Youth at risk - social contexts

Young people in the New Zealand context

Aotearoa New Zealand has a population of around 5 million. Here are the numbers of young people, according to population percentages of the 2018 census¹:

• 10–14 years: 305,847 (6.5%)
• 15–19 years: 301,821 (6.4%)
• 20–24 years: 317,400 (7.75%)

Young people are approximately one fifth of New Zealand’s population. They are projected to number over one million within 25 years (18% of New Zealand’s total population). Census data projects the proportions of young Māori, Asian and Pacific New Zealanders to increase.

See if you can guess the correct answers to these questions about statistics and demographics of our young people.

Educational achievement and voter participation

Educational achievement and voter participation are two general indicators of how well young people are doing in a society like New Zealand where we should all have access to education and voting. When significant numbers of young people leave school without a minimum qualification or do not turn up to vote it can indicate issues with exclusion and/or disadvantage. Obviously, these are only two general indicators, but they can be a useful starting point.

Statistics show that most young people achieve NCEA Level 2 and vote in the General Election, which indicates a baseline of access to and confidence in our socio-economic-political systems. However, the numbers of young people who are not voting or achieving NCEA Level 2 at school is still worrying. When you start to explore why, a picture starts to emerge of a cohort of young people who are at risk, some at very serious risk.

Who is at risk?

The Government has identified a target population of young people aged 15–24 they believe are the most at risk - approximately 15%. Four key long-term outcomes have been identified for this group. These relate to risk factors most associated with poor economic opportunity, safety and security, education, and health outcomes. Highest risks have been identified based on where young people are within New Zealand both geographically and socially.

Task: Look through Youth at Risk: Identifying a target population (ages 15-24) by New Zealand Government⁴.

Think about these questions:

• Which of these statistics might be relevant to the young people you work with? Think about things you know like their geographical location or educational achievement. And what you might not know, such as their childhood experiences or mental health.
• Is there anything in this document you find surprising? Anything that is especially concerning?
• Now the government has compiled this information, what does it tell them? And how should they be responding to what it tells them?
• What might it mean for the organisation(s) at which you work?
• And what might it mean for you as an individual youth worker?

Youth at risk and life opportunities

It is generally accepted that what happens to you during childhood, adolescence and early adulthood has serious consequences for what the rest of your life can become. While some individuals do overcome serious barriers and negative early life experiences, many young people at risk cannot without significant support.

Young people at risk need support from (or for) their whānau/family, their community and New Zealand society in general to help mitigate the risks. They need genuine equitable access to positive life opportunities through direct intervention and/or through a systems approach to address underlying structural inequalities. This applies to young people as individuals and as members of a whānau/family and a community.

What positive life opportunities do our young people need?

“Positive life opportunities include:

• Equitable participation in education and the opportunity to obtain opportunities that support future economic wellbeing
• Opportunities to participate in meaningful employment and achieve income security
• Participation in leisure and recreation activities, as well as the development of relationships with other adults, which support young people to build resilience, develop strengths and skills, build social networks and supports and connectedness, and lift their educational achievement
• Opportunities to strengthen wellbeing through the development of strong cultural identity, which can be supported by connectedness to whānau, hapū and iwi, and enables rangatahi Māori to participate in civic life as Māori
• Opportunities for civic participation.”⁵

The preconditions that enable a young person to transition into a meaningful adult life start in early childhood, even pre-birth. It is critical for young people to experience safe, healthy, comfortable whānau/family and community. Young people need to stay connected to positive life opportunities. They need adults and structures that support and nurture, protect and intervene, and keep them connected.

All young people deserve to participate fully and equitably in education, employment, community and society, and to look forward to a positive future⁵. However, there are a wide range of factors that can put them at risk of exclusion and disadvantage, and if not stopped this can also determine who they become as adults and the life they live.

Fortunately, there are also a range of protective factors that support young people to cope with difficult situations, mitigate risks, find their place in society and transition into a meaningful adult life.

Exclusion and disadvantage are more likely when people experience multiple risk factors over a sustained period of time, experience them early in life, and/or are in families and communities impacted by hardships related to wider structural issues. The sooner risk factors are address in the lives of young people the more likely they are to overcome them.

What is a risk factor?

Read the following descriptions of what is meant by risk factors in a youth development context, taken from Thriving Rangatahi: A review of protective and risk factors.^{5 6}

Framework of factors and contexts

1. Health
2. Education
3. Safety
4. Housing
5. Employment
6. Income
7. Cultural Identity
8. Social Connections
9. Environment
10. Civic Participation
11. Resilience
12. Leisure and Recreation

Look at the diagram (Dawnier et al., 2019, p.10)⁵. How can you use it to analyse risk factors for young people in New Zealand? In the diagram, you will notice:

• 12 categories of risk factors. In real situations risk factors may not always fall neatly into these categories; and will interact with and exacerbate each other.
• Four layers of context; at the centre is the young person themselves, but they exist within a whānau/family context, which in turn is located within a community that functions within a wider socio-political-economic context. Contexts all impact each other and the young person.
• Risk factors cut across all the contexts; they are determined by them and act upon them.

This model, however, does not only refer to risk factors. Each category of factors within its level of context also has potential protective factors.

For example, look at the first category - Health factors. At the level of the individual young person are mental health risk factors. But there are also protective factors like mental health services or substance abuse programmes to help mitigate these risks and protect the young person from negative outcomes that would otherwise occur.

Thriving Rangatahi

Please look through Section 2 (pages 12–38) of the following research review. You will find this very helpful for Task 1 of Assessment 1.2.

