Majority of Australian teens make friends easily, report finds

Mateship remains a world class skill among Aussie teenagers, but not everyone feels confident striking up new friendships, a new study shows.

In the latest UNICEF Report Card on children living in wealthy countries, 78 per cent of Australian 15-year-olds said they could make friends easily.

The result puts Australia in the top half of countries studied, ranked equal 18th out of more than 40 nations.

However, the results also showed another side to the story.

More than one in five teens in Australia said they didn’t feel confident making friends, showing that navigating friendships and social life could still be challenging for many young people.

HOW AUSTRALIA COMPARES TO THE WORLD
Across the world, the results were similar, with most teens feeling fairly confident in their ability to create new friendships. UNICEF found at least two-thirds of children in affluent countries believed they had good social skills.

Some countries scored even higher – including Croatia and Slovenia, where around 84 per cent of teens felt confident, followed by the Netherlands and Romania.

Australia ranked behind countries like Ireland, Sweden and Spain, but ahead of Canada, the United States and New Zealand.

The report reveals an important gap, with children from wealthier families tending to feel more socially confident than those from disadvantaged* backgrounds.

Globally, on average about 77 per cent of the most advantaged children tend to be a little more confident in their social skills, compared with the least advantaged children (72 per cent). This gap was largest in Canada, France and the United States.

There were also differences between boys and girls, with boys generally rating their social confidence slightly higher.

Children living in disadvantaged families were also more likely to report feeling lonely.

Across all countries studied, around 19 per cent of the most disadvantaged children said they felt lonely, compared with 14 per cent of the most advantaged.

Many children from disadvantaged backgrounds in the report mentioned feelings of sadness and low self-esteem.

“It can affect your confidence,” one teen said.

One Irish teen who participated in the study explained how their family’s economic disadvantage impacted friendships.

“If you’re poor and your friends invite you out, you might get left out if you don’t have any money to go with them,” they reported.

“A friend of mine would like to take a dance class, but her family doesn’t have much money for it,” another said.

Another from Spain said inequality* could lead children to “ … feel bad with themselves, feel pressure or social anxiety*, or overthink what people think about him or her.”

Bullying was also raised as an issue in some participants’ responses.

“When someone is going through a hard time, you would like to act, because you see that it is unfair, but sometimes you don’t do it so that it does not affect you, and to avoid the majority criticising you,” one teenager said.

“A person was physically and mentally abused for being slightly overweight,” another reflected.

“My autistic* friend is teased at school,” another teen added.

While lockdowns and social isolation* impacted young people across the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, UNICEF’s report showed social skills have remained steady since 2018, offering encouraging news in the aftermath of more than two years of intense social disruption.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• disadvantaged: lacking the living conditions, opportunities and resources that most people have, including financial opportunities
• inequality: lack of equality across what people earn, own and the opportunities and resources they have access to
• social anxiety: being anxious or very nervous about socialising
• autistic: someone with autism, a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how a person perceives things and communicates with others
• social isolation: during the pandemic, if a person caught Covid they were required to self isolate and not go near other people for two weeks. Social isolation means being alone and cut off from others, which can have negative mental health impacts. This aspect of the pandemic made it a difficult and lonely time for many people

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QUICK QUIZ
1. What percentage of Australian teens said they felt confident in making friends?
2. How many Aussie teens said they didn’t feel confident making friends?
3. In which two countries did 84 per cent of teens say they felt confident making friends?
4. What were some of the feelings expressed by children from disadvantaged backgrounds?
5. In what way have social skills changed since 2018?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Kindness in different countries
Why do you think social confidence differs among different countries around the world?

Create a table listing the countries ranking higher and lower than Australia, and list some possible reasons why they might be higher or lower than us. Think about reasons such as their geographical location, cultural traditions, etc.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Geography, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Come up with an after school activity or club that all teens can access, despite their age, race, religion or economic status. Think of something that can be inclusive to all, doesn’t cost money and encourages teens to come together and make new friendships.

Could your idea become a reality in your community?

Write a letter to your local councillor or member for parliament outlining your idea.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Civics and Citizenship, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Opener up-level it

Make a list of all the openers in the article. Pick three that repeat and see if you can replace them with another word, or shuffle the order of the sentence to bring a new opener to the front.

Don’t forget to re-read the sentence to make sure it still makes sense, and that it actually sounds better.