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Trends in mental health problems among Swedish adolescents: Do school-related factors play a role?

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  • Benti Geleta Buli
  • Peter Larm
  • Kent W Nilsson
  • Charlotta Hellström-Olsson
  • Fabrizia Giannotta

Abstract

Aim: The 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. Methods: We 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. Results: Increased 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. Conclusions: The 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Benti Geleta Buli & Peter Larm & Kent W Nilsson & Charlotta Hellström-Olsson & Fabrizia Giannotta, 2024. "Trends in mental health problems among Swedish adolescents: Do school-related factors play a role?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(3), pages 1-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0300294
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300294
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    1. Högberg, Björn & Strandh, Mattias & Hagquist, Curt, 2020. "Gender and secular trends in adolescent mental health over 24 years – The role of school-related stress," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    2. Sweeting, Helen & West, Patrick & Young, Robert & Der, Geoff, 2010. "Can we explain increases in young people's psychological distress over time?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(10), pages 1819-1830, November.
    3. Thomas Potrebny & Nora Wiium & Anne Haugstvedt & Ragnhild Sollesnes & Torbjørn Torsheim & Bente Wold & Frode Thuen, 2019. "Health complaints among adolescents in Norway: A twenty-year perspective on trends," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, January.
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