Health complaints among adolescents in Norway: A twenty-year perspective on trends

Abstract

PurposeExamine time trends in health complaints among adolescents in Norway between 1994 and 2014 and among population subgroups, e.g., age and gender, as well as their interactions.MethodsNorwegian data on 11-16-year-olds were drawn from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey (HBSC) and analyzed for 1994 (n = 4,952), 1998 (n = 5,026), 2002 (n = 5,023), 2006 (n = 4,711), 2010 (n = 4,342) and 2014 (n = 3,422). Design adjusted linear regression that accounts for clustering effects was used to examine mean scores of two subscales of the HBSC-symptom checklist: psychological and somatic health complaints.ResultsPsychological and somatic health complaints among adolescents in Norway followed somewhat different trajectories, but the mean scores of both types of health complaints appeared to increase during the 20-year period. For psychological health complaints, there was a three-way interaction between age, gender and time, indicating that increasing trends in health complaints depended on both age and gender, in which older adolescent girls had a greater increase over time relative to younger adolescents and boys.ConclusionsFindings from this study, together with earlier findings, suggest that there has been an increasing trend in health complaints among adolescents in Norway from 1994 to 2014, especially among older adolescent girls. Future research should examine if trends in health complaints also depend on gender and age in other contexts. This will help the planning and implementation of tailored and effective interventions.

Time trends in adolescent mental well-being in Czechia between 2002 and 2018: Gender, age and socio-economic differences

“…These results do not follow previous ndings which indicated that the decline in mental well-being is slightly stronger for older adolescents compared to younger ones [5,11]. In Norway, an increasing trend in health complaints among adolescents from 1994 to 2014 was found, especially among older adolescent girls [11]. In Sweden the increase over time in psychological complaints (1985 to 2005) was seen in older adolescents (boys and girls), whereas no signi cant change was seen in the youngest groups (11-year olds) [14].…”

“…Furthermore, previous research argued that interaction of mental health outcomes and sociodemographic characteristics as gender, age and socio-economic status showed a large cross-national variability (e.g., [36]), which may explain why the changes in associations over time were less emphasized in Czechia. These results do not follow previous ndings which indicated that the decline in mental well-being is slightly stronger for older adolescents compared to younger ones [5,11]. In Norway, an increasing trend in health complaints among adolescents from 1994 to 2014 was found, especially among older adolescent girls [11].…”

“…However, the ndings reporting trends in adolescent mental well-being are rather mixed. A considerable number of studies found increasing time trends in mental health problems, especially internalizing problems, among adolescents in many Western countries including United Kingdom [8][9][10]; Norway [11,12]; Scotland [13]; Sweden [14,15]; or Finland [16]. However, other studies exploring trends in adolescent mental well-being found rather a stable [17] or a decreasing trend [18] while others demonstrated either increase or decrease in mental well-being [19].…”

Divorce and Family Structure in Norway: Associations With Adolescent Mental Health

“…among 15-year-olds rose from 21.8 % to 32.5% from 1994 to 2010. 220 The rise in health complaints appears to be more evident among older adolescent girls, 224 who also in general tend to report higher levels of health complaints than boys. [225][226][227][228] Health complaints have been linked to negative outcomes such as school absence and lower educational attainment among youth and young adults, 229,230 and to be a strong predictor of work absenteeism in adults.…”

Basic trends in behavioral health risks

“…Health of coming generations still tends to deteriorate and requires immediate attention given to it by the overall society [1][2][3][4][5][6][7].…”