Vaping, social media, pandemic: Study delves into their impact on young people

Many P.E.I. students in Grades 6 through 10 are filling out surveys as they take part in the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study.

The World Health Organization project has been conducted every four years for 40 years, and has been done in Canada for the last three decades. About 2,400 Island students at more than a dozen schools have been asked to do the survey this time around.

In Canada, the study is being led by Prof. William Pickett of Queen's University. He told CBC News there is a lot of value in having decades of data on this topic.

"One of the things that we pick up on is some of the new risks that are emerging to young people, and new experiences," said Pickett.

"We've seen things like smoking across the country go way down — but it's been replaced by new behaviours like vaping and e-cigarette use, so new behaviours replacing old."

Mental health is one of the focuses of this year's study, in particular the difference in the experience of boys and girls.

We can look at their grades and we can look at their life satisfaction. We can look at their mental health.— Prof. Michael MacIsaac

Prof. Michael MacIsaac of UPEI, who's part of the research team, said the study should help educators identify high-risk groups.

"We're looking at differences between boys and girls in terms of their mental health and trying to understand where those differences are really pronounced," said MacIsaac.

"What is it about the experiences of some girls that's causing them to have really poor mental health?"

Arts and mental health

Researchers suspect one factor affecting mental health may be whether a child has access to music classes and other types of arts education.

The survey includes questions to provide more evidence around that issue.

"We can look at their grades and we can look at their life satisfaction. We can look at their mental health, we can look at physical health and we can see how all of these factors are interrelated," said MacIsaac.

The survey is also looking at which factors have an impact on whether students get involved in the arts, with a view to providing evidence for policy to level that playing field.

"If the people who are accessing music education, or arts participation in general, are those who have higher socioeconomic status, or if there's a gender difference, or if it's an urban/rural divide, then that information can go back to how those programs are offered," he said.

Ongoing social media influence

Previous studies have looked at the impact of social media, and this year's survey will update that information.

One of the advantages of an international study, said Pickett, is that it allows for regional comparisons. In the case of social media, he said, what may be significant is not how the regions are different.

"I think what's interesting is how things are similar across the provinces, rather than having unique health experiences," said Pickett.

"When you're tied into social media, you have access to the world. Your young people are not that much different from young people in Ontario, where I'm from, or other parts of the country."

The survey will also take a closer look at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Anecdotally, we expect to see lots more challenges with mental health, but this will provide us with some evidence," said Pickett.

The results of the survey will be released in about six months.