Disparities in mental health among adolescents with and without impairments
2015 (English)In: Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, ISSN 1403-4948, E-ISSN 1651-1905, Vol. 43, no 7, p. 728-735Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Aim: To analyse whether there are differences in mental health among adolescents with and without various kinds of impairments, taking into account the number of impairments and gender.
Methods: Data from the study Life & Health - Young People conducted in a Swedish county in 2011 was used. The survey included all students in grades 7 (13-14 years) and 9 (15-16 years) in compulsory school and grade 2 (17-18 years) in upper secondary school; there were 7793 respondents (81.0%). The students answered a questionnaire anonymously during school hours. Various measures of mental health were assessed in the groups: hard of hearing, visual impairment, motor impairment, difficulties in reading/writing/dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactive disorder/attention deficit disorder, other impairment, no impairment.
Results: Of the studied impairments, difficulties in reading/writing/dyslexia are the most common (6.3%), followed by hard of hearing (5.4%). To have at least one impairment is more common among boys (18.2%) than girls (15.4%). In the impairment group, 21.5% have multiple impairments. Adolescents with impairments have worse mental health than those without, and those with multiple impairments have particularly higher odds ratio to have worse mental health. There are also differences in mental health between number and various kinds of impairments and between girls and boys.
Conclusion: Adolescents with impairments, particularly girls and those with multiple impairments, have considerably worse mental health than others. These inequalities in health are an immense challenge, not only for those directly involved with the impaired: they affect everyone involved with the goal health equity for the whole population.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2015. Vol. 43, no 7, p. 728-735
Keywords [en]
Adolescents, impairment, disability, mental health, gender, logistic regression
National Category
Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine
Research subject
Public health
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-46166DOI: 10.1177/1403494815589219ISI: 000361768900008PubMedID: 26229072Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84942091202OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-46166DiVA, id: diva2:862015
Note
Funding Agencies:
Region Örebro County, Sweden
Mayflower Charity Foundation for Children, Sweden
2015-10-202015-10-192025-02-20Bibliographically approved