New Brunswick Youth Mental Health

Mental health is an ongoing challenge in New Brunswick, as it is across Canada. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges, particularly impacting our youth.^1-4 Adolescence is a crucial time for developing coping skills, emphasizing the need to focus on this stage to lay the foundation for a healthy adulthood. 

To better understand the wellness of New Brunswick's youth, the New Brunswick Health Council (NBHC) conducts the annual Student Wellness and Education Survey (SWES) in the fall in all public schools across the province. This survey provides valuable insights to inform citizens, schools, districts, service providers, and decision-makers about the wellness of youth at the local level. Stakeholders use this information to take action to foster youth wellness. 

The following observations on the mental health of grades 6-12 New Brunswick youth were drawn from the 2023-2024 edition of the SWES:

After years of decline, youth mental health appears to show some signs of improvement.

When looking at the different mental health outcomes reported in the SWES, a similar pattern emerges from 2015-2016 to 2022-2023: 

• The percentage of youth with a high or moderate level of resilience  and a high level or mental fitness decreased.
• The percentage of youth who reported having symptoms of anxiety or depression increased. 

From 2022-2023 to 2023-2024, these three indicators appear to show some signs of improvement.

There is a relation between certain protective and risk factors and youth mental health, according to the analysis of the Student Wellness and Education Survey results.

Many individual, relational, and environmental risk and protective factors have a role to play in youth’s mental health. Some of these factors are more strongly related to youth mental health outcomes. These findings are consistent what other researchers have reported^5-9 and provide a local perspective. 

The following table summarizes which protective and risk factors have a stronger relationship with mental health outcomes, according to the analysis of the SWES.

The communities with better results for key protective and risk factors also have better youth mental health outcomes

Although mental health remains a challenge throughout the province, a few communities stand out and are doing better than others. Compared to the average New Brunswick youth, a higher percentage of students attending school in the Kedgwick and Saint-Quentin Area and in the Dieppe and Memramcook Area have a high level of school connectedness and community belonging, and a lower percentage of students report feeling lonely and being a victim of bullying at school, which are key protective and risk factors for mental health.

Additionally, when looking at mental health outcomes, compared to the average New Brunswick youth, a higher percentage of students attending school in these communities have a high level of mental fitness, life satisfaction, and perceived mental health, or a high or moderate level of resilience, and a lower percentage of students report having symptoms of anxiety or depression.

Check out our interactive table for results specific to a NBHC community.

While the 2023-2024 SWES findings suggest that youth mental health seems to be improving slightly in this post-pandemic recovery period, the NBHC will continue to monitor student wellness to assess whether mental health continues to improve over time.

An understanding of the state of mental health among youth around the province is essential for health system stakeholders to allocate resources, address identified gaps, and support community-based initiatives focused on mitigating risk and protective factors.

1. Mental Health Research Canada. Understanding the mental health of Canadians: Poll #20, 2024. https://www.mhrc.ca/findings-of-poll-20 

2. Samji, H. et al. Review: mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and youth – a systematic review. Child and adolescent mental health 2022;2. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12501

3. Findlay, L., & Arim, R. Canadians report lower self-perceived mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Minister of Industry, 2020. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00003-eng.htm

4. Statistics Canada. Mental health of Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Minister of Industry, 2020. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-627-m/11-627-m2020039-eng.htm

5. Blum, R. et al. Adolescent connectedness: cornerstone for health and wellbeing. BMJ, 2022; 379:e069213 https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-069213

6. Clayborne, Z. M. et al. Associations of sleep duration and sleep quality with indicators of mental health among youth and adults: findings from the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada, 2023; 43, 5. https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.43.5.04

7. Dunn, C. et al. The relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis. Behaviour Change, 2022; 39. https://doi.org/10.1017/bec.2022.13

8. Ye, Z. et al. Meta-analysis of the relationship between bullying and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. BMC Psychiatry, 2023, 23:215. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04681-4

9.Liu, M. et al. Time spent on social media and risk of depression in adolescents: a dose-response meta-analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022, 19, 5164. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095164