Changes in adolescents mental health and use of alcohol and tobacco: a 10-year time-trend study of Finnish adolescents

Abstract

The present study examines the 10-year time-trend changes of adolescent psychiatric symptoms, smoking and alcohol use. Representative population-based samples with same methods at two time-points, same age range and with 10-year period between the time points were gathered in Finland to investigate secular changes in adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems. Seventh and ninth grade students filled in the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and questions regarding alcohol use and smoking anonymously during a school lesson in 1998 (n = 1458) and 2008 (n = 1569). The self-reports of SDQ showed substantial stability in emotional and behavioral problems from 1998 to 2008. There was no increase between the two timepoints in self-reports of SDQ total, conduct, hyperactivity, emotional or peer problems when using the 90th percentile clinical cut-off points. However, there was a trend showing decreasing prosocial behavior among girls indicating that proportions of adolescent boys and girls having problems in prosocial behavior have converged, The self-reported alcohol use, drunkenness and cigarette smoking decreased within the 10-year time period. Of alcohol use, the number of non-users increased from 44 to 63 % between the years 1998 and 2008. Similarly, the proportion of non-smokers increased from 56 to 68 %. Although rates of substance use declined within the 10-year study period, drunkenness-oriented alcohol use and regular smoking are still prevalent among Finnish adolescents.

Eight-year incidence of psychiatric disorders and service use from adolescence to early adulthood: longitudinal follow-up of the Mexican Adolescent Mental Health Survey

“…One plausible explanation is that this generation of youth is more affected than earlier generations. There is contradictory evidence in the international literature regarding whether younger cohorts are more affected than earlier generations [1,[27][28][29]. Even if true, it is not likely to explain the full magnitude of these differences.…”

Trends in adolescent alcohol use in the Netherlands, 1992–2015: Differences across sociodemographic groups and links with strict parental rule-setting

“…Since the early 1990s, alcohol use has increased considerably in most developed countries (Bauman & Phongsavan, 1999). Many countries also noted a decreasing trend in adolescent alcohol use since the beginning of the 21st century (EMCDDA & ESPAD, 2016;Kristjansson et al, 2010;Lai & Habicht, 2011;Livingston, 2014;Norström & Svensson, 2014;Sigfúsdóttir et al, 2008;Sourander et al, 2012;, although the size of the decline in the Netherlands appears to be one of the most dramatic ones. Thus, explanations for the observed trends in the Netherlands are likely to include both factors specific to the Dutch context and factors that are more internationally applicable.…”

“…A promising development is the declining trend in adolescent alcohol use since the beginning of the 21st century that has been reported in many countries, including Australia (Livingston, 2014), Estonia (Lai & Habicht, 2011), Finland (Sourander et al, 2012), Iceland (Sigfúsdóttir, Kristjansson,Thorlindsson, & Allegrante, 2008), and Sweden (Norström & Svensson, 2014). To date, systematic trend analyses of adolescent alcohol use in the Netherlands have been lacking from the literature.…”

Ten-year trends in adolescents’ self-reported emotional and behavioral problems in the Netherlands

“…In contrast, other studies reported slightly decreased population levels of behavioral problems [35] or both (slightly) decreased emotional and behavioral population levels [2,23] over time. Furthermore, some time-trend studies found stable population levels of emotional and behavioral problems [31,40,41]. Although the former might roughly suggest that levels of emotional problems have increased during the last decades whereas this may not be the case for behavioral problems the findings of previous research are somewhat inconsistent.…”