Gender inequalities in the prevalence of low mood and related factors in schooled adolescents during the 2019-2020 school year

BACKGROUND: Mood disorders are the second most prevalent mental disorders in childhood and adolescence. Many undiagnosed people manifest subthreshold symptoms, like low mood, and present worse prognoses than asymptomatic healthy subjects. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of low m...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: González Casals, Helena|||0000-0002-9605-3080, Vives Brosa, Jaume|||0000-0001-5412-7275, Bosque Prous, Marina|||0000-0002-8830-8880, Folch, Cinta|||0000-0001-8400-2668, Drou-Roget, Gemma|||0000-0003-4545-3532, Muntaner, Carles, 1957-|||0000-0002-2405-5802, Vives-Cases, Carmen|||0000-0002-6797-5051, Barbaglia, María Gabriela|||0000-0002-6501-7079, Colom Farran, J.|||0000-0001-6861-7865, Espelt, Albert|||0000-0002-8625-4356
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:292465
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/292465
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.jad.2023.04.058
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Humans
Male
Adolescent
Female
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Prevalence
Gender Equity
Gender inequalities
Depression
Epidemiology
Schools
SDG 5 - Gender Equality
SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Low mood
Lifestyle factors
Mood disorders
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: Mood disorders are the second most prevalent mental disorders in childhood and adolescence. Many undiagnosed people manifest subthreshold symptoms, like low mood, and present worse prognoses than asymptomatic healthy subjects. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of low mood, gender inequalities, and associated factors, in 12- to 18-year-old adolescents in the rural and medium-sized urban areas of Central Catalonia during the 2019-2020 academic year. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with data from a cohort of high-schooled students (2019-2020), with a convenience sample of 6428 adolescents from the Central region of Catalonia (48.3 % boys and 51.7 % girls). Prevalence of low mood was estimated by gender and exposure variables, and ratios were obtained using Poisson regression models, adjusting for several exposure variables one by one, and for all of them jointly. RESULTS: The prevalence of low mood was 18.6 %, with statistically significant differences between genders (11.6 %, 95 % CI: 10.5-12.8 in boys and 25.1 %, 95 % CI: 23.7-26.6 in girls). Being an immigrant, dieting, and daily tobacco smoking were only associated with low mood in girls, whereas risky alcohol consumption was only associated in boys. Sexual violence was found to account for 36.2 % of low mood problems in girls. LIMITATIONS: The main limitation of the study is its cross-sectional design, which means that no casual relationships can be extracted of this study. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of low mood varies between the sexes, highlighting the importance of developing gender-specific interventions to reduce its incidence in young people, considering the factors associated with this condition.