Seungyeon Kim: Koi Tū researcher on the need for nurturing relationships with young people among rates of high psychological distress

There's an urgent need to promote resilience among Aotearoa's youth.  

A new paper from Auckland University's think tank Koi Tū reveals 21% of 15 to 24 year olds are experiencing high levels of psychological distress.  

It highlights suicide as the leading cause of death among youth and notes our suicide rate is one of the highest in the developed world.  

Researcher Seungyeon Kim says we need programmes and spaces that help our young people to connect and feel safe.  

She says parents and caregivers can focus on having interactions that are warm, attentive and responsive to the young person's need. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
New research this morning which suggests we need to toughen
up our kids a bit to help address the increase
in mental health issues that they're experiencing. This is a
new Auckland University paper. It says in twenty twenty two
and twenty twenty three, more than one in five of
our fifteen to twenty four year olds experienced high levels
of psychological distress, noting our youth suicide rate, it's one
of the highest in the developed world. The paper suggesting

(00:22):
we focus on developing skills and young people that provide
a foundation for resilience. Doctor Sung Yung Kim is with
US Center for Informed Futures and author at the University
of Auckland. Thank you for being with us. Good morning,
Good morning Ran. So obviously kids are saying that they're
reporting that they're feeling less well, more unwell mentally. What

(00:45):
do you think is behind that?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
It seems like there are a lot of things that
are contributing to a young person's mental health and well
being being, such as the socioeconomic status, relationship ships, things
happening at home, a lot of factors coupled with the
rapidly changing digital and social environments.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Do we punish our kids enough. Do we set them
clear enough boundaries and then follow through with consequences. Is
that part of the reason that they are feeling lost.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
It's hard to see and it's uncertain whether it's the punishing,
but research is showing that there is an importance of
having warm nurturing relationships with young people.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
We arguably have more warm nurturing relationships with the young
people now than we've ever had before, and yet their
mental health is worse. So how does that work?

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Right? So it's important to look at these relationships in
a sense of not in a way that allows young
people to do things with up boundaries, are introducing boundaries,
but looking at how these relationships are, how we interact

(02:06):
with young people, and how these interactions addresses their needs.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
All right, thank you very much for your time this morning,
Dr Sung Yong Kim the Center for Informed Futures at
the University of Auckland. For more from News Talks at
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