An examination of adolescent mental and physical well-being in Scottish school children: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Recent research has suggested that Scottish girls are more at risk of higher levels of psychosomatic symptomatology and lower levels of mental well-being that their male peers. We report the results of a cross-sectional study examining mental well-being and psychosomatic symptomatology in Scottish adolescents. Participants were 2,504 school children (M age = 15.6 (SD = 0.67); Male = 1229 [49.1%], Female = 1265 [50.5%], Gender missing = 10 [0.4%]), attending high schools in Glasgow and Inverclyde Local Authority areas. Both unadjusted and fully adjusted analyses revealed that females reported significantly lower levels of mental well-being and higher levels of psychosomatic symptomatology than males. Other measures that were significant in terms of well-being and symptomatology included: self-rated health, subjective life expectancy, and birth order. Frequency of physical exercise, free school meals entitlement (a proxy for socio-economic status) and ethnicity were not consistently related to health outcomes.