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- Buli, Benti Geleta, et al.
(author)
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Trends in adolescent mental health problems 2004–2020 : do sex and socioeconomic status play any role?
- 2023
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In: Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. - 1403-4948 .- 1651-1905.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aims: This study aims to investigate trends in four types of adolescent mental health problems; that is, psychosomatic symptoms, depressive symptoms, suicidal ideations, and suicide attempts 2004–2020. A second aim is to investigate the moderating roles of socioeconomic status and sex in these trends.Methods: The analysis is based on repeated cross-sectional data 2004–2020 among grade 9 students in secondary schools in a Swedish county. In total, data from 19,873 students were included in the analysis. We fitted linear and logistic regression equations and used survey-years’ coefficients to estimate the trends. We also estimated the moderating effects of socioeconomic status and sex using interactions between survey year and socioeconomic status and sex, respectively.Results: The trends in all mental health problems declined over time. Through its interaction with survey year, socioeconomic status moderated the trends; psychosomatic symptoms (B = −0.115, P<0.001), depressive symptoms (B = −0.084, P<0.001) and suicidal ideations (odds ratio 0.953, confidence interval 0.924–0.983) significantly declined over time among those with high socioeconomic status. However, socioeconomic status did not have an association with the trend in suicide attempts. Interaction between sex and year of survey was associated with significant decreasing trends in depressive symptoms and suicidal ideations only among girls.Conclusions: Adolescent mental health problems have decreased over time, but only for adolescents with high socioeconomic status, or only in depressive symptoms and suicidal ideations for girls. The results shed light on the growing inequalities in health outcomes across levels of socioeconomic status.
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| 2. |
- Buli, Benti Geleta, et al.
(author)
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Trends in mental health problems among Swedish adolescents : Do school-related factors play a role?
- 2024
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In: PLOS ONE. - 1932-6203. ; 19:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- AimThe aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which school-related factors, such as school liking, participation in decision-making, school-related parental support, teachers’ support, and school physical environment, explain trends in mental health problems. The problems considered are psychosomatic symptoms (PSS), depressive symptoms (DS), suicidal ideations (SI), and suicide attempts (SA) among Swedish adolescents of varying socioeconomic status (SES) from 2004 to 2020.MethodsWe analyzed data collected through repeated cross-sectional surveys from 19,873 15-year-old students at schools in a county in Sweden. Boys and girls each constituted 50% of the participants. We fitted linear and logistic regression models to investigate associations between the school-related factors and trends in mental health problems.ResultsIncreased school-related parental support and school liking were cross-sectionally associated with decreased PSS, DS and SI, with school liking also associated with decreased SA. Conducive school physical environment was also found to be cross-sectionally associated with lower PSS and DS scores. Over time, mental health problems have shown a general increase among adolescents in the low SES group and a decrease among those in the high SES group. While school-related factors explained the improvement in mental health in the high SES group, we found such association only between parental support trends in PSS and DS, along with participation and trends in SA over time among adolescents in the low SES group.ConclusionsThe results show that school-related factors play significant roles in influencing adolescent mental health. The influence, however, varied across SES gradients over time. This suggests that working against inequities in school-related factors would help address inequities in mental health.
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| 3. |
- Buli, Benti Geleta, et al.
(author)
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Trends in psychosomatic symptoms among adolescents and the role of lifestyle factors
- 2024
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In: BMC Public Health. - 1471-2458. ; 24
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Adolescent mental health problems are on the rise globally, including in Sweden. One indicator of this trend is increased psychosomatic symptoms (PSS) over time. Lifestyle factors such as physical activity (PA), diet, smoking, and alcohol consumption may influence the time trends in PSS; however, the evidence base is scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between time trends in PSS and lifestyle factors.Methods The study was based on data collected from a nationally representative sample of 9,196 fifteen-year-old boys and girls in Sweden using the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) symptom checklist. The sample comprised nearly equal proportions of girls (50.5%) and boys. The lifestyle factors examined in this study included PA, regular breakfast intake, consumption of fruits, vegetables, sweets, or soft drinks, smoking, and alcohol drunkenness. We used data from 2002 to 2018 and stratified by family affluence scale (FAS) to demonstrate how the associations varied among the FAS groups. We fitted separate regression models for the high- and low-FAS groups, where interaction terms between the year of survey and each lifestyle factor were used to estimate the level and direction of associations between the factors and trends in PSS.Results There was a generally increasing trend in PSS mean scores from 2.26 in 2002 to 2.49 in 2018 (p <.001). The changes in each survey year compared to the average mean scores during the preceding years were significant in all years except 2010. Regular breakfast intake, daily fruit and vegetable consumption, and higher PA were associated with lower PSS mean scores, while smoking and drunkenness had opposite associations with PSS. The only significant interaction between survey year and the lifestyle factors was observed regarding drunkenness in the high FAS group, suggesting that the association between trends in PSS and the experience of getting drunk at least twice got stronger over time (B = 0.057; CI:0.016, 0.097; p <.01).Conclusions The results indicate increasing trends in PSS among young people in Sweden from 2002 to 2018, with a significant increase observed among adolescents in the high FAS group who reported getting drunk on at least two occasions.
