A survey from Scape and Year13 of 2,000 young Australians and 1,000 Scape residents agenda 18-24 has found that more than half of Gen Z Australians say they don’t get enough sleep, are anxious and are disillusioned about the future.
Undertaken in May 2024, the 2024 Gen Z Wellbeing Index, explores the mental health, exercise, sleep and diet patterns of young Australians. The results in the report allow Scape to compare the wellbeing of its student residents with the wellbeing of young people nationally, who each took the same wellbeing survey at the same time, with the results showing that young people staying with Scape are doing better on average than young Australians in general.
The 2024 study revealed that more than two-thirds of young Australians say they don’t get enough sleep (69 per cent), more than half say they suffer from anxiety (56 per cent), two in five say they are struggling to make friends (40 per cent), a third are feeling lonely (35 per cent), and overall, almost half cite their mental health as only fair or poor (43 per cent).
The research also found about two-thirds of young Australians say they don’t spend enough time outdoors (67 per cent), that they don’t eat enough healthy food (64 per cent), and that they are not physically active enough (61 per cent). About half of young people also say they don’t connect enough with friends (49 per cent) or with family (46 per cent).
The top negative influences on youth wellbeing in 2024 have also been found with more than half of young Australians saying figuring out their future (56 per cent), fatigue/energy levels (56 per cent), the rising cost of living (53 per cent) and burnout (51 per cent) are negatively impacting their wellbeing.
Two-fifths of young Australians also revealed they are suffering from low self-esteem (43 per cent), poor body image (41 per cent), and social anxiety (40 per cent), while more than a third say they are suffering from depression (35 per cent). And when it comes to the big issues of concern for today, more than half of young people say violence against women (53 per cent) is an issue of concern for them, making it the third biggest issue Gen Zs are worried about after the cost of living (77 per cent) and housing/rental affordability (63 per cent), and above climate change (49 per cent).
Year13 national partnerships director Annie Mulders said: “Understanding the most pressing challenges of young Australians underpins Year13’s capability to provide meaningful support to young people. What’s clear is we have a whole generation in need of wellbeing support and actionable wellbeing strategies to support positive outcomes. Our yearly measure of youth wellbeing provides insights to the lived experiences and real-life challenges young people are facing and enables us to surface priority areas of concern which help inform our strategies and collaborations with wellbeing partners such as Scape.
“Some of the key focus areas for us are supporting young people with confidence and self-esteem, relationships and of course working out their future, which remains the factor young people nominate as the greatest negative impact on their wellbeing. This is the second year Scape have supported this important research and it’s brilliant to see them taking the findings to optimise support and services for their residents.”
Underpinning the benefits of purpose-built student accommodation, the 2024 Gen Z Wellbeing Index results were markedly more positive for young people living in Scape buildings, suggesting that moving out of home into dedicated student accommodation with proactive wellbeing measures could be pivotal in improving overall youth wellbeing.
For example, Scape students reported being better connected, citing excellent social health (17 per cent versus the national average of 13 per cent), a sense of inclusion and belonging (77 per cent versus 69 per cent) and feeling significantly better in their overall wellbeing, with less feeling anxious (35 per cent versus 56 per cent), depressed (17 per cent versus 35 per cent), lonely (25 per cent versus 35 per cent) or a sense of social anxiety (24 per cent versus 40 per cent).
Over the past year, significant in-roads to address Gen Z wellbeing have been made by Scape to support students’ overall holistic experience and resident wellbeing, including the implementation of programs such as Safe TALK, a peer-to-peer suicide prevention workshop series exclusively for Scape residents and Velocity Empowerment workshops, which are focused on fostering healthy physical, emotional and mental relationships.
To enhance social connectedness and community, a major driver for Gen Z, Scape also created and delivered more than 500 student events attended by more than 10,000 students in the first half of 2024 alone, with a staggering 533 per cent year-on-year increase in the usage of Scape’s dedicated Safety & Wellbeing App by Sonder, engaging more residents than ever before.
Scape Australia’s CEO Anouk Darling said, “The results of the 2024 Wellbeing Index really reinforce why every step we take at Scape is intentional and for the betterment of our students who call Scape home. At a time when Gen Z is navigating the changing world around them in unprecedented times, and feeling their most vulnerable and overwhelmed, we provide a safe haven – a place to call home, but also a place to live well. We have multiple programs in place, from well-being courses to fitness and nutrition, we provide meals and relaxation zones and amenities that help our residents thrive.”
“They sleep better, their mental health fares better, they are more connected and they are fueled with nutritious meals every day. These research findings are a further proof point that purpose-built student accommodation, when done right, really can change a young person’s life for the better,” she added.
