ADOLESENCE is a period defined by transition when a young person departs from childhood and learns to seek greater independence.

It is a time when young people embark on new social experiences, such as mixing with different peer groups, getting into romantic relationships and experimenting with different recreational activities.  

At the same time, the youth face academic challenges in the form of passing exams and getting into university. Such challenges are especially exacerbated in modern societies, including our own, which emphasise unrealistic performance expectations and extreme competition as positive goals.

Learning to juggle these different priorities can be intensely challenging. Many young people will experience overlapping and sometimes conflicting emotions, and find it difficult to manage these emotions in a healthy way without getting overwhelmed.

Perhaps the biggest variable that determines a positive or negative outcome is the quality of support that the young person receives. Having a positive social network to relate to and confide in can be a powerful buffer against undue emotional stress. The question is: do our youth have these resources?

In 2017, a government public health survey conducted among public secondary schools nationwide revealed that two in five Malaysian teenagers aged 13-17 had experienced anxiety issues, while one in five were depressed.

At least one fifth of respondents regularly experienced a range of emotional difficulties, including hopelessness, devaluation of life, self-deprecation, and situational anxiety. Crucially, among those who reported facing depression, anxiety and stress, relationship level factors showed that roughly one to two thirds had also felt lonely “most of the time or always” in the past one year.

Meanwhile, over a third who experienced anxiety also felt a distinct lack of connectedness with their parents or guardians. A total of 36.8% agreed with statements that their parents or guardians “never (really) understood their problems or worries” and “never knew what they were doing with their free time” during the past 30 days.

Looking around, loneliness among the younger generation is perhaps not surprising, given how much time they spend on screen devices, such as mobile phones and iPads, and social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, to communicate.

These days, youth spend more time chatting with friends online than they do face-to-face. While communication is certainly faster, the quality of connections forged through genuine “real life” conversations and relationships tend to be sacrificed in the process.

What then, of families? How much can youth turn to their loved ones as a source of comfort and support? Depending on where one looks, the evidence varies quite widely.

In 2016, a study was commissioned by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, to gauge levels of happiness, satisfaction and overall wellbeing among Malaysian families.

The outcome of that study, the Malaysian Family Wellbeing Index (FWBI 2016), showed that overall, families were doing well. Moderate to high scores were recorded across nearly all domains and, significantly, parental involvement achieved one of the highest performance scores (8.38 out of 10), indicating that parents were doing well in terms of nurturing and supporting their children.

Yet, despite this glowing report, the results of the FWBI 2016 (which was based on parent interviews) does not seem to square at all with the testimonies of schoolgoing youth as reported in the public health survey conducted in 2017.

Meanwhile, evidence elsewhere shows that youth mental health issues and low well-being have been mounting over the years. Penang Institute’s report on the Malaysian mental health landscape pointed to escalating trends over the years.

In 2006, 14.4% of youth aged 16-19 reported psychological distress; this figure doubled to 34.7% in 2015. While perhaps reflecting better mental health literacy and a greater willingness to disclose, the figures are nonetheless disturbing, and reinforce the gravity of the issue.

How well has our government performed in terms of tackling youth mental health issues? If we rewind to the past, some policy groundwork has already been laid down by the previous Barisan Nasional government. In 2006, the Health Ministry produced a National Adolescent Health Plan of Action (NAHPOA) 2006-2020, a blueprint covering aspects such as nutritional health, sexual and reproductive health, high risk behaviours, physical health and mental health.

NAHPOA essentially created a framework for what was then envisioned as a National Adolescent Health Programme. In 2013, this document was reviewed and a second revised version was mooted in 2015. However, since then, scarcely any mention has been made of any efforts undertaken to operationalise this plan.  

Fast forward to today, under its manifesto’s “Special Commitment for Youth”, Pakatan Harapan has pledged to address youth issues, including creating more jobs, affordable homes and educational opportunities. However, there is a noticeable lack of mention about mental health and well-being.

This gap needs to be addressed.

The first step should be to break down the data siloes between different ministries working on youth issues. In my opinion, this has been a persistent problem under the previous government. Both the Health Ministry and the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry have valuable data on the youth, yet little has been done to pool and cross-analyse the information.

Rather than sticking to their own lanes, these ministries should embrace data sharing and open collaboration. As a first move, policymakers who had worked on the NAHPOA, the Family Well-Being Index and the 2017 Adolescent Health Survey should be brought together to discuss their findings and insights, using data as the key backdrop.  

From there, more research should be done to understand the underlying causes of emotional difficulties among the youth. In particular, in-depth and detailed studies on social isolation are urgently required, as well as the risk factors in a range of settings, including homes, schools and universities, in order to develop effective targeted interventions for trigger points.

A handful of politicians and lawmakers have begun stirring national conversation around the subject of youth mental health. This is well and good, but efforts must not stop there. The time is ripe to start working on embedding workable solutions into a broader social policy for the youth. Only then will we see actual improvements in outcomes for the younger generation. – November 6, 2018.

* Lim Su Lin is a Policy Analyst with Penang Institute in Kuala Lumpur. She graduated in 2013 with a degree in History from Cambridge University. Her research interests lie primarily in psychosocial health and wellbeing. She explores these in the context of making recommendations to improve social and development policies. The long-term goals of her work are to advocate for more equitable outcomes and reduced inequalities in society.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.