Low mood among 13-year-olds in Ireland

Low mood among
13-year-olds in Ireland
Mark Morgan, James Williams and Maeve Thornton
Presentation to Growing Up in Ireland
Annual Research Conference
26th November 2014
www.growingup.ie
Structure of Presentation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Issues in the literature
Research questions
The data
The measure of low mood
Descriptive statistics
Modelling trends
Low mood and self-esteem
Summary
Implications
Issues in the Literature
• Mental health a major component of illness in adolescence
• WHO, 2003 notes that “…the lack of attention to the mental
health of children and adolescents may lead to mental
disorders with lifelong consequences…”
• HSE, 2012 estimates 1 in 10 children and adolescents suffer
from mental health disorders – impact on capacity to cope and
also with learning
• Adolescent depression associated with range of problems:
• Substance abuse; Academic problems; Physical health
problems; Increase risk of suicide (Horowitz and Garber, 2006)
Issue in the Literature
Adolescent depression related to:
• gender - females more likely to be depressed (NolenHoeksema, 1990; Wade, Cairney and Prevaling, 2002)
• social environments and relationships – family and peer
relationships; conflict; peer reflection (Ropee, 1997; Nolan,
Flynn and Garber, 2003)
• obesity and body-image (Roberts and Duong, 2013). Bodyimage found to be more important than measured BMI
• maternal depression (Brook-Gunn et al., 2001; Hangaard,
2009; Rice et al., 2006; Uhi and Grow, 2004)
• Self-esteem and depression (Orth et al., 2008)
Research Questions
RQ1 - What factors are associated with low mood and
depression at 13 years of age?
RQ2 - Specifically, are there gender differences in low
mood and depression at 13 years of age?
RQ3 - How is low mood related to self-esteem?
The Data
• Growing Up in Ireland 13-year-olds – probability
sample of 7,300 young people
• Second wave of Growing Up in Ireland Child Cohort.
First wave recruited and interviewed at 9 years of age
2007/2008. Re-interviewed at 13 years in August 2011 to
March 2012
• All data reweighted to ensure representativeness
• Intensive interviews in the homes of the young people –
data used are from young people themselves as well as
their main caregiver (usually mother)
The Measure of Low Mood
• Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) - 13-item
self-report measure of low mood in children and adolescents
• Examples of items: I felt miserable or unhappy; I didn’t enjoy
anything at all; I felt lonely; I hated myself
• Response categories: True; Sometimes; Not true (‘2’; ’1’; ’0’–
range 0-26)
• Internal reliability among 13-year-olds in Growing Up in
Ireland of 0.84
• Not a clinical measure of depression – a screener. Referred to
throughout presentation as “low mood”.
• No agreed cut-offs available – we take top decile in the
distribution (10.2 per cent of 13-year-olds)
Results
Percentage of 13-year-olds in
“low mood” group
Child’s Characteristics
31.0
35.0
22.2
30.0
21.6
25.0
20.0
14.9
13.4
12.9
15.0
10.2
10.0
10.8
11.1
11.9
8.5
9.7
9.2
6.6
5.0
Child's gender
Child's health (PCG report)
Measured BMI
Body image
Very
overweight
A bit
overweight
Just
right size
A bit skinny
Very skinny
Obese
Overweight
Non
Overweight
Healthy
a few
minor probs
Quite ill/
almost always
unwell
Very healthy
All
Girls
Boys
0.0
5
0
Family type at 13 years
8.5
9.1
Changes in family type 9-13
years
Prof
Manag/tech
Family social class
7.2
Difficulty making ends meet
Very easily
8.2
Easily
9.7
Fairly easily
10.9
With some diff
9.3
With diff
With great diff
Not assigned
25
Unskilled
15
Semi-skilled
9.3
Skill man
Non-manual
8.8
2 Parent,
9 & 13 yrs
20
2 Parent, 9 yr/
1 Parent, 13 yr
30
1 Parent, 9 yr/
2 Parent, 13 yr
14.2 13.0
1 Parent,
9 & 13 yrs
9.5
2 Parent,
3+ children
10
9.2
2 Parent,
1-3 children
1 Parent,
3+ children
1 Parent,
1-2 children
Percentage of 13-year-olds in
“low mood” group
Family Characteristics
35
22.7
18.2
19.2
14.2
16.7
13.7
10.6
6.8
Percentage of 13-year-olds in
“low mood” group
Mother’s Characteristics
20
18
14.5
14.7
16
14
12.2
11.5
10.0
12
9.9
9.8
8.7
10
9.7
9.4
8
6
4
2
0
Junior Cert
or less
Leaving
Cert
Cert/Dip
Degree
Mother's Education
Excellent
Very
good
Good
Fair/poor
Mother's Health
Not
Depressed
depressed
Mother's Depression
Percentage of 13-year-olds in
“low mood” group
Child’s relationships
60
42.8
50
40
27.7
30
21.1
17.2
15.3
20
12.2
10.0
9.1
3-5
6+
10
8.3
9.5
9.3
9.9
0
None
1-2
No. of child's friends
Bullied Others
3 months
Child's report of bullying
Settled
well
Did not
