Emotional problems among adolescents from Finnish upper secondary school : The role of Immigrant Background and Educational Trajectories
Mahat, Nirupa (2022)
Mahat, Nirupa
2022
Master's Programme in Public and Global Health
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2022-12-14
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202212139152
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202212139152
Tiivistelmä
Background: Emotional problems such as anxiety and depression are among the leading cause of illness and disability in adolescents. It is a growing public health concern worldwide. Adolescence is crucial and sensitive developmental period, any exposure to risk factors such as migration, socioeconomic problems, and academic pressure during this period can contrib-ute to stress. Consequently, this increases the risk for mental health conditions and may have long-term impacts on adult life. The population of immigrants is growing in Finland, and re-search on immigrant adolescents' mental health is scarce. In addition, there has been a very little detailed investigation into the impact of educational trajectories on emotional problems.
Aims: The first aim of the current study was to examine the prevalence of emotional problems in adolescents from Finnish upper secondary schools. The second aim was to explore the as-sociation between emotional problems and background of adolescents (native versus immi-grant background), and educational trajectories (general upper secondary school versus voca-tional school).
Methods: This research utilized the Metropolitan Longitudinal Finland (MetLoFin) data, gathered in 2016 from second-year students from general upper secondary and vocational schools (N= 6925) in 14 municipalities in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. The emotional problem was meas-ured as an outcome variable using the SDQ Questionnaire. SDQ emotional symptoms subscale cut-off point was used to identify adolescents at high risk for emotional problems. The SDQ emotional symptoms subscale sum score was divided into two categories: low-risk score 1-6 (symptoms below the cut-off point) and high-risk score 7-10 (symptoms above the cut-off point) based on predefined cut-off values. The data were analyzed with quantitative methods using IBM SPSS-statistics Data Editor 27.0 analysis software. The statistical methods used were cross-tabulation with the Chi-Square test (X2) and binary logistic regression analysis. The binary logistic regression model was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and their 95% confi-dence intervals (CI) for the association between emotional problems and adolescents' back-ground information and educational trajectories. Regression analyses were adjusted for gender and parents' level of education.
Results: Among 6926 adolescents, 11% of adolescents were categorized as high risk for emo-tional problems based on scores above the SDQ cut-off point. The significant difference in the prevalence of high emotional symptoms score was found by the background of adolescents and educational trajectories. 11.7% of native origin versus 7.6% of immigrant adolescents re-ported a high risk for emotional symptoms. In terms of educational trajectories, native girls and boys, and immigrant girls reported high emotional problems in vocational school compared to general upper secondary school. An exception was immigrant boys with fewer emotional symp-toms in the vocational school. In addition, immigrant boys reported slightly high emotional problems than native boys in general upper secondary school. A strong association with emo-tional problems was held for the background of adolescents, educational trajectories, and gender when considering them jointly in the logistic regression models. Adolescents from vo-cational school and girls were found to be associated with higher odds of having emotional problems (school types: adjusted OR 1.426, 95%CI 1.206-1.687; gender: adjusted OR 3.352, 95%CI 2.810-3.999) respectively. Being an immigrant, against expectations, was associated with a lower probability of emotional problems (OR 0.553, 95%CI 0.390-0.786).
Conclusion: Overall, the prevalence of emotional problems in adolescents from Finnish upper secondary school was lower than could have been expected from the literature. Among the high-risk group, the prevalence of emotional problems varied by the background of partici-pants, educational trajectories, and gender. Immigrant adolescents reported fewer emotional problems than natives. And adolescents from vocational school were likely to have more emo-tional problems than general upper secondary school. Gender differences were prevalent in the data. This study´s results contribute to the growing body of evidence that girls and adolescents from vocational school are at higher risk of developing mental disorders. The lower reported emotional symptoms in boys might be due to a lack of awareness of mental health issues and in immigrant adolescents because of mental health stigma while. The knowledge gained from this study may be of assistance to decision-makers to formulate policies to improve school well-being and strengthen the provision of mental health services.
Aims: The first aim of the current study was to examine the prevalence of emotional problems in adolescents from Finnish upper secondary schools. The second aim was to explore the as-sociation between emotional problems and background of adolescents (native versus immi-grant background), and educational trajectories (general upper secondary school versus voca-tional school).
Methods: This research utilized the Metropolitan Longitudinal Finland (MetLoFin) data, gathered in 2016 from second-year students from general upper secondary and vocational schools (N= 6925) in 14 municipalities in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. The emotional problem was meas-ured as an outcome variable using the SDQ Questionnaire. SDQ emotional symptoms subscale cut-off point was used to identify adolescents at high risk for emotional problems. The SDQ emotional symptoms subscale sum score was divided into two categories: low-risk score 1-6 (symptoms below the cut-off point) and high-risk score 7-10 (symptoms above the cut-off point) based on predefined cut-off values. The data were analyzed with quantitative methods using IBM SPSS-statistics Data Editor 27.0 analysis software. The statistical methods used were cross-tabulation with the Chi-Square test (X2) and binary logistic regression analysis. The binary logistic regression model was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and their 95% confi-dence intervals (CI) for the association between emotional problems and adolescents' back-ground information and educational trajectories. Regression analyses were adjusted for gender and parents' level of education.
Results: Among 6926 adolescents, 11% of adolescents were categorized as high risk for emo-tional problems based on scores above the SDQ cut-off point. The significant difference in the prevalence of high emotional symptoms score was found by the background of adolescents and educational trajectories. 11.7% of native origin versus 7.6% of immigrant adolescents re-ported a high risk for emotional symptoms. In terms of educational trajectories, native girls and boys, and immigrant girls reported high emotional problems in vocational school compared to general upper secondary school. An exception was immigrant boys with fewer emotional symp-toms in the vocational school. In addition, immigrant boys reported slightly high emotional problems than native boys in general upper secondary school. A strong association with emo-tional problems was held for the background of adolescents, educational trajectories, and gender when considering them jointly in the logistic regression models. Adolescents from vo-cational school and girls were found to be associated with higher odds of having emotional problems (school types: adjusted OR 1.426, 95%CI 1.206-1.687; gender: adjusted OR 3.352, 95%CI 2.810-3.999) respectively. Being an immigrant, against expectations, was associated with a lower probability of emotional problems (OR 0.553, 95%CI 0.390-0.786).
Conclusion: Overall, the prevalence of emotional problems in adolescents from Finnish upper secondary school was lower than could have been expected from the literature. Among the high-risk group, the prevalence of emotional problems varied by the background of partici-pants, educational trajectories, and gender. Immigrant adolescents reported fewer emotional problems than natives. And adolescents from vocational school were likely to have more emo-tional problems than general upper secondary school. Gender differences were prevalent in the data. This study´s results contribute to the growing body of evidence that girls and adolescents from vocational school are at higher risk of developing mental disorders. The lower reported emotional symptoms in boys might be due to a lack of awareness of mental health issues and in immigrant adolescents because of mental health stigma while. The knowledge gained from this study may be of assistance to decision-makers to formulate policies to improve school well-being and strengthen the provision of mental health services.