“Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least” : En kvantitativ studie av psykiske helseplager blant ungdom i Norge, og sammenhengen med relasjoner til venner og familie

Abstract

This master thesis has been developed in collaboration between Bente Melbøe Hokland and Majbritt Legind Hersel. Throughout our education we have often discussed a common wonder about youths; why someone is doing well in life while others do not. The master thesis gave us the opportunity to conduct a quantitative survey where we through Ungdata have investigated how many young people who indicate to struggle with depressive ailments and how this is distributed among the sexes. The figures are from 2015. After mapping the scope, the purpose is to investigate which factors may be associated with the experience of depression and how it is affected either negatively or positively. We have emphasized young people's relationship with their parents and peers, including family conflict and bullying. In the theoretical part of the assignment, we have considered the traditional understanding of depression, stress vulnerability, relationship and association based on Egeland & Poulsen, Brobjerg, Kvello and Bowlby. Next, we have emphasized Beck, Giddens and Eckersley's view on community development and the new modernity. We have used Wiklund et al's qualitative survey as a framework for a deeper insight into girls' self-understanding of stress-related disorders. Our study showed that girls to a greater degree than boys experience depressive ailments in 2015. The plagues increased for each year during youth, and especially for girls. For both sexes, but especially in girls, the level of conflict in the family was the factor that showed the greatest negative relation to the experience of depressive ailments. Being subjected to bullying also predicted increased depressive ailments, especially for the boys. However, the number of young people who appeared to be subjected to bullying was low. For both sexes, good relationships with peers and parents showed up to coincide with depression reduction. Keywords: depressive ailments, girls, relationships, bullying, conflict level, individualization and modernity.