Lucy Biddle , Laura Kennedy , Lydia Grace , Jane Derges , Zoë Haime
{"title":"Reflective journaling on suicide and self-harm related online use: An intervention approach for reducing online harm and mental health impact","authors":"Lucy Biddle , Laura Kennedy , Lydia Grace , Jane Derges , Zoë Haime","doi":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200412","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200412","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Self-harm and suicide-related online use can bring harms and benefits for users. Research suggests a need to improve user metacognition around online engagement to manage these conflicting effects, but behavioural interventions to achieve this are lacking. We aimed to analyse data from a 6-month longitudinal qualitative study, in which participants journalled about their self-harm and suicide-related online use as part of the study.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Participants were interviewed at three timepoints (<em>n</em> = 9 participants, 25 interviews) and completed a daily reflective diary between interviews. Experiences of diary use were explored qualitatively during interviews and in free-text diary entries.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>All participants derived benefits from journalling about their engagements with self-harm and suicide-related online content, such as increased insight about the nature and impact of their online use. Some in turn reported positive behaviour changes. However, daily completion was burdensome and some participants reported potential costs, including increased attention to self-harm content.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Journalling about online activity should be explored as potential individual-level intervention to tackle harmful online use and reduce linked mental health morbidity, both within and outside of clinical setting. Co-designed research with lived-experience users and practitioners will be essential for maximising safety and likely success.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55864,"journal":{"name":"Mental Health and Prevention","volume":"38 ","pages":"Article 200412"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143590357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christiane E. Kehoe, Clair Bennett, Ann Harley, Alessandra Radovini, Sophie S. Havighurst
{"title":"Can an emotion-focused intervention improve emotion socialization in secondary school teachers? A group randomized control trial","authors":"Christiane E. Kehoe, Clair Bennett, Ann Harley, Alessandra Radovini, Sophie S. Havighurst","doi":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200410","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200410","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Teachers vary in how they socialize emotions in day-to-day teaching, including during delivery of social emotional learning content. Teachers’ difficulties in managing their own emotions can impact negatively on teaching, teacher wellbeing, teacher-student relationships, as well as teachers’ capacity to be supportive with adolescents. Improving emotion socialization skills in teachers has shown benefits for primary teachers, students and the broader school community, however, there have been limited evaluations of intervention programs that aim to improve teacher emotion socialization in the secondary school setting, a critical time for students’ emotion regulation development.</div></div><div><h3>Aim</h3><div>This group randomized controlled study examined outcomes, feasibility and acceptability of the <em>Tuning in to Students</em> program <em>(TIS),</em> a variant of the evidence-based <em>Tuning in to Teens®</em> parenting program, designed to enhance teacher emotional competence and supportive responses to students’ emotions.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>Four secondary schools (matched pairs) were randomized to intervention or 12-month waitlist-control conditions. Teachers (<em>N =</em> 117; 68 intervention) self-reported on program acceptability post-intervention, and on wellbeing, emotional competence, and emotion socialization responses pre-intervention and 12-months later.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Participating teachers reported high acceptability and greater improvements in teacher emotional competence and reductions in emotion dismissing responses, when compared with control teachers who reported no change at 12-month follow-up.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>These findings provide initial support for <em>TIS</em> as an acceptable teacher intervention for improving teacher emotion socialization, supporting its use as part of a whole school multisystemic intervention of <em>Tuning in to Teens.</em></div></div>","PeriodicalId":55864,"journal":{"name":"Mental Health and Prevention","volume":"38 ","pages":"Article 200410"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143509171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Naw Lar Paw , Kyaw Min Htike , Rajitra Nawawonganun , Roshan Kumar Mahato
{"title":"Exploring the association of depression and post traumatic stress disorder among humanitarian aid workers along the Thai-Myanmar border","authors":"Naw Lar Paw , Kyaw Min Htike , Rajitra Nawawonganun , Roshan Kumar Mahato","doi":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200409","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200409","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Humanitarian aid workers (HAWs) are exposed to high levels of stress, resulting in substantial risks for mental health issues such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression and PTSD among HAWs along the Thai-Myanmar border and identify factors influencing these conditions.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This cross-sectional study surveyed 424 HAWs from four Thai-Myanmar border provinces from October 2023 to September 2024, using stratified random sampling. Logistic regression was applied to analyze factors associated with depression and PTSD.