“Being in some form of study or training appeared to be inversely associated with psychological distress”

Cameron Forrest reports the pandemic’s 2020 effects on “youth transitions” based on data from the 2020 Longitudinal  Survey of Australian Youth, for the estimable National Centre for Vocational Education Research.

Dr Forrest finds a 3.2 per cent increase in HE participation, in-line with what occurred in the GFC. “The uncertainty created by the pandemic led to some students remaining in higher education when they would have otherwise departed,” he writes.

And study appears to have helped in hard times. Dr Forrest reports that 24.8 per cent of LSAY participants not in study/training “met the criteria for probably serious mental illness” as did 23.8 per cent of VET students this compared to 19.1 per cent of HE students and 13.4 per cent of apprentices and trainees.

“Being in some form of study or training appeared to be inversely associated with psychological distress. This is somewhat unexpected, given that Australian and international research suggests that tertiary students who suffer academic, financial, and social pressures experience heightened distress,” Dr Forrest suggests.

But how people felt in lockdown 2020 may be no guide to how people felt who had to endure it again in 2021.