Teen girls engage in more risky behaviour than boys: Quebec study

A recent study found that fewer teens are smoking cigarettes and cannabis, but that vaping has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. (Frank Franklin II / The Associated Press)

Fewer young people in secondary school are drinking alcohol, consuming sugary drinks and eating junk food, but not all their habits are improving.

More of them are also inactive, taking action to change their weight and not eating breakfast before going to school.

These are just some of the findings of the Enquête québécoise sur la santé des jeunes du secondaire 2022-2023 conducted by the Quebec statistics institute (ISQ). The survey polled 70,825 young people in 483 public and private, French- and English-language secondary schools across Quebec.

The results published on Monday show that the proportion of students who drank alcohol in the 12 months preceding the survey fell from 60 per cent in 2010-2011 to 47 per cent in 2022-2023. The rate of students who drank excessively also tended to fall. For the same periods compared, this proportion has fallen by 12 percentage points.

“One of the things that stands out is that we can see from the 2022-2023 data that girls are more likely than boys to engage in risky behaviour. More girls than boys drink alcohol or drink excessively, and more girls than boys use cannabis. This is the first time we've seen this difference between the two genders,” said ISQ spokesperson and researcher Florence Conus.

Overall, the proportion of young people who have used cannabis has fallen, from 25 per cent in 2010-2011 to 16 per cent for the 2022-2023 survey. Over the same periods, the proportion of students who have smoked cigarettes has fallen from 11 to 2.3 per cent.

Students are now turning more to vaping.

The data show that the proportion of young people who used e-cigarettes in the 30 days preceding the survey rose from 11 per cent in 2016-2017 to 16 per cent in 2022-2023 (data for this indicator are non-existent for 2010-2011).

Less junk food and more fruit and vegetables

The ISQ survey also reveals that the proportion of secondary school pupils who drink sugary drinks on a daily basis has fallen. Six years ago, nearly one in four students consumed at least one sweetened drink a day, whereas today it is more like one in five.

Young people seem to be drinking more water than before. Between 2016-2017 and the most recent data, the proportion of pupils who drank at least four glasses of water a day rose by four percentage points to 46 per cent.

However, secondary school pupils report eating less fruit and vegetables. A quarter of the young people surveyed said that they ate five or more portions of fruit and vegetables on a daily basis, compared with 31 per cent in 2010-2011.

They also seem to be eating less in snack bars, with 37 per cent saying they ate junk food from a restaurant at least once a week for lunch at school.

This figure was 46 per cent in 2010-2011.

More teenagers go to school hungry. Nearly 26 per cent of boys do so (21 per cent).

Furthermore, 65 per cent of secondary school students are taking action to change or maintain their weight; 24 per cent are trying to lose weight; 15 per cent are trying to gain weight; 25 per cent want to maintain or control their weight.

More girls than boys are trying to lose or control their weight. The opposite is true for boys, who are more likely to be trying to gain weight.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 25, 2024.

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