Adolescent Development in a Cross‐Cultural Perspective

Gibbons, Judith L.; Poelker, Katelyn E.

doi:10.1002/9781119519348.ch9

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Adolescence and puberty marks a particular period of changing identity ( Blakemore & Mills, 2014 ) including developing conceptions of what it means to be a man or a woman ( Greene & Patton, 2020 ), and while there are cross-cultural differences in experience of adolescence, identity development is common ( Gibbons & Poelker, 2019 ). Adolescence can be particularly stressful when the norms of femininity potentially contradict with the norms of gender equality and attempting to balance the two may be additionally difficult.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gender gap in adolescent mental health: A cross-national investigation of 566,829 adolescents across 73 countries

Campbell

Bann

Patalay

2021

SSM - Population Health

157

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Mental ill-health is a leading cause of disease burden worldwide. While women suffer from greater levels of mental health disorders, it remains unclear whether this gender gap differs systematically across regions and/or countries, or across the different dimensions of mental health. We analysed 2018 data from 566,829 adolescents across 73 countries for 4 mental health outcomes: psychological distress, life satisfaction, eudaemonia, and hedonia. We examine average gender differences and distributions for each of these outcomes as well as country-level associations between each outcome and purported determinants at the country level: wealth (GDP per capita), inequality (Gini index), and societal indicators of gender inequality (GII, GGGI, and GSNI). We report four main results: 1) The gender gap in mental health in adolescence is largely ubiquitous cross-culturally, with girls having worse average mental health; 2) There is considerable cross-national heterogeneity in the size of the gender gap, with the direction reversed in a minority of countries; 3) Higher GDP per capita is associated with worse average mental health and a larger gender gap across all mental health outcomes; and 4) more gender equal countries have larger gender gaps across all mental health outcomes. Taken together, our findings suggest that while the gender gap appears largely ubiquitous, its size differs considerably by region, country, and dimension of mental health. Findings point to the hitherto unrealised complex nature of gender disparities in mental health and possible incongruence between expectations and reality in high gender equal countries.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gender gap in adolescent mental health: A cross-national investigation of 566,829 adolescents across 73 countries

Campbell

Bann

Patalay

2021

SSM - Population Health

157

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although psychosocial factors are universally important for understanding adolescent depression, when studying it in different countries, it is important to consider cultural differences because culture impacts the socio-emotional and self-identity development (Gibbons & Poelker, 2019). Specifically, a differential role of individualism versus collectivism has previously been reported in intrapersonal factors, interpersonal relationships and mental health (Oyserman et al, 2002).…”

Section: Cultural Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of parenting, self-compassion and friendships in depressive symptoms among young people in the UK and China

et al. 2021

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Self-compassion, being kind to oneself in difficult times, is a way of relating to oneself that promotes better mental health, but little is known about how self-compassion affects interpersonal relationships. The current study examined the association between self-compassion and adolescent depressive symptoms from an interpersonal perspective in different cultural contexts. Adolescents (N = 422/570, Mean age = 14.44/13.41, UK/China) completed questionnaires about their perceptions of their parents' behaviour towards them, self-compassion, friendships and depressive symptoms. Structural equation modelling revealed that positive parenting was positively associated with higher self-compassion, positive friendship quality, and with fewer depressive symptoms in both samples. Additionally, we confirmed a negative association between self-compassion and depressive symptoms. The pathway from positive parenting to lower depressive symptoms via higher self-compassion was also corroborated in both cultures. Contrary to our hypothesis, positive quality of friendship was associated with higher depressive symptoms in both countries. Conflicts were associated with more depressive symptoms in the Chinese sample only. There was evidence of a negative association between self-compassion and conflicts in the Chinese sample only. Finally, the direct association between self-compassion and depressive symptoms was greater in the UK sample, whereas in the Chinese sample, interpersonal factors were more strongly associated with self-compassion and depressive symptoms. Our findings suggest that self-compassion may be a useful therapeutic target to improve social functioning and mental health among adolescents and that it may be necessary to account for cross-cultural differences in interpersonal factors when designing psychological interventions.

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“…This means early first sex may be more detrimental to mental health if it is more likely to result in sexually transmitted infections or unwanted pregnancies. Mental health services to cope with the consequences of first sex are also limited in LMICs (Gibbons and Poelker 2019;Kieling et al 2011;Patel et al 2007;Thapar et al 2012). For instance, across Latin America, 63% and 73% of individuals with depression and anxiety, respectively, do not receive any mental health treatment (Pan American Health Organization 2013).…”

Section: Age At First Sex and Adult Mental Distressmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research in developed countries finds mixed evidence as to whether an earlier age at first sex is associated with adolescent mental distress (Madkour et al 2010;Meier 2007;Sabia 2006;Wesche et al 2017), but any potential effect appears to attenuate by adulthood in these settings (Epstein et al 2018;Kugler et al 2017;Spriggs and Halpern 2008). We know little, however, about how age at first sex is associated with adult mental health in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), where social norms differ (Gibbons and Luna 2015) and there are limited reproductive and mental health resources to cope with age at first sex and its cascade of consequences (Gibbons and Poelker 2019;Kieling et al 2011;Patel et al 2007;Thapar et al 2012). Further, rates of mental distress are particularly high in LMICs (Lund et al 2010;World Health Organization 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%