Percentage of Ontario youth struggling with mental health back to pre-COVID level, survey suggests

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health says psychological distress among Ontario youth appears to have decreased since the pandemic, but still remains high.  

The centre’s latest Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey found 46 per cent of youth in grades 7 to 12 reported a “moderate to serious level” of psychological distress in 2025.

That’s down from 51 per cent of students when the last survey was conducted in 2023. 

Lead investigator Hayley Hamilton says the decrease is “encouraging” but the percentage of students struggling with their mental health is still significantly higher than it was more than a decade ago. 

Hamilton says the rise in reported mental health issues over the years could be due to factors such as social media but could also reflect a decrease in stigma and more willingness to talk about psychological distress. 

The 2025 survey, released Monday, shows that fewer students are using alcohol and drugs than in the past and that they’re waiting longer before trying them for the first time.  

But it also revealed a dramatic rise in online gambling, with one in 10 students laying sports bets in 2025 compared to one in 100 in 2017.   

Almost one-quarter of students reported seeing or hearing advertising for online gambling sites every day.

Hamilton, who is co-director of CAMH’s Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, said the increase in online gambling came as Ontario regulations changed to allow non-government, private betting sites. 

Despite age restrictions on those sites, “the students are finding a way to gamble,” she said. 


The Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey has been conducted every two years since 1977 in school boards across the province. 

The 2025 survey included 11,108 students in grades 7 to 12 in 1,147 classes in 246 schools in 42 school boards. The students completed anonymous online questionnaires between December 2024 and June 2025.   

The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2026.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

By Nicole Ireland | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.