Socioeconomic inequalities and family functioning: impact on mental well-being of adolescents

Objectives

Link between socioeconomic status and children’s physical health has been showed in many studies. The aim of this study was to explore relationship between adolescents’ mental well-being and their family’s socioeconomic status, family structure, and family functioning.

Methods

The international database of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study 2022 was used for the analyses. Only 15-year-old students from Germany, Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic were included. The sample consisted of 11,067 students (53 % girls). Mental well-being was assessed by the WHO-5 questionnaire; to estimate family socioeconomic status, we used the Family Affluence Scale [FASIII]; for family functioning [FAM_FUNC](cohesion, flexibility, communication) a composite index was created; family structure [FAM_STR] was divided into 4 categories. One-way ANOVA, partial correlations and logistic regression were used in the data analysis.

Results

The raw score on the FASIII correlated significantly with the raw scores on the WHO-5 and FAM_FUNC, although the correlation coefficients were low (0.11 and 0.10). Regression analysis, after controlling for sex and country, showed that impaired mental well-being (dichotomized) was predicted by lower socioeconomic status, as measured by FASIII (OR = 1.37; 95% CI 1.19-1.59), and particularly by poorer family functioning (OR = 5.63; 95 % CI = 4.91-6.45).

Conclusions

The results suggest that (regardless of gender and country) a lower socioeconomic status of the family negatively affects mental well-being. Furthermore, a dysfunctional family has a negative impact on an adolescent’s subjective mental well-being, similarly a child growing up in a two-parent family is better positioned to experience good mental well-being. Reducing socioeconomic inequality and fostering healthy family relationships can contribute to better mental well-being.

Funding

The study was supported by the OP-JAK, project # CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004583.

Key messages

• Socioeconomic inequality of the family, assessed through Family Affluence Scale, had a strong impact on child’s mental well-being.

• Living in dysfunctional family has a negative impact on an adolescent’s mental well-being. Children growing up in a two-parent family are better positioned to experience good mental well-being.