A new report from Kids Help Phone shows some troubling trends among Canadian teens -- especially when it comes to suicidal thoughts.
The report, called Teens Talk 2016, found that approximately one in five teens in Canada (22% of respondents) say they have seriously considered suicide in the last 12 months.
Almost half of those teens (46%) also reported that they had a plan for how they would attempt suicide.
According to the survey, girls are twice as likely to have seriously considered suicide compared to boys.
One of the most common issues those teens share is that they also experienced body or self-image problems -- 75% of them reported struggling with self-image. Some of the other issues they had in common include addiction to drugs or alcohol and experience with violence at home or school.
The Kids Help Phone says it used data from its National Teen Survey to compile the report. During that study, 1,319 Canadian teens between the ages of 13 and 18 were surveyed online.
The group says its goals for the survey -- and the report -- are to understand the challenges teens are facing and to make Canadians aware of those challenges.
Body or self-image problems were the most common issues among the teens who responded to the survey, with 46% of teens reporting that they struggle with that. Relationship problems came second (40%), followed by suicidal thoughts (22%), and depression/rejection (21%).
The survey also found that teens are more likely to talk to a personal friend about suicidal thoughts, body/self image issues, relationship issues, and/or bullying than anyone else. Moms were next on the list of people teens will open up to, followed by boy/girlfriends, dads, and siblings.
Of note, most of the teens who responded to the survey say they don't talk about bullying or self image issues with anyone because they don't think it's important enough.
You can find the full report here.
You can contact the Kids Help Phone anytime by calling 1-800-668-6868 to speak to a counsellor.