settle
Mother's report
of settling into
Second Level
Top decile Others
conflict
Conflict with Mother
Top decile Others
closeness
Closeness to
mother
Family
Characteristics
Family
Characteristics
Relationships
Child
ChildCharacteristics
Characteristics
Adjusted odds ratios of being in top
decile of low-mood
All Children
Girl
(Ref: Boy)
1.37
Healthy/a few minor problems
Quite/always unwell
(Ref: Healthy/no problems)
1.12
1.98
Death of parent
2.00
Very skinny
A bit skinny
A bit overweight
Very overweight
(Ref: About right)
3.38
1.67
2.37
4.45
One-parent W1/One-parent W2
One-parent W1/Two-parent W2
Two-parent W1/One-parent W2
(Ref: Two-parent W1/Two-parent W2)
1.18
2.60
1.26
Great difficulty (making ends meet)
With difficulty/some difficulty
(Ref: other families)
1.95
1.14
High conflict - top decile
(Ref: other families)
1.39
Not settling in school
2.01
No friends
1-2 friends
3-5 friends
(Ref 6+ friends)
3.81
1.24
1.10
Child bullied
3.08
Child is a bully
0.00
0.50
3.88
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Child Characteristics
Characteristics
Family Characteristics Family Child
Characteristics
Relationships
Adjusted odds ratios of being in top
decile of low-mood
Boys/Girls
Healthy/a few minor problems
Quite/always unwell
(Ref: Healthy/no problems)
0.95
1.23
1.93
2.25
2.79
Death of parent 0.91
3.54
3.38
Very skinny
A bit skinny
A bit overweight
Very overweight
(Ref: About right)
1.63
1.64
1.68
4.40
1.17
1.20
One-parent W1/One-parent W2
One-parent W1/Two-parent W2
Two-parent W1/One-parent W2
(Ref: Two-parent W1/Two-parent W2)
Great difficulty (making ends meet)
With difficulty/some difficulty
(Ref: other families)
2.98
1.08
Boys
1.65
1.80
Not settling in school
No friends
1-2 friends 0.93
3-5 friends 0.86
(Ref 6+ friends)
Girls
2.46
1.36
1.31
0.99
High conflict - top decile
(Ref: other families)
3.04
1.91
1.35
1.14
2.18
4.94
3.44
1.91
1.49
Child bullied
2.65
Child is a bully
0.00
5.18
3.52
3.79
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
4.18
5.00
6.00
Low Mood and Self Esteem
• Strong relationship between low mood and self-esteem
• Self-esteem measured using Piers-Harris scale
• 60 item self-complete scale completed by 13-year-old
• Six sub-scales:
»
»
»
»
»
»
Behavioural adjustment;
Intellectual and school status;
Physical appearance and attitudes;
Freedom from anxiety;
Popularity;
Happiness and satisfaction
• Total scale based on the 60 items
• Higher the score the more positive is self-evaluation
Low Mood and Self Esteem
Using test developer’s norms
• Piers Harris scores classified into:
- Very low
- Low
- Low average
- Average
- High
- Very high
• Pearsons correlation with low mood score
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total PH
Behavioural
Intellectual
Physical attitudes
Freedom from anxiety
Popularity
Happiness
-.639
-.507
-.446
-.359
-.582
-.470
-.514
Relationship between PH Total
Score (self-esteem) and low mood
• Percentage of 13-year-olds who are ‘low mood’ in each
self-concept category in Piers Harris Total Score
100
90
81.6
80
70
60
% 13-year-olds
50
36.8
40
30
20
12.2
10
3.9
0.6
0.4
0.8
High average
High
Very high
0
Very low
Low
Low average
Average
• Same relationship – not as strong – in respect of other
Piers Harris subscales
Summary Findings
Low-mood among 13-year-olds associated with:
• Gender – higher for girls
• Child’s ill health – sig for boys, not for girls
• Body-image significant – not measured BMI
• Change in family structure, not family structure – move
from one- to two- parent family
• Recent death of a parent, sig for girls, not for boys
• Living in households experiencing “great difficulties” in
making ends meet – sig for girls, not for boys
Summary Findings
• Relationships
– Family – high parental conflict – not sig. for boys
– Settling into secondary school – sig. for girls and boys
– Having no friends – sig. for girls and boys
– Being bullied or bully perpetrator – sig. for girls and boys
• Not related to:
 Family structure
 Level of Primary caregiver education
 Primary caregiver health or depression
• Strongly related to all aspects of self-esteem – total scale;
physical; intellectual; behavioural; happiness; etc.
Implications
• In general, the patterning of low mood is not structural –
not socio-demographic
• Substantially associated with relationships
– Family
– School
– Peer
• If structural, long- to medium-term to adjust (if at all)
• Family and social relationships are more malleable
–
–
–
–
Family
Settling in to school
Peer-bullying
Body image

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