Table 1 Measures used in the study
From: Mental health profiles of Finnish adolescents before and after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic
Variable and items | Response options | Coding | Scale used/adapted from | Cronbach's alpha | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sample 1 | Sample 2 | ||||
Mental health indicators | |||||
Psychological complaints | |||||
How often have you experienced these symptoms over the last six months? | About every day More than once a week About every week About every month Rarely or never | Number of complaints (1 = 0, 2 = 1–2, 3 = 3–4) experienced twice a week or more often | HBSC symptoms checklist [60]. The measure has proven validity [60] | 0.83 | 0.82 |
Somatic complaints | |||||
How often have you experienced these symptoms over the last six months? | About every day More than once a week About every week About every month Rarely or never | Number of complaints (1 = 0, 2 = 1–2, 3 = 3–4) experienced twice a week or more often | HBSC symptoms checklist [60]. The measure has proven validity [60] | 0.75 | 0.76 |
Life satisfaction | |||||
Adolescents were asked to rate how satisfied they were with their lives on a visual scale | 10 The best possible life—0 The worst possible life | The scale was reversed and used as a continuous scale (0–10) | Cantril ladder [61]. The measure has shown good test–retest reliability and convergent validity [62] | ||
Perceived loneliness | |||||
Do you ever feel lonely? (Sample 1) | Yes, very often Yes, quite often Sometimes No | 1 = Low loneliness (No / Sometimes), 2 = High loneliness (Yes, quite often / Yes, very often) | |||
How often have you felt lonely during the last 12 months? (Sample 2) | Never Rarely Sometimes Most of the time Always | 1 = Low loneliness (Never / Rarely / Sometimes), 2 = High loneliness (Most of the time /Always) | |||
Problematic social media use | |||||
During the past year, have you | No Yes | All yes-responses were summed (range 0–9) and recoded into three groups: normative users (0 to 1 yes-responses), risky users (2 to 5 yes-responses), and problematic users (6 to 9 yes-responses) [30, 63] | Social Media Disorder Scale [26]. The measure has proven validity [63] | 0.82 | 0.82 |
Regularly noticed that you can only think about the moment that you will be able to use social media again? | |||||
Regularly felt dissatisfied because you wanted to spend more time on social media? | |||||
Often been in a bad mood because you couldn’t use social media? | |||||
Tried to spend less time on social media but failed? | |||||
Regularly neglected doing other things (e.g., hobbies, sports) because you wanted to use social media? | |||||
Regularly argued with others about your own social media usage? | |||||
Regularly lied to your parents or friends about how much time you spend on social media? | |||||
Often used social media to escape from unpleasant feelings? | |||||
Actually fought with your parents or siblings because of your social media usage? | |||||
Psychosocial factors | |||||
Perceived home atmosphere | |||||
How would you rate the atmosphere in your home? | Very good Quite good Neither good nor bad Quite bad Very bad | The scale was reversed and used as a continuous variable | |||
Parental monitoring | |||||
Maternal monitoring (6 items)a | Brown [66] | 0.86 | 0.86 | ||
Paternal monitoring (6 items)a | Brown [66] | 0.89 | 0.90 | ||
How much does your mother/father really know about | She/he knows a lot She/he knows something She/he knows nothing I have no mother, or I do not see her I have no father, or I do not see him | The last two response options were omitted. Mean scores were calculated for both subscales | |||
Who your friends are | |||||
How you spend your money | |||||
Where you spend your time after school | |||||
Where you are in the evenings | |||||
What you do in your free time | |||||
What you do on the internet | |||||
Family support | |||||
My family really tries to help me | Very strongly disagree (1)—Very strongly agree (7) | Items were computed into a mean score | Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support [67]. The measure has proven validity [68] | 0.97 | 0.96 |
I get the help and emotional support I need from my family | |||||
I can talk about my problems with my family | |||||
My family is willing to help me in decision-making | |||||
Peer support | |||||
My friends really try to help me | Very strongly disagree (1)— Very strongly agree (7) | Items were computed into a mean score | Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support [67]. The measure has proven validity [68] | 0.96 | 0.96 |
I can count on my friends when something goes wrong | |||||
I have friends with whom I can share my joys and sorrows | |||||
I can talk about my problems with my friends | |||||
Teacher support | |||||
I feel that my teachers accept me as I am | Completely agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Completely disagree | Items were reversed and computed into a mean score | Teacher and Classmate Support Scale [69]. The measure has proven validity [70] | 0.87 | 0.88 |
I feel that my teachers care about me as a person | |||||
I trust my teachers a lot | |||||
Classmate support | |||||
The pupils in my class get on well with each other | Completely agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Completely disagree | Items were reversed and computed into a mean score | Teacher and Classmate Support Scale [69]. The measure has proven validity [70] | 0.81 | 0.84 |
Most pupils in my class are kind and helpful Other pupils accept me the way I am | |||||
School climate | |||||
I feel safe in this school | Completely agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Completely disagree | Items were reversed and computed into a mean score | The School Climate Index [71] | 0.81 | 0.86 |
I feel like I belong in this school | |||||
Intensity of online communication | |||||
How often do you interact with the following people via the internet? | I don’t know/Doesn’t concern me Never or hardly ever At least every week Daily or almost daily Several times a day Almost all the time | The first response option was omitted. Following previous research [72, 73], all items were calculated into a mean score | EU Kids Online Survey [74] | 0.71 | 0.74 |
Close friend(s) | |||||
Friends from a larger friend group | |||||
People that you have met on the internet | |||||
Other people (e.g., parents, siblings, classmates, teachers) | |||||
Other health-related factors | |||||
Educational expectationsb | |||||
What will you do when you finish comprehensive school? | Sample 1: Apply for general upper secondary education Apply to a vocational school or for other vocational training Apply for an apprenticeship Double qualification (e.g., general upper secondary education and vocational upper secondary education simultaneously) Get a job Remain unemployed I don’t know Sample 2: Apply for general upper secondary education Apply to a vocational school or for other vocational training Double qualification (e.g., general upper secondary education and vocational upper secondary education simultaneously) Apply for voluntary additional education (e.g., 10th grade) I don’t know | Responses were categorized into 1 = academic educational expectations (upper secondary school) and 2 = vocational educational expectations (vocational school or other vocational training). Other response options were omitted due to their low frequency (< 5%) | |||
Health literacya | |||||
I am confident that … | Not at all true Not completely true Somewhat true Absolutely true | A sum score was calculated (range 0–40), and further recoded into three groups: low (score 10–25), moderate (26–35) and high health literacy (36–40) [75] | Health Literacy for School-Aged Children (HLSAC) instrument [76]. The measure has proven validity [76] | 0.96 | 0.92 |
I have good information about health | |||||
When necessary, I am able to give ideas on how to improve health in my immediate surroundings (e.g., a nearby place or area, family, friends) | |||||
I can compare health-related information from different sources | |||||
I can follow the instructions given to me by healthcare personnel (e.g., nurse, doctor) | |||||
I can easily give examples of things that promote health | |||||
I can judge how my own actions affect the surrounding natural environment | |||||
When necessary, I can find health-related information that is easy for me to understand | |||||
I can judge how my behavior affects my health | |||||
-I can usually figure out if some health-related information is right or wrong | |||||
I can give reasons for the choices I make regarding my health | |||||
Self-rated health | |||||
Would you say your health is…? | Excellent Good Fair Poor | The scale was reversed and used as a continuous variable | |||
Socio-demographic characteristics | |||||
Family affluence | |||||
Does your family own a car (a passenger car, a van, or a lorry)? | No One Two or more | A sum score (range 0–10) was calculated from the items, which was further categorized into three groups of relative family affluence: low (lowest 20th percentile), medium (between 20 and 80th percentile) and high (highest 20th percentile), in line with international guidelines [77]. Due to the distribution of the sum score, the following cut-offs were used: 0–6 (low, lowest 18th percentile), 7–8 (medium, between 19th and 73rd percentile) and 9–10 (high, highest 27th percentile) | HBSC Family Affluence Scale (FAS III) [78]. The measure has been shown to correlate moderately with parental earned income [79] | ||
Do you have your own bedroom? | No Yes | ||||
How many computers does your family have (including laptops and tablets, but not game consoles and smartphones)? | None One Two More than two | ||||
How many bathrooms are in your home? | None One Two More than two | ||||
Do you have a dishwasher in your home? | No Yes | ||||
Family structure | |||||
Answer this question by thinking about the home in which you live all the time or most of the time, and mark the people who live there | Mother Father Mother’s partner Father’s partner I live in a foster home or children’s home Someone or somewhere else (e.g., grandparents) | Responses were categorized into three family structures (1 = lives in a nuclear family, 2 = lives in a single-parent family, 3 = lives in a step-family). Cases in which the adolescents either left the question blank (n = 33 in sample 1, n = 41 in sample 2) or reported living without a parent (n = 22 in sample 1, n = 27 in sample 2) were set to missing due to the low frequency of those responses | |||
Urban/rural residence | |||||
What kind of place do you live in? | City, in the center City, outside the center Countryside, in the village center Countryside, outside the village center | Responses were dichotomized into 1 = urban residence (City, in the center / City, outside the center) and 2 = rural residence (Countryside, in the village center / Countryside, outside the village center) | |||
Immigrant background | |||||
This variable was constructed from three items asking in which country the adolescents and each of their parents were born | Lists of countries | Responses were categorized into 1 = first-generation immigrant (being born abroad), 2 = second-generation immigrant (born in Finland and one or both parents born abroad), and 3 = native/non-immigrant background (the respondent and parent(s) were born in Finland) | |||