Mental Health Protective Factors Research Articles

Community involvement and adolescent mental health: moderating effects of race/ethnicity and neighborhood disadvantage

AbstractSocial development and stress process theories suggest that participation in one's community can function as a protective factor for mental health, especially for youth from socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. However, the effects of community involvement on adolescent mental health could vary across racial/ethnic groups and levels of neighborhood disadvantage. The objectives of this paper are to: (1) examine the effects of various types of community involvement on adolescent mental health, and (2) assess the extent to which race/ethnicity and neighborhood disadvantage moderate the effects of community involvement on adolescent mental health. Using data from two waves (1994/95 and 1996) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (“Add Health,” N=7,863), multilevel (hierarchical) linear models were estimated that tested for interaction effects of race/ethnicity and neighborhood disadvantage. The types of community participation that impacted adolescent mental health varied across racial/ethnic groups. Neighborhood interaction and religious participation were salient for both White and Hispanic teens, but the impact of religious participation for Whites was moderated by neighborhood disadvantage. Non‐sport extracurricular activities and employment were the salient factors for Black teens, both of which were moderated by neighborhood disadvantage. The findings from this study have implications for community‐level and clinical interventions to prevent and/or treat mental health problems among adolescents. Social integration interventions should take into account adolescents' cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic contexts in order to be effective. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Age and Gender Effects on Resilience in Children and Adolescents

This cross-sectional, population-based study explores the effects of age and gender on resilience and protective factors for mental health in primary school aged children in Brisbane, Australia. Surveys were administered to 1109 male and 1163 female students (N = 2492) in 2004 to assess self-perception of resilience and associated protective factors. Female students are found to be more likely to report higher levels of communication, empathy, help-seeking and goals for future and aspirations. They also report more positive connections with parents, teachers and adults in the community, and peers in school and outside school, as well as sense of autonomy experience. These differences, however, show changes over time. The interaction between age and gender is significant for empathy and help-seeking, and for adult support at home, at school and in the community, peer support at school and outside schools, and autonomy experience. This is largely explained by the sharp decline in scores for Year 7 girls. Th...

Perceived stress, internal resources, and social support as determinants of mental health among young adults.

Mental health is a central determinant of quality of life. While psychiatric morbidity of populations has been studied extensively, the role of perceived stress, social support, and internal resources as determinant of health is still poorly understood. We surveyed 2000 randomly selected university students. Perceived stress was measured by the Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument, social support by the Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire, internal resources (mastery and self-esteem) by a brief version of the Pearlin coping questionnaire. Linear regression models were used to explore the relationships between these variables and mental health, based on the SF-12 health survey. After two reminders, 1257 students answered the questionnaire. In bivariate analysis, mental health was negatively associated with stress and positively associated with internal resources and social support (all p-values < 0.001). In multiple regression analysis, internal resources were positively associated with mental health, and buffered the negative impact of stress on mental health. Internal resources and stress mediated the positive impact of social support on mental health. Our data confirm that perceived stress is an important risk factor for low mental health and suggest that mastery and self-esteem are important protective factors of mental health among young adults.

Protective factors for mental health of children and adolescents--empirical results validating a concept

In Public Health, an outlook developed emphasising the importance of assets and protective factors in addition to stress and risk factors. The study aimed at the development of a brief, multidimensional questionnaire to assess protective factors for the mental health of children and adolescents. This questionnaire was to be tested as a self-report survey instrument. In a random sample consisting of 883 children and adolescents aged 11 to 17 years scales already validated in empirical research as well as questions newly developed from aspects of protective factors identified in the literature were applied in a written questionnaire. Three dimensions, covering social, personal and family assets, could be identified from the items by factor analysis. The resulting scales for the assessment of protective factors were analysed for their psychometric characteristics. Mental health and health-related quality of life served as validation criteria. The protective factors proved to significantly influence these outcomes in regression analyses, showing a proportion of explained variance of up to 53 %. The child and adolescent self-report measure presented is apt to give a picture of protective factors for mental health representing the three dimensions of social, personal, and family assets.

Adherence Issues in Sports &amp; Exercise

Mental health is an important resource for student-athletes. Flourishing (Keyes, 2002) may be a useful concept for examining aspects of mental health. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate mental health protective factors among flourishing Canadian university student-athletes over the course of their sport season. Initially, 36 Canadian student-athletes completed the Mental Health Continuum – Short Form (Keyes, 2009) and Sport Mental Health Continuum – Short Form (Foster & Chow, 2019). Based on the results from the questionnaires, six women athletes who were identified as flourishing at global and sport levels then participated in the study. Data were generated through individual pre- and post-season semi-structured interviews, and in-season weekly written diaries. Analysis followed guidelines outlined by Smith et al. (2009) for interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results are presented over three stages of the seasons (pre-, in-, and post-season). In the pre-season, participants invested in their flourishing by making positive connections and planning their schedule. In-season, participants discussed facing challenges and tried to maintain flourishing by managing their commitments, communicating with coaches, and looking for positives. In the post-season, the participants attempted to re-invest in their flourishing by reflecting on their season and taking a break from sport. It appeared that the athletes were able to identify potential challenges to their flourishing in sport and use global resources to buffer the impact. These results reveal strategies that may help promote and protect mental health among student-athletes.

Mental Health and Social Adjustment in Young Refugee Children y 3½ Years After Their Arrival in Sweden

To investigate the relative importance of various risk and protective factors for mental health and social adjustment in young refugee children. Of 50 Iranian refugee preschool children who were first evaluated 12 months after arriving in Sweden, 39 were reevaluated in a follow-up study 2 1/2 years later. The effect of exposure to organized violence, age, gender, individual vulnerability, parental functioning, and peer relationships on the children's well-being and adjustment was investigated using multiple and logistic regression analyses. Exposure to war and political violence and individual vulnerability before traumatic stress exposure were important risk factors for long-lasting post-traumatic stress symptomatology in children. Mothers' emotional well-being predicted emotional well-being in children, whereas children's social adjustment and self-worth were mainly predicted by the quality of their peer relationships. The results underline the fact that refugee children's adaptation is the result of a complex process involving several interacting risk and protective factors. For many refugee children, current life circumstances in receiving host countries, such as peer relationships and exposure to bullying, are of equal or greater importance than previous exposure to organized violence.

Risk and protective factors for mental health in adolescence

Risk and protective factors for mental health in adolescence

What protects a child during migration?

Protective factors for mental health during migration were studied in school-aged children and adolescents who had returned from Sweden to Finland during the years 1984-85. Each of the 320 migrant children and adolescents was assigned a control from the same class at school, matched by age and sex, and a non-migrant. Information was gathered from the parents, teachers and children themselves. The returning migrant children and adolescents more often lacked a father than did the controls, and returning migrant boys more often had psychiatric disorders in their teachers' estimations than did the controls, but no such difference was found among the girls. Good adaptation to this change in life was enhanced by good family relationships, good peer relationships, verbalisation ability, good cognitive abilities, as indicated by school achievements, and a clear linguistic identity.