Deterioration Is Not the Only Prospect for Adolescents’ Health: Improvement in Self-reported Health Status among Boys and Girls from Age 15 to Age 19 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Sex differences in health at ages 11, 13 and 15
Social Science & Medicine, 2003
This paper tests the hypothesis of an emerging or increasing female excess in general ill-health and physical symptoms, as well as psychological distress, during early to mid-adolescence. Self-reported data on general health (longstanding illness and health in the last 12 months), recent symptoms (classified as 'physical' and 'malaise') and depressive mood were obtained from a large, Scottish, school-based cohort at ages 11, 13 and 15. Generally high levels of health problems at age 11 tended to increase with age, these increases being greater for females than males, not only in respect of depression and 'malaise' symptoms, but also limiting illness, 'poor' self-rated health, headaches, stomach problems and dizziness. The consequence, by age 15, is the emergence of a female excess in general ill-health and depressive mood, and a substantial strengthening of the small excess in both 'physical' and 'malaise' symptoms already apparent at 11 years. These findings are discussed in relation to explanations for the adult female excess in poorer health, and the emergence of a female excess of depression during adolescence. r
Gender differences in health-related quality of life among Estonian adolescents: a 6-month follow-up
Acta Kinesiologiae Universitatis Tartuensis, 2012
This study aimed to determine the differences between boys and girls in the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its domains of physical health, emotional-, social-, and school-related functioning over a six-month period. Six hundred and forty seven Estonian secondary school students participated in the study, of whom 401 (177 boys and 224 girls; age 13.60±0.63 years) filled in the HRQoL questionnaire (PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales) on three occasions: baseline, 3-month, and 6-month follow-ups. To analyse the changes in HRQoL among boys and girls over a six-month period, repeated measures ANOVA was performed. The results revealed that boys scored significantly higher compared to girls on emotional functioning at all three time points over a six-month period. As for total score of HRQoL, and physical and psychosocial health, boys scored significantly higher than girls only on the first and second measurements. No significant changes in total score of HRQoL as well as its domains were followed in boys or girls between baseline, 3-month, and 6-month follow-ups. The lower perceptions of total score of HRQoL as well as its domains of physical health, emotional functioning, and psychosocial health among girls in Estonia over a six month period support the findings of previous longitudinal studies.
Gender difference in the change of adolescents’ mental health and subjective wellbeing trajectories
European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2022
Gender differences in adolescents' mental health problems have been extensively reported. Yet, there is limited research in exploring longitudinal trends in mental health and wellbeing between boys and girls. This study investigated any emerging developmental trends of gender differences in mental health problems and subjective wellbeing for young people from early to mid-adolescence in England. A longitudinal group of 8612 young people's mental health and subjective wellbeing trajectories were investigated between the period of ages 11/12 and 13/14. Mental health difficulties and subjective wellbeing were measured using the child self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Short Warwick and Edinburgh Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS), respectively. Any gender difference in the change of adolescents' mental health and subjective wellbeing over 3 year period were estimated using multi-level regression while accounting for various sociodemographic and resilience factors. Young people are at increased risk of mental health problems between the ages of 11 and 14, particularly girls. The overall difficulty levels reported by girls were significantly higher than boys across a range of mental health problems and subjective wellbeing. These developmental trends persisted after controlling for a broad range of potential confounders. Young people has shown clear signs of mental distress as they get older. This escalation was particularly evident among girls. Distress can come at the time of significant physical, emotional, and social changes in an adolescents' life, and can be heightened during secondary school transition. This evidence highlights the importance of early intervention to reduce risk of distress. Keywords Mental health and wellbeing • Children and young people • Longitudinal analysis
Self-perceived health among adolescents: the role of gender and psychosocial factors
European Journal of Pediatrics, 2007
Since adolescents' psychosocial health problems may have major implications for adult morbidity and mortality, investigating their self-perceived health deserves priority. In the lack of limiting illness, psychosocial health variables, e.g., psychosomatic health complaints or health behaviors, play a decisive role in determining adolescents' self-perceived health. Using data on adolescents from Szeged, Hungary (n=1,114), we examined the relationship between adolescents' self-perceived health and a set of psychosocial health status measurements. Findings show that psychosomatic and depressive symptoms contributed significantly to adolescents' poor/fair perceptions of health. Findings also support the relationship between health behaviors and adolescents' self-perceived health. Among boys, drug use and the lack of physical activity are significant predictors. Among girls, smoking may act in a similar way. Diet control is significant in both cases. Besides academic achievement, SES self-assessment and non-intact family status are strong contributes to health perception. Overall, findings show that psychosocial health variables are important influences on adolescents' selfperceived health.
