Mental Health Outcome Trends in a Nationally Representative Sample of Canadian Migrant Adolescents From 2014 to 2022

BACKGROUND: Migrant youth are at disproportionate risk of mental health challenges. Overcoming barriers to accessing services requires large-scale data to inform policies and interventions. This study maps mental health outcome trends of migrant youth over 8 years. METHODS: Canadian Health Behavior in School-aged Children study data from 2014, 2018, and 2022 were analyzed for mental health outcome trends. Age-adjusted logistic regressions examined health across years stratified by migrant status, separately by sex. Using nonmigrants as the referent group and 2014 as the referent year, contrasts for disparities were examined across migrant status to test widening, narrowing, or stability in differences of outcome prevalences between migrant and nonmigrant youth. RESULTS: Health worsened from 2014 to 2022 among migrants, especially migrant girls. Compared to 2014, life satisfaction, health, and self-confidence for migrant youth dropped in 2022. Health complaints and feeling sad/hopeless increased in 2022 among girls. Migrant youth reported fewer health complaints than nonmigrants in 2018 and 2022. IMPLICATIONS: Investment in free/affordable, culturally safe/relevant, confidential school-based mental health supports with avenues for community collaboration are recommended. CONCLUSIONS: Mental health outcomes worsened from 2014 to 2022, especially among migrants and girls; however, migrant youth exhibit resilience to adversity.