Can We Reverse this Trend? Exploring Health and Risk Behaviours of Grade 12 Cohorts of Ontario Students from 2013–2019

Abstract

Adolescents engage in multiple health risk behaviours that put them at risk of future chronic disease. By the time students graduate from secondary school, they may be engaging in behaviours that set them on a particular health trajectory. It is important to monitor the co-occurrence of health risk behaviours of cohorts of grade 12 students over time to highlight important areas for intervention. The purpose of this study was to examine trends in health and risk behaviours over six waves among subsequent cohorts of grade twelve students from Ontario, Canada. A total of 44,740 grade 12 students participated in the COMPASS study across the six waves (2013/14 to 2018/19), and self-reported movement (physical activity, screen time, sleep), dietary (fruit and vegetables, breakfast), and substance use (smoking, vaping, binge drinking, and cannabis use) behaviours. Over 91.0% of students reported engaging in three or more health risk behaviours, with increases in the number of students reporting inadequate sleep, not eating breakfast on every school day, and vaping over time. Although modest, the wave 6 cohort reported slightly more risk behaviours compared with the wave 1 cohort, highlighting the importance of multidimensional health promotion strategies across multiple settings.