The 2022-2023 edition of the New Brunswick Student Wellness Survey was completed by 13,000 students in grades 4 and 5, and 45,000 students in grades 6 to 12 in November and December 2022. Parents/guardians were also surveyed but an insufficient number of respondents prevented results from being published. Parents/guardians were asked questions about their children’s social and emotional development and physical health. Students were asked questions about their social and emotional development, physical health, substance use, and experiences at school and in the community. 

The results were released on October 25, 2023.

Key Observations 

The following observations are drawn from the results of the grades 6 to 12 survey, with a special focus on mental health and substance use.

Youth’s ability to adapt to challenges is going down, while the percentage of youth who struggle with their mental health is steadily rising.

From 2015-2016 to 2022-2023, the percentage of youth with a high or moderate level of resilience (the ability to adapt to challenges by using internal and external resources) decreased from 73.0% to 65.2%. During the same period, the percentage of youth with a high level of mental fitness (a person’s basic psychological needs being met by family, friends, and school) decreased from 25.1% to 19.5%. Additionally, the percentage of youth who reported having symptoms of anxiety or depression in the last 12 months increased from 39.5% in 2015-2016 to 55.8% in 2022-2023.

Youth who identify as non-binary ¹ and those with a 2SLGBTQIA+² status: Compared to their peers, a smaller percentage have a high or moderate level of resilience or a high level of mental fitness, and they report worse mental health.

Social media use, an emerging risk factor for mental health, is increasing among youth.

Most social media platforms are designed to encourage users to spend as much time as possible on them. According to a review article published in 2022³, an increase in use of social media among youth is associated with increased mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

In 2022-2023, 3 in 5 youths (61.5%) reported that they spent 3 hours or more per day on social media sites or apps, up from 47.7% in 2021-2022. During that same period, around 14% of youth reported spending about 7 hours or more per day on social media. Although the percentage of youth who reported spending 3 hours or more per day on social media went up for youth going to school in most communities, there is a large variability between communities, from 50.3% for youth going to school in the New Maryland Area to 74.1% for those going to school in the Neguac Area and the Campbellton Area. (To consult the communities data, scroll down and select Communities). 

Regular smoking among youth is going down, and regular vaping and cannabis use has remained relatively stable since 2021-2022. 

On the one hand, in 2022-2023, 6.7% of youth in grades 6 to 12 reported smoking daily or occasionally, down from 11.2% in 2015-2016. On the other hand, the percentage of youth in grades 6 to 12 who report vaping daily or occasionally has remained relatively stable since 2021-2022 and is at around 16%. The percentage of youth in grades 7 to 12 who report having used cannabis every day in the last 12 months has remained relatively stable since 2021-2022 and is at around 4%.

In brief

Youth mental health has been trending in the wrong direction for close to a decade, and some demographic groups are particularly vulnerable. Although this situation is complex and multifactorial, social media use, which is very common among youth, may be feeding the overall problem. As for substance use, the percentage of youth who report smoking daily or occasionally is going down, while regular vaping and cannabis use has remained unchanged. 
 

¹The NBHC uses the term “non-binary” as an umbrella term to refer to individuals who self-reported their gender as neither exclusively man/boy or woman/girl, following Statistics Canada’s Classification of gender. However, the NBHC acknowledges that not all individuals who were included in the non-binary category classification in its data use this term to describe their own gender identity.

²The term “2SLGBTQIA+” refers to individuals who identify as Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual and plus sign which reflects the countless affirmative ways in which people choose to self-identify. However, the NBHC acknowledges that not all individuals who were included in the 2SLGBTQIA+ category in its data use this term to describe their own gender identity or sexual orientation.

³ Bozzola, E et al. The use of social media in children and adolescents: scoping review on the potential risks. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022;19(16):9960. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169960