Young People and Psychological Stress
- Maddie Barrett
- 16 hours ago
- 2 min read
From the most recent NZ Health survey, it was reported that young adults had experienced the highest rate of psychological distress. As measured in 2024/25, 22.9% of young adults (15–24 years old) experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in the four weeks prior to the survey. With nearly 23% of young people experiencing high levels of distress, a number that has tripled since the survey in 2014, there is certainly cause for concern.
Within the same survey, it was reported that young men experienced a significantly lower rate (15.8%) of high or very high levels of psychological distress compared to young woman (29.2%).
Pacific and Māori adults experienced the highest rates of high or very high psychological distress in 2024/25 – sitting at 23.8% of Pacific adults (about 69,000 people) and 22.5% of Māori adults (about 147,000 people). Both Pacific and Māori were significantly more likely to have high or very high psychological distress than non-Pacific and non-Māori respectively.
Disabled adults were 3.47 times as likely to have experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in the past four weeks compared to non-disabled adults.
In terms of helping seeking, there were low percentages of those seeking professional help. And around 2.5% of adults (about 974,000 people) consulted family, whānau, and/or friends for help with mental health – a significant increase compared to 2023/24 (16.0%).
From those seeking Skylight's help, we are seeing that Anxiety (23%) and Grief (23%) are the main causes of distress from our clients, alongside emotional dysregulation and family issues. Non suicidal self-harm (NSSI) was noted in 8.6% of referrals, which is a considerable increase from the previous two months.
The reasons for this are unknown and not widely reported on, but it is possible that social media is intensifying anxiety, body image concerns and cyberbullying pressures among rangatahi. Not to mention how high-stress environments (like academic pressure, family stress and economic strain) are compounding mental health challenges.
Our stance is clear: although we need to invest in crisis response, it is crucial to prevent our young people from needing it initially by investing in protective factors like belonging, identity, and more.
The prevention programmes we offer, like Pathfinders, Tai-oranga, Te Korowai, and Travellers (as well as counselling), are a good place to start. But so much more funding and counselling support is needed if we are to bring down the percentage of young people experiencing such high levels of distress. As an organisation, we are prepared to go where there is a need. And we urge you to get in touch to discuss prevention and postvention programmes, counselling, or for self-funding (or applications for funding with us to get us there).
You can read the NZ Health Survey 2024/2025 mental health and substance use data summary here