- 10:00–10:45: Trial lecture (Title TBA)
- 12:00–16:00: Public defence
The thesis is available here (nva.sikt.no) 14 days before the defence.
Ordinary opponents
- First opponent: Associate professor Bjørn-Atle Reme, University of Oslo
- Second opponent: Senior Researcher Rikke Fuglsang Olsen, VIVE, The Danish Center for Science Research
- The chair of the committee: Professor Einar Øverbye, Faculty of Social Sciences, OsloMet
Leader of the public defence: Vice Dean of Research Steen Steensen, Faculty of Social Sciences, OsloMet.
Supervisors
- Main supervisor: Professor Åsmund Hermansen, Faculty of Social Sciences, OsloMet
- Co-supervisor: Researcher Mira Aaboen Slette, NOVA, OsloMet
Abstract
Unequal Starts, Unequal Paths: Mental Health in Adolescence
More and more young people struggle with mental disorders. Adolescence is a crucial stage of life: it is when young people complete their education, enter the workforce and become financially independent. Mental disorders during this period may therefore be linked to difficulties well into adulthood. At the same time, we know that who develops mental disorders varies with childhood circumstances and family finances and resources.
In this thesis, I have examined both sides of this relationship: How are family resources associated with the risk of mental disorders in adolescence? And how are mental disorders associated with young people’s opportunities later in life? I have used register data covering the entire Norwegian population and followed children and young people over many years.
The results show that children in families where parents have weak ties to the labour market more often develop mental disorders in adolescence. The risk is particularly high when several burdens occur together, for example when the mother is a single parent, or when the other parent has a mental disorder.
Mental disorders in adolescence are also associated with how young people fare later on. Young people with substance use problems, anxiety and depression, or behavioural problems and ADHD less often complete upper secondary school. This applies to both girls and boys. They also more often have an unstable transition from school to work, and this association is particularly strong for behavioural problems and ADHD. Young people with substance use and behavioural problems also more often experience payment problems as adults.
An important finding is that these patterns are not the same for everyone. Young people with substance use problems who grow up in families with few resources are at particularly high risk of not completing upper secondary school. Boys with anxiety or depression and girls with behavioural problems or ADHD, that is, disorders less common for their gender, benefit less from having well-resourced parents. In other words, even a well-off family does not protect against a difficult transition from school to work. The risk of payment problems is particularly high among young people with substance use and behavioural problems from families with few resources.
The thesis thus shows that mental health is associated both with social inequality in childhood and with inequality later in life, and that mental disorders may be one link in how inequality is passed on between generations. To understand who is most vulnerable, we need to look at how several factors interact: gender, family background and type of disorder. The findings suggest that support for young people with mental disorders should take the young person’s whole situation into account, not just the diagnosis.
