Mission Australia’s Youth Survey is the nation’s largest online annual ‘temperature check’ of teenagers aged between 15 and 19. Run every year, since 2002, this highly influential survey gives young people the chance to have their say.
The Youth Survey tells us what concerns young people, where they turn to for support and how they see the world. The results are of great interest to the media, community and policy makers.
What we learn each year – coupled with the latest research from Australia and beyond – helps shape better support services for young people in urban, rural and remote areas.
Youth Survey 2014 Highlights
13,600 young Australians aged 15-19 took part in Mission Australia’s 13th annual #youthsurvey.
The 2014 survey explored what young people value, their issues of concern, where they turn for help, their engagement in community activities and feelings about the future and included a particular focus on young people’s aspirations.
The survey revealed that while over 8 in 10 young people felt that achieving career success and being financially independent were highly important, only around 6 in 10 of young people who highly valued these aspirations felt that they would be achievable.
At the same time, the issue of greatest personal concern for young people in 2014 was coping with stress, with more than one in three respondents expressing high levels of concern, highlighting the immense pressure young Australians are facing in their final years of school.
Other survey highlights :
Around 80% of young people ranked education and hard work as the top two factors they believe will influence their career opportunities in the future. Almost 50% of young people believed where they live will affect the career opportunities available. More than 70% of young people ranked owning their own home as a key aspiration, and most felt this was also achievable despite falling rates of home ownership in Australia.
Coping with stress is the number one personal concern for young people, alongside school or study problems. Young women in particular are increasingly overwhelmed with more than half saying they are either extremely or very concerned about coping with stress. See more at: https://www.missionaustralia.com.au/what-we-do/research-evaluation/youth-survey#sthash.KdjKvafz.dpuf
Understanding the concerns and aspirations of our young people means we can better support them, and can appropriately focus programs and services creation and delivery.
For young people to complete this year’s survey click on the following link: https://www.missionaustralia.com.au/what-we-do/youth-services/item/76