TY - JOUR

T1 - The structure of adolescent mental health problems: The role of effortful control and school safety

AU - Rezun, Ekaterina V

AU - Slobodskaya, Helena R

AU - Semenova, Nadezhda B

N1 - Funding information: This research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant # 21-15-00033. © 2023 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents.

PY - 2023/7

Y1 - 2023/7

N2 - INTRODUCTION: Adolescent mental health problems are widespread; however, there are still very few data on risk and protective factors for general and specific psychopathology. This study examined the structure of common mental health problems in Russian adolescents and the associations of temperamental effortful control and perceived school safety to the latent factors of adolescent mental health, taking age and gender into account.METHODS: Data were collected on 1850 adolescents (53% female) aged 12-18 using the self-report Eurasian Child Mental Health Study questionnaire, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and the abbreviated Effortful Control scale of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the structure of common mental health problems and to examine the associations with age, effortful control, and school safety.RESULTS: The five-correlated-factors model comprising internalizing, body dissatisfaction, psychosomatics, externalizing, and substance use, and the bifactor-(S-1) models with internalizing and externalizing as reference domains and four specific factors showed an adequate fit to the data and sufficient reliability and validity. Analyses established full metric invariance of these models across gender. Effortful control showed a general association with adolescent mental health problems and a specific association with externalizing problems. School safety showed specific negative associations with externalizing and substance use and with girls' internalizing problems.CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide a strong basis for further cross-cultural research into the structure and determinants of adolescent mental health and highlight the need for effective interventions.

AB - INTRODUCTION: Adolescent mental health problems are widespread; however, there are still very few data on risk and protective factors for general and specific psychopathology. This study examined the structure of common mental health problems in Russian adolescents and the associations of temperamental effortful control and perceived school safety to the latent factors of adolescent mental health, taking age and gender into account.METHODS: Data were collected on 1850 adolescents (53% female) aged 12-18 using the self-report Eurasian Child Mental Health Study questionnaire, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and the abbreviated Effortful Control scale of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the structure of common mental health problems and to examine the associations with age, effortful control, and school safety.RESULTS: The five-correlated-factors model comprising internalizing, body dissatisfaction, psychosomatics, externalizing, and substance use, and the bifactor-(S-1) models with internalizing and externalizing as reference domains and four specific factors showed an adequate fit to the data and sufficient reliability and validity. Analyses established full metric invariance of these models across gender. Effortful control showed a general association with adolescent mental health problems and a specific association with externalizing problems. School safety showed specific negative associations with externalizing and substance use and with girls' internalizing problems.CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide a strong basis for further cross-cultural research into the structure and determinants of adolescent mental health and highlight the need for effective interventions.

KW - ADOLESCENCE

KW - BIFACTOR‐(S‐1) MODEL

KW - EFFORTFUL CONTROL

KW - MEASUREMENT INVARIANCE

KW - MENTAL HEALTH

KW - SCHOOL SAFETY

KW - Reproducibility of Results

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Mental Health

KW - Temperament

KW - Adolescent

KW - Female

KW - Psychopathology

KW - Child

KW - Schools

UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85152266223&origin=inward&txGid=97f8bc4c8e9395a63162df3bbf559bde

UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37036135

UR - https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=50509108

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/0c08c176-62d0-3af3-9459-ecf01c1e8037/

U2 - 10.1002/jad.12166

DO - 10.1002/jad.12166

M3 - Article

C2 - 37036135

VL - 95

SP - 947

EP - 963

JO - Journal of adolescence

JF - Journal of adolescence

SN - 0140-1971

IS - 5

ER -