The impact of the social environment on children's mental health in a prosperous city: an analysis with data from the city of Munich

Abstract

BackgroundChildren with a low socioeconomic position are more affected by mental difficulties as compared to children with a higher socioeconomic position. This paper explores whether this socioeconomic pattern persists in the prosperous German city of Munich which features high quality of life and coverage of children mental health specialists that lies well above the national average and is among the highest in Europe.Methods1,265 parents of preschool children participated in a cross-sectional health survey. They were given a self-administered questionnaire (including socioeconomic variables) and the 'Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)', a well-established method to identify mental difficulties among children and adolescents. Prevalence estimates for the 'SDQ-Total Difficulties Score' were calculated, with a special focus on differences by parental (resp. household) socioeconomic position. The association between parental education, household income, single parenthood, nationality, and parental working status on one hand, and their children's mental health on the other, was explored using multivariable logistic regression models. The coverage of mental health specialists per 100,000 children aged 14 or younger in the city of Munich was also calculated.ResultsIn Munich, the distribution of mental health difficulties among children follows the same socioeconomic pattern as described previously at the national level, but the overall prevalence is about 30% lower. Comparing different indicators of socioeconomic position, low parental education and household income are the strongest independent variables associated with mental difficulties among children (OR = 2.7; CI = 1.6 - 4.4 and OR = 2.8; CI = 1.4 - 5.6, respectively).ConclusionsSocioeconomic differences in the prevalence of childhood mental difficulties are very stable. Even in a city such as Munich, which is characterized by high quality of life, high availability of mental health specialists, and low overall prevalence of these mental difficulties, they are about as pronounced as in Germany as a whole. It can be concluded that the effect of several characteristics of socioeconomic position 'overrules' the effect of a health promoting regional environment.

The relationships between quality of life and anxiety symptoms and the moderating effects of socio-demographic characteristics in Taiwanese adolescents

“…There are also differences in anxiety symptoms between adolescents living in rural and urban areas [12]. Meanwhile, parents' education level has influence on adolescents' mental health [13]. Whether these sociodemographic characteristics have moderating effects on the relationship between anxiety symptoms and QOL needs further study.…”

Salud mental en menores españoles. Variables socioeducativas

“…Estos datos, obtenidos con población general de menores españoles, concuerdan con otras investigaciones internacionales que demuestran que aquellos menores con familias con un estatus socioeconó-mico más pobre tienen una salud física y mental peor que aquellos menores con un alto nivel socioeconómico. 10,[32][33][34][35][36] Ni el efecto del sexo, la raza o la edad cambian esta asociación, siendo la educación de los padres y el nivel socioeconómico las variables más fuertemente asociadas a la aparición de problemas de salud mental en los menores. 35 De este modo, el bajo nivel socioeconómico asociado a las bajas categorías del nivel social puede conllevar no solamente un salud mental negativa en los adultos sino que afecta directamente a la salud mental de los menores, 3 pudiendo incluso provocar unas malas relaciones de los padres con sus hijos durante periodos de tiempo más prolongados.…”

“…10,[32][33][34][35][36] Ni el efecto del sexo, la raza o la edad cambian esta asociación, siendo la educación de los padres y el nivel socioeconómico las variables más fuertemente asociadas a la aparición de problemas de salud mental en los menores. 35 De este modo, el bajo nivel socioeconómico asociado a las bajas categorías del nivel social puede conllevar no solamente un salud mental negativa en los adultos sino que afecta directamente a la salud mental de los menores, 3 pudiendo incluso provocar unas malas relaciones de los padres con sus hijos durante periodos de tiempo más prolongados. 37 Por tanto, son las categorías laborales más elevadas las que pueden influir como un factor protector en la salud mental de los menores, demostrándose una asociación entre el estatus socio-laboral de los padres y el nivel de salud del menor, no sólo a nivel físico sino también a nivel mental.…”

“…Es decir, la formación educativa sería una variable a trabajar para conseguir modular el impacto de la pertenencia a una clase social baja en la salud mental del menor. 35 Del mismo modo, parece que una baja educación y bajos ingresos en el principal sustentador van a determinar la menor probabilidad de solicitar una consulta médica para evaluar la salud mental del menor. 42 De acuerdo con otros estudios internacionales 43 son necesarias políticas públicas de salud mental que propicien un acercamiento a las familias en riesgo para que puedan detectar mejor las necesidades de atención psicológica en los menores a su cargo y poder darles una atención adecuada.…”

Socioeconomic status and children's mental health: Understanding the mediating effect of social relations in Mainland China

“…The relationship between SES and children's mental health has been extensively investigated (Wadsworth & Achenbach, ). Cross‐sectional studies (Perna, Bolte, Mayrhofer, Spies, & Mielck, ) and longitudinal studies (Carter et al., ) have corroborated that low SES negatively affects children's psychological health and shows a close relationship with the incidence of mental health problems. Disadvantaged children with low SES likely suffer from mental health problems by twice as much as those with high SES (Reiss, ).…”