Trends over Time in Adolescent Emotional Wellbeing in the Netherlands, 2005-2017: Links with Perceived Schoolwork Pressure, Parent-Adolescent Communication and Bullying Victimization.

In some Scandinavian countries, the United Kingdom and the United States, there is evidence of a dramatic decline in adolescent emotional wellbeing, particularly among girls. It is not clear to what extent this decline can be generalised to other high-income countries. This study examines trends over time (2005-2009-2013-2017) in adolescent wellbeing in the Netherlands, a country where young people have consistently reported one of the highest levels of wellbeing across Europe. It also assesses parallel changes over time in perceived schoolwork pressure, parent-adolescent communication, and bullying victimization. Data were derived from four waves of the nationally representative, cross-sectional Dutch Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study (N = 21,901; 49% girls; Mage = 13.78, SD = 1.25). Trends in emotional wellbeing (i.e., emotional symptoms, psychosomatic complaints, life satisfaction) were assessed by means of multiple regression analyses with survey year as a predictor, controlling for background variables. Emotional wellbeing slightly declined among adolescent boys and girls between 2009 and 2013. A substantial increase in perceived schoolwork pressure was associated with this decline in emotional wellbeing. Improved parent-adolescent communication and a decline in bullying victimization may explain why emotional wellbeing remained stable between 2013 and 2017, in spite of a further increase in schoolwork pressure. Associations between emotional wellbeing on the one hand and perceived schoolwork pressure, parent-adolescent communication, and bullying victimization on the other were stronger for girls than for boys. Overall, although increasing schoolwork pressure may be one of the drivers of declining emotional wellbeing in adolescents, in the Netherlands this negative trend was buffered by increasing support by parents and peers. Cross-national research into this topic is warranted to examine the extent to which these findings can be generalised to other high-income countries.

Immigration background and adolescent mental health problems: the role of family affluence, adolescent educational level and gender.

PURPOSE: European studies demonstrated that immigrant adolescents are at a higher risk for mental health problems than native adolescents, but little is known about the role of socioeconomic status (SES) and gender in this association. This study examined to what extent differences in the mental health problems of non-western immigrant and native Dutch adolescents were explained by adolescents' family affluence and educational level and differed with the adolescents' family affluence, educational level, and gender. METHODS: Adolescents in a Dutch nationally representative sample of 11-16-year old native Dutch (n = 5283) and non-western immigrants (n = 1054) reported on their family affluence, own educational level, conduct problems, emotional symptoms, peer relationship problems, and hyperactivity-inattention problems. RESULTS: Non-western immigrant adolescents were at a higher risk for conduct problems and peer relationship problems than native Dutch adolescents, but family affluence and educational level explained only a very small proportion of these differences. With two exceptions, differences in the mental health problems of non-western immigrants and natives were highly comparable for different family affluence levels, educational levels, and for boys and girls. Only for natives, a higher family SES was related to less conduct problems. Furthermore, only for non-western immigrants a high family SES related to more hyperactivity-inattention problems. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings illustrate that the association between immigration background and adolescent mental health problems is largely independent of SES and gender. Future studies should include other factors to facilitate our understanding of the association between immigration background and adolescent mental health problems.

Revising the self-report strengths and difficulties questionnaire for cross-country comparisons of adolescent mental health problems: the SDQ-R.

AIMS: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been used in many epidemiological studies to assess adolescent mental health problems, but cross-country comparisons of the self-report SDQ are scarce and so far failed to find a good-fitting, common, invariant measurement model across countries. The present study aims to evaluate and establish a version of the self-report SDQ that allows for a valid cross-country comparison of adolescent self-reported mental health problems. METHODS: Using the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study, the measurement model and measurement invariance of the 20 items of the self-report SDQ measuring adolescent mental health problems were evaluated. Nationally representative samples of 11-, 13- and 15-year old adolescents (n = 33 233) from seven countries of different regions in Europe (Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia) were used. RESULTS: In order to establish a good-fitting and common measurement model, the five reverse worded items of the self-report SDQ had to be removed. Using this revised version of the self-report SDQ, the SDQ-R, partial measurement invariance was established, indicating that latent factor means assessing conduct problems, emotional symptoms, peer relationships problems and hyperactivity-inattention problems could be validly compared across the countries in this study. Results showed that adolescents in Greece scored relatively low on almost all problem subscales, whereas adolescents in Poland scored relatively high on almost all problem subscales. Adolescents in the Netherlands reported the most divergent profile of mental health problems with the lowest levels of conduct problems, low levels of emotional symptoms and peer relationship problems, but the highest levels of hyperactivity-inattention problems. CONCLUSIONS: With six factor loadings being non-invariant, partial measurement invariance was established, indicating that the 15-item SDQ-R could be used in our cross-country comparison of adolescent mental health problems. To move the field of internationally comparative research on adolescent mental health forward, studies should test the applicability of the SDQ-R in other countries in- and outside Europe, continue to develop the SDQ-R as a cross-country invariant measure of adolescent mental health, and examine explanations for the found country differences in adolescent mental health problems.