Australian Child and Adolescent Surveys of Mental Health and Wellbeing

The Australian Child and Adolescent Surveys of Mental Health and Wellbeing are two surveys funded by the Australian Department of Health to estimate the prevalence of mental health conditions among young people in Australia. The first survey, known as The Child and Adolescent Component of the National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being, was conducted between 1998 and 2000, as part of the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. 4500 children aged 4 to 17 years were recruited for the 1998 study.

The second survey, known as Young Minds Matter, was conducted by the Telethon Kids Institute and The University of Western Australia on behalf of the Department of Health, between 2013 and 2014, and involved interviews with more than 6,000 Australian families. This examined the emotional and behavioural development of children and young people aged between 4 and 17 years.

The aims of Young Minds Matter were to determine:

• How many children and adolescents in Australia have mental health problems and disorders.
• The nature of these mental health problems and disorders.
• The degree of functional impairment or disability associated with these problems and disorders.
• The services used by children and adolescents for mental health problems and disorders.
• The role of the education sector in providing services for adolescents with mental health problems and disorders.

The second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2013-14 is available as an ADA Dataverse Dataset.