Synopsis

Mental health is crucial to the overall health and quality of life for all individuals. The latest figures from the Australian National Health survey identifymore women than men experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress and women aged 18 to 24 years had the highest rate of any other age group or sex. There has been a recent upsurge in literature and research surrounding the association between rurality and young men’s mental health due to the rapid rise in suicide rates and mental health issues in young men living in rural Australia. However, the research and literature surrounding the mental health of young rural women, despite the National Health Survey identifying young women as having the highest rates of psychological distress, is limited and conflicting. This project aims to address this gap in the research by investigating the association between mental health and area of residence for young women in Australia using data from the ALSWH.