Who Are the Flourishing Emerging Adults on the Urban East Coast of Australia?

It is increasingly recognised that strategies to treat or prevent mental illness alone do not guarantee a mentally healthy population. Emerging adults have been identified as a particularly vulnerable population when it comes to mental health concerns. While mental illnesses are carefully monitored and researched, less is known about mental wellbeing or flourishing, that is, experience of both high hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. This cross-sectional study examined the prevalence of flourishing and its predictors among emerging adults in Australia. 1155 emerging adults aged 18-25 years completed a survey containing measures of wellbeing, social networks, social connectedness, health status, and socio-demographic variables. Most participants (60.4%) experienced moderate levels of wellbeing, 38.6% were flourishing and 1% were languishing (low wellbeing). Flourishers were more likely to be older, identify as Indigenous, be in a romantic relationship, study at university, perceive their family background as wealthy, rate their general health status as excellent, and have higher perceived social resources. The findings show that the majority of emerging adults are not experiencing flourishing and offer an insight into potential target groups and settings, such as vocational education colleges, for emerging adult mental health promotion. Interventions that help strengthen social resources have the potential to improve the mental wellbeing of emerging adults.