YOUTH MONITOR

A national roundup of recent press reports on youth issues
BY ROBYN & ADRIAN COLMAN
The information in Youth Monitor is sourced from the newspapers cited with each item. Youth Studies Australia provides details of the location of articles in the newspapers, but cannot provide the original articles.

ATTITUDES AND OPINIONS

Torn between cultures

Many young people born overseas feel that Australia is now their home, but don’t feel Australian all the time. Dr Greg Noble, acting director of the University of Western Sydney’s Centre for Cultural Research, spoke to scores of young people from many cultures, as part of a study undertaken for SBS television last year. After asking about their feelings of identity, of culture and national belonging, Dr Noble found that, ‘There is both a sense of Australia being home and yet that they are also made to feel not at home. That they feel Australian but are also strongly, profoundly attached to their cultural backgrounds. At the same time, they feel that they are constantly made to feel as though they must choose, as if these two sentiments are in opposition when, to them, they clearly are not’ (Sydney Morning Herald, 17/12/05, p.19).

Concerns

Suicide, self-harm, and physical and sexual abuse topped a list of worries for young people recorded by Mission Australia, in their 2005 internet survey of more than 11,000 people aged 11 to 24. Suicide and self-harm were among the top three concerns of 41.3% of respondents, physical or sexual abuse were in the top three concerns for 37.5% of the sample, and the third-biggest worry was family conflict, cited by 34.8%.

The survey also showed that boys tended to be more concerned about alcohol and drugs, while girls were more often worried about suicide and self-harm (Australian, 8/12/05, p.6).

BULLYING AND VIOLENCE

Children in domestic violence

The Australian Attorney-General’s Department estimates that about one in three young people have witnessed family and domestic violence in a broad form. A report on the Joondalup Family Violence Court said that children were present in 73% of incidents of domestic violence. The CEO of the Patricia Giles Centre and convenor of the Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services in Western Australia, Kedy Kristal, said, ‘The knock-on effects for children can be devastating. Not only can they become victims of the abuse themselves ... but the chances of them going on to perpetuate the behaviours they witness in their parents are higher. One of the more alarming results has been a generational twist on family and domestic violence ... dating violence, [where] teenage girls desperate to hold on to relationships may find themselves controlled and abused by a domineering boyfriend’ (West Australian, 26/10/05, p.8).

Help for victims of violence

In Western Australia, the state government has published booklets to offer support to young people experiencing dating violence, living in violent homes or worried about friends. The booklets include tips to identify abuse and contacts for services to help young people in trouble. A web site has also been created at www.youthsayno.wa.gov.au (West Australian, 26/10/05, p.15).

Student misbehaviour

Figures released by the New South Wales Education Department show that in the first half of 2005, 4,672 students in the public education system were suspended for periods of between five and 20 days. This is only slightly fewer than the number of suspensions for the whole of 1999. Half of the suspensions were for physical violence towards students and teachers, and a third were for what the department called ‘persistent misbehaviour’. A quarter of the suspensions were for Years 11 and 12; 20% were at primary schools. About 80% of all suspended students were male. Suspended students receive counselling at specialist centres before being allowed back to school. The NSW government was to open four more centres at the end of 2005. There were 156 expulsions, mostly for misdemeanours, such as taking weapons to school or assaulting teachers (Sydney Morning Herald, 26/10/05, p.1).

CRIME & JUSTICE

Boys stealing cars

Car thefts mostly involve male teenagers, according to researcher Clive Williams, from the Queensland University of Technology. After interviewing 120 young Brisbane men in detention or subject to court orders, he found that teenage boys from underprivileged backgrounds looked to crime for excitement and to prove their masculinity. Disadvantaged boys as young as 13 stole cars to prove they were ‘a real man’, he said (Daily Telegraph, 26/10/05, p.17).

Young parents in detention

Almost 10% of young people in correctional facilities are parents. A report from the Australian Institute of Criminology said that 8% of males in juvenile detention had children of their own, while 1% of females in detention were mothers. The report’s authors, Jeremy Prichard and Jason Payne, interviewed 371 young people aged between 11 and 17 who were in detention in 2004. The report said ...

End of extract (p.3 of Youth Studies Australia, March 2006, Monitor column pp.3-9.

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