Abstract
BackgroundFrom early adolescence, girls and women report the highest rates of emotional symptoms, and there is evidence of increased prevalence in recent years. We investigate risk factors and cumulative risk exposure (CRE) in relation to emotional symptoms among early adolescent girls.MethodsWe used secondary data analysis, drawing on data capturing demographic information and self-reported emotional symptoms from 8327 girls aged 11–12 years from the 2017 baseline data collection phase of the HeadStart evaluation. We used structural equation modelling to identify risk factors in relation to self-reported emotional symptoms, and collated this into a CRE index to investigate associations between CRE and emotional symptoms.ResultsFour risk factors were found to have a statistically significant relationship with emotional symptoms among early adolescent girls: low academic attainment, special educational needs, low family income, and caregiving responsibilities. CRE was positively associated with emotional symptoms, with a small effect size.ConclusionsResults identify risk factors (outlined above) that are associated with emotional symptoms among early adolescent girls, and highlight that early adolescent girls experiencing a greater number of risk factors in their lives are likely to also experience greater emotional distress. Findings highlight the need for identification and targeted mental health intervention (e.g., individual or group counselling, approaches targeting specific symptoms), for those facing greater risk and/or with emergent symptoms.
Highlights
From early adolescence, girls and women report the highest rates of emotional symptoms, and there is evidence of increased prevalence in recent years
As risk factors tend to co-occur [10], we examined whether exposure to a greater number of risk factors corresponds to increased symptoms
Sensitivity analysis using maximum likelihood with robust standard error estimates (MLR), which uses full information, allowed confirmation that results were not affected by the use of the Robust weighted least squares (WLSMV) estimator
Summary
Girls and women report the highest rates of emotional symptoms, and there is evidence of increased prevalence in recent years. Evidence suggests that girls begin to experience greater levels of emotional symptoms (i.e., depressive and anxious symptoms) than boys, typically around the age of 12 years[1].1 Studies show this disparity exists throughout the lifespan; girls and women are twice as likely to report depressive symptoms and disorder from mid-adolescence compared to boys and men [1]. Research indicates a significant increase in emotional symptoms and disorder among adolescent girls in recent years, in the United Kingdom [4,5,6,7] and other Western and non-Western countries [8, 9], necessitating urgent research into the factors associated with such difficulties These studies consistently point to apparent increases in emotional difficulties as a whole (i.e., rather than just depressive or Demkowicz et al BMC Women’s Health (2021) 21:388 anxious symptomatology) and to increases only among girls, and not among boys in the same cohorts [4,5,6,7,8,9]. These increases among girls are small, but as noted by Fink et al [6] the effect is not negligible and warrants attention
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