Girls growing through adolescence have a higher risk of poor health
Quality of Life Research, 2006
Introduction: Self rated health, in adult population, is strongly associated with mortality and life expectancy. In younger people this association is less evident, but it may anticipate a similar risk in adult life. Our research, based on the HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children) International collaboration, contributes to deepen the knowledge in this field by monitoring adolescents' health through a multinational survey involving 29 European countries, plus North America (Canada and USA) and Israel. Methods: Following an established methodology, the HBSC survey has elaborated a questionnaire on health and health behaviour, filled in by a representative national sample of 11-, 13-and 15-year-old boys and girls. The sample is constituted of more than 160,000 subjects interviewed during the 2001/2002 survey. Reported symptoms and self-rated health have been analysed by sex and age and through the different countries. Results: Girls resulted to have a poorer perception of their health, with respect to males, at all ages and in all countries (Overall OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.66-1.76). Age increases this risk both for males and females, with an average increase of 32% (95% CI: 29-34%) per year in the age-range 11-15. The situation is similar for reported symptoms, with an overall OR of 1.81 (95% CI: 1.77-1.85) for females of reporting three or more symptoms at least once a week; also this risk increases of 26% (95% CI: 24-27%) per year during the pre-adolescence phase. In both cases it could be shown a significant interaction effect between age and gender: OR = 1.19 (CI: 1.15-1.23) for perceived health and OR = 1.26 (CI: 1.23-1.29) for reported symptoms in females with respect to males. Conclusions: Even if adolescence is described as the healthiest period of life, a consistent minority of young people perceive and report a poor health and a high number of symptoms. Females are constantly in a worse position than males and older age groups are worse than younger ones.
Health status among young people in Slovakia: comparisons on the basis of age, gender and education
Social Science & Medicine, 2005
This study examines the health status of young people in Slovakia. Six subjective health indicators (self-rated health, long-standing illness, vitality, mental health, long-term well-being over the last year and occurrence of health complaints during the previous month) were used to assess the health status of three age groups: first grade secondary school students (mean age 15.9 years), third grade students (mean age 17.8 years) and secondary school leavers (mean age 19.6 years). Females rated their health worse than males on all six indicators (most of these differences were statistically significant). For males, younger age was associated with better self-rated health, less long-standing illness and higher levels of long-term well-being during the previous year. For females, the age differences were more complicated: third grade females reported significantly worse health status in terms of vitality, long-standing illness and number of health complaints than the other two age groups. An analysis of health status by educational level (attendance at or completion of grammar, technical or apprentice school), revealed that grammar school third grade females reported worse health than all other respondents on all six indicators. The third grade of grammar school in Slovakia puts particular stresses on students and, since it has been suggested that females may react more negatively than males to stressful events, this may contribute to their more negative self reports. r
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 2002
To examine the concurrent and longitudinal relations between gender, self-assessed health (SAH), and depressive symptoms among adolescents. Method: Two measures of SAH (physical symptom reports and global health ratings) and a measure of depression were completed on two occasions over two years by 232 adolescent boys and girls. Results: Physical symptom reports were related to depressive symptoms both concurrently and longitudinally. Longitudinal path analysis revealed a significant path from gender to physical symptom reports (Wave 1) to depressive symptoms (Wave 2). Although global health ratings were related to depressive symptoms concurrently, the prospective relation was not significant in the cross-lagged path model. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the development of poorer SAH, particularly the perception of physical symptoms, may place adolescent girls at risk for subsequent depressive symptoms. Potential mechanisms for the SAH-depression relationship are discussed.
Social Science & Medicine, 2006
The cross-national consistency and variation of gender differences in subjective health complaints was examined in a sample of 125732 11-to 15-year-olds from 29 European and North American countries, participating in the WHO collaborative study 'Health behaviour in school-aged children (HBSC) 1997/98'. Health complaints were measured with the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Symptom Checklist. Gender differences in health complaints were analysed through multilevel logistic regression analysis. The results indicated a very robust pattern of increasing gender differences across age, with 15-year-old girls as a group at increased risk for health complaints across all countries. The magnitude of gender differences varied across countries, with some countries showing a consistently strong gender difference across age group and different health complaints, and other countries showing a consistently weak gender difference. The gender difference in health complaints was stronger in countries with a low gender development index score. The findings underscore the need to incorporate socio-contextual factors in the study of gender health inequalities during adolescence. r
2020
Aim To assess changes in the mental and physical health of adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19. Methods The study included a four-year follow-up of 844 students from 31 secondary schools located in Košice, Slovakia (response rate 45.6%). The 36-item short form (SF-36) scales were used to assess vitality and mental health, self-rated health, long-term well-being, longstanding illness, and the number of perceived health complaints at the age of 15 and four years later. Results Both boys and girls reported significant deterioration in vitality (mean difference boys 5.3; girls 3.3; P = 0.001) and mental health (mean difference boys 7.7; girls 5.7; P = 0.001), while only boys reported deterioration in self-rated health (P = 0.047). The proportion of boys who reported an improvement ranged from 8%-40%, while the proportion of girls who reported an improvement ranged from 8%-45%. Significantly more girls than boys reported an improvement in mental health (27% of boys vs 34% of girls)...