Abstract
BackgroundAdolescents’ mental health, and its consistent relationship with their socioeconomic background, is a concern that should drive education, health, and employment policies. However, information about this relationship on a national scale is limited. We explore national overall trends and investigate possible socioeconomic disparities in adolescents’ mental health, including psychological distress and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness in Norway during the period 2014–2018.MethodsThe present study builds on data retrieved from five waves of the national cross-sectional Ungdata survey (2014–2018). In total 136,525 upper secondary school students (52% girls) completed the questionnaire during the study period. Trends in socioeconomic inequalities were assessed using the Slope Index of Inequality (SII) and the Relative Index of Inequality (RII).ResultsThe prevalence of students with moderate to high symptoms score and mean symptoms scores of psychological distress (in terms of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness) increased among girls and boys during 2014–2018, with girls showing higher rates. Our results suggest distinct, but stable, inequalities between socioeconomic groups, both in absolute and relative terms, among girls and boys during the study period.ConclusionRising rates of adolescents’ psychological distress, particularly among girls, may have long-term consequences for individuals involved and the society as a whole. Future studies should investigate the causes of these results. We did not find evidence of any change in inequalities in adolescents’ mental health between socioeconomic groups, suggesting current strategies are not sufficiently addressing mental health inequalities in the adolescent population and therefore a significant need for research and public health efforts.
Highlights
Young people growing up today are generally in good health and experience a high quality of life, especially in high-income Western countries like Norway
The aim of the present study is to explore national trends and detect possible socioeconomic inequalities in psychological distress, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and loneliness among adolescents in Norway during the period 2014–2018 and whether patterns differ by gender
Results suggest stable absolute inequalities (p = 0.940), while relative inequalities were narrowing (3.14–1.93, p = 0.002) over the study period. Both absolute and relative inequalities were stable over time among girls. The findings of this national representative study of five repeated cross-sectional surveys during the period 2014–2018 are consistent with our first hypothesis and with previous findings showing that psychological distress among adolescents are increasing over time
Summary
Young people growing up today are generally in good health and experience a high quality of life, especially in high-income Western countries like Norway Their health status at birth, risk, and resilience factors during childhood and adolescence and their future life chances are distributed and shaped according to the social gradient (Marmot, 2005; Marmot et al, 2008; Evans et al, 2012). Poor mental health influences the wider health and development of adolescents and is associated with higher alcohol, tobacco, and illicit substances use, adolescent pregnancy, and anti-social behaviors Together, these factors may result in a downward spiral, increasing socioeconomic inequalities in health during the life course (Haas, 2008; Allen et al, 2014; Kim and Radoias, 2019). We explore national overall trends and investigate possible socioeconomic disparities in adolescents’ mental health, including psychological distress and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness in Norway during the period 2014–2018
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