Sociological Perspective of Mental Health among Adolescents and Young Adults in Canada

Running head: HEALTH STUDIES
Health studies
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1HEALTH STUDIES
An interesting data had been found by the 2012 Canadian Community Health survey
mainly in the category of the mental health. It has been found that adolescents and young adults
belonging to the age cohort of 15 to 24 years have the highest rates of mood as well as anxiety
disorders than all other age groups. Statistics suggest that 7% of them are found to have
depression in the last 12 months. In comparison to them, only 5% of the population had been
found to suffer from depression aged from 25 to 64 and only in 2% of those who are 65 years of
age or older. Severe depression has been found to be associated with suicidal behaviors. One in
five teens reports suicidal ideation in the last 12 months. Researchers are also for the opinion that
suicide is the second leading cause of death among the young Canadians. This accounts for about
almost one quarter of all deaths at ages 15 to 24 (Sunderland & Findlay, 2013). Researchers had
already established the fact that adolescence and early adulthood are critical periods in the
development of mental health over time. They have also suggested that different risk and
protective factors differentially influence this age groups and rates of depression peak during
these ages.
A variety of sociological factors remains associated with depression and suicidal
tendencies in young Canadians. A research article by Grundy et al., (2016) has stated that young
Canadian women are more at higher risk for depression and suicidal ideation. Evidences
collected from journal articles shows strong associations between socioeconomic status,
psychosocial functioning with that of the mental health excessive stress form parents and others
for betterment in academic performance may be one of the factor that leads to development of
the feeling of excessive pressure, stress and thereby depression. Moreover, negative social
behavior like instance, anger, criticism and bullying are also some of the risk factors that the
researchers state to be intricately associated with the development of depression and suicidal