The project, “Evaluating the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on youth substance use and mental health trajectories over time: renewal of the COMPASS prospective cohort,” will allow the researchers to continue evaluating the ongoing impact that COVID-19 restrictions have had on youth substance use and mental illness.
The longitudinal study collects annual data from more than 65,000 high-school students in 150 schools in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec on topics such as substance use, mental health and demographic characteristics for enabling equity-focused analyses. When the pandemic began in March 2020, COMPASS also began collecting data on the specific impacts of COVID-19 on youth health and well-being outcomes.
“COMPASS is currently the largest and most comprehensive youth cohort of its kind globally and this CIHR funding allows us to continue this work for another five years,” said Leatherdale. “The timing for this is critical as no other team in Canada has the breadth and quality of prospective data that started years before the pandemic for understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting, or will continue to impact, substance use and mental health trajectories and outcomes among youth over time.”
The project will also explore the effects of the pandemic as they relate to gender, racial discrimination and ethnicity, and affluence. COMPASS, which began in 2012, was designed to provide research to guide and promote youth health. The project was one of four awarded CIHR funding at the University of Waterloo.