Teenage years can be an emotionally turbulent and stressful time. A young person’s mental health is a significant contributor to this life stage transition. This section describes Peel students’ attitudes and beliefs about self esteem and mental health.

• The majority (86%) of Peel students felt very or quite happy with their lives. More than half (58%) of all students reported they felt lonely at least some of the time.
• In general, females tended to be less optimistic about themselves than males. Females were significantly less likely than males to believe they were able to do things as well as others (62% and 74% respectively) or feel good about themselves (59% and 77% respectively).
• Females were also significantly more likely than males to indicate they had lost sleep because of worries (23% and 10% respectively), felt stressed (43% and 25% respectively), felt they could not overcome their difficulties (24% and 13% respectively), felt everything was an effort (22% and 18% respectively), or felt unhappy or depressed (24% and 13% respectively). The proportion of all students who experienced these problems generally increased with grade and was highest for those in Grade 12.
• Twelve per cent of Peel students had seriously considered suicide and 6% had tried it at least once in the past 12 months. Females were significantly more likely than males to have both seriously considered suicide (16% and 7% respectively) and tried it (8% and 2% respectively).
• Males found it far more difficult to share their feelings with others. Almost half (46%) of males said they rarely or never shared their secrets or private feelings with their friends while only 20% of females reported this behaviour

Chapter 5 - Mental Health and Self Esteem (PDF 100KB, 23 pages)

Table of Contents:

• Table of Contents (PDF 34KB, 4 pages)
• List of Figures and Tables (PDF 52KB, 17 pages)
• Executive Summary (PDF 57KB, 8 pages)
• Introduction (PDF 31KB, 2 pages)
• Student Health 2005 - Introduction
• Chapter 1 - Student Profile
• Chapter 2 - Eating Habits, Physical Activity and Body Weight
• Chapter 3 - Tobacco, Alcohol, Marijuana and Other Drugs
• Chapter 4 - Bullying and Safety
• Chapter 5 - Mental Health and Self Esteem
• Chapter 6 - Sexual Health
• Chapter 7 - Dental Health
• Chapter 8 - Injuries
• Chapter 9 - Sun Safety
• Data Sources, Methods, and Limitations (PDF 45KB, 4 pages)
• References (PDF 49KB, 8 pages)
• News Release