TY - JOUR
T1 - Life in a time of uncertainty
T2 - Optimising the health and wellbeing of young Australians
AU - Eckersley, Richard M.
AU - Wierenga, Ani
AU - Wyn, Johanna
PY - 2005/10/17
Y1 - 2005/10/17
N2 - • Perceptions of young people's health and wellbeing vary greatly, reflecting differences between disciplines, ideologies and generations. Young people are resilient, adaptable and doing well but, at the same time, are experiencing increased rates of important mental and physical health problems. • While some of the contradictions in the evidence can be explained - for example, between measures of life satisfaction and happiness and indicators of psychosocial health - tensions between perspectives remain. • We describe briefly a project involving cross-disciplinary synthesis that sought to gain a better understanding of the points of convergence and divergence in the commentaries and evidence on young people's wellbeing in Australia. • The project suggests that, if young people's situation is to be optimised, there needs to be greater focus in both research and policy on: ? the "big picture" of the social changes reshaping life today; ? total health and wellbeing, not just ill health; ? the "mainstream" of youth, not only those young people who are marginalised and at-risk; and ? social and cultural resources that are as important to wellbeing as material and economic resources.
AB - • Perceptions of young people's health and wellbeing vary greatly, reflecting differences between disciplines, ideologies and generations. Young people are resilient, adaptable and doing well but, at the same time, are experiencing increased rates of important mental and physical health problems. • While some of the contradictions in the evidence can be explained - for example, between measures of life satisfaction and happiness and indicators of psychosocial health - tensions between perspectives remain. • We describe briefly a project involving cross-disciplinary synthesis that sought to gain a better understanding of the points of convergence and divergence in the commentaries and evidence on young people's wellbeing in Australia. • The project suggests that, if young people's situation is to be optimised, there needs to be greater focus in both research and policy on: ? the "big picture" of the social changes reshaping life today; ? total health and wellbeing, not just ill health; ? the "mainstream" of youth, not only those young people who are marginalised and at-risk; and ? social and cultural resources that are as important to wellbeing as material and economic resources.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=27644571151&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb07102.x
DO - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb07102.x
M3 - Review article
SN - 0025-729X
VL - 183
SP - 402
EP - 404
JO - Medical Journal of Australia
JF - Medical Journal of Australia
IS - 8
ER -