A Statistics Canada longitudinal study spanning four years, ending in 2023, has found that self-reported mental health is declining among Canadian children.  

The 2023 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth is a follow up study of children surveyed in 2019, to see how the physical and mental health of children and youth have changed over the past four years. It found that teenage girls in 2023 were the most likely to have experienced declines in their self-reported mental health since 2019.  

The survey found one quarter of the youth being studied reporting a change in their mental health in 2023. Among those between 12 and 17 years of age, the 2019 study found 12 per cent had fair or poor mental health, a proportion that doubled to 26 per cent in 2023 when they were 16 to 21 years of age.  

“About one in five youth who felt their mental health was good or better in 2019 no longer feel that way in 2023,” Statistics Canada states. “The longitudinal data indicate that most youth (77 per cent) reported their mental health in a similar way in 2023 as they did in 2019. However, among the 88 per cent of youth who rated their mental health as good, very good or excellent in 2019, about one in five (21 per cent) reported a decline to fair or poor by 2023.” 

The report, 2023 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth – Changes in the mental health of respondents from the 2019 survey, also looked at parent’s perceptions of their children’s mental health, attitudes towards school and children’s optimism. They say among the 12 per cent who rated their mental health poorly in 2019, 38 per cent of that group experienced an improvement over the study period. “Though encouraging, it also means a majority (62 per cent) of those with fair or poor mental health in 2019 still had low self-rated mental health four years later.”