Looking beyond the individual: The relative importance of neighbourhood socioeconomic status and the development of internalising symptoms across adolescence
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Background Mental disorders have considerable impact on individual and societal well-being, with peak onset during adolescence. This study explored the relationship between neighbourhood socioeconomic status and internalising symptom progression during adolescence. Design Longitudinal data from 1,556 adolescents was taken from the control group of a cluster-randomised controlled trial of school-based prevention program for mental health and substance use. Measures assessed internalising symptoms (SDQ) across six time points from 13 to 16 years and the Index of Relative Socioeconomic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD) was used to measure participants’ neighbourhood socioeconomic status (SES) at baseline. Latent class growth analysis was used to estimate different internalising symptom trajectories among adolescents. Multinomial logistic regression explored the relationship between SES and internalising trajectory class, controlling for covariates. Results Four distinct trajectories of internalising symptoms were identified: Low stable (49% of adolescents), Increasing (30.6%), Decreasing (10%), and High Increasing (10.2%). Lower neighbourhood SES was associated with an increased likelihood of belonging to the High Increasing class relative to the Low Stable group. Additionally, female gender and baseline externalising symptoms were associated with an increased likelihood of belonging to all three elevated symptom trajectories compared to the low stable class, controlling for SES and other covariates. Conclusion The findings provide novel insight into the negative relationship between neighbourhood disadvantage on individual mental health trajectories, above and beyond individual factors, during adolescence. The findings have significant implications for social and economic policies.
Source: Mental Health & Prevention
Institutions: The University of Sydney, Australian National University
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,810
Funders: University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, Deakin University, University of Queensland, Curtin University of Technology, NSW Department of Education, China Scholarship Council, Department of Education and Training, Brisbane Catholic Education, Medical Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, Department of Education and Training, Queensland Government
OpenAlex ID: W4413291022