Survey of Ontario youth: one in five turned to chatbots for mental health advice
A University of Ottawa study of nearly 40,000 Ontario youth found that one in five had turned to a chatbot for mental health advice. Further studies linked using chatbots for emotional support to loneliness among students, and anthropomorphism to Gen Z's vulnerability to manipulation.
Who is affected and how
- parent
- Parents should ask whether their child uses a chatbot for emotional support and steer the conversation toward human connections too.
Sources
- As more teens turn to AI for emotional support, experts say it's no substitute for human connectioncbc.ca · Sep 1, 2026
- AI chatbot use for emotional support tied to loneliness in studentsphys.org · Aug 31, 2026
- Affective Generative Artificial Intelligence Use and Youth Mental Healthmedia.jamanetwork.com · Aug 31, 2026
- Affective generative artificial intelligence use and youth mental health | EurekAlert!eurekalert.org · Aug 31, 2026
- AI Emotional Support as a Marker of Youth Psychologicalhealthmaking.com · Sep 1, 2026 · magyar
- Too Human to Resist: AI Anthropomorphism and Manipulation Vulnerability in Gen Zdoi.org · Aug 31, 2026
- RAND: Definitions drive estimates of chatbot mental health use - Canady - 2026 - Mental Health Weekly - Wiley Online Libraryonlinelibrary.wiley.com · Aug 31, 2026
Machine-generated summary based on the titles and excerpts of the source articles. The facts come from the linked article.