Mental Health

Life Stress

Approximately one quarter of Simcoe Muskoka residents (12 years or older) perceive their lives as quite a bit or extremely stressful.
This is similar to the provincial rate.
Older adults, males, and people living in the middle income quintile were less likely to report their lives as stressful.

According to the 2019/2020 cycle of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) conducted by Statistics Canada, approximately one quarter or 24% (21.0%, 27.5%)) of Simcoe Muskoka residents aged 12 years or older reported their life as quite a bit or extremely stressful.
This was similar to the provincial average during the same survey period at 21% (20.2%, 21.8%) of Ontario residents reporting their lives as quite a bit or extremely stressful.
Perceived life stress is Simcoe Muskoka and Ontario has not significantly changed between the 2015/2016 and 2019/2020 CCHS survey cycles.

LifeStress

Perceived life stress is highest in Simcoe Muskoka residents aged 20 to 44 years and lowest among seniors (65+). In Simcoe Muskoka 29% (25.1%, 33.6%) of adults (20 to 44 years) rate their life as quite a bit or extremely stressful, which was significantly higher than for seniors (65+) with 14% (11.2%, 17.1%) based on combined data from the 2015 to 2020 survey years.
Simcoe Muksoka residents aged 20 to 44 years were significantly more likely to report their life as quite a bit or extremely stressful compared to Ontarians in the same age group where 23.8% (23.0%, 24.6%) reported their life as quite a bit of extremely stressful.

LifeStressbyAge

Using combined data from the 2015 to 2020 survey years, there was no significant different between Simcoe Muskoka males and females in their self-perceived life stress.
However, for Ontario overall, a higher percent of females reported their lives were quite a bit or extremely stressful, with 23% (22.6%, 23.9%) compared to males at 20% (19.0%, 20.3%).

LifeStressbySex

Provincially, perceived life stress is higher for those at both the bottom and top income quintiles when compared to the middle income quintiles, but this is not significant for Simcoe Muskoka.
In Ontario, 24% (22.8%, 25.2%) of those in the lowest income quintile and 22% (21.5%, 23.5%) of those in the highest income quintile rate their life as quite a bit or extremely stressful, based on survey data from the 2015 to 2020 cycles combined. This is higher than the 20% (19.0%, 21.1%) of people in the middle income quintile.

LifeStressbyInc