Mental health a major concern among local youth: survey

According to a recent survey, youth in the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap region are more likely to feel supported and connected than youth in other areas of the province, but their mental health remains a concern.

On June 19, the McCreary Centre Society released the regional results from the 2023 BC Adolescent Health Survey (BC AHS), which shares data provided by youth aged 12-19-years-old in grades 7-12. The results showed a decrease in youth rating their mental health positively and feeling good about themselves and their quality of life, as well as an increase in disordered eating and self-harm. The percentage of youth who slept for at least eight hours the night before taking the survey also decreased from 51 per cent in 2018 to 43 per cent.

The survey did garner some positive results, as local youth are less likely to be sexually active and use some substances than youth in the region five and 10 years ago. The percentage of youth who had drunk alcohol decreased from 56 per cent in 2018 to 49 per cent last year.

“We are seeing concerning rises across British Columbia in youth reporting they are struggling with their mental health, and Thompson Cariboo Shuswap in no exception — although we do see a lot locally that is encouraging,” said Dr. Annie Smith, McCreary Centre Society’s executive director and co-author of the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap report. “We have seen a drop off across the province in youth feeling connected to their community but we did not see that here.”

Smith said that the report showed “huge protective factors for young people,” such as youth in the region being much more likely than in previous survey years to feel that there is an adult in their community who really cares about them, and more likely to actually have an adult inside and outside of their family who they can turn to if they are having problems, big or small. 

“We know that when young people have these connections and supports, they are less likely to engage in health risk behaviours,” she said.

Smith also highlighted the positives of physical activity, as getting outside can be a key to positive mental health. Although the survey results showed a decrease in youth participation in extracurricular physical activity such as organized sports, youth in the region are still more likely to be engaged in weekly informal sports like hiking and biking, as well as in extreme sports such as back country skiing, than the rest of the province.

The Thompson Cariboo Shuswap report is one of 16 regional reports of the 2023 BC AHS results, and is comprised of six school districts: Revelstoke, Cariboo-Chilcotin, Nicola-Simikameen, Kamloops Thompson, Gold Trail and North Okanagan-Shuswap. All districts participated in each of the seven waves of the survey, and also included students in Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique in School District 93.

“The local survey result highlight some og the factors that can negatively affect health and well-being, such as experiencing deprivation, as well as the value of exercise, sleep and acces to healthy food,” the report stated. “The results also clearly show the importance of youth feeling connected to family, culture, school and community.”

The McCreary Centre Society was founded in 1977 and is a non-government, non-profit organization that is committed to improving the health of youth across the province through research, evaluation and community-based projects.

Other local results

• Local youth were less likely to have run away from home (six per cent vs. nine per cent in 2018), been kicked out (four vs. seven per cent) and moved (17 vs. 25 per cent) in the past 12 months compared to five years earlier.
• The percentage of local youth who experienced a concussion was higher than in previous survey years( 23 per cent vs. 17 per cent in 2018), but the percentage of these youth who received medical treatment for their concussion decreased ( 40 vs. 52 per cent).
• There was a decrease in the percentage of youth who rated their mental health as good or excellent (57 per cent vs. 70 per cent in 2018).
• Local youth were less likely to feel connected to school and safe in school than in previous years (60 per cent vs. 68 per cent in 2018).
• Local youth were less likely to plan to attend post-secondary (71 per cent vs. 80 per cent in 2018).
• local youth were more likely than those across the province to have participated in informal sports (57 per cent vs. 53 per cent in 2018) and extreme sports (22 vs. 12 per cent) and were less likely to have participated in dance, yoga or exercise classes (11 vs. 14 per cent).

The full report and results can be found on the McCreary Centre Society website.