Is psychological distress among Australians underestimated?
Young people may be more honest about their feelings when surveyed online, a study suggests
The way national statistics on psychological distress are gathered in Australia may underestimate the problem, particularly for young adults, researchers say.
The University of Melbourne-led research compared results from a nationally representative online survey of 955 Australians, with those from two national health surveys conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2014-15 and 2017-18.
All three surveys included measurement of psychological distress using the 10-question Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (Kessler 10), which can take values between 10 and 50, with higher scores being worse.
While the average score was 15.1 and 15.8 for the ABS 2014-15 and 2017-18 surveys respectively, it was 21.3 in the online survey.
