In 2008 Mission Australia conducted its seventh annual National survey of young Australians with over 45,000 young people aged 11-24 years. The survey aimed to identify the important and emerging issues for young people through a series of questions on what they value, their issues of concern, where they turn for advice and support and who they admire.

Young people from diverse communities in each state and territory across Australia participated. About half of the surveys were from young people aged between 11 and 14 years, a further 47% were from those aged 15 to 19 years
and just under 1,000 were from young adults aged 20 to 24 years.

Respondents were asked to rank the issues that concerned them from the list of options (see below). The top three issues were body image, drugs and family conflict with each of them of significant concern to around a quarter of respondents.  There was no one ‘standout’ issue, with nine issues being of major concern to at least one in five respondents.

Table 1: Issues of concern to young people, 2008  (% in descending order of concern)

• Body image 26.3
• Drugs 26.0
• Family conflict 25.9
• Suicide 24.6
• Personal safety 22.9
• Bullying/emotional abuse 22.6
• Physical/sexual abuse 22.6
• Alcohol 20.9
• Coping with stress 20.4
• School or study problems 18.6
• The environment 18.4
• Depression 17.8
• Self harm 13.7
• Discrimination 12.6
• Sexuality (relationships, health, identity) 12.2