Youth depression in Australia has been rising at an alarming rate, especially for young women, according to the latest research report by the Black Dog Institute.
The report, Turning the tide on depression: A vision that starts with Australia’s youth, released 4 October 2022, found that depression rates in Australian teen girls more than doubled over the past 14 years, and have been steadily increasing for boys and young men too.
Professor Sam Harvey, Executive Director and Chief Scientist at the Black Dog Institute, explained that the report was based on a meta-analysis that examined whether rates of depression in children have risen since COVID across four groups: children; adolescents; young adults; and young First Nations peoples.
The results showed that although rates of diagnosed depression have not increased in children over the past two decades, there was an alarming spike in depressive symptoms during the pandemic.
“Depression has become more common in adolescents and young adults over the past decade. There are also worrying signs of an increase in depressive symptoms in children since COVID,” Professor Harvey warned.
“This report calls for expanded support and a more holistic approach for future work to prevent and treat depression. The research and analysis in this report shines a light on what we need to begin doing to turn the tide on these rising rates of depression.”
During 2020 around 23.4% of children showed clinically significant depressive symptoms, which Professor Jennie Hudson, Director of Research for the Black Dog Institute, explained could have lifelong consequences for those affected.
“A variety of factors – from genetics, puberty, and lifestyle factors, to parenting styles and family stress – can contribute to depression in children,” Professor Hudson said.
“Factors contributing to increases in depressive symptoms in children during the COVID pandemic may include increased demands on parents during this period (including financial stress), as well as changes to the child’s routine such as physical activity, sleep patterns, and social activity.”
Depression was almost three times more common in adolescents as it was in children, with their biggest concerns being school and academic performance, COVID, social relationships, and mental health.
The Institute’s Associate Professor Aliza Werner-Seidler said that adolescents with clinically significant symptoms of depression showed greater difficulty with daily functioning.
“When compared with non-depressed adolescents, depressed adolescents were three times more likely to have difficulty participating in schoolwork and social and physical activities and were five times more likely to have difficulty performing daily self-care tasks,” she said.
The data also showed that screen time and depression were linked, particularly in teen girls, though analysis revealed that the direction of the relationship may be reversed – depressed girls may turn to digital media as a way of coping.
“The possibility that depression leads to increased screen use rather than the other way around needs to be examined using longitudinal data – something we will investigate as the Future Proofing Study progresses,” Professor Werner-Seidler said.
“At this stage, we do not have conclusive evidence as to the nature or direction of the relationship between screen time and depression.”
In the past 14 years there was a 72% increase in the prevalence of depression in Australia’s young adults, with data from the 2021 Census showed that the highest proportion of individuals with a chronic mental health condition occurred in those aged 20–24 (12%) and 25–29 (12%).
According to Dr Alexis Whitton, Research Fellow and psychologist at the Black Dog Institute, the gender gap in depression prevalence among young adults has more than doubled during this time, driven by a more rapid increase in depression prevalence in young women than in young men.
University students who perceived themselves as being less financially secure also had more severe levels of depression, and over 40% of university students said that they felt lonely often or all the time, with loneliness linked to an increase in symptoms.
“Compared to previous decades, young adults now face increased financial pressure, greater competition for entry levels jobs, more complex tertiary education pathways, and increased loneliness,” Dr Whitton said.
“These risk factors are often more pronounced for young women.”
As well as investigating recent trends in depression, the report also examined how the lives of children, adolescents and young adults have changed in the last two decades, and whether certain changes may be increasing their risk of developing the condition.
Key changes identified included more precarious employment, greater financial strain, experiences of cyberbullying, and social isolation.
Some of these changes were identified as being particularly important for certain age groups:
- For children, decreased physical activity, poor sleep and greater family stress may have contributed to increased depressive symptoms during the pandemic.
- For adolescents, poor sleep, loneliness, and a lack of supportive social networks were highlighted as possible contributing factors.
- Young adults at higher risk for depression included those who experienced financial strain and loneliness, with women, international students and LGBTQIA+ young adults being particularly vulnerable.
- First Nations youth were highlighted as being at particularly high risk, although the exact level of risk was difficult to determine as the measures used to diagnose and monitor depression were often unsuitable for use with First Nations peoples.
Dr Clinton Schultz, Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy at the Black Dog Institute, said that disturbances in social and emotional wellbeing were increasing for young First Nations peoples and called for the development of culturally relevant tools, as well as a greater involvement of First Nations peoples in the design and delivery of mental health services.
“There is no singular tool available to measure all aspects of First Nations youths’ social and emotional wellbeing – so much more work is warranted in this area,” Dr Schultz said.
“Social and emotional wellbeing for First Nations peoples continues to be a complex topic that is largely misrepresented by government policy and intervention design, and this warrants further investment and investigation.
“Government attempts to ease the burden of disease experienced by First Nations people have historically failed and continue to fail due to a lack of awareness and acceptance of First Nations perspectives of wellbeing.”