new youth study

Posted on Mon, 16 Nov 09

Associate Professor Anne Daly from the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) at the Canberra university together with colleagues from the UK and Israel are looking at identifying risk factors for young people aged between 16 and 24 years.

Associate Professor Daly says the research will match up health and welfare information for specific areas, and expand on earlier work using census data.

"There's quite a lot of evidence from Australia and overseas that income itself is not a good measure of social disadvantage," Professor Daly said.

"There are lots of other things going on, and if we don't take those things in to account, we might be focusing on the wrong groups of people. "

Associate Professor Daly says the researchers will look at other factors - including health, transport and welfare support to help government departments who want to reduce social disadvantage.

"Policy makers will be able to use this information to identify where there are concentrations of young people with particular risk factors and then they can start focusing their resources in those areas," she said.

"So for example if we find an area with high youth suicide rate, then suicide prevention strategies can be directed to that area."