Adolescents’ personality and sex, age, socioeconomic status in explaining mental health: A representative Swedish national study

Q2 Medicine

Mental Health and Prevention Pub Date : 2025-01-27 DOI:10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200399

Petri Kajonius , David Sjöström , Isabella Gripe , Siri Thor , Emma Claesdotter-Knutsson

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective

The present study compared individual personality traits and demographic variables, i.e. sex, age, and socioeconomic status, in explaining mental health in a large representative adolescent Swedish high school survey.

Method

This data collection on 15- to 18-year-olds (N = 10,288, response rate 79 %) was conducted in 2024 and included, for the first time, a brief Big Five personality measure (Ten Item Personality Inventory; TIPI) together with 3 diverse mental health measures (General Anxiety Disorder, GAD-7; Daily dysfunction; and Global satisfaction with self).

Results

Individual differences in the Big Five personality traits, particularly neuroticism, explained mental health approximately 10 times more than demographic differences. Females reported higher neuroticism (d = 0.68) and lower mental health across all study measures (d_Mean = -0.62) than males. Differences in general anxiety (GAD-7) equated to 3 out of 4 females being higher than the male mean. Age and socioeconomic status showed trivial effects.