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Background: Studies of time trends in Nordic adolescents' mental health have often relied on analyses of adolescents' psychosomatic symptoms. In this study, we examine adolescents' self-reports on mental health in the context of the dual factor model, which encompasses both overt manifestations of mental health symptoms and subjective perception of one's health status. Method: The objective of this study was to employ a person-oriented approach utilizing cluster analysis to discern time trends in mental health profiles of Nordic adolescents, using their psychosomatic complaints and their perception of their overall health as cluster variables. The resulting health profiles were then subjected to a comparative analysis with regard to different measures of psychological and social adjustment. The mental health profiles were based on data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey, which was conducted among almost 50000 15-year-olds in five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) between 2002 and 2022. Results: Mental health profiles exhibiting comparable content were observed in all Nordic countries, including profiles indicating adequate health, perceived good health, perceived poor health, high psychosomatic complaints, and dual health problems (defined as both high psychosomatic complaints and perceived poor health). These health profiles showed similar trends over time in the Nordic countries. Significant gender differences were observed. In 2002, adequate health was the dominant profile for both sexes. After 20 years, however, the high psychosomatic profile became the most common profile among girls. Among the three risk profiles, namely perceived poor health, high psychosomatic complaints and dual health problems, adolescents in the dual problems profile had the most psychological and social adjustment problems. Conclusions: The comparatively lower incidence of adjustment problems among adolescents in the high psychosomatic profile relative to the dual mental health group challenges the prevailing view that there has been a sharp increase in mental health problems among Nordic adolescents. This view was largely based on the observed rise in psychosomatic symptoms. Indeed, there was a doubling in the proportion of adolescents in the high psychosomatic complaints profile between 2002 and 2022. This increase was considerably more pronounced than that observed for the dual health problems profile which exhibited most problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This repeated cross-sectional study aimed to (a) report trends in adolescents' perceived family, friend, classmate, and teacher support, (b) estimate the extent to which each source of support related to life satisfaction across space and time, and (c) ascertain whether sociodemographic factors moderated the relationship in question. Methods: We relied on data pertaining to the 2013/14, 2017/18, and 2021/22 waves of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. The examined sample covered 44 countries and regions (n = 716,083; MAGE = 13.6; SDAGE = 1.64; 50.7% female). Results: The level of all sources of perceived social support slightly decreased over the examined period (all ω² < .01). Family support involved the largest association with life satisfaction (ß = 0.16); friend support, the lowest one (ß = 0.03). These associations varied only tenuously across space and time. Sociodemographic factors moderated the link between perceived social support and life satisfaction to a negligible-toweak extent. Conclusion: Levels of perceived social support and their associations with life satisfaction subtly changed. Future research may attempt to pinpoint the macrosocial levers of these temporal dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]