Youth Mental Health Statistics in NB

In a 2018-19 survey, half of grades 6 to 12 students report symptoms of anxiety or depression in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Close to one third (30%) of youth report having felt the need to see someone for a mental or emotional problem they were having. One in every 10 did not see someone; this represents around 3,900 New Brunswick youth with perceived mental health needs that are not met, for various reasons like: access, awareness, stigma, etc.

Youth report that the number one reason why they did not see someone for their mental or emotional problem was because they “felt uncomfortable going for help” (70%).

This is followed by a 22% of youth who “did not know where to go to get help.”

In 2019-2020, youth referred for addiction and mental health services generally waited 58 days from the day their referral was received to the day a clinician was assigned as their case worker.

30% of New Brunswick Youth have perceived mental health needs (2022).

Some risk factors include:

• 37% feel safe in their community
• 84% feel safe in their school
• 66% feel they have good places to spend their spare time (NBHC)

Fewer females rated their mental health as “Very Good or Excellent” (33.7%) compared to males (54.4%)

Comparatively, only 12.3% of nonbinary youth rated their mental health as being good. Regarding equity-deserving groups, 49.6% of racialized youth and 51.9% of immigrant youth rated their mental health as “Very Good or Excellent” with Indigenous youth, youth with disabilities and special needs, and 2SLGBTQIA+ youth all rating their mental health as “Very Good or Excellent” much less often (Government of New Brunswick, 2021, pg. 20)

For New Brunswick youth, more non-binary youth (68.8%) reported depressive symptoms than females (44.5%) and males (26.9%) (Figure 13a). Furthermore, while all equity-deserving groups had high rates of depressive symptomology, over 50% of Indigenous youth, youth with disabilities or special needs, and 2SLGBTQIA+ youth reported symptoms (Government of New Brunswick, 2021, pg. 24)

For New Brunswick youth, 54.7% of females and 70.2% of non-binary youth reported experiencing anxiety symptomology in 2023 compared to 31.5% of males (Figure 16a.). Half of Indigenous youth and youth with disabilities and three-quarters of 2SLGBTQIA+ youth also reported experiencing anxiety (Government of New Brunswick, 2021, pg. 28)

References

Government of New Brunswick, C. (2021, March 12). Mental Health: Key Concepts and Statistics. Government of New Brunswick, Canada. https://www2.snb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/women/Equality_Profile.html

NBHC. (n.d.-h).

https://nbhc.ca/sites/default/files/publications-attachments/FinalWEB_hospital_experience_nb_NBHC_EN.pdf

Youth access to mental health services: Perceived needs and barriers. New Brunswick Health Council. (2022, January 26). https://nbhc.ca/news/youth-access-mental-health-services-perceived-needs-and-barriers#:~:text=Our%20data%20shows%20that%2030,needs%20unmet%20for%20various%20reasons.