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Objective: This paper reports on substance use, mental health problems, and mental health service utilisation in an early adolescent school-based sample.Method: Participants were 1,360 grade 7 and 8 students from 4 regions of Ontario, Canada. Students completed an in-class survey on mental health and substance use. The sampling strategy and survey items on demographics, substance use, service utilisation, and distress were adapted from the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey. Internalising and externalising mental health problems were assessed using the Global Assessment of Individual Needs - Short Screener. Distress was defined as fair or poor self-rated mental health.Results: Rates of internalising and/or externalising problems above the threshold exceeded 30%; yet, fewer than half had received mental health services in the past 12 mo. Substance use was associated with increased odds of internalising and externalising problems above the threshold and distress. Youth using cannabis had 10-times the odds of exceeding the threshold for internalising or externalising problems. The use of substances other than alcohol or cannabis was associated with increased odds of fair or poor self-rated mental health among grade 8 students. Of the youth who confirmed at least a substance use problem, most also reported mental health problems; this association was stronger among girls than boys.Conclusions: Early adolescent substance use was associated with concurrent self-reported mental health problems in a non-clinical sample. The low levels of service utilisation reported highlight the need for improved access to early identification and intervention to prevent the development of concurrent disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study sought to examine differences in sociodemographic risk factors, comorbid mental conditions, clinical presentations, and functional impairments associated with past-year generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) between Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Regular Force personnel and the Canadian general population (CGP).Method: Data were from 2 nationally representative surveys collected by Statistics Canada: 1) the Canadian Community Health Survey on Mental Health, collected in 2012 ( N = 25,113; response rate = 68.9%); and 2) the Canadian Forces Mental Health Survey, collected in 2013 ( N = 8,161; response rate = 79.8%).Results: The prevalence of lifetime and past-year GAD was significantly higher in the CAF (12.1% and 4.7%) than in the CGP (9.5% and 3.0%). Comorbid mental disorders were strongly associated with GAD in both populations. Although the content area of worry and the GAD symptoms endorsed were similar, CAF personnel were significantly more likely to endorse specific types of worries (i.e., success at school/work, social life, mental health, being away from home or loved ones, and war or revolution) and specific symptoms of GAD (i.e., restless, keyed up, or on edge and more irritable than usual) than civilians, after adjusting for sociodemographic covariates and comorbid mental disorders. CAF personnel with past-year GAD reported significantly higher functional impairment at home than civilians with past-year GAD.Conclusion: GAD is a substantial public health concern associated with significant impairment and disability in both military and civilian populations. GAD in military and civilian populations shows similarities and differences: Key similarities include its extensive comorbidity and significant functional impairment, whereas key differences include the focus of worries and symptom profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article focuses on consequences of child mental health and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Topics discussed include problem of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) associated with fetal alcohol syndrome, children referred to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) clinics are found to have risk exposures in addition to PAE like physical abuse and exposure to parental substance use after birth, and requirement of evidence in alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND) diagnosis.