Higher academic performance is almost universally considered a good thing, and most quantitative studies show that performance is positively, although weakly, related to mental health. Simultaneously, however, qualitative studies consistently find that high-performing students and students attending high-performing schools report high levels of…

Using a three-wave (mean age 14.4, 17.4, and 20.4 years) longitudinal design (N = 1,834; 55.6% females), we set out to map direct and indirect effects of adolescent peer victimization and mental health on academic achievement in early adulthood, and the buffering effect of positive family relations. Data was collected in Sweden 2012 to 2018. We…

The study is based on two waves of longitudinal data at ages 13 and 16 aimed to examine factors that explain psychosomatic and depressive symptoms at the age of 16. The sample is nationally representative involving 9000 individuals from the Swedish longitudinal Evaluation Through Follow up database born in 1998. A growth modeling approach was…

This article elaborates on previous research showing that educational achievement is negatively related to poor mental health during adolescence and positively related to the family's socioeconomic resources. We examine (i) the potential moderating effects of family resources on the negative relationship between educational achievement and poor…

Previous studies indicate that school climate is important for student health and academic achievement. This study concerns the validity and reliability of the student edition a Swedish instrument for measuring pedagogical and social school climate (PESOC). Data were collected from 5,745 students at 97 Swedish secondary schools. Multilevel…

A large number of studies have shown that parental divorce is associated with psychological maladjustment in children. Less is known about whether the magnitude of this association has changed over time. This is mainly because of the lack of repeated data, containing identical measures over time. In the present article, the authors use data from…

This paper analyzes whether class size has an effect on the prevalence of mental health problems and well-being among adolescents in Swedish schools. We use cross-sectional data collected in year 2008 covering 2755 Swedish adolescents in ninth grade from 40 schools and 159 classes. We utilize different econometric approaches to address potential…

This study examined how psychosocial conditions at school are associated with prosocial behaviour, a key indicator of positive mental health. Participants were 3,652 Swedish Grade 9 students from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. Structural equation modelling demonstrated that students who experience more manageable school…

It has long been claimed that there is a strong association between high intelligence, or exceptional creativity, and mental illness. In this book, James MacCabe investigates this claim, using evidence from Swedish population data. He finds evidence that children who achieve either exceptionally high, or very low grades at school, are at greater…

Life-span developmentalists have long been interested in the nature of and the contributing factors to successful aging. Using variable-oriented approaches, research has revealed critical insights into the intricacies of human development and successful aging. In the present study, we opted instead for a more subgroup-oriented approach and…

The association between mental health problems and traditional bullying is well known, whereas the strength of the association in cyberbullying is less known. This study aimed to compare the association between mutually exclusive groups of bullying involvement and psychosomatic problems as measured by the PsychoSomatic Problems scale. The sample…

Few studies have explored the subjective mental health of adolescents with intellectual disabilities, while proxy ratings indicate an overrepresentation of mental health problems. The present study reports on the design and an initial empirical evaluation of the Well-being in Special Education Questionnaire (WellSEQ). Questions, response scales,…

Objective: This study explores the comorbidity between symptoms of ADHD and PTSD in relation to IQ among refugee children of traumatized parents (TP) and non-traumatized parents (NTP). Method: The study compares 80 refugee children, 40 with TP with 40 with NTP. ADHD and PTSD are assessed using DICA. Children's cognitive functions are measured by…