Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Seungyeon Kim: Koi Tū researcher on the need for nurturing relationships with young people among rates of high psychological distress
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: New research this morning which suggests we need to toughen
- 0:02Speaker 1: up our kids a bit to help address the increase
- 0:05Speaker 1: in mental health issues that they're experiencing. This is a
- 0:08Speaker 1: new Auckland University paper. It says in twenty twenty two
- 0:10Speaker 1: and twenty twenty three, more than one in five of
- 0:13Speaker 1: our fifteen to twenty four year olds experienced high levels
- 0:16Speaker 1: of psychological distress, noting our youth suicide rate, it's one
- 0:19Speaker 1: of the highest in the developed world. The paper suggesting
- 0:22Speaker 1: we focus on developing skills and young people that provide
- 0:25Speaker 1: a foundation for resilience. Doctor Sung Yung Kim is with
- 0:30Speaker 1: US Center for Informed Futures and author at the University
- 0:33Speaker 1: of Auckland. Thank you for being with us. Good morning,
- 0:36Speaker 1: Good morning Ran. So obviously kids are saying that they're
- 0:40Speaker 1: reporting that they're feeling less well, more unwell mentally. What
- 0:45Speaker 1: do you think is behind that?
- 0:48Speaker 2: It seems like there are a lot of things that
- 0:50Speaker 2: are contributing to a young person's mental health and well
- 0:54Speaker 2: being being, such as the socioeconomic status, relationship ships, things
- 1:01Speaker 2: happening at home, a lot of factors coupled with the
- 1:06Speaker 2: rapidly changing digital and social environments.
- 1:10Speaker 1: Do we punish our kids enough. Do we set them
- 1:13Speaker 1: clear enough boundaries and then follow through with consequences. Is
- 1:16Speaker 1: that part of the reason that they are feeling lost.
- 1:20Speaker 2: It's hard to see and it's uncertain whether it's the punishing,
- 1:26Speaker 2: but research is showing that there is an importance of
- 1:30Speaker 2: having warm nurturing relationships with young people.
- 1:35Speaker 1: We arguably have more warm nurturing relationships with the young
- 1:39Speaker 1: people now than we've ever had before, and yet their
- 1:41Speaker 1: mental health is worse. So how does that work?
- 1:44Speaker 2: Right? So it's important to look at these relationships in
- 1:50Speaker 2: a sense of not in a way that allows young
- 1:58Speaker 2: people to do things with up boundaries, are introducing boundaries,
- 2:02Speaker 2: but looking at how these relationships are, how we interact
- 2:06Speaker 2: with young people, and how these interactions addresses their needs.
- 2:12Speaker 1: All right, thank you very much for your time this morning,
- 2:14Speaker 1: Dr Sung Yong Kim the Center for Informed Futures at
- 2:17Speaker 1: the University of Auckland. For more from News Talks at
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