Young people report drop in mental fitness, N.B. student survey finds
CBC
The latest student wellness survey by the New Brunswick Health Council has found a decline in youth mental fitness.
The survey was completed last November and December by more than 57,000 students in Grade 6 to Grade 12 and more than 5,000 parents.
It found New Brunswick youth were less able to adapt to new challenges, and their basic needs were being met to a lesser degree than was the case the previous year.
The mental fitness rates were lowest, and the anxiety rates highest, for non-binary and LGBTQ students.
The council defines mental fitness as "having a positive sense of how we feel, think and act which improves our ability to enjoy life. It also implies the ability to efficiently respond to life's challenges, and to effectively restore and sustain a state of balance."
Bullying and a number of other factors are at play, said Stéphane Robichaud, CEO of the health council.
"If you look at elements like physical activity, emotional support, social skills, proper nutrition, sleep and skill development, when you have a proper mix of these, they develop a capacity to deal better, whether it's with behavioural challenges … or life challenges like stress of studies or anxiety or depression."
School policies and community initiatives can help improve mental fitness, said Robichaud, giving the examples of programs that provide nutritious food or opportunities to take part in sports.
The survey also found a big jump in screen time.
More than 60 per cent of respondents said they spent three hours a day or more on social media.
Screen time is linked to less physical activity, which is in turn connected to more obesity, said Robichaud.
It can also be addictive, he said.
"Social media is developed in a way with artificial intelligence that, on one hand, it can be seen as neat in that it learns a lot about you and can push to you a lot of things that you would like to have. It's also a technology that does increase your tendency to be on it."
Young brains are largely unaware of how the technology is making them more dependent, he said.