Gender differences in psychosocial functioning of adolescents with symptoms of anxiety and depression: longitudinal findings from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study.
Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, The Regional Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (RBUP), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491, Trondheim, Norway. ruth.derdikman@ntnu.no
To explore longitudinally gender differences in the associations between psychosocial functioning, subjective well-being and self-esteem among adolescents with and without symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Data were obtained from a major population-based Norwegian study, the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, in which 1,092 boys and 1,262 girls (86% of all invited) completed an extensive self-report questionnaire at baseline (mean age 14.4 years) and at follow-up (mean age 18.4 years).
Gender was a moderator variable in the associations between symptoms of anxiety and depression and impairment, meaning that boys' functioning was impaired to a larger extent than girls' functioning. A statistically significant interaction effect between gender and symptoms of anxiety and depression was found at follow-up in terms of subjective well-being (p