ArticleSSM - population health2018
Mental health problems among economically disadvantaged adolescents in an increasingly unequal society: A Swedish study using repeated cross-sectional data from 1995 to 2011.
Article in SSM - population health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Trends in non-suicidal self-injury among adolescents: A global cross-temporal meta-analysis, 2007-2023.Psychological medicine · 2025Pooled it
- The mediating role of self-efficacy in the association between family support and mental health among Taiwanese adolescents and youths in low-income families: a half-longitudinal mediation model.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Consumption, relative deprivation and mental health: evidence from hedonic consumption.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Long-Term Outcomes of Adolescent Outpatient Treatment for Substance Use Problems: Exploring the Co-occurrence of Mental Health and Substance Use Problems.Scandinavian journal of child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology · 2024Article
- Associations between adolescents watching pornography and poor mental health in three Swedish surveys.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2023Article
- Adolescents with substance use problems in outpatient treatment: a one-year prospective follow-up study focusing on mental health and gender differences.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2022Article
- Modelling Maternal Depression: An Agent-Based Model to Examine the Complex Relationship between Relative Income and Depression.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and fast foods deteriorates adolescents' mental health.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
- Work-Family Reconciliation and Children's Well-Being Disparities across OECD Countries.Social forces; a scientific medium of social study and interpretation · 2021Article
- Mental Health of PhD Students at Polish Universities-Before the COVID-19 Outbreak.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- A Framework-Based Approach to Assessing Mental Health Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children and Adolescents.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Independent contributions of family and neighbourhood indicators of socioeconomic status and migrant status to risk of mental health problems in 4-12 year old children.SSM - population health · 2020Article
- Mental Health Problems Among Adolescents in Sweden from 1995 to 2011: The Role of Immigrant Status and the Proportions of Immigrant Adolescents in Their Surrounding Community.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2020Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
Increasing inequality in many societies highlights the importance of paying attention to differences in mental health between the economically disadvantaged adolescents and the non-disadvantaged adolescents. Also important is to understand how changing inequality in society over time influences adolescents' mental health at the population- and individual-level. The current study examined to what extent increased societal-level income inequality over time, individual-level experiences of economic disadvantage and the cross-level interaction between the two explained Swedish adolescents' mental health problems from 1995 to 2011. We used repeated cross-sectional data collected 6 times between 1995 and 2011 in Sweden. Each time, approximately 2500 students in grade 9 completed a questionnaire during the spring semester. The adolescents provided self-report data on the frequency of their experiences of unaffordability of daily leisure activities (concert, movie, sports, and dance). They also reported their psychosomatic symptoms, which was used as a measure of mental health problems. We used the household equalised disposable income Gini coefficient as an indicator of societal income inequality. A real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was controlled for in order to rule out potential effects of economic growth in the society over time. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted in which students were nested in years of investigations. Adolescents who experienced unaffordability of daily leisure activities reported more mental health problems. Societal income inequality was not directly associated with the adolescents' mental health. However, among girls the effects of experiences of unaffordability on mental health were stronger for all but one (sports) activities, and among boys for one activity (sports) when societal-level inequality was greater. Individual-level economic disadvantage are detrimental for adolescents' mental health, both directly and interactively with societal-level economic inequality. Some suggestions for practice and future studies are made for mental health among adolescents in societies where increasing inequality is observed.
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