Section 2 – Risk and Protective Factor in Thriving Rangatahi: A review of protective and risk factors by the Centre for Social Impact⁵

Notice that the factors are organised in three ways:

1. Divided into 12 categories of factor types as shown in the diagram
2. Each category is then divided by context – individual, family/whānau/community, socio-political
3. Each context is divided into protective (coded green) factors and risk (coded red) factors.

For your assessement you will identify and analyse risk factors using this model.

It is important to keep in mind that the existence of risk factors is not a prediction for any individual young person. Some people can experience risk factors without disadvantages or exclusion, or they can overcome bad situations in the long run. The existence of protective factors does not mean young people cannot experience poor outcomes. Everyone and their situations are different. Two people can respond to the same situation is different ways. However, in general, when young people are exposed to risks, they are more likely to have negative life outcomes. The most serious of these are listed below.

Economic outcomes

• less economic or wealth-building opportunities and income instability
• more likely to receive government benefits (and over longer periods of time)

Justice system outcomes

• more likely to engage with the justice system; receive a custodial or community sentence

Education outcomes

• less likely to achieve NCEA Level 2 or higher qualification (less likely to achieve Level 4 qualification later in adulthood)

Health outcomes

• higher than average engagement with addiction services
• mental health services and pharmaceuticals more likely.

Outcomes and risk factors

The relationship between risk factors and life outcomes is well documented. For example, young people need economically stable situations and time with family/whānau who care for them. However, families with unstable and low incomes have fewer financial resources to provide young people with recreational or educational options. It they are working multiple jobs, time together as a family may be difficult, and young people may be expected to do more for the family like childcare, housework or earning family income. This gives the young person less time to spend developing their own interests, friendships and identity.

Young people in households on benefits are more likely to be on long term benefits as adults themselves. Economic instability usually means families living in unstable and/or poor-quality housing. This impacts educational and recreational opportunities and can put family/whānau under greater stress, which is reflected in communities with poorer mental and physical health, family well-being, etc.

New Zealand in the world

How does New Zealand compare with other developed countries in terms of child and young people’s health and well-being? In short, not great.

In this report, UNICEF⁷ focuses on well-being in rich countries. See if you can guess the correct answers for these questions.

Innocenti report card 16: Worlds of influence – understanding what shapes child well-being in rich countries

If you look through the report, you will see that not all the statistics are this dire. For example, New Zealand is one of only six countries in which almost everyone has access to safe drinking water. But overall, New Zealand children and young people are not doing well compared to their counterparts in countries with similar economies.

It may be interesting to look at this report in relation to the New Zealand statistics and review you looked at earlier. For example, 16% of New Zealand youth live in jobless household (possibly higher with Covid19!) which is the third highest amongst developed countries. Economic insecurity, unemployment and benefit use are high risk factors for young people and their families. These risks can be mitigated through achievement of qualifications and growing a person’s ‘employability’ with things like getting a driver’s licence, work experience opportunities, introducing them to networks or developing soft skills. At a structural level, education policy needs to focus on equipping young people for the future of work, and employers and schools need to create connections that can support young people to transition into work.

What is abuse and neglect?

Abuse and neglect are a serious roadblock to developing the well-being of children and young people in New Zealand. The issues are complex and interrelated. They are serious risk factors. The effects of abuse and neglect in early childhood continue into adolescence and adulthood. They are part of the overall picture of youth at risk, and they impact on all areas.

Dealing with these issues requires a holistic approach. Intervention programmes, those which focus on stopping abuse and neglect, are not sufficient. That is why a government strategy must also include providing support to families/whānau via housing, education and household incomes.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines child abuse and neglect as:

This can include adolescents and young people as both the victims and perpetrators.

Effects of abuse and neglect

Task: Read this article on the effects of abuse and neglect on children and adolescents⁹.

As you read through the article, try to find the answers to the following questions. You do not need to write these down unless you want to take note on particular aspects of the article.

Note: Questions are in order.

1. What are the five types of child abuse and neglect?
2. Do all those with similar experience of abuse and neglect respond in the same way?
3. What are some of the risk factors that can lead to poor outcomes for those exposed to abuse and neglect?
4. What are some of the protective factors that help a child or young person to be more resilient if they are exposed?
5. Why are a large proportion of children and young people affected by child abuse and neglect exposed to chronic and multiple types of maltreatment?
6. What are some of the factors specifically related to the abuse that can affect the consequences for the child or young person of that abuse?
7. What are the impacts of child abuse and neglect on a developing brain? The article goes into the serious consequences of abuse and neglect for childhood development. Read about these consequences and think about how they show up in adolescents and young people, especially those you are work with?
8. How might the consequences of attachment and interpersonal relationship problems impact these children as they enter adolescence and/or young adulthood?
9. What about learning and developmental problems?
10. Which mental health issues for young people can be linked to abuse or neglect?
11. What is the relationship between abuse and neglect and youth suicide? What about the relationship between child abuse and alcohol and other drug use?
12. What are some of the internalising and externalising behaviors in young people that can be a consequence of abuse and neglect? What about aggression, violence and criminal activity?
13. What about physical health problems?

Do you have a good understanding of how risk factors impact outcomes for young people in New Zealand as we have covered in this topic?

Have you looked through the Thriving Rangatahi report from earlier in this topic? Can you identify risk factors in the lives of young people within these 12 categories?

For your assessment you will have to give a presentation on risk factors for young people at the individual level (and family level where relevant) using this framework.

You are now ready to start working on Task 1 of Assessment 1.2. Download a copy of Assessment 1.2 today and read the instructions for Task 1. Start thinking about the content you would like to include in your presentation. You’ll find more resources for your presentation in the upcoming topic Youth at risk – systemic impacts.