The prevalence of anxiety among middle and secondary school students in Canada/La prevalence de l'anxiete chez les eleves des ecoles intermediaires et secondaires au Canada

• Published in: Canadian journal of public health Vol. 101; no. 6; p. S19
• Main Authors: Tramonte, Lucia, Willms, Doug
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 01-11-2010
• Subjects: Anxiety; Child mental health; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Psychological aspects; Students; Surveys; Canada
• ISSN: 0008-4263; 1920-7476

Objectives: Adolescents' anxiety is associated with individual and contextual characteristics. The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of anxiety among adolescent youth in grades 6 to 12 and determine whether it is related to socio-economic status and perceptions of learning skills and challenges. Methods: Nationally representative cross-sectional data from the Tell Them From Me survey--Fall 2008 assessment--were used for this study. Item response theory estimates and a cut-off point for anxiety were developed from six Likert items pertaining to anxiety. Csikszentmihalyi's theory of flow was applied to create four different combinations of learning processes and students' skills. Results: Females had a higher prevalence of anxiety than males in both middle and secondary schools. The prevalence of anxiety did not vary substantially among schools for either middle or secondary schools. Less than one half of Canadian students can be considered "in flow", that is, feeling confident in their skills and challenged in their classes. Students who lacked confidence in their skills were nearly twice as likely to experience anxiety. Conclusion: The relation between students' skills, the challenges presented to them at school and anxiety problems deserves attention by parents and school staff. Further research could examine the relationship between direct assessments of students' skills and measures of teaching practices and school policies. Key words: Anxiety; adolescents; skills; learning challenge; flow; TTFM survey; schools Objectifs: L'anxiete de l'adolescent est associee a des caracteristiques individuelles et contextuelles. Nous avons voulu estimer la prevalence de l'anxiete chez les jeunes de la 6e a la 12e annee et determiner si elle est liee au statut socioeconomique et a la perception des competences de l'eleve et des defis de l'apprentissage. Methode: Nous avons utilise les donnees transversales, representatives a l'echelle nationale, du sondage Tell Them From Me mene a l'automne 2008. Les estimations de la theorie de la reponse a l'item et le point limite pour l'anxiete ont ete etablis a partir de six items de type Likert afferents a l'anxiete. Nous avons applique la theorie du Flow de Csikszentmihalyi en creant quatre combinaisons des processus d'apprentissage et des competences des eleves. Resultats: La prevalence de l'anxiete est plus forte chez les filles que chez les gargons, tant dans les ecoles intermediaires que secondaires. Elle ne varie pas beaucoup d'une ecole a l'autre, que ce soit au niveau intermediate ou secondaire. Moins de la moitie des eleves canadiens peuvent etre consideres comme etant << en etat de fluidite >>, c'est-a-dire convaincus de leur competence et stimules par les taches scolaires. Les eleves qui doutent de leur competence ont une probabilite presque deux fois plus grande d'eprouver de l'anxiete. Conclusion: Les relations entre les competences des eleves, les defis qui leur sont presentes a l'ecole et les problemes d'anxiete meritent d'etre etudiees par les parents et le personnel scolaire. Pour aller plus loin, on pourrait examiner le lien entre les evaluations directes des competences des eleves et les indicateurs des pratiques d'enseignement et des politiques scolaires. Mots cles: anxiete; adolescent; aptitude; troubles de l'apprentissage; etat de fluidite; sondage TTFM; etablissement scolaire