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The Importance of Developmental Assets to Mental Health in Norwegian Youth

In the present study, we examined the importance of developmental assets to prolonged sadness (i.e., being sad most of the time or all the time for no reason in the last month) and suicide attempt. Cross–sectional data on items measuring developmental assets as well as prolonged sadness and suicide...

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Autores principales: Wiium, Nora, Beck, Marianne, Ferrer-Wreder, Laura
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8316918/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34335403
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.687537
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author Wiium, Nora
Beck, Marianne
Ferrer-Wreder, Laura
author_facet Wiium, Nora
Beck, Marianne
Ferrer-Wreder, Laura
author_sort Wiium, Nora
collection PubMed
description In the present study, we examined the importance of developmental assets to prolonged sadness (i.e., being sad most of the time or all the time for no reason in the last month) and suicide attempt. Cross–sectional data on items measuring developmental assets as well as prolonged sadness and suicide attempt were collected from high school students in Norway (N = 591, 55% girls). The findings from independent t–tests indicated that youth with poor mental health reported less developmental assets relative to their peers who did not report such problems. In logistic regression, asset categories, such as Positive identity and Personal assets, were significantly associated with poor mental health (especially prolonged sadness) after adjusting for other asset categories and demographic factors, such as age, sex, and parents' educational background. The influence of Empowerment and Family assets, which was significant when only the assets were assessed, was no longer significant when demographic variables were also considered. While more research on factors that can promote youth mental health is needed, our findings suggest that policies and programmes that ensure that youth have access to the necessary developmental resources and opportunities may also be empowering youth, enhancing their mental health, and consequently, facilitating their active involvement in their community.
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spelling pubmed-83169182021-07-29 The Importance of Developmental Assets to Mental Health in Norwegian Youth Wiium, Nora Beck, Marianne Ferrer-Wreder, Laura Front Psychol Psychology In the present study, we examined the importance of developmental assets to prolonged sadness (i.e., being sad most of the time or all the time for no reason in the last month) and suicide attempt. Cross–sectional data on items measuring developmental assets as well as prolonged sadness and suicide attempt were collected from high school students in Norway (N = 591, 55% girls). The findings from independent t–tests indicated that youth with poor mental health reported less developmental assets relative to their peers who did not report such problems. In logistic regression, asset categories, such as Positive identity and Personal assets, were significantly associated with poor mental health (especially prolonged sadness) after adjusting for other asset categories and demographic factors, such as age, sex, and parents' educational background. The influence of Empowerment and Family assets, which was significant when only the assets were assessed, was no longer significant when demographic variables were also considered. While more research on factors that can promote youth mental health is needed, our findings suggest that policies and programmes that ensure that youth have access to the necessary developmental resources and opportunities may also be empowering youth, enhancing their mental health, and consequently, facilitating their active involvement in their community. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-07-14 /pmc/articles/PMC8316918/ /pubmed/34335403 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.687537 Text en Copyright © 2021 Wiium, Beck and Ferrer-Wreder. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Wiium, Nora
Beck, Marianne
Ferrer-Wreder, Laura
The Importance of Developmental Assets to Mental Health in Norwegian Youth
title The Importance of Developmental Assets to Mental Health in Norwegian Youth
title_full The Importance of Developmental Assets to Mental Health in Norwegian Youth
title_fullStr The Importance of Developmental Assets to Mental Health in Norwegian Youth
title_full_unstemmed The Importance of Developmental Assets to Mental Health in Norwegian Youth
title_short The Importance of Developmental Assets to Mental Health in Norwegian Youth
title_sort importance of developmental assets to mental health in norwegian youth
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8316918/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34335403
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.687537
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