In a new report released on Monday by Statistics Canada, one data is of more concern than others: the mental health of young people aged 15 to 30, especially that of young women, has been in constant decline for a little over ten years.
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In 2007-2008, the rate of youth in this age group who reported having “excellent or very good mental health” was 77.4% for both sexes. In 2019, this rate fell to 60.2%. The federal body noticed a constant and sustained decline between these two periods.
Over the past decade, the difference between the sexes has grown increasingly important.
The general dynamic is being pulled strongly from the bottom, especially due to a significant deterioration in the state of mind of young women. Indeed, after reaching a peak of 76.7% in 2007-2008, young women aged 15 to 30 were only 54% to qualify their mental health as “excellent or very good” in 2019.
Previously, the gender difference on this issue was minimal. In 2003, for example, young men rated their mental health positively at 76.5%, and young women at 76%.
But over the past 10 years, a gender gap has widened, so much so that in 2019, men responded positively at 66% and women at 54%. The difference, at the time insignificant, turned into a pitfall of 12%.
These figures reveal a deterioration in mental health that precedes the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While it is difficult to know to what extent the impacts of the pandemic on mental health are lasting, the data announced by Statistics Canada are still very worrying.
Indeed, a survey conducted from March 19 to April 3, 2020, at the very beginning of the imposition of health measures across the country, 48.7% of young men said they had “excellent or very good” mental health. , against a tiny 32.4% for young women. These data had not changed three months later.
It should be noted that between 2003 and 2013-2014, men and women between the ages of 15 and 30 were the most likely to describe their mental health as “excellent or very good”. Due to the fall in mental health among young people, they were overtaken by 31 to 46 year olds in 2015-2016 first, then convincingly by those 47 and over as early as 2017-2018.
For the first time since at least 2003, the 47 and over age group are the most likely to describe their mental health positively.
Obesity on the rise among young people
In addition, figures from Statistics Canada show that the obesity rate has increased slightly among young people since 2001, from 9.6% to 11.8% in 2019 among young men, and from 7% to 11.7 % among young women for the same period.
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