If we look at all our data and reflect it as an average cohort, it may look like this:
- 4 young people who are not confident they have someone there for them if they have a problem
- 11 young people who are not comfortable with their ability to set and achieve goals
- 10 young people who are not confident in their ability to cope when things go wrong
- 6 young people who are not comfortable going to their school for help
- 8 young people who can’t say they fit in with those around them
- 6 young carers
- 9 feel they don’t belong at school
The Difference Between Providing Care and Providing Help
Interestingly, there is a difference in the data when we ask young people if they have people in their life who really care about them versus someone who will be there for them when they have a problem.
In 2023, when asked if they have people who care for them, nearly half of the mentees responded "almost always." However, when asked about times when they have a problem and if they have someone who will be there for them, only a quarter said "almost always." This drop indicates the difference between caring for someone and being a person they can come to when they need help.
Again, this year, nearly half our mentees don’t feel able to ask for help.
Animal Welfare: A Consistent Concern
Animal welfare is a topic of concern that continually rates highly with our young people.
We love seeing young people passionate about the rights and welfare of others, including animals. Our data gives us a window into the minds of our young people, allowing us to pause for a moment of reflection and consider these concerns.
If you asked an adult what they think young people are concerned about, they might say social media over animal welfare. Our young people do rate social media as an issue, but not as consistently high as animal welfare.
This data is helpful for us as mentors and reminds us to ask curious questions when talking to our young people—asking them what is going on for them and not assuming we know what matters to them. Interestingly, the impact of social media was 10th overall in the list (it was much higher for girls than boys), well below animal welfare, discrimination, the economy, and housing.
Mentoring is a gift to young people; it allows them to discuss these issues with a nonjudgmental and curious mentor.
Applications for our 2025 mentoring program are now open! As a mentor, you can provide the support, guidance, and hope that young people desperately need.
Why Become a Mentor?
- Help young people navigate their concerns and challenges
- Make a lasting impact on a young person's life
- Develop your own leadership and communication skills
- Be part of a community dedicated to positive change
Together, we can create a brighter future for the next generation.