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  • Emotional well-being
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What does this mean?

In Kids Stats emotional well-being refers to children and young people’s ability to relate to each other and their social environment, adapt to change and cope with adversity.

Emotional well-being includes being able to express a point of view, having friends to talk to who can be trusted, being valued by others and feeling safe from harm.

Why is it important to monitor?

Children and young people with a positive state of emotional well-being are more likely to successfully meet the physical, intellectual and social changes required through childhood and adolescence.

Researchers have found that a low level of emotional well-being in adolescence is a risk factor for major depression, substance abuse and self-harm behaviours ^[1]. Educational achievement, social relationships and future employment are also associated with mental illness in adolescence ^[2].

Indicator

Currently, there is no routine measure of the emotional well-being of children and young people collected in NSW.

The indicator used in Kids Stats to monitor emotional well-being is obtained from the NSW Child Health Survey 2001 [3]. The indicator is:

The number of children aged 4 to 12 years reported by their parents or carers as having emotional or behavioural problems in the past six months, as a proportion of NSW Child Health Survey respondents.

Main findings

• Two-thirds of 4 to 12 year olds did not have any emotional or behavioural problems in the past six months.
• A higher proportion of males than females were reported to have emotional or behavioural problems (34.6% and 27.1% respectively).
• Age is a factor. The proportion of children with emotional or behavioural problems increases with age (17.6% of 4 year olds and 38.6% of 12 year olds).

Notes:

[1] Pattern, G. Harris, R. Carlin, J. B., Hibbert, M. E., Coffey, C., Schwarz, M. & Bowes (1997). Adolescent suicidal behaviours: a population based study of risk, Psychological Medicine, 27, 715-724.
[2] Zubrick, S.R., Silburn, S.R., Gurrin, L., Teoh, H. Sheperd, C., Carlton, J. & Lawrence, D. (1997). Western Australian Child Health Survey: Education, Health and Competence. Australian Bureau of Statistics and the TVW Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth.
[3] Quaine, J., Eyeson-Annan, M., Baker, D., O’Sullivan, B., Williamson, M., & Jorm L. (2003). Report on the Development of the Child Health Survey. NSW Public Health Bulletin, 14 (S-1).

For details of the references and to find out more about the data follow the link to Glossary and further information.