ARCHIVED: Youth Facts and Stats

• While 80% of Australian adults surveyed were aware that damaged or impaired hearing cannot be restored to its original state, 26 % of 18-24 year olds did not know this and 15% did not know that loud music could be damaging to their hearing (p.8).
  
• Close to 60% of Australians reported suffering from noticeable tinnitus, with a higher prevalence among younger Australians aged 18-34 years (approximately 70%) (p.13).
  
• Younger Australians were 'less likely than older Australians to avoid noisy places for the sake of their hearing' or were hearing protection, but were more inclined to control the volume of their headphones (p.14).
  
• Young people aged 18-24 years 'were least likely to identify the link between loud noise and short-term hearing damage', leading researchers to conclude that the 'severity and permanency of the impact of loud music and venues to their hearing has not yet been accepted by the younger age group' (p.10).
  

• The amount of time young people spent sleeping (9 hours and 2 minutes) was more than half an hour per day longer than for all persons (8 hours 31 minutes), with young females sleeping significantly longer than young males.
• On average, young men spent 2 hours 23 minutes per day on education, while young women spent an average of 2 hours 22 minutes on education.
• 'While young men overall spent an average 4 hours 5 minutes a week on domestic activities, those who were studying full time spent much less time (2 hours 59 minutes a week) while those not studying at all spent more time than the average (5 hours 16 minutes a week). Young women spent, on average, much more time on domestic activities than young men (6 hours 46 minutes a week), with those not studying spending 9 hours 40 minutes.'
• 'Young men, on average, spent 33 hours 57 minutes a week on recreation and leisure activities. Those who were employed full-time spent much less (28 hours 24 minutes per week) and those not employed spent much more (39 hours 57 minutes). Most time was spent by young men in "TV watching and listening" and "other audio/visual" activities, together accounting for a little over half of the recreation and leisure time of young men regardless of their labour force status.'
• 'Young women, on average, spent much less time than young men on recreation and leisure activities (29 hours 3 minutes per week). As with men, those women who were employed full-time spent much less time in recreation and leisure, while those not employed spent much more (33 hours 43 minutes). And as with men, the main activities of young women were "TV watching and listening" and "other audio/visual" activities accounting for a little over half of all recreation and leisure time regardless of labour force status.'
• Young people spent around 30 hours a week with friends.
• 'In 2006, young men spent around 18 hours a week alone, compared with about 15 hours a week for young women.'
  

SPORT: findings from the 2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey

This survey was published by the Australian Government's departments of Health and Ageing and of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and also the Australian Food and Grocery Council. It was the first to address both dietary intake and exercise in Australian children. The objectives of the survey were to assess the reported food and nutrient intake; physical activity levels; and the weight, height and waist circumference of a sample of children aged 2 - 16 years randomly selected from across Australia. A total of 4,487 children (50% boys and 50% girls) took part. They were divided into the following age groups: 2 - 3 years, 4 - 8 years, 9 - 13 years and 14 - 16 years.

KEY FINDINGS

• 72% of the children surveyed were a healthy weight; 17% of boys and girls were classified as overweight; 6% were obese; and 5% were found to be underweight.
• On survey days, 69% of the children met the National Physical Activity Guidelines (at least one hour of moderate to vigorous activity each day).

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Moderate to vigorous physical activity

• On most of the survey days, approximately 69% of boys and girls aged 9 - 16 spent at least 60 minutes engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA).
• On average, boys aged 9 - 16 years reported 142 minutes of MVPA per day, compared to girls aged 9 - 16 years, who averaged 112 minutes of MVPA per day.
• The average time spent undertaking moderate to vigorous physical activity decreased with age.

Pedometer steps

• Current guidelines developed by the President's Council on Fitness and Sport (USA) recommend 13,000 steps for boys and 11,000 steps for girls each day.
• The proportion of children surveyed who met the recommended number of steps decreased with age. Only 26% of the 14 - 16-year-old boys and girls met the recommendation.

Screen time

• Screen-time activities primarily consisted of television viewing (approximately 2.5 hours for both boys and girls).
• Participation in screen-based activities peaked in children aged 13 - 14 years, with screen time varying from 3.5 hours in girls to over 4 hours in boys.
• 33% of the children aged 9 - 16 years did not exceed the recommendation for screen time in the National Physical Activity Guidelines (no more than two hours of non-educational screen time each day).

For the survey results on nutrition, see under 'Health'.

Sources:

2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey - Main Findings, 'Executive summary', p.12, http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/phd-nutrition-childrens-survey, viewed 13 October 2008.

2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey - Key Findings,
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-food-monitoring.htm#07survey, viewed 13 October 2008.