Social Connections and Self-Perceived Depression: An Enhanced Model for Studying Teenagers’ Mental Wellbeing

Abstract

The rising prevalence of depression among teenagers in Malaysia as well as globally makes it a vital issue to study. The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of social connection and self-perceived depression towards the improved mental wellbeing of the teenagers of Malaysia. Moreover, the mediating role of self-perceived depression on the improvement of the mental wellbeing of teenagers is examined in this study. This study followed a questionnaire-based approach. The sample of this study included 289 students aged between 15 and 19 years from Klang Valley, Malaysia. Prior permission was obtained from school authorities as well as from parents to allow their children to participate in the survey. To find out the structural relationship between the variables, PLS-SEM was utilized. This study finds that stronger social connections with family and friends may result in reduced self-perceived depression among Malaysian teenagers. Moreover, self-perceived depression among the teenagers surveyed had a negative effect on their improved mental wellbeing. The findings of this study will significantly affect how depression theories are currently understood and have consequences for social work, services, and policy interventions regarding teenagers in Malaysia.

The impact of a virtual mind–body program on symptoms of depression and anxiety among international English‐speaking adults with neurofibromatosis

“…One possibility is that the group‐based format of both interventions was a crucial treatment component: because of the rare nature of NF, participants had perhaps not previously interacted with a group of people who understood and shared their condition and experience. Social connection is associated with improvements in both depression (Leskelä et al, 2006; Sarwar et al, 2022; Scardera et al, 2020) and anxiety (Hart & Hittner, 1991; Rueger et al, 2010; Scardera et al, 2020) and social support improvements have been shown to mediate the effects of psychosocial treatments even for individual therapy (Dour et al, 2014).…”