Trends in Socioeconomic Inequalities in Norwegian Adolescents’ Mental Health From 2014 to 2018: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Adolescents' mental health, and its consistent relationship with their socioeconomic background, is a concern that should drive education, health, and employment policies. However, information about this relationship on a national scale is limited. We explore national overall trends and investigate possible socioeconomic disparities in adolescents' mental health, including psychological distress and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness in Norway during the period 2014-2018. Methods: The present study builds on data retrieved from five waves of the national cross-sectional Ungdata survey (2014-2018). In total 136,525 upper secondary school students (52% girls) completed the questionnaire during the study period. Trends in socioeconomic inequalities were assessed using the Slope Index of Inequality (SII) and the Relative Index of Inequality (RII). Results: The prevalence of students with moderate to high symptoms score and mean symptoms scores of psychological distress (in terms of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness) increased among girls and boys during 2014-2018, with girls showing higher rates. Our results suggest distinct, but stable, inequalities between socioeconomic groups, both in absolute and relative terms, among girls and boys during the study period. Conclusion: Rising rates of adolescents' psychological distress, particularly among girls, may have long-term consequences for individuals involved and the society as a whole. Future studies should investigate the causes of these results. We did not find evidence of any change in inequalities in adolescents' mental health between socioeconomic groups, suggesting current strategies are not sufficiently addressing mental health inequalities in the adolescent population and therefore a significant need for research and public health efforts.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown on Mental Well-Being of Norwegian Adolescents During the First Wave—Socioeconomic Position and Gender Differences

“…According to Van Lancker and Parolin (60) the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to amplify inequalities related to SEP and differences related to pre-existing vulnerabilities. In line with previous findings (11,13,15,16), we found higher rates of high quality of life and life satisfaction among the most advantaged socioeconomic group, and higher rates of depressive symptoms and loneliness among the least advantaged. However, we did not find any proof of that these well-known inequalities have changed substantially during the lockdown.…”

Loneliness and Depression among Polish High-School Students

“…Likewise, the frequency of high anxiety symptom scores increased to 42% in girls and 17% in boys. Severe loneliness was noted in 15% of girls and 9% of boys [ 44 ].…”

Demographic, gadget and internet profiles as determinants of disease and consequence related COVID-19 anxiety among Filipino college students

“…Disparities in mental health outcomes in a society are influenced by social inequality. Multiple studies link social background and anxiety among students (Lederer et al, 2020;Myhr et al, 2020;Shadmi et al, 2020). More specifically, COVID-19 related anxiety has been associated with demographic variables such as age (Moghanibashi-Mansourieh, 2020;Shevlin et al, 2020;Solomou & Constantinidou, 2020;Tee et al, 2020), gender (Hou et al, 2020;McElroy et al, 2020;Tee et al, 2020), and economic status (Ettman et al, 2020;Poudel & Subedi, 2020;Wang & Tang, 2020).…”