Mental Health Outcome Trends in a Nationally Representative Sample of Canadian Migrant Adolescents From 2014 to 2022.
Daniel Ji, Mauricio Coronel-Villalobos, Monica Rana and 2 others
PMID 42285918WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescent self-reported mental health worsened over time, especially for girls.
Gaps between migrant and nonmigrant youth mostly stayed similar; migrant girls reported fewer health complaints and higher confidence than nonmigrant girls.
Key findings
01Migrant girls self-reported high life satisfaction at 25.7% in 2014 and 19.9% in 2022.
02Migrant girls were less likely to report multiple health complaints than nonmigrant girls in 2014, 2018, and 2022.
03Migrant girls were more likely to agree they had confidence in themselves than nonmigrant girls in 2022, and the gap between groups narrowed.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The analysis uses repeated cross-sectional surveys, not the same young people over time, so it cannot show that migration or time caused changes. Migrant status was based only on being born in Canada, with no detail on temporary or permanent status, length of stay, or pre-migration experiences. The migrant question was worded differently in later survey cycles, and not-knowing responses were excluded. Outcomes were self-reported well-being measures, not diagnoses; the study did not assess serious mental illness, suicidality, or self-harm. Sex was recorded as registered at birth, and participants who did not report sex or reported neither male nor female were excluded. The sample was school-based and weighted for public school students, so it may not represent adolescents outside school or in other settings.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that migrant adolescents have worse mental health than nonmigrant adolescents, or that migration caused the decline. The study is cross-sectional, the migrant question changed over time, and many gaps were not clearly widening or narrowing; migrant girls reported fewer health complaints and higher confidence.