NSW Study Finds School Resilience Programs Show No Effect on Teen Health Habits

The study followed more than 2,000 public and Catholic high school students from year 7 to year 10. Participating schools received resilience lessons, $2,000 in funding and a staff member to deliver the program once a week. Students averaged nine hours of resilience instruction per year.

At the end of three years, researchers recorded no difference between schools that ran the programs and those that did not. Both groups reported similar fruit and vegetable intake, while students at schools without the programs recorded slightly higher physical activity.

The federal government allocated $203.7 million to schools in 2023 and an additional $307 million through a five-year National Student Wellbeing Program. The NSW Department of Education maintains a catalogue listing 26 commercial providers that schools can use for resilience training.

The study authors noted that some comparison schools may have implemented similar programs independently. Previous research on one widely used program, The Resilience Project, also found limited short-term differences but reported better mental health outcomes after six years of participation.

Schools have expanded wellbeing instruction over the past decade amid rising reports of adolescent mental health concerns. One university analysis of Australian household data released this week indicated that the 2020-21 decline in youth mental health had only partially reversed by 2024, remaining below pre-pandemic levels.

A representative of the NSW Secondary Principals' Council stated that the physical education and health curriculum already covers healthy eating and that resilience concepts are integrated into daily learning tasks such as mathematics problem-solving.