Results from local youth well-being survey released

Over the month of July, youth in our region were invited to fill out a survey looking into various aspects of their well-being. 

The Youth Impact Survey was conducted by the Children and Youth Planning Table, in partnership with UNICEF Canada, the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Just over 300 youth between the ages of nine and 18 completed the survey covering ten focus areas of child and youth well-being.

The results of two areas, belonging and mental and emotional health, were released Thursday. The remaining eight results will be released over the coming weeks.

The group notes, “results from the survey can be used to inform conversations, decisions, services and programs impacting children and youth in our community.” 

The majority of those who filled out the survey were female (65.2%), in their teenage years (79.8% older than 13), White (65.7%) and from a two parent/guardian household (80.5%).

Some highlights of the survey include: 

• Nearly four in ten youth reported their mental health as very good or excellent
• 64.3% of respondents reported feeling a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to their community. This falls below the national average (84.6%) reported by UNICEF Canada.
• 62.4% of youth felt supported by their families
• Almost half, (44.5%) of respondents said they have experienced discrimination in the past year due to characteristics such as physical appearance, sex, and age.

When it comes to schoolwork, one in three (33.4%) of respondents felt as though they had more school work than they could handle during the shift to virtual learning this year.

On another education note, 79.3% of respondents felt their teachers accept them as they are with 73.2% of respondents feeling as though their teachers care about them.

The results of the Youth Impact Survey can be found here.