[Health promoting actions in schools can support young people's mental and physical health]. / 5 insatser som kan bryta ohälsotrenden hos unga.

In their latest survey from 2017/18, the Public Health Agency in Sweden reported an increase in multiple mental health complaints among children and adolescents. The study is part of a collaborative WHO project that started in 1985/86 and collects data every four years. With this background, a working group was commissioned by the Swedish Medical Association to identify areas for improvement within the school system and to work out proposals for effective interventions. In this report, we summarize research data on evidence-based knowledge within five areas. How to promote daily physical activity at school to enhance wellbeing and cognitive abilities; how to balance time on the internet; what is known about school-based intervention programs to promote mental health; the need to adapt knowledge requirements in the national curriculum to children's development and cognitive abilities, and to describe specific risk groups for impaired mental health. Finally, we describe competence-enhancing initiatives and emphasize the need for collaboration between school health, child and adolescent mental health services, pediatrics and the social services.

Compositional characteristics of neighbourhoods and of schools as correlates of youths' mental health: A cross-sectional study among Swedish adolescents.

AIMS: The study aimed to analyse the association between neighbourhood- and school-level socio-demographic factors and self-reported mental health among adolescents. METHODS: The study population consisted of 3959 adolescents in southern and central Sweden (the KUPOL study), surveyed in the seventh grade (13 years old) and again in the ninth grade (15 years old). Cross-sectional associations were studied between socio-demographic indicators at neighbourhood level (proportion of adults with high education, without employment, of foreign-born residents) and at school level (proportion of students with at least one parent with high education, of students with a foreign background, mean qualification points in ninth grade) and mental health problems. These were assessed through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). We derived odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) of scale scores above the threshold using multilevel logistic regression models. RESULTS: After adjustment for individual- and family-level socio-demographic factors, there was an indication of higher OR of mental health problems with increasing proportions of foreign-born and residents without employment, especially among girls and in public schools. Stronger associations in the expected direction were found with the internalising subscale. Socio-demographic factors at the school level were not associated with adolescents' mental health, except in private schools, where increasing proportions of students with highly educated parents were significantly associated with SDQ scores under the threshold (OR=0.91; 95% CI 0.85-0.97). CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that equal living conditions may represent important cues to improve the mental health of adolescents. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine any causality.