The health and well-being of young Australians: patterns, trends, explanations and responses

Abstract: The orthodox view of the health and wellbeing of young Australians has been one of continuing improvement. This picture underestimates the importance of adverse trends in a range of chronic physical and mental health problems. These have their sources in quite fundamental features of western societies, and optimizing young people’s health will mean making correspondingly fundamental social, economic and cultural changes. Better health (not greater wealth) should be the defining goal of government, and this means seeing health as much more than a matter of healthcare services. Medicine and other health professions need better to recognize this if they are to continue to be part of the solution to improving health and wellbeing, and not become part of the problem