Theory holds that income inequality may harm adolescent mental health by reducing social capital within neighborhood communities. However, research on this topic has been very limited. We use multilevel data on 102 public schools and 5958 adolescents in Iceland (15 and 16 years old) to examine whether income inequality within neighborhoods is associated with emotional distress in adolescents. Moreover, we test whether indicators of social capital, including social trust and embeddedness in neighborhood social networks, mediate this contextual effect. The findings show that neighborhood income inequality positively influences emotional distress of individual adolescents, net of their personal household situations and social relations. However, although the indicators of social capital negatively influence emotional distress, they do not mediate the contextual effect of neighborhood income inequality. The study illustrates the role of economic disparities in adolescent mental health, but calls for more research on the underlying social and social‐psychological mechanisms.
This study contributes to the limited knowledge on the association between community income inequality and adolescent emotional problems, and explores whether these associations are contingent on national income inequality and personal deprivation. We obtained multilevel data from 10,223 adolescents (aged 15-16 years) nested within 82 communities in Iceland, at two time points: (a) in 2006 when income inequality was high and (b) in 2014 when income inequality had decreased. The associations are contingent on time period. Community income inequality was related to (a) an increase in anxiety in 2006 (b = 0.337, p ≤ 0.05), but not in 2014, and (b) a decrease in depression in 2014 (−0.958, p ≤ 0.05), but not in 2006.In 2006, community income inequality was more harmful to adolescents in deprived households. The results support the notion that the detrimental link between income inequality and adolescents' emotional problems may be shaped by the level of income inequality in the larger societal context.
The aim of the study was to explore women's experience of Icelandic prisons and of the interconnectedness of trauma, substance use, and prison. Nine incarcerated women, 20-45 years old, participated in this phenomenological study. One or two in-depth interviews were conducted with each participant, in all 16 interviews. The interconnectedness of trauma, substance use, and prison was evident in the participants' accounts. The participants had experienced severe traumas, in childhood and/or in adult life, most of it caused by recurrent experience of violence, bullying, neglect, and beatings and later violent relationships. For the participants, substance use was an unhelpful coping strategy intended to numb severe emotional distress. Most of the participants used substances intravenously that had progressed incredibly fast from initial drug use. They had tried most of the addiction treatments available to them, none of which were trauma based. Participants struggled with complex physical and mental health problems related to substance use and previous traumas but often felt prejudged when they sought healthcare services. They experienced being in prison as depersonalizing and dehumanizing. Most of them were mothers and had lost custody of their children because of substance use causing some of them deep grief. Participants called for more active substance treatment programs in prisons and complained about idleness that they felt increased their addiction. As a conclusion, we call for a trauma-informed care approach in prisons for women to prevent revictimization as well as to assist with mental health issues and substance use.
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