ArticleBMC psychiatry2018
Gender differences in mental health problems among adolescents and the role of social support: results from the Belgian health interview surveys 2008 and 2013.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 152 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
152 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 345 citations in OpenAlex.
- Examining the mediating roles of self-esteem and social support in the link between digital addiction and mental health: findings from a meta-analytic structural equation modeling study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Mental health literacy interventions for female adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic Review of Gender-Specific Child and Adolescent Mental Health Care.Child psychiatry and human development · 2024Pooled it
- Sex Differences in the Global Prevalence of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review of studies on resilience and risk and protective factors for health among refugee children in Nordic countries.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Climate change and suicide epidemiology: a systematic review and meta-analysis of gender variations in global suicide rates.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Prevalence of mental health symptoms in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A meta-analysis.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Common mental disorders prevalence in adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analyses.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Factors associated with gender and sex differences in anxiety prevalence and comorbidity: A systematic review.Science progressPooled it
- Barriers and facilitators of mental health app use among young women - a multimethod study.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- Mental health measures among adolescents in 12 low- and middle-income countries: Measurement invariance and cross-sectional analyses of Disrupting Harm survey data.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- Parental Attachment and Mental Health Literacy in Young Adults: The Mediational Role of Emotional Regulation on Well-Being and Psychopathological.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2026Article
- Early childhood and early adolescent predictors of internalising symptoms in adolescents: findings from a longitudinal study in a high-risk South African environment.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Relationship Between Depression and Constipation: A Cross-Sectional Health Report From the PERSIAN Guilan Cohort Study (PGCS).Health science reports · 2026Article
- Gender differences in mental health profiles among Chinese adolescents: a multiple-group latent profile analysis.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Sex Differences in the Associations of mental Health, Suicidality, Screentime, and Sleep: A Mediation Effect Analysis of Sleep Using Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance Survey 2021.Psychological reports · 2026Article
- Mental health disparities by sex: unravelling determinants and changes in the refugee resettlement process over a decade.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2026Article
- Psychological Characteristics Associated With Cyberbullying: Focusing on the Victim-Perpetrators and Gender Differences.Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Impact of adverse life experiences on pain, depression, anxiety, and comorbidities: a youth longitudinal sample.Pain reports · 2026Article
- Anxiety development trajectories in junior high students: effects of family functioning and gender, and prediction of non-suicidal self-injury.BMC psychology · 2026Article
92 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTo investigate how social support relates to mental health problems for Belgian late adolescents and young adults 15-25 years of age. Additionally, we examine changes in mental health problems between 2008 and 2013 and investigate gender differences.
methodsMultivariate analysis of variance was used to investigate (1) psychological distress, (2) anxiety and (3) depression among 713 boys and 720 girls taken from two successive waves (2008 and 2013) of a representative sample of the Belgian population (Belgian Health Interview survey). Psychological distress was measured by the General Health Questionnaire, anxiety and depression by the Symptom Check-List-90-Revised.
resultsGender differences were found for psychological distress, anxiety and depression with girls reporting significantly higher scores than boys. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that adolescents who are dissatisfied with their social contacts and experience poor social support reported more psychological distress, anxiety and depression. In addition, young adult boys (20-25 years of age) were more likely to experience psychological distress when compared to late adolescent boys (15-19 years of age). Finally, the prevalence of anxiety and depression increased substantially between 2008 and 2013 for girls and to a lesser extent for boys.
conclusionsEspecially girls and young people with poor social support experience mental health problems more frequently than boys and those with strong social support. Improving social support among young people may serve as a protective buffer to mental health problems.
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