Survey of N.B. youth suggests their mental health has improved

A survey of New Brunswick school students suggests their mental health has bounced back after a dip during the pandemic. 

"After years of decline, youth mental health appears to show some signs of improvement," says a report on the New Brunswick Student Wellness and Education Survey, an annual project of the New Brunswick Health Council.

Stéphane Robichaud, the CEO of the council, said previous surveys found a worsening of mental health among young people during the pandemic.

 "And now it seems in '23-'24, the pendulum seems to be going in the other direction again," Robichaud said in an interview Tuesday.

He said youth mental health has returned "to a new normality."

While there are overall gains, Robichaud said, it's important to pay attention to many of the categories that make up youth mental health. 

For example, only "one in five feel a high level of connectedness to their community," he said. "One in four feel lonely most of the time, one in two are victims of bullying, and about two out of three have challenges when it comes to sleeping.

"So those types of indicators can generate some good conversations."

70,000 students took part in survey

The council has been doing the New Brunswick Student Wellness and Education Survey since 2012, although it's only been an annual thing for the last three years. Before that, it was done every other year. 

Robichaud said the surveys become more valuable as the database of results grows. Although survey questions are tweaked each year, he said there's value to asking the same questions over time in order to better track changes.  

More than 70,000 students participated in the 2023-2024 edition. Almost 15,000 were in grades 4 and 5, and more than 48,000 in grades 6 to 12. Parents of younger children were also asked to participate, but Robichaud said the response wasn't great.

"It is important to keep in mind that adolescence is a crucial time for developing coping mechanisms," Robichaud said. 

"This underscores the importance of focusing on this stage to lay the foundation for healthy adulthood. This survey provides valuable insights into changing behaviours, which can inform future interventions and policies."

Although the report gives overall results for the province, it also breaks each question down by a number of demographics. 

For example, 43 per cent of all respondents rated their mental health as "very good or excellent" — up two percentage points from last year's survey. But according to the gender breakdown on that question, 33 per cent of female students gave that rating, 54 per cent of male students, and only 12 per cent of those who identified as non-binary. 

Further, only 14 per cent of those identifying as 2SLGBTQIA+ rated their mental health as "very good or excellent." 

When broken down geographically, the area described as Kedgwick, Saint-Quentin and Grimmer had the highest rate, at 64 per cent. In the Minto, Chipman and Cambridge-Narrows area, only 27.7 per cent of students doing the survey said their mental health was very good or excellent, the lowest in the province.

Anxiety, depression down

The percentage of students in grades 6 to 12 who reported having anxiety or depression has been climbing for a number of years but dropped by more than six percentage points from the previous report. 

In 2015-16, a little more than 39 per cent of students reported anxiety or depression. That peaked in 2022-23 at nearly 56 per cent, but dropped to a little more than 49 per cent in the latest report. 

A closer look at that category also reveals more issues among vulnerable populations. While 65 per cent of females and 43 per cent of males reported anxiety and depression, 85 per cent of non-binary students and 78 per cent of 2SLGBTQIA+ did.  

When broken down geographically, the area described as Perth-Andover, Plaster Rock, Tobique had the highest rate of anxiety and depression at 62.4 per cent, while Dieppe had the lowest at 37.2 per cent. 

Robichaud said the surveys don't provide any insight into why communities are seeing the results they are.

"We only have the results. We don't have information on what's happening in those communities."

Encouraging results 

While many of the results are "encouraging," there's still a lot left to do to help improve mental health for young people, said John Sharpe, executive director of Partners for Youth, based in Fredericton.

Sharpe said resilience is an important indicator, and according to the survey results, New Brunswick students are feeling more resilient. 

And while there's improvement in the percentage of students reporting a high level of mental fitness, "we're still only at about 25 per cent of students reflecting a high level of mental fitness. So we have a long way to go, but certainly there's improvement since the last survey," said Sharpe.

He said the reduction in students reporting having symptoms of anxiety or depression is "very encouraging as well." 

"But we're still seeing half the student population identifying as having symptoms of anxiety or depression. So again, we have a lot of work left to do, but some of the work that's being done obviously seems to be having a positive impact."

Interactive report digs deep

Since the data is interactive and can be broken down into health zones and school districts, Robichaud said the results can be used by the departments of health and education to identify areas of concern in specific geographic areas. 

He said they can even be used by community groups and parents to help address unusual blips in the numbers in a localized area. 

For example, the number could reveal that students in a certain community are vaping at a particularly high rate or starting at an unusually early age.

Vaping is actually down since 2021-22, while cigarette use is up slightly, alcohol use is roughly the same, and cannabis use is down, although the percentage of daily users is up.

The survey also covers several risk factors, such as sleep and physical activity, that have been shown to contribute to mental health, said Robichaud,

He said about 44 per cent of students get fewer than eight hours of sleep a night, and only 20 per cent of Grade 4 and 5 students get the "prescribed" 60 minutes of physical activity a day. 

"That's only one in five and it's one in four when looking at students from Grade 6 to 12," he said. 

About half of all students spend three or more hours a day on screen time. The highest, at 57 per cent, is in the Campbellton area, he said.

Robichaud said this year's survey is currently being distributed, and he advised parents to pay attention to communications from their school districts so their children can take part in the next survey.