• Happy and confident
• Supportive relationships
  • Relationship with parents
  • Talking with parents
  • Sharing family meals
  • Caring friendships
  • Loneliness
  • Trust in others
• Healthy
• Education and training
• Meaningful employment
• Economically secure
• Recreation and leisure
• Safe
• Active citizens

Engaged in caring and supportive relationships

Desired outcome

Young people are engaged in supportive and caring relationships with families, whānau and friends, and constructive relationships with others in the community.  Young people are well-prepared for healthy adult relationships and to provide positive parenting for their own children.

Relevance

The quality of our relationships with others has a huge impact on our happiness and overall wellbeing.  Access to relationships that provide care, guidance, nurturing and support are critical for positive youth development.

Relationships with parents and other family members are particularly important and exert a strong influence on young people’s life choices and behaviours now and in the future.  Research has found that adolescents with strong family connections are at reduced risk of emotional distress, substance use, involvement in violence, unhealthy eating patterns and risky sexual behaviours.(1). 

While family connections remain critical, friends and peer groups become increasingly important sources of information and support to young people as they move from childhood to adulthood. 

Indicators

The indicators selected for this domain report on young people’s views of their relationships with family, friends and others within the community. 

The first three indicators focus on the nature of young people’s relationships with their parents – whether they feel cared for and loved, the quality of parent-child communication and the time they spend together as a family.  Together these indicators describe aspects of relationship quality and help to show the extent to which young people receive the caring and nurturing they require from family members.

Peer relationships can have a significant impact on wellbeing during adolescence and early adulthood.  The fourth indicator measures the quality of young people’s friendships and whether they can rely on friends to “help each other out” when needed.

The fifth indicator measures levels of loneliness.  Perceived social isolation undermines overall wellbeing and can impact on young people’s physical and emotional health, resulting in stress, anxiety and depression.

The final indicator, trust in others, measures the extent to which young people expect others to act fairly and honestly towards them.  High levels of generalised trust help to foster co-operative behaviour and enhance people’s abilities to develop positive social relationships.

Use the links on the left to explore the indicators in this domain.

Notes

1. ‘ Kingon Y.S. and O’Sullivan, A.L. (2001) ‘The family as a protective asset in adolescent development’ Journal of Holistic Nursing, 19, 102-121.