Mental health

Background: Self-regulation is the ability to manage behavior, emotions, thoughts, and attention to achieve goals and respond to the demands of a changing environment (Murray et al., 2019). Research indicates that self-regulation is vital across various areas of functioning—it is positively linked with physical activity (Vasilopoulos & Ellefson, 2021), learning outcomes (Choi et al., 2018), and mental health (Hu et al., 2014). 

Objective: The current study aimed to analyze the relationship between self-regulation and selected mental health variables (anxiety, well-being, life satisfaction, stress) and to assess the role of self-regulation in moderating the association between stress and well-being in a nationally representative sample of adolescents aged 11, 13, 15, and 17.

Methods: The presented data are from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children, a cross-sectional study conducted in the 2022/2023 school year in Poland. The study received a positive opinion from the Bioethical Committee of the Institute of Mother and Child (number 51/2021, date: 24.06.2021). More than 6400 adolescents aged 11-17, who participated in the study, filled in questionnaires on physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of health. To examine the relationships between the studied variables, the data from the Self-Regulation Scale (SRS), the WHO-5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5), the Cantril Ladder, the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) were analyzed with the Spearman correlation coefficient. The differences in self-regulation between boys and girls and among age groups were analyzed with the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Moderation analysis was performed with Hayes Process Macro in SPSS Statistics. 

Results: A Mann-Whitney U test revealed that self-regulation was significantly lower in girls (Md = 31, n = 3671) compared to boys (Md = 34, n = 3115), z = 17.52, p = .001, with a small effect size r = .21. The data indicate small changes in self-regulation between some age groups (H(3) = 51,337; p < .001). Correlation analysis indicated that self-regulation is important for adolescents’ mental state as it is negatively correlated with anxiety (r = -0,57; p < .001) perceived stress level (r = -0,50; p < .001), and positively with well-being (r = 0,42; p < .001) and life satisfaction (r = 0,32; p < .001). Also, the interaction effect of self-regulation was statistically significant indicating that self-regulation moderates the effect of stress on well-being. 

Conclusion: Self-regulation skills play an important role in the mental health of adolescents. They serve as a significant resource for buffering the negative effects of stress on adolescents’ well-being. These findings highlight the importance of promoting self-regulation skills among adolescents, to support their mental well-being.

Background: There is a need for further evidence on the association between how adolescents perceive their body weight and their mental health.

Objective(s): To examine the association of self-perception of being overweight (feeling „a bit fat“ and „much too fat“) with an actual BMI and emotions such as feeling active and vigorous, nervous, low, and cheerful.

Method: Data was collected from the HBSC study conducted in Croatia in 2022, involving 5.338 pupils. Pearson’s chi-squared test and multivariate logistic regression were performed.

Results: Pupils who don't think they are too fat have app 30% lower BMI (11-year-old boys (OR=0,69, CI 0.64-0.74) and girls (OR=0.67, CI 0.63-0.72); 13-year-old boys (OR=0.63, CI 0.63-0.69) and girls (OR=0.68, CI 0.64-0.73); 15-year-old boys (OR=0.64, CI 0.59-0.69) and girls (OR=0.63, CI 0.59-0.68), higher odds to feel active and vigorous (boys aged 11 (OR=1.34, CI 1.11-1.64), 13 (OR=1.41, CI 1.17-1.70) and 15 (OR=1.38, CI 1.11-1.73); girls aged 15 OR=1.20, CI 1.01-1.7), higher odds not to feel nervous (girls aged 11 (OR=1.26, CI 1.07-1.51), 13 (OR=1.17, CI 1.01-1.36) and 15 (OR=0.80, CI 0.64-0.99); boys aged 15 (OR=1.36, CI 1.14-1.63), higher odds not to feel low (girls aged 13 (OR=1.23, CI 1.07-1.42), higher odds to feel cheerful (girls aged 11 (OR=1.28, CI 1.02-1.61) and 15 (OR=1.36, CI 1.14-1.63).

Conclusions: The perception of being overweight can result in negative emotions which is, regardless of the possibility of overcriticism at this age, more common with increased BMI.

Background: Existing research on the social determinants of health traditionally focuses on the availability of material resources, with less consideration of intangible resources. 

Objective.  Building on extensive cross-sectional HBSC analyses, this study examined whether experiences of meaning and purpose in life contribute to inequities in mental ill-health by socio-economic position in adolescents, illustrating the potential etiological importance of such intangible resources. 

Methods: We used 2-year linked survey data from 17,745 Canadian secondary school students that participated in the Cannabis, Obesity, Mental health, Physical activity, Alcohol, Smoking, and Sedentary behaviour (COMPASS) study in the 2020-21 (T1) and 2021-22 (T2) school years. Structural equation modeling was used to test whether meaning and purpose in life mediated the pathway between socioeconomic position and depression (Centre for Epidemiological Studies – Depression 10-item scale [CESD-10]) and anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder – 7-item scale [GAD-7]) symptoms cross-sectionally and then longitudinally, stratified by gender (cisgender boys, cisgender girls, gender diverse).

Results: The cross-sectional and longitudinal associations identified between affluence and depression and between affluence and anxiety were partially mediated by life meaning and purpose. The total effects of affluence on depression and anxiety were greater in gender diverse youth than among their cisgender peers. 

Conclusion: This study provides prospective evidence to support meaning and purpose in life as an underrecognized intermediary determinant of mental health inequities by socioeconomic position among Canadian adolescents. Related etiological pathways are particularly evident among gender diverse adolescents. Confirmation of cross-sectional findings from HBSC via longitudinal analyses is important for causal inference.

Objective: Most previous studies relied on disease-based models, identifying symptoms of mental illness, and considered mental health as merely the absence of mental illness. Yet, recent evidence shows that the absence of mental illness is a necessary, but not sufficient criterion of optimal mental health. The Dual-factor Model conceptualises mental health as a complete state comprised of two unique, but correlated, dimensions (subjective well-being and psychopathology). Therefore this study aims to a) to examine the co-occurrence of psychosomatic symptoms and life satisfaction by identifying latent classes at individual and school level; b) to identify associations between latent classes identified and individual level variables

Methods: Data from the 2018 HBSC was used. Multilevel latent class analysis was employed to identify classes of mental well-being. Once the classes were established, school, family and EMC factors were introduced as class predictors. All analyses were controlled for household SES, gender, age, and the nested nature of the data.

Results: The best fit model comprised of two school latent classes and three individual latent classes (ie., Symptomatic but content, Struggling, and Vulnerable). All the predictors were significantly associated with higher probabilities of being in the ‘struggling’ or ‘vulnerable’ latent class ranging from 2.2% between at school perpetration and the ‘struggling’ latent class to 12% between problematic social media use and the ‘struggling’ latent class.

Conclusions: These results indicate that a considerable proportion of adolescents report concomitantly a high symptom burden and low-life satisfaction, however the analyses were limited by the measures available. This approach should be replicated using the 2022 HBSC data.