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Depression was identified in 19.8 % (95 % Confidence Interval: 16.28–23.89) of participants and PTSD symptoms were observed in 26.4 % (95 % CI: 22.43–30.83) of HAWs. Depression was associated with homeownership, dysfunctional family relationships, and roles in job sectors while PTSD was linked to poor sleep, moderate family support, secondary traumatic stress and poor quality of life. High burnout, stress and depression were also significant risk factors.Workers with a lower quality of life were 3.45 times (Adjusted Odds Ratio 3.45, 95 % CI: 1.61–7.40) more likely to experience depression and 2.27 times (AOR 2.27, 95 % CI: 1.25–4.13) more likely to experience PTSD.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Nearly 20 % of humanitarian aid workers experienced depression, and over 25 % reported PTSD. Depression was linked to homeownership, family relationships and job sectors. PTSD was associated with poor sleep, moderate family support, secondary traumatic stress and low quality of life. High burnout, stress and depression were significant risks. Improving quality of life and providing mental health support are essential interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55864,"journal":{"name":"Mental Health and Prevention","volume":"37 ","pages":"Article 200409"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143420226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Vaccination and mental health: Evidence from ASEAN countries","authors":"Duc Hong Vo, Ngoc Duc Lang","doi":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200407","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200407","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>This study examines whether vaccination is associated with improved mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), addressing a critical gap in the literature.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This study utilizes data from the 2021 Gallup World Poll (GWP), including approximately 8,000 individuals across eight ASEAN countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam. Mental health was assessed using the Negative Experience Index, which captures stress, anger, sadness, anxiety, and pain.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>We find that vaccination is significantly associated with improved mental health for the entire ASEAN region (β = -3.828, 95 % CI: [-6.085, -1.572]). After taking endogeneity into account, this association remains significant. We find that increased opportunities to make friends in the living area is a pathway through which vaccination can improve mental health. Notably, the association between vaccination and mental health is significant among both urban (β = -3.583, 95 % CI: [-5.674, -1.492]) and rural (β = -3.275, 95 % CI: [-6.142, -0.409]) populations, as well as among females (β = -5.918, 95 % CI: [-7.380, -4.457]), but it is not significant among males (β = -1.242, 95 % CI: [-4.107, 1.624]). Furthermore, at the country's level, the association between vaccination and mental health is significant in Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand but not significant in Malaysia, Indonesia. and Vietnam. These findings are robust across various robustness checks.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>These findings underscore the role of vaccination in improving mental health amidst health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic in the ASEAN region. Implications for policymakers derived from our findings are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55864,"journal":{"name":"Mental Health and Prevention","volume":"37 ","pages":"Article 200407"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143429010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rebecca Martland , Lucia Valmaggia , Vigneshwar Paleri , Alison Mulligan , Anna Hildebrand , Grace Williams , Anni Raz , Natalie Steer , Simon Riches
{"title":"Multi-session virtual reality relaxation for mental health staff: a feasibility and acceptability study","authors":"Rebecca Martland , Lucia Valmaggia , Vigneshwar Paleri , Alison Mulligan , Anna Hildebrand , Grace Williams , Anni Raz , Natalie Steer , Simon Riches","doi":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200408","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200408","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Mental health staff may experience high levels of psychological stress, burnout, and poor wellbeing.</div></div><div><h3>Aim</h3><div>This study explores the feasibility and acceptability of implementing a course of virtual reality (VR) relaxation sessions for mental health professionals, to improve their mental wellbeing.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Mental health staff were recruited to 5-weeks of VR relaxation. Recruitment numbers, completion and attendance rates were collected, and satisfaction with each session was measured. Mental wellbeing parameters were assessed following a single session, and over the course of five sessions.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>38 staff were recruited. Most participants were nurses and support workers (<em>n</em> = 22). Participants completed a mean of 3.93 ± 1.51 sessions. Mean satisfaction across all sessions was 8.26/10 ± 1.64. From baseline to 5-weeks there were improvements in subjective wellbeing, perceived stress, perceived worry, burnout, and daytime sleep dysfunction. There were improvements in wellbeing following a single session of VR.</div></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><div>It is feasible and acceptable to implement VR relaxation within workplace settings for healthcare professionals. Implementation considerations are indicated such as flexible timetabling and exploring self-help models of delivery to maximise attendance.</div></div><div><h3>Implications for Practice</h3><div>The research supports the development of a large-scale trial of VR relaxation to determine its efficacy for staff wellbeing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55864,"journal":{"name":"Mental Health and Prevention","volume":"37 ","pages":"Article 200408"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143377700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shu Yen Ang, Geshina Ayu Mat Saat, Olusoga Tasiru Shittu
