Abstract
The study investigates depressive symptoms among 3,431 adolescents aged 13–15 years. The sample comprises both native Norwegian and immigrant adolescents living in Norway. The main finding of the study is that the level of depressive symptoms is significantly higher among the immigrant adolescents than their Norwegian counterparts. When analysed separately for boys and girls, the difference is still significant for boys. Generally depressive symptoms are significantly higher among girls than among boys. Depressive symptoms, especially in boys, may also be related to the degree of urbanization of the area they live in. In cities, there is a significant difference between native Norwegian and immigrant boys, with immigrant boys having a higher level of depressive symptoms than native Norwegians. The implications for future research about immigrant adolescents and their psychosocial adjustment are discussed.
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Notes
The five categories of urbanization according to Wichstrøm et al. (1996): “Oslo”, “Large town” (100,000–200,000 inhabitants), “suburban area” (less than 25 km from Oslo or large city), “Small town” (fewer than 75,000 inhabitants) and “Village or in the countryside”.
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Appendix
Appendix
Items of the major variables used in the study:
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1.
Depressive symptoms:
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Blaming yourself for things
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Feeling everything is hard going
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Feeling unhappy, sad or depressed
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Feeling hopeless about the future
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Worrying or stewing about things
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Difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep
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Operationalization: A sum score was made of these six items. Factor loadings and Cronbach’s alphas are given in Table 4 separately for the four main groups (native and immigrant boys and girls).
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2.
Immigrant status:
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I’m from …
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Operationalization: Pupils who wrote down another country than Norway was treated as an immigrant.
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3.
Urbanization:
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What is the name of the school you go to? …
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Operationalization: The name of the school gives information of which municipality the pupil lives in, and thus also if he/she lives in a village, a town or a city.
Results from factor analysis of items assessing depressive symptoms, as well as Cronbach alphas for factor based index, are given for native Norwegian (N) and immigrant (I) boys and girls separately in the Table 4.
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Fandrem, H., Sam, D.L. & Roland, E. Depressive Symptoms Among Native and Immigrant Adolescents in Norway: The Role of Gender and Urbanization. Soc Indic Res 92, 91–109 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-008-9291-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-008-9291-y