Social disconnectedness, loneliness, and mental health among adolescents in Danish high schools : a nationwide cross-sectional study

Background: Previous research has suggested that social disconnectedness experienced at school is linked to mental health problems, however, more research is needed to investigate (1) whether the accumulation of various types of social disconnectedness is associated with risk for mental health problems, and (2) whether loneliness is a mechanism that explains these associations. Methods: Using data from the Danish National Youth Study 2019 (UNG19), nation-wide cross-sectional data from 29,086 high school students in Denmark were analyzed to assess associations between social disconnectedness experienced at school (lack of classmate support, lack of teacher support, lack of class social cohesion, and not being part of the school community) and various mental health outcomes, as well as the mediating role of loneliness for each type of disconnectedness. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to assess the associations. Results: Descriptive analyses suggest that 27.5% of Danish high school students experience at least one type of social disconnectedness at school. Each type of social disconnectedness was positively associated with mental health problems (depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, stress, sleep problems, suicidal ideation, non-suicidal self-injury, eating disorder, body dissatisfaction, and low self-esteem) and negatively associated with mental well-being. In all cases, loneliness significantly mediated the associations. We found a clear dose-response pattern, where each addition in types of social disconnectedness was associated with (1) stronger negative coefficients with mental well-being and (2) stronger positive coefficients with mental health problems. Conclusion: Our results add to a large evidence-base suggesting that mental health problems among adolescents may be prevented by promoting social connectedness at school. More specifically, fostering social connectedness at school may prevent loneliness, which in turn may promote mental well-being and prevent mental health problems during the developmental stages of adolescence. It is important to note that focusing on single indicators of school social connectedness/disconnectedness would appear to be insufficient. Implications for practices within school settings to enhance social connectedness are discussed

Trends in health complaints from 2002 to 2010 in 34 countries and their association with health behaviours and social context factors at individual and macro-level

Publisher Copyright: © 2015 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.Background: This article describes trends and stability over time in health complaints in adolescents from 2002 to 2010 and investigates associations between health complaints, behavioural and social contextual factors at individual level and economic factors at macro-level. Methods: Comprising N = 510 876 11-, 13- and 15-year-old children and adolescents in Europe, North America and Israel, data came from three survey cycles of the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Age- and gender-adjusted trends in health complaints were examined in each country by means of linear regression. By using the country as the random effects variable, we tested to what extent individual and contextual variables were associated with health complaints. Results: Significant associations are stronger for individual level determinants (e.g. being bullied, smoking) than for determinants at macro-level (e.g. GDP, Gini), as can be seen by the small effect sizes (less than 5% for different trends). Health complaints are fairly stable over time in most countries, and no clear international trend in health complaints can be observed between 2002 and 2010. The most prominent stable determinants were being female, being bullied, school pressure and smoking. Conclusion: Factors associated with health complaints are more related to the proximal environment than to distal macro-level factors. This points towards intensifying targeted interventions, (e.g. for bullying) and also targeting specific risk groups. The comparably small effect size at country-level indicates that country-level factors have an impact on health and should not be ignored.publishersversionPeer reviewe

A First- and Second-Order Motion Energy Analysis of Peripheral Motion Illusions Leads to Further Evidence of “Feature Blur” in Peripheral Vision

Anatomical and physiological differences between the central and peripheral visual systems are well documented. Recent findings have suggested that vision in the periphery is not just a scaled version of foveal vision, but rather is relatively poor at representing spatial and temporal phase and other visual features. Shapiro, Lu, Huang, Knight, and Ennis (2010) have recently examined a motion stimulus (the “curveball illusion”) in which the shift from foveal to peripheral viewing results in a dramatic spatial/temporal discontinuity. Here, we apply a similar analysis to a range of other spatial/temporal configurations that create perceptual conflict between foveal and peripheral vision.To elucidate how the differences between foveal and peripheral vision affect super-threshold vision, we created a series of complex visual displays that contain opposing sources of motion information. The displays (referred to as the peripheral escalator illusion, peripheral acceleration and deceleration illusions, rotating reversals illusion, and disappearing squares illusion) create dramatically different perceptions when viewed foveally versus peripherally. We compute the first-order and second-order directional motion energy available in the displays using a three-dimensional Fourier analysis in the (x, y, t) space. The peripheral escalator, acceleration and deceleration illusions and rotating reversals illusion all show a similar trend: in the fovea, the first-order motion energy and second-order motion energy can be perceptually separated from each other; in the periphery, the perception seems to correspond to a combination of the multiple sources of motion information. The disappearing squares illusion shows that the ability to assemble the features of Kanisza squares becomes slower in the periphery.The results lead us to hypothesize “feature blur” in the periphery (i.e., the peripheral visual system combines features that the foveal visual system can separate). Feature blur is of general importance because humans are frequently bringing the information in the periphery to the fovea and vice versa

From rhetoric to action: Adapting the Act-Belong-Commit Mental Health Promotion Programme to a Danish context

In response to recent calls for implementing mental health promotion (MHP) in Denmark, the Danish National Institute of Public Health undertook a perusal of existing MHP frameworks. While a small number of such frameworks exist, the Act-Belong-Commit campaign that originated in Western Australia, was the only comprehensive, population-wide program identified that had a strong evidence base, demonstrated success in implementation and universal principles of well-being. Following a successful funding application to the Ministry of Health, the National Institute for Public Health, is leading a partnership to implement the Act-Belong-Commit campaign in Denmark in 2015–2017. This article describes the Act-Belong-Commit campaign and its implementation in Australia and how the National Institute of Public Health plans to introduce the campaign into Denmark. It is hoped that our planning for Denmark will be helpful to other countries planning to adopt the Act-Belong-Commit campaign

The moderating role of social network size in the temporal association between formal social participation and mental health: a longitudinal analysis using two consecutive waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

Introduction Previous studies have shown that engaging in formal social participation may protect against declining mental health, but social network size (the number of close social ties a person has) may moderate the relationship. We assessed the potential moderating role of social network size using longitudinal data. Methods Nationally representative data from two consecutive waves (2011, 2013) of the SHARE survey were analyzed. The data consisted of 38,300 adults from 13 European countries aged 50 years and older in 2011. Measures pertaining to formal social participation, social network size, quality of life, and depression symptoms were used. Multivariable linear regression models were conducted. Results The majority of participants (over 70% of the sample) had a social network size of four or less close social ties. We identified significant moderations in both models. Individuals with relatively few close social ties may have benefitted from formal social participation both in terms of reductions in depression symptoms and increases in quality of life, while formal social participation among those with many social ties did not appear to be beneficial, and may even to some extent have been detrimental. Conclusions Declines in mental health specifically among those with relatively few close social ties could potentially be prevented through the promotion of formal social participation. It is possible that such strategies could have a greater impact by specifically targeting individuals that are otherwise socially isolated. High levels of formal participation among those with relatively many close social ties may not be pragmatically beneficial