Australian study maps prevalence of youth self-harm, suicide

Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia have the highest prevalence of self-harm among young people, according to a new study.

Self-harm atlas of young Australians, led by QIMR Berghofer researcher Emily Hielscher, examined the prevalence of self-harm and suicidality among young people in Australia and how it varied in different areas.

The study also found statistically significant clusters of higher estimated prevalence of youth self-harm across all states and territories, including the regional areas of North and Central Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Dr Hielscher said they also found clusters in metropolitan areas of eastern Melbourne, outer south-eastern Adelaide and outer western Sydney.

She said the highest prevalence groups were associated with factors such as greater socioeconomic disadvantage and unsafe housing.

“The prevalence of self-harm and suicidality among young people was generally highest in regional and remote areas, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities disproportionately affected,” said Dr Hielscher.

Climate change and disasters contribute to the reasons, according to a study

Dr. Hielscher said climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters had a “big impact on the young people in the study.”

“In our focus groups, specifically on climate change and that sense of hopelessness that surrounds it, some found it challenging in terms of their will to live and desire to keep going, and summing it up as: what’s the point?” she said.

Dr Hielscher said people in more regional and remote areas were more affected because they found it more difficult to access activities and events “to give them more hope” and access to services.

Other risk factors identified in the study included mental illness, having Australian-born parents, unemployed parents, and unsafe housing, financial barriers, transportation limitations, and community stigma in regional areas.

Dr. Hielscher said that one finding of interest was an association of reduced odds of youth self-harm in areas with high proportions of foreign-born parents.

She said some existing theories explain that this could be underreporting in those communities, or how these communities could give young people a greater variety of skills to help them cope.

“We need to have more dedicated studies on this with culturally diverse populations in Australia, to see if there really are any lessons we can learn about the potential protective elements of growing up in these types of communities,” he said.

Recommendations for highly localized solutions

The study used data from the 2013-2014 Young Minds Matter Survey, the 2016 Census, along with 14 focus groups over the past two years to estimate the prevalence of self-harm among youth, making a number of recommendations.

Dr. Hielscher said that while a national mental health strategy for all ages already existed, the study showed that a dedicated youth suicide prevention plan with highly localized approaches was needed.

“Ideally, we recommend a strategy that reflects what they’ve done, which is to have an overall national strategy that adapts, localizes and delivers through primary health care networks that are very attuned to the needs of young people and how those needs vary in different regions,” he said.

“Young people have different specific needs and they vary between different regions, so I think that needs to really be at the forefront of future policy planning.”