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| 4. |
- Giannotta, Fabrizia, 1978-, et al.
(author)
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Anxiety, Sleep Problems, and Vigorous Physical Activity : Bidirectional Associations from Early Adolescence to Early Adulthood in Swedish Adolescents
- 2024
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In: Journal of Youth and Adolescence. - 0047-2891 .- 1573-6601. ; 53:6, s. 1355-1369
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Anxiety symptoms and sleep problems typically emerge during adolescence and are frequently intertwined. However, there is a dearth of knowledge concerning their reciprocal influence and whether physical activity might play a protective role in this relationship. The present study aims at filling this gap exploring also the moderating role of sex. 915 13-year-old Swedish adolescents (56% girls) answered a survey conducted four times: at ages 13 (T1), 16 (T2), 19 (T3), and 22 (T4). A random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used. At within-levels, sleep problems and anxiety symptoms had a bidirectional positive association in middle adolescence. Vigorous physical activity and anxiety symptoms showed a reciprocal negative association from middle adolescence. Vigorous physical activity and sleep problems were reciprocally associated only in late adolescence. Associations were the same for girls and boys. This study demonstrated that the relations between anxiety symptoms, sleep problems, and vigorous physical activity cannot be understood without adopting a developmental perspective and that middle adolescence is a crucial period to plan interventions to reduce anxiety symptoms and sleep problems.
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| 5. |
- Giannotta, Fabrizia, 1978-, et al.
(author)
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Frequency of vigorous physical activity and depressive symptoms across adolescence : Disentangling the reciprocal associations between different groups and subtypes of symptoms
- 2023
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In: Mental Health and Physical Activity. - : Elsevier BV. - 1755-2966 .- 1878-0199. ; 25
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Physical activity has a demonstrated positive effect on youth depressive symptoms. However, very few studies have explored the bi-directionality of the links between physical activity and depression. The present study aims at filling this gap and tests whether any associations are moderated by sex. Moreover, the role of subtype of depressive symptoms, vegetative (i.e., lack of energy, poor sleep) or non-vegetative (i.e., mood-related), is explored. Participants were 910 12-13 year-old Swedish adolescents (56% girls) who answered a three-wave survey at ages 12-13 (T1), 15-16 (T2), and 18-19 (T3). Using a cross-lagged structural model, depression predicted decreased frequency of vigorous physical activity (VPA) from T1 to T2 (& beta; = -0.09, p < .05) and from T2 to T3 (& beta; = -0.10, p < .01), while frequency of VPA at T2 decreased depression at T3 (& beta; = -0.12, p < .05). Associations did not differ between boys and girls. Non-vegetative symptoms predicted decreased frequency of VPA from T1 to T2 (& beta; = -0.10, p < .05), while frequency of VPA at T2 predicted decreased non-vegetative symptoms at T3 (& beta; = -0.15, p < .05). Vegetative symptoms predicted decreased frequency of VPA from T1 to T2 (& beta; = -0.09, p < .05), while have a reciprocal influence with VPA from T2 to T3. Overall, our results highlight an association across adolescence between VPA and depression. The association becomes stronger and reciprocal in middle adolescence, which suggests this period as an effective developmental time to plan physical-activity-based interventions to decrease youth depressive symptoms.
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