{"title":"Prison-based psychological and social interventions to improve the well-being of women prisoners: A systematic review","authors":"Shu Yen Ang, Geshina Ayu Mat Saat, Olusoga Tasiru Shittu","doi":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200405","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200405","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Women prisoners face numerous psychological and social challenges during imprisonment. This systematic review evaluates prison-based psychological and social interventions designed to enhance the well-being of women prisoners.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This systematic review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines and searched across four databases: Scopus, Sage, Web of Science, and PubMed, covering studies from 1st January 1992 to 20th October 2024. The inclusion criteria were randomised controlled trial (RCT) or quasi experimental design research involving women prisoners over 18 in prison settings, targeting psychological or social outcomes, with pre- and post-intervention results, and published in English. The exclusion criteria were case studies, pilot studies, non-prison settings, mixed gender samples without separate women analysis, mental disorders focused research, medication-only treatments, unclear intervention details, post-intervention-only outcomes, studies on recidivism or substance relapse, grey literature, and non-English publications. The mixed methods appraisal tool (MMAT) was used to evaluate risk of bias, and a narrative synthesis was conducted due to data heterogeneity.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Out of 8233 documents, 15 studies examining psychological and social interventions were included. Behavioural methods effectively managed anger, dog-assisted interventions provided emotional support, transactional analysis and reality therapy enhanced self-esteem and self-efficacy, logotherapy boosted hope, video-based learning fostered inner peace, and Choice Theory Connections supported overall well-being among women prisoners. Effective parenting interventions incorporated parenting education, curriculum with children, and sufficient duration of programme.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The review's limitations include high attrition rates due to prison rules and regulations, non-randomised comparison studies, and reliance on self-report measures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55864,"journal":{"name":"Mental Health and Prevention","volume":"37 ","pages":"Article 200405"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143346011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Takashi Shimazaki , Eric C. Chen , Takashi Yamauchi , Machi Suka
{"title":"Association between social roles and inactive mental health promotion behaviors by age group: A cross-sectional study in Japan","authors":"Takashi Shimazaki , Eric C. Chen , Takashi Yamauchi , Machi Suka","doi":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200404","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200404","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Background: This cross-sectional study examines the association between social roles (employment, parenting, and nursing care for family members) and mental health promotion behaviors (physical activity, weekday and holiday cultural activities, communication, relaxation, volunteer activity, activity challenge, and group affiliation) among the Japanese general population.</div><div>Methods: Overall, 3,597 people (age: <em>M</em> = 49.48, <em>SD</em> = 16.49) responded to the web-based questionnaire. The participants were asked about their social roles, demographic characteristics, and practice of mental health promotion behaviors. Data analysis was conducted for three age groups: 20–39, 40–59, as well as 60 and above. The multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted, with social role as the independent variable and mental health promotion behaviors as the dependent variable.</div><div>Results: Regarding employment, homemakers had a lower ratio of people who practiced mental health promotion behaviors and this held true among all age groups (adjusted odds ratio [<em>AOR</em>] = 0.28 to 0.63); participants who had parenting roles had a lower ratio of people who practiced mental health promotion behaviors (<em>AOR</em> = 0.30 to 0.60) among the younger and middle-aged. The study could not determine a clear association between mental health promotion behaviors and informal nursing care for family members. Additionally, participants who had parenting and nursing care had a lower ratio of participants who had practiced physical activity in the 20–39-year-old range (<em>AOR</em> = 0.56).</div><div>Conclusion: To encourage mental health promotion behaviors, the findings suggest the necessity to provide support for homemakers who simultaneously hold a parenting role to encourage mental health promotion behaviors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55864,"journal":{"name":"Mental Health and Prevention","volume":"37 ","pages":"Article 200404"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143142159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Peter Adu , Dmitry Grigoryev , Rita Holm Adzovie , James Mbinta , G. Eric Jarvis , Tomas Jurcik
{"title":"Population-level mental health literacy: A vignette-based study on prejudice, sexism, and recognition in prevention strategies for social anxiety in Ghana","authors":"Peter Adu , Dmitry Grigoryev , Rita Holm Adzovie , James Mbinta , G. Eric Jarvis , Tomas Jurcik","doi":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200406","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200406","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Mental Health Literacy (MHL) evidence on promoting mental health prevention at the population level in Ghana is limited. We explored factors, including, sociodemographic variables, prejudice, sexist attitudes, and previous experience of mental disorders, related to the endorsement of prevention strategies for social anxiety in Ghana.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A total of 601 individuals participated in an online vignette-based experimental study. Participants were randomly assigned to read two clinical vignettes, each presenting symptoms of social anxiety for a hypothetical person, one being male and the other female. Participants provided their impressions of the hypothetical person and completed self-reported measures, encompassing assessments related to ambivalent sexism, MHL, prejudice, and demographic factors.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>We found that recognition of the social anxiety in the vignettes directly associated with psychotherapeutic prevention strategies and indirectly predicted substance-related prevention strategies for social anxiety among the participants. Prejudice towards social anxiety was linked to increased recommendation of substance-related prevention strategies for social anxiety and less frequent endorsement of psychotherapeutic prevention strategies. Benevolence towards women was positively associated with stress-reduction preventive strategies for social anxiety, while benevolence towards men negatively impacted such strategies.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Findings underscore the significant role of Western views of mental health, and the harmful impact of prejudice on mental health, including the potential impact of cultural and contextual elements in shaping preventive approaches to mental disorders. Efforts to enhance MHL aimed at improving population-level mental health outcomes should prioritize the development of compassionate and culturally inclusive responses to mental health distress while also working to reduce stigma.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55864,"journal":{"name":"Mental Health and Prevention","volume":"37 ","pages":"Article 200406"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143379154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lachlan Kent , Maja Havrilova , Suzanne Dick , Stephen Carbone
{"title":"The dual continua in youth mental health policy and practice: Screening and intervention for low mental wellbeing in youth to achieve targeted prevention","authors":"Lachlan Kent , Maja Havrilova , Suzanne Dick , Stephen Carbone","doi":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200403","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200403","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>The mental health of young people in Australia and other nations has declined dramatically over the last decade and a half. While an increase in youth mental healthcare services is needed to meet rising demand, on its own, this is unlikely to reverse the concerning trend. A greater focus on prevention is needed.</div></div><div><h3>Aims</h3><div>This article aims to propose an innovative, theoretically-grounded approach to prevention that complements more common population-based (i.e., changing risk and protective factors) and targeted (i.e., supporting individuals with subthreshold symptoms of mental illness) approaches. Aligned with the dual-continua model of mental health (i.e., where mental well-being and ill-health are distinct dimensions of overall mental health), this third approach focuses on addressing low levels of mental wellbeing, which is both a significant predictor of future mental ill-health and a distressing and disabling state that requires intervention in its own right.</div></div><div><h3>Recommendations</h3><div>Large-scale screening for low mental wellbeing, using psychometrically sound tools, could be conducted online and through schools, higher education, and primary care services. Those with low mental wellbeing could be linked to community services offering evidence-based interventions. This approach is likely to carry less stigma and may be easier to achieve than targeting those with subthreshold symptoms through clinical services.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The dire state of youth mental health is an urgent call-to-action to adopt novel approaches to address this crisis. We need to make better use of the available evidence and tools at-hand to strengthen our focus on low mental wellbeing, not just mental ill-health.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55864,"journal":{"name":"Mental Health and Prevention","volume":"37 ","pages":"Article 200403"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143142160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Petri Kajonius , David Sjöström , Isabella Gripe , Siri Thor , Emma Claesdotter-Knutsson
{"title":"Adolescents’ personality and sex, age, socioeconomic status in explaining mental health: A representative Swedish national study","authors":"Petri Kajonius , David Sjöström , Isabella Gripe , Siri Thor , Emma Claesdotter-Knutsson","doi":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200399","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200399","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>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.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>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).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>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<sub>Mean</sub> = -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.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>We discuss study limitations and recommend taking individual differences in personality into account in adolescent mental health research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55864,"journal":{"name":"Mental Health and Prevention","volume":"37 ","pages":"Article 200399"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143142305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}