Mental difficulties in adolescents from different social environments

Miljački Matak, Ana . (2011). Mental difficulties in adolescents from different social environments. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Psychology. [mentor Jokić-Begić, Nataša].

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Abstract

Adolescence is accompanied by a number of stressful changes that favor the appearance of mental difficulties. It is important to observe whether these difficulties are normal developmental changes or the beginning of serious problems. The main aim of the study was to determine whether adolescents from different social backgrounds differ in the intensity of mental difficulties. We were also interested in differences due to gender and type of school attended by participants. The study was conducted on 522 first-grade pupils from secondary schools in Zagreb, Subotica, Bihać and Tuzla. The following instruments were used: STAIC (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children), CDI (Children's Depression Inventory) and the CORE-YP (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Young People). Analysis of results showed that students from different social backgrounds did not differ significantly in intensity of depression, while the differences for anxiety and general psychopathology were statistically significant. Girls showed significantly more symptoms of anxiety and general psychopathology than boys, while gender differences were not found for depression. The main effect of type of school, as well as interaction effects of gender, city and type of school were not statistically significant on any scale used. We can conclude that children are very adaptable to adverse environmental factors (excluding extremely adverse conditions).

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