Participant demographics (n=1166)
| Australian population (% unless otherwise indicated) | Sample n (%) 1158 | |
| Age (mean, SD) | 39 | 51.7, 19.3 |
| Age (median, IQR) | 38 | 53, 37.5 |
| Age breakdown* (%) | ||
| 18–29 | 19 | 214 (18) |
| 30–39 | 19 | 175 (15) |
| 40–49 | 17 | 142 (12) |
| 50–59 | 16 | 148 (13) |
| 60–69 | 14 | 143 (12) |
| 70+ | 15 | 336 (29) |
| Sex* (%) | ||
| Males | 50 | 583 (50) |
| Females | 50 | 572 (49) |
| Others/prefers not to answer | 0 | 8 (0.7) |
| Area of residence† (%) | ||
| Urban/city/suburban/regional | 90 | 979 (87) |
| Rural/country | 10 | 142 (13) |
| I don’t know/prefer not to answer | – | 5 (0.4) |
| Location by state/territory (%)* | ||
| New South Wales | 32 | 254 (22) |
| Victoria | 26 | 561 (48) |
| Queensland | 20 | 163 (14) |
| South Australia | 7 | 76 (7) |
| Western Australia | 10 | 82 (7) |
| Tasmania | 2 | 14 (1.2) |
| Australian Capital Territory | 2 | 9 (1) |
| Northern Territory | 1 | 6 (1) |
| Missing | – | 1 (0) |
| Highest education level attained‡ (%) | ||
| Graduate/postgraduate/university degree | 52 | 432 (47) |
| Technical and Further Education (TAFE)/secondary or high school | 45 | 560 (50) |
| Primary school or less | 3 | 12 (1) |
| I don’t know/prefer not to answer | – | 19 (2) |
| Essential worker (%) | 175 (15) | |
| Healthcare workers | 13 (including social assistance) | 80 (7) |
| IRSD quintile (%) | ||
| Quintile 1 – most disadvantaged | 20 | 145 (12) |
| Quintile 2 | 20 | 198 (17) |
| Quintile 3 | 20 | 235 (20) |
| Quintile 4 | 20 | 238 (20) |
| Quintile 5 – least disadvantaged | 20 | 345 (30) |
| Ethnicity§ (%) | ||
| Australian/New Zealand/UK | 73 | 580 (50) |
| Other | 27 | 155 (13) |
| Missing | – | 431 (37) |
Where applicable, variable categories have been collapsed to allow for concordance with national data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
†The total Australian population was 25 704 340 as of March 2021; the total population and percentage breakdowns by age, sex and state of residence are obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics,49 who provide a quarterly release of their official estimates of this demographic data. Age is presented in 10-year bands, and the first band that is comparable with the current study is 20–29 years. The proportion of Australians by age is calculated as the proportion of those 20 years or over.
‡Estimates for percentage of population by area of residence were obtained from the ABS, who release these data yearly.50
§Estimates for the percentage of population by level of education were obtained from the ABS, who release these data yearly.51
¶National estimates for ethnicity were obtained by assessing the ‘country of birth’ data provided by the ABS 2016 Census. Whereas the survey ‘ethnicity’ variable was created using survey responses to the ethnicity item.
IRSD, index of relative socioeconomic disadvantage.