Canada's 16 & 17 year-olds optimistic but in depression, risky behaviour up. (Child & Family).

OTTAWA -- A clear majority of youth aged 16 to 17 say the are healthy and optimistic about their future despite increased feelings of depression and a tendency for a greater percentage of them to engage in risky behaviours, such as staying out all night says a survey on children and youth in Canada.

However, they also reported more symptoms of depression as they grew older with 24 per cent of them reporting symptoms of depression compared with 9 per cent when they were 12 and 13 years old. Those symptoms included poor appetite, restless sleep, loss of optimism about the future, loneliness and difficulty shaking off the blues.

In addition, about 26 per cent of the youth reported engaging in risky behaviour, such as staying out all night without permission while 29 per cent admitted taking money from their parents without permission.

Further, their academic aspirations were optimistic with 88 per cent saying they expect to go beyond secondary graduation. More than half stated that they wished to obtain a university degree; however, 2001 Census results indicated that only 30 per cent of young adults aged 20 to 24 had attended university, indicating that their aspirations may change.

The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, which was developed jointly between Human Resources Development Canada and Statistics Canada, began in 1994/95 with the interviewing of parents of about 23,000 children up to the age of 11. About 3,400 children aged 10 and 11 were questioned directly about themselves while the parents gave information about their children, schools, neighbourhoods, themselves and their families.

This latest release is the result of data collected in 2000/01 for the fourth cycle of the survey from about 75 to 80 per cent of the same children now aged 16 to 17 years. The questionnaires focussed on the youth's "self assessment of experiences, health status and risky behaviours, such as taking money from parents and staying out all night without permission."

Ninety-five per cent of the respondents said they were healthy and optimistic about their futures, even though for some their family structure had changed between 1994 and 1999 from a two-parent family to a single headed family or vice versa.

Link to the report, go to www.communityaction.ca