What Makes a "Good Life'? Perspectives from Black Youth in Ontario, Canada

Background/Purpose:

Although Canada is widely regarded as a ‘progressive country’ with high standards of living, Black youth face anti-Black racism across various institutions and disproportionate rates of negative experiences in the education, labour, judicial, housing, and mental health sectors. These experiences have been further exacerbated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which saw racialized inequities that disproportionately impacted Black communities and exacerbated preexisting vulnerabilities, including limited access to health services, food insecurities, technological divide, overcrowded and precarious housing. This paper looks at how Black youth in Ontario conceptualize a “Good Life,” what support they need to thrive; their experiences with discrimination; the impact of COVID; mental and emotional well-being; access to mental health services; and their future goals.

Methods:

Using an equity-based approach that merges quantitative data from surveys and stories from qualitative interviews to provide rich insights, the goal of the larger study from which this paper is drawn from was to amplify youth perspectives and advocate for programs and policies that better meet the needs of young people in Ontario, Canada. The study included an online survey of 3,343 youth and one-on-one telephone interviews with 81 youth. This paper focuses on the responses of 249 Black youth who completed the survey, including a thematic coding of their open-ended responses. The quantitative survey results were analyzed using SPSS, while the qualitative responses were coded for themes, and the themes combined and collapsed through discussions to result in overarching themes of what Black youth desire for their futures.

Results:

Black youth defined a ‘good life’ as being inclusive of mental health, self-awareness, aspirations, love, relationships, and financial stability – all at the individual, familial, and community levels. One out of two Black youth (50.6%) rated their current mental health as below average. There was a significant relationship between their current mental health and their belief in the likelihood of achieving a good life in the future – when mental health ratings were higher and more positive, the beliefs of Black youth about their likelihood of achieving a good life were also higher. The participants also identified several barriers to achieving a ‘good life,’ including insecurity, self-blame (internalized oppression), and structural and socio-economic challenges. Finally, participants identified systems changes to improve mental health services and affordability of living as opportunities to enable a ‘good life.’ A Black youth summarized critical characteristics for a youth-friendly mental health community as: “Affordable mental health services, easy to access mental health services, non-discriminatory healthcare.”

Conclusions and Implications:

The findings confirm that Anti-Black Racism has material consequences for Black youth, where structural and socio-economic factors shape barriers to mental and relational well-being. While youth development policies and programs often focus on the economic and productive capacities of young people, Black youth in our study voiced a critical need for the space and freedom to dream, aspire, and have the time – a precious resource – to connect with friends, families, and communities. The findings point to the need for macro-Interventions that directly address the affordability of living.