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Mental health education is a central part of school nurses' practice. Mental health literacy is an asset for health that educational initiatives can strengthen, and a significant determinant of mental health. This study was intended to examine the relationship between positive mental health literacy (PMeHL) and mental well-being to discuss its implications for school health services' mental health education. The relationship was assessed using a multiple linear regression model controlling for relevant covariates. Data were derived from a cross-sectional school-based survey including 1,888 adolescents aged 15-21 years (response rate 97.3%). A weak gender difference was found in PMeHL. The regression model accounted for 41% of the variance in adolescents' mental well-being; PMeHL was a significant explanatory variable of mental well-being. Accordingly, the current study found support for including PMeHL, or knowledge of how to obtain and maintain good mental health, as an integral component of school health services' mental health education among adolescents.

Objective: Although welfare in childhood and adolescence is of great public concern, individual or other resources have not been extensively studied in relation to wellbeing in schools. In this longitudinal study, factors that may promote girls' or boys' school wellbeing as well as factors that may have an adverse effect were assessed. Methods: Altogether, 149 boys and 119 girls in public primary and secondary schools completed questionnaires twice, two years apart (T1 and T2). The impact of potentially promoting and potentially adverse factors at T1 were investigated in relation to school wellbeing at T2 using logistic regression. Results: No gender differences were revealed in self-rated school wellbeing whereas factors associated with school wellbeing showed substantial gender differences. Boys who experienced necessary academic help from teachers were 2-3 times more likely to report good school wellbeing compared to other boys. For girls, perceived loneliness at school demonstrated a strong and negative association with school wellbeing both in crude and multivariable analyses. Conclusions: There may be gender differences in predictors of students' school wellbeing that health-promoting strategies need to take into account. Academic support from teachers, an example of resources in close surroundings, appears to be of great importance for boys. Among girls, perceived loneliness may indicate reduced school wellbeing. Later research must aim at identifying resources that prevent loneliness in school or ease the burdens of lonely students.

The present paper investigates possible gender and age differences on emotional states (state depression and state anxiety) and sense of coherence (SOC) as well as the association between SOC and emotional states. The cross-sectional sectional sample consists of 1209 adolescents 13-18 years from public elementary and secondary schools in Mid-Norway. The results showed that girls reported higher scores on state anxiety and state depression, whereas boys consistently scored higher on SOC in all age groups. SOC was inversely associated with both state depression and state anxiety. An interaction effect of gender by SOC was found on both state depression and state anxiety, where the association was stronger for girls than for boys. Conclusions: The associations found give support for the implications of salutogenic factors in relation to emotional health in adolescents. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)

Aims: Adolescence is a particularly salient period for understanding the role of perceived loneliness for subjective health and well-being. This study investigated sociodemographic differences (sex, age, self-reported socio-economic status (SES)) in loneliness and associations between sociodemographic factors, loneliness and self-rated health (SRH), subjective health symptoms, symptoms of depression/anxiety and mental well-being (MWB) in a sample of Norwegian adolescents. Methods: The study was based on a cross-sectional sample of 1816 adolescents aged 15–21 years. The participants reported scores on an 11-item scale assessing subjective health complaints (SHC), one item each assessing SRH and loneliness, the 10-item version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist and the seven-item version of the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale. SES was assessed using perceived family economy and parents' education. Data were analysed with descriptive, comparative and multiple linear regression analyses. Results: The multivariate results showed that boys scored significantly higher on MWB than girls did, whereas girls scored significantly higher on loneliness, depression/anxiety and SHC. Perceptions of poorer family finances were significantly associated with higher levels of SHC and depression/anxiety, lower levels of MWB and more negative SRH. Loneliness showed significant positive associations with depression/anxiety and SHC, and significant negative associations with MWB and SRH. A significant moderation effect of sex by loneliness was found in association with depression/anxiety, with stronger associations for girls. Conclusions: The findings in this study support the significant roles of sex, perceptions of family finances and loneliness in association with adolescent's subjective mental and physical health and well-being, especially mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated associations between stress, resilience factors, and symptoms of depression and anxiety in a cross-sectional sample of 1183 adolescents 13–18 years old. The results showed a positive significant association between stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Personal competence was significantly negatively associated with depression and anxiety, whereas social support was significantly negatively associated with anxiety. Significant interaction effects were found between gender by personal competence and gender by structured style in relation to anxiety, with stronger associations for girls. A compensatory role of resilience was found on the relation between stress and emotional symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This paper reports associations among socio‐demographic variables, stressor experience, self‐efficacy and life satisfaction among Norwegian adolescents aged 15–21 years and the potential moderating role of self‐efficacy on the association between stressor experience and life satisfaction. Methods: The cross‐sectional school‐based survey study involved 1816 upper‐secondary school students from Mid‐Norway. Data were analysed with independent samples t test, Pearson's product moment correlation and multiple linear regression analysis. Results: Bivariate results showed that boys scored higher than girls on life satisfaction and self‐efficacy, whereas girls scored higher than boys on all stressor domains. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that life satisfaction declined weakly with age, whereas stronger family economy and having parents who work full‐time associated with higher life satisfaction. Stress with teacher interaction, peer pressure, home life, school attendance, school–leisure conflict and school performance were all negatively associated with life satisfaction, whereas self‐efficacy associated positively and strongly with life satisfaction. Self‐efficacy moderated the association between both interpersonal and school‐related stressors and life satisfaction. Conclusion: The results provide support for the unique role of stressor experience and self‐efficacy in association with adolescents' life satisfaction as well as self‐efficacy as a stress moderator in relation to life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the association between the domains of stress, sense of coherence (SOC) and emotional symptoms (depression and anxiety) in adolescents, as well as the potential moderating role of SOC on the relationship between stress and emotional symptoms. The study is based on a cross-sectional sample of 1183 adolescents aged 13–18 who attend public elementary and secondary schools in Mid-Norway. The results showed that girls scored higher than boys on stress related to peer pressure, home life, school performance, school/leisure conflict and emotional symptoms. Conversely, boys reported higher SOC than girls. Results from multiple hierarchical regression analyses showed that for boys, stress related to school performance was positively associated with symptoms of both depression and anxiety, whereas stress from peer pressure was associated with depressive symptoms. For girls, stress from peer pressure, romantic relationships and school was associated with more depressive symptoms. SOC was strongly and inversely associated with emotional symptoms, especially anxiety in girls. SOC also moderated the association between stress related to peer pressure and depressive symptoms in both genders. The study provides evidence of the association of SOC with stress and emotional symptoms during adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]