Understanding the Importance of Health Behaviours in Addressing the Youth Mental Health Crisis: A Longitudinal Perspective

One in five Canadian youth experience mental health problems (e.g., depression) and most youth are not able to access mental health supports, calling for the need to identify accessible and low-cost interventions such as health behaviours (e.g., physical activity). Yet, less than 6% of Canadian youth achieve the recommended Canadian 24-hour guidelines for physical activity, sleep, and sedentary behaviours. We have little information on what helps (or hinders) teens to engage in healthy behaviours at the daily level and how this relates to emotion and mental health, particularly for underrepresented youth. This project addresses research gaps and asks, do health behaviours influence emotion and mood among adolescents (and vice versa)? If so, what are the contexts that optimize this connection? Are associations/contexts similar or different for underrepresented (i.e., racialized, affectional and gender minority) youth? Findings will help us understand how, when, under what conditions, and for whom health behaviours and emotions are related among adolescents. With this information, we can work with teens to develop innovative interventions to promote engagement in health behaviours, and thus mental health, for our Canadian youth.