ArticleArchives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique2024
Socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent mental health in the Nordic countries in the 2000s - A study using cross-sectional data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study.
Article in Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Feasibility of a randomised controlled trial of Healthier Wealthier Families in Sweden: results from the Ameliorating Child poverty through Connecting Economic Services with child health Services (ACCESS) pilot study.BMC health services research · 2025Trial
- Article
- Socioeconomic inequality in adolescent life satisfaction: temporal trends and age- and sex-specific patterns from the Norwegian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children surveys, 2002-2018.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Caring for the 'Heads-Down Generation': Screen Time and Physical Health Complaints Among Adolescents in Poland.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Strengthening adolescent well-being-controlled feasibility from two Swedish upper secondary schools.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Global Trends in Adolescent Health Inequalities and Their Social Determinants: A Bibliometric and Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Exposure to multifaceted violence and subjective health complaints in adolescents: the remit of school health services, a cross-sectional study in Sweden.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- The impact of problematic social media use on adolescent subjective well-being: insights from machine learning.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Revisiting the Proximal Dominance Assumption: Community Social Inclusion in an Ecological Analysis of Finnish Adolescent Mental Health.Psychology research and behavior management · 2026Article
- Four scales measuring mental wellbeing in the Nordic countries: do they tell the same story?Health and quality of life outcomes · 2025Article
- Identifying Adolescent Depression and Anxiety Through Real-World Data and Social Determinants of Health: Machine Learning Model Development and Validation.JMIR mental health · 2025Article
- Steps Toward Justice: a model for equitable involvement of young people in mental health promotion.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Adolescent Addictive Behaviors and Subjective Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Mental Health Problems.Psychology research and behavior management · 2025Article
- Persistent Social Inequality in Adolescent Health Indicators 1991-2022: Trend Study From Denmark.International journal of public health · 2024Article
- Climate change emotions, perceived mental health impacts, and supports among adolescents in Dhaka, Bangladesh: A cross-sectional mixed methods exploratory study.The journal of climate change and healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAdolescents in Sweden experience more mental health problems and lower mental well-being than adolescents in other Nordic countries. According to the literature, one possible explanation may be differences in income inequality. The at-risk-of-poverty rate varies significantly across the Nordic countries, and the highest rate is found in Sweden. The aims of the study were to examine socioeconomic inequalities in subjective health complaints and life satisfaction among adolescents in the Nordic countries during 2002 - 2018 and to explore whether subjective health complaints and life satisfaction were related to income inequality in terms of the at-risk-of-poverty rate at the country level.
methodsData regarding 15-year-olds from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study from five survey rounds (2002 - 2018) were used (n = 41,148). The HBSC Symptoms Checklist and Cantril's ladder were used as measures of subjective health complaints and life satisfaction, respectively. The Family Affluence Scale, the Perceived Family Wealth item and the at-risk-of-poverty rate in each country were used as measures of individual-level socioeconomic conditions and country-level income inequality. Statistical methods involved ANOVA, multiple linear regressions and multilevel regression analyses.
resultsAbsolute and relative socioeconomic inequalities in both subjective health complaints and life satisfaction were found in all countries. Sweden showed average socioeconomic inequalities, Iceland the largest and Denmark the smallest. Country-level income inequality in terms of the at-risk-of-poverty rate was associated with a higher prevalence of subjective health complaints and lower levels of life satisfaction in all countries.
conclusionSocioeconomic inequalities in adolescent mental health and well-being persisted in Nordic countries in the 2000s. Increasing income inequality may have contributed to higher levels of SHC and lower LS in Sweden compared to the other Nordic countries. Policies improving families' socioeconomic conditions and reducing income inequality at the country level are needed to improve and reduce inequalities in mental health and well-being among adolescents.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.