Bortes Cristian
Department of Social Work, Umeå University, Sweden.
Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Scand J Public Health. 2024 Oct 24:14034948241277048. doi: 10.1177/14034948241277048.
Adolescence is a critical period for mental health development, yet research exploring how contextual factors influence the development of depressive symptoms remains limited. This study explored trajectories of depressive symptoms during early to mid-adolescence and their association with various aspects of school climate.
The study sample comprised 3671, 7th-grade students (aged 12-13 years) from 101 schools across Sweden, followed longitudinally across three time points spanning grades 7, 8 and 9. Depressive symptom trajectories were identified using latent class growth modelling. The Pedagogical and Social Climate questionnaire assessed school climate, and multinomial logistic regression was employed to predict trajectory membership based on sociodemographic and school climate factors.
Four distinct developmental patterns of depressive symptoms emerged: 'Sustained low symptoms' (76.7%), 'Low-increasing' (10.9%), 'Sustained high symptoms' (7.9%), and 'High-decreasing' (4.5%). Gender, parental education and six specific school climate factors, out of the total 19 examined, significantly distinguished these trajectory classes. Positive teacher expectations and strong principal involvement were associated with more favourable trajectories, whereas teaching activities, teacher support and communication between school and home were associated with less favourable trajectories, suggesting a nuanced understanding of their relationship with depressive symptom trajectories.
Few school factors were found to be relevant to depressive symptoms, highlighting the importance of considering external factors beyond the school environment in supporting adolescents during this developmental stage. Although the findings are multifaceted, it is primarily positive interpersonal relationships, especially through teacher expectations, that stand out as significant factors in promoting youth mental health.
青春期是心理健康发展的关键时期，但探索背景因素如何影响抑郁症状发展的研究仍然有限。本研究探讨了青少年早期到中期抑郁症状的轨迹及其与学校氛围各个方面的关联。
研究样本包括来自瑞典101所学校的3671名七年级学生（年龄在12 - 13岁），在七年级、八年级和九年级的三个时间点进行纵向跟踪。使用潜在类别增长模型确定抑郁症状轨迹。教学与社会氛围问卷评估学校氛围，并采用多项逻辑回归基于社会人口统计学和学校氛围因素预测轨迹类别。
出现了四种不同的抑郁症状发展模式：“持续低症状”（76.7%）、“低增长”（10.9%）、“持续高症状”（7.9%）和“高下降”（4.5%）。在所考察的总共19个因素中，性别、父母教育程度和六个特定的学校氛围因素显著区分了这些轨迹类别。积极的教师期望和校长的大力参与与更有利的轨迹相关，而教学活动、教师支持以及学校与家庭之间的沟通与不太有利的轨迹相关，这表明对它们与抑郁症状轨迹之间的关系需要有细致入微的理解。
发现很少有学校因素与抑郁症状相关，这凸显了在这个发展阶段支持青少年时考虑学校环境之外的外部因素的重要性。尽管研究结果是多方面的，但主要是积极的人际关系，特别是通过教师期望，成为促进青少年心理健康的重要因素。
