PhD defence D.C. (Diandra) Bouter

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation:

Most mental health problems begin during adolescence or young adulthood and greatly impact these young people’s lives. We followed a large group of adolescents to better understand how mental health problems develop, which environmental factors play a role, and who receives mental health care.

To establish the iBerry Study, over 16,000 students in the first year of high school were screened for emotional and behavioral problems. Based on this screening, a high-risk cohort of 1022 adolescents was selected. Our results showed that the adolescents who were at risk for psychopathology at age 13 were more likely to have mental health problems at age 18.

We also examined which factors were associated with mental health problems. First, during the COVID-19 pandemic, most adolescents reported normal levels of emotional and behavioral