The Mental Health and Well-Being of Ontario Students, 1991–2023: Findings from the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey

This report was published by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

HERE’S HOW THE AUTHORS DESCRIBE THIS REPORT:

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) has been conducted every two years since 1977, making it the longest ongoing school survey of adolescents in Canada, and one of the longest in the world.

This report describes mental health indicators, physical health indicators, bullying, gambling, social media use and related problems, video gaming and related problems, and other risk behaviours among Ontario students in 2023, and changes since 1991, where available.

Although the OSDUHS began in 1977, most mental health and physical health measures were introduced in the survey in the early 1990s. New indicators in this report include use of mental health support services at or through school, barriers to seeking mental health support, problematic social media use, and perceived discrimination based on identity.

A total of 10,145 students in grades 7 to 12 in 848 classes in 235 schools in 46 school boards across Ontario participated in the 2023 cycle of the OSDUHS. All data are based on self-reports derived from anonymous questionnaires. The survey was administered in classrooms between November 2022 and June 2023.

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Categorised in: Report