Adolescence and Mental Health Literature Review
Various studies have been formulated to explain the factors that influence mental health among adolescents. The first factor influencing mental health among teenagers is the relationship between psychological status and community factors. The consensus is that adolescents exposed to positive experiences end up with healthy mental conditions. It implies that adolescents should receive full support from friends and relatives as a way of improving their mental status. The community is supposed to mound the behavior of teenagers, and way of doing things could be the variable on their state of health. The source shows that there are a variety of ecological factors and processes that shape adolescent well-being in different levels comprising of immediate and macro environments (Cheung, Taillileu, Turner, Fortier, Sareen, MacMillan & Afifi, 2017). Youths that are exposed to community disputes, as well as environmental stressors, could have critical repercussions in the development of the individual. The source complements other studies by explaining the role of negative experiences, the death of a sibling, psychopathic factors, and gender contribute to mental challenges. Other factors analyzed in different studies are connected either directly or indirectly, to the community factors. However, the research should focus on increasing the sample size in its parameters to get wide variation across communities.
(Sadeh, Bounoua & Javdani, 2019)Argues that the social misfit in the is one of the critical determinants of the change in behavior among the youths. The community factors results to psychopathic traits that influence the kind of behavior an adolescent will possess. The link between the change in behavior and puberty is key to understanding how mental status dictates the action. It reveals that adolescents that misuse substance while with challenging mental health usually possess the character even before onset. Adolescents that depict conduct disorders possess a substantial level of psychopathic traits. It is just an elevation of another character such as substance use, antisocial behavior, criminal prosecutions, premarital pregnancy, etc. adolescents in such conditions depict lethal behavior challenges that resemble impairment cognition and emotional development resembling that of full-grown adults. The study explains that the behaviors are disorders since adolescents in this classification continue with their character without thinking of the negative consequences. It implies that’s youths are at high risk since adverse effects cause most of the changes in the experience. The research contains limitations such as failing to analyze how psychopathic factors interfere with mental health, given that towards mid-adolescents, the traits turn stable. Future studies should be done to determine whether adolescents high on drugs are in a position to be helped from a particular clinical approach. It should give space for the use of broad and more integrated data to avoid limitations of valid predictions.
The mental gaps witnessed in society are caused by self-esteem; stability is one of the predictive factors in males and females. Mental health differs from genders such that a woman has a high chance of being exposed to depression and anxiety compared to a man. Also, personal factors could contribute to mental status among adolescents, including cases such as mistreatment (moksnes & Reidunsdatter, 2019). The research articulates that both genders have unique ways in which they perceive conditions and situations. For the female gender, they have a weak mental ability to respond to various factors happening around their lives. For instance, community factors such as violence hit hard on girls who need more support than males. Also, in terms of negative experiences and the death of a sibling, the ability to internalize the situation is different in the two genders. It complements other similar researches in a manner that signifies the difference in the two genders to handle mental pressures in their environment. The study underscores the need for improved social support to young people to guarantee them of positive mental health. The research opens the way for future research to determine whether social relationships are of more help than others, their way of interaction, and priority.
There is a link between individual-oriented factors and events of mental health with or without past cases of harassment. The existing indicators of mental health caused by previous instances of harassment include signs such as poor behavior. The study provides rich insight into the need to check on how youths are treated. If a teen is exposed to surrounding full of stigma and lack of attention from family members, the end outcome will be poor mental health (Cheung, Taillileu, Turner, Fortier, Sareen, MacMillan & Afifi, 2017). The research well articulates that the patters of communication in the early stages of life could determine mental health status in teenage days. However, the study notes that parental notification faces hurdles such as cultural norms and beliefs in attending to people with challenges mental health. Yet, the study has limitations has it only focuses on the mistreatment that has the only variable to mental status among the youth. It fails to ignore the genetic response to the social environment causes deficiency in mental state.
Mental health status is not limited to personal issues but also negative experiences in life. For instance, the mental health of an adolescent might be affected if an individual loses a close person, such as a friend, kid, or parent. (Stikkelbroek, Bodden, Reitz, Vollebergh & Vam, 2016)Argues that in the case of the death of a sibling, it becomes hard for an adolescent to heal from experience. The consensus is that the end of a sibling is tragic during young age that can result in lethal psychological distress. The study complements other sources that social factors, personal emotions, and level of self-esteem as the key to variation in the rate of mental disturbance. The community will be expected to intervene in condoling with affected members that can only be successful if they have the correct attitude. The level of support from friends and other relatives are determinants on how a teenager will adjust psychologically on the issue. For instance, the bereaved adolescents find it hard internalizing the problem, especially immediately after they lose, which brings the difference with the normal ones. The limitation of the study is that it fails to leave the platform for future studies to determine other factors within the issue of sibling death. For instance, there are other factors such as gender of the deceased party, cause of the end as well as self-esteem as factors to influence the rate of mental adjustments. Also, the research could have looked into factors such as the possibility of the mental health of the parent being impaired that could reflect on the adolescent.
Cheung, K., Taillieu, T., Turner, S., Fortier, J., Sareen, J., MacMillan, H. L., … & Afifi, T. O. (2017). “Relationship and community factors related to better mental health following child maltreatment among adolescents.” Child abuse & neglect, 70, 377-387. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28750346/
Cheung, K., Taillieu, T., Turner, S., Fortier, J., Sareen, J., MacMillan, H. L., … & Afifi, T. O. (2018). “Individual-level factors related to better mental health outcomes following child maltreatment among adolescents.” Child abuse & neglect, 79, 192-202. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29477612/
Moksnes, U. K., & Reidunsdatter, R. J. (2019). Self-esteem and mental health in adolescents–level and stability during a school year. Norsk Epidemiologi, 28(1-2). Retrieved from https://www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/norepid/article/view/3052
Sadeh, N., Bounoua, N., & Javdani, S. (2019). Psychopathic traits, pubertal timing, & mental health functioning in justice-involved adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 145, 52-57. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886919301771
Stikkelbroek, Y., Bodden, D. H., Reitz, E., Vollebergh, W. A., & van Baar, A. L. (2016). “Mental health of adolescents before and after the death of a parent or sibling”. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 25(1), 49-59. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4698293/