Skip to content

Area kids drinking less but popping more pills, says survey

Grade 10 girls are most likely to experieince negative mental health, low self-esteem, risk of depression, thoughts of self harm and thoughts of suicide
High school students in class
(stock photo)

Reported binge drinking has reduced among local school-age kids over the last four years, but prescription pain pill use and screen time are up, according to the 2017-18 Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (WDG) Youth Survey.

The WDG Youth Survey collects self-reported health and well-being information from students in Grades 7 and 10. 

This is the third iteration of the survey, it was also conducted in 2011-12 and 2014-15.

Some additional questions were asked for this year’s version of the survey, which addresed bullying, daily video game use, e-cigarettes, cannabis, use of cough or cold medicine to get high, sexting and experiences of unwanted sexual activity.

In the substance use category, 18 per cent of students in the Grade 7 and 10 surveys reported using perscripion pain pills without a prescription in the last year. That was an increase of seven per cent for Grade 7 students from the 2014-15 survey.

Reports of cannabis use did not increase or decrease from the previous survey. Grade 10 students reported cannabis use at 23 per cent, while one per cent of Grade 7 students reported using it in the last year.

The proportion of students reporting binge drinking reduced by 20 per cent from the 2014-15 results.

Under mental health, nine per cent of Grade 7 students and 13 per cent of Grade 10 students reported having thoughts of suicide in the past year.

Eleven per cent of students were at risk of depression. Broken down by gender, non-binary students were most at risk, at 36 per cent, while female and male students made up 15 and six per cent of students at risk of depression, respectively.

The amount of time students spend in front of screens outside of school each day has increased by 40 per cent from the 2011-12 WDG Youth Survey. 

The report said students who spend two or more hours in front of screens are 3.6 times more likely to suffer from depression. Seventy-three per cent of Grade 10 students reported more than two hours of screen time per day.

Only 24 per cent of students reported meeting the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for physical activity of at least 60 minutes per day. Students who did report being physically active were associated with better mental health outcomes. 

One in eight Grade 10 girls reported to have experienced unwanted sexual activity. Grade 10 girls are also most likely to experieince negative mental health, low self-esteem, risk of depression, thoughts of self harm and thoughts of suicide.

Non-binary students who identify as neither male or female have the poorest outcomes are are most likely to smoke, not feel safe at school and have the most reported thoughts of suicide.

Seventy-four per cent of Grade 7 males reported having high self-esteem, the highest reported.   

The survey is conducted by WDG Public Health, in partnership with the Upper Grand District School Board, the Wellington Catholic District School Board, the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board and WDG Coalition for Report Cards on the Well-Being of Children.

Ninety-five percent of enrolled Grade 10 students and 84 per cent of students in Grade 7 contributed to the survey. 

Full results of the survey are available at this link.


Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.




Kenneth Armstrong

About the Author: Kenneth Armstrong

Kenneth Armstrong is a news reporter and photojournalist who regularly covers municipal government, business and politics and photographs events, sports and features.
Read more