An innovative approach to study the interaction between psychosocial profile and school drop-out

Abstract

Adolescence is a transitional period from childhood to adulthood in which adolescents experienced physical, psychological, emotional, and social changes. It is both the healthiest period of the lifespan with respect to measurable parameters of psychophysical health, but at the same time, about half of the mental health problems in adults are estimated to have their onset during this critical time window. Although improving health and well-being of adolescents is a prominent global theme, health policies have responded in a one way approach, that is to evaluating only rates of diseases or negative health behaviours, such as addiction. To our knowledge, it is not available an integrated framework for psychosocial monitoring in youth that encompasses different dimensions of health in relationship with addiction vulnerability. Here, thanks to our experimental evidence collected in adolescents, we suggest a new approach in the field of mental health and prevention and treatment of substance use and abuse.

The Impact of Unhealthy Behaviors on Personalized Well-Being Index in a Sample of School Dropout Adolescents

“…This index is based on the relationship between the different weights of the variables belonging to the three dimensions, lifestyle, emotional status, and social context, including subjective information on the state of health based on the individual perception of health, from social to psychological. The PWBI, already developed on a different class of adolescents (10–14 years) as described in Mastorci and colleagues, is here enriched with risk behaviors in order to understand how and if they interfere with well-being [ 9 , 30 ]. Our results, showing a relationship between the index and certain risk behaviors, in particular eating disorders and substance abuse, show how these deviant behaviors have a negative impact, not on individual dimensions, but on the integration between them.…”

Gender Differences for Health Indicators in a Sample of School Dropout Adolescents: A Pilot Study

“…A ground-breaking characteristic of this index is its integrated feature, because the analysis is based on the relationships among the different weights of the variables belonging to the three dimensions, i.e., lifestyle, emotional status, and social context, as well as the role of risk behavior in the modulation of them. This index, which includes subjective information about health status based on individual perceptions of health including social and psychological perspectives, was already developed for a different class of adolescents (10-14 years) by Mastorci and colleagues; we enriched this index with risk behaviors in order to understand how and if they interfere with well-being in order to develop potential preventive strategies [19,20].…”