4Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany. 5Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, ...
‘Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation’: Using a Mixed-Methods Approach to Explore Changes in Adolescent Well-Being across Several European Countries Alina Cosma1*, Jelisaveta Belić2 ,Ondřej Blecha3, Friederike Fenski4, Man Y. Lo5, Filip Murár5 and Darija Petrović6 1
Child and Adolescent Health Research Unit, School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom 2 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands 3 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia 4 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany 5 Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom 6 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
Research Questions
Introduction
Discussion
Adolescence ●
1. What are possible explanations for the observed trends indicating deteriorating adolescent mental Formative period of life – adolescents undergo numerous well-being? biological, cognitive, and social changes (Sawyer et al., 2. Why are there gender differences in mental health trends? 2012)
Mental health ●
● ●
●
Half of all mental health disorders in adulthood start by the age of 14 → most cases are undetected and untreated (WHO, 2016) Up to one in five children worldwide experience mental health problems (Sawyer et al., 2000) Different national and international surveys and meta-analyses point out to the fact that child and adolescent mental health problems are on the rise (Collishaw, 2015; Ottová-Jordan et al., 2015; Sweeting et al., 2010; Tick et al., 2007) Generational differences in adolescents are further complemented by gender differences where girls appear more likely to experience mental health issues than boys (Salk et al., 2016)
Methods Participants ● ●
CZECHIA
13- and 15-year-olds from Germany, Czech Republic, and Serbia 78 adolescents -– 43 girls and 35 boys
Procedure ● ● ● ●
15 focus groups conducted (single and mixed gender) Preliminary data analysis Thematic analysis (Brown & Clark, 2006) Focus groups were conducted in the native languages → Audio-recordings were transcribed → Relevant quotes were extracted and translated to English → Codes were identified and grouped into main Themes
M
F
MIX
13
-
5F
1M, 4F
15
5M
6F
-
M
F
MIX
13
5M
6F
4M, 2F
15
-
5F
4M, 2F
SERBIA
M
F
MIX
13
6M
6F
4M, 2F
15
6M
5F
-
GERMANY
35M TOTAL
43F 78
Figure 1. Demographics for the focus groups participants M - male group F - female group M - mixed genders group
The present results are in line with the current literature. As in Navarro et al. (2015), family, peers, and school-related aspects are the main topics mentioned by adolescents as drivers of the observed generational change in well-being. According to the adolescents, the main possible driver was the technological development. The constant use of social media has become so embedded in their daily lives, which makes them vulnerable. However, the presented results suggest that the decrease in adolescent mental well-being could be explained by the pressure from so many concomitant sources. All of the singular isolated themes mentioned in the literature in fact feed into this main factor. Cultural and gender differences were observed and they shall be explored in the next stages of the project.
Results
Reflections
TECHNOLOGY: Various forms of technology were mentioned across all FGs as the most important factor driving the observed change. Compared with previous generations, it is a constant in the life of adolescents nowadays. Social media is putting a demand on adolescents to look or behave in certain ways; thus, strengthening normative expectations the society is promoting. Besides, cyberbullying was mentioned as a phenomenon that is increasingly present in adolescents’ life because of the feeling of anonymity that social media is providing. If you ask yourself what changed in the last years, it's definitely the internet and social media. (15yo girl, DE) Sometimes, I am very happy but then I look at my phone and I see all these pictures and immediately my mood gets worse even though I was so happy before and that's all because of these comparisons. (15yo girl, DE)
PEERS: Adolescents report changes in their relationship with peers that could have an essential influence on their mental well-being. They are experiencing a shift in the interaction with peers, from face to face relationships to online contacts without actual communication. I think you somehow lose social contacts. Of course, you can say that you have a lot of contacts via Whatsapp and you text a lot but you don’t really go out any more to do something real. Even when you meet, you probably watch a movie but you don’t go outside and do something actively. (13yo girl, DE)
SOCIETY: From their perspective across all FGs, it is clear that society through normative expectations could have an important impact in increasing the mental health problem in this population. It was also evident, that gender roles shape beauty ideals, and influence the adolescents’ identity search. There are these expectations, from friends how to be a good friend, from parents how you should behave at home and what you do with your private life, and I think also in school, parents put the most pressure on you. (13yo girl, DE)
teacher support
future career
cyberbullying
social media
TECHNOLOGY usage of technology
SCHOOL
bullying
PRESSURE
PEERS change in (online) interaction
structured extracurricular activities
normative expectations beauty roles
substance abuse
real life vs school training
exams
gender role expectations
parental abuse & neglect
PARENTS
SOCIETY
identity (transitions)
open communication & understanding (parent-child)
Figure 2. The main themes
high parental expectations intergenerational differences
The overarching theme which emerged through thematic analysis was PRESSURE. Pressure was related with 5 main themes: Technology, School, Parents, Society, and Peers (see Figure 1). SCHOOL: An important driver of adolescents’ mental well-being is school-related experiences. The pressure of having excellent school performances, combined with exam and future career worries was mentioned across all FGs. This feeling is exacerbated by also perceived discrepancies between school experiences and real life.
● ● ● ●
Problems with ethics approval (England) Problems with schools (Serbia) Lost data (Czech Republic) Access to adolescents
What’s next? ● Additional focus groups will be conducted ● Final analysis will be conducted using the complete dataset ● Investigate the role of technology as a mediator of change
There was not so much focus on the school before, and the education. When someone was good at something, they just did it, no one wanted them to have a high school, a university. (15yo girl, CZ).
PARENTS: Through increased expectations combined with a lack of consistent communication and support, the adolescents indicated that the relationship with their parents could be another important driver in aforementioned change. This was further illustrated by consistent mentions of having to spend their after-school time involved in activities mostly wanted by their parents and not the adolescents themselves. This reduces considerably the option of structuring one’s free time in an independent manner. And then when you try to fulfill those dreams it's so hard when you fail. Like they (the parents) have the trust in you, they believe you are good and then you actually can't manage it and they look at you strangely and it's so weird. (15yo girl, CZ).
Figure 3. Word Cloud photo illustrating some of the most frequent words
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