4
SECTION
What mental health and
wellbeing means to children
Good mental health and wellbeing literacy
has a role in helping children grow up healthy
and well. It helps children and their parents/
guardians and grandparents know how to
develop and maintain good mental health and
wellbeing, as well as assisting them to recognise
when they may require help. Where signs of
poor mental health and wellbeing are not
recognised, this can be a barrier to seeking and
getting help and support.
Good mental health literacy also reduces fear,
discrimination, and stigma for those living with
mental health conditions.17
To get a sense of the mental health and
wellbeing literacy of children participating in
the children’s survey, children were asked to
describe what mental health and wellbeing
meant to them.
Of those children who provided free-text
responses, some linked mental health to how
they felt in their bodies, and others described
what good mental health and wellbeing felt like
to them:
Children could respond via free-text or select
the response ‘I don’t know’. 2,560 (56%) children
gave free-text responses to this question and
a further 1,135 (25%) children selected ‘I don’t
know’. 864 (19%) children did not answer this
question.
In exploring this response rate, the survey
showed that 65% of girls, 61% of children
identifying as non-binary or other, and 58%
of boys gave free-text responses to articulate
what mental health is. Research shows that girls
are more likely share their mental health and
wellbeing with others, including friends and
professionals, than boys, and are more likely to
experience anxiety and depression.18
Men
ta
mea l health
ns to
a
if I’m
me a n d well
bein
b
out
stru do ing o
g
gglin
k or how I
f
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or ju
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el,
th m ot, if I
s
’m
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pe
g
ho ol
an d etting b arance
ul
nee d
some lie d
—Gi
help
rl, ag
.
e
d 9–
w
s ho
n
a
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a
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NSW
tal
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11,
–
9
Men l insi d
d
e
age
oy,
I fe
B
—
11, W
A
is
an d wellbeing
Mental health
otion that
a sense of em
n
ur bo dy. Whe
o
y
rs
e
w
o
p
m
e
o dy
wrong, yo ur b
so mething is
ntly an d yo u
reacts differe
mpto ms of
start to get sy
es.
mental illness
11, NSW
—Boy, aged 9–
32 |
‘Mental health shapes my life’: COVID-19 & kids’ wellbeing • 2022 | 33