Sadness amongst school-children in Iceland

• Main Author: Arnarsson, Ársæll
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2020
• Subjects: adolescents; sadness; school; parents; peers; unglingar; depurð; skólinn; foreldrar; vinir; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3102

Although it is perfectly normal to experience a low mood every now and then during adolescence as in other periods of the life-span, chronic sadness during this period can be a precursor to serious and repeated bouts of depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicidal behavior. The current generation of adolescents is generally thought, both by the public as well as professionals, to be more susceptible to sadness than previous generations. How susceptible adolescents are to serious bouts of sadness is related to a number of concurrent factors that have to do with genetics, development and social status. The aim of the current study was to document changes in the prevalence of daily sadness amongst Icelandic adolescents from 2006–2018, and identify factors related to daily sadness in 2018.The study is based on information gathered as part of the project Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) in which adolescents are asked about various issues relating to health, well-being and social situation. This data has been collected in Iceland every fourth year from 2006 and in the final phase of 2017–2018 a total of 7,159 students responded to the questionnaire. Prior to data collection, the questionnaire, together with a research plan, was submitted to the Icelandic Data Protection Authority and the University of Iceland Ethics Committee, neither of which had any reservations regarding the procedure. Subsequently, the same information was sent to all headmasters in Iceland in schools that had students in 6th, 8th or 10th grade, requesting their permission to conduct the study. As a follow-up, all parents and guardians received a letter of introduction with clear instructions as to how to decline a child’s participation. In the 2017–2019 phase, the questionnaire was in digitized form. The tables in the school-room were moved apart to ensure that students could not see one another’s answers. Then each student accessed the document on their computer. In the beginning there was a short introduction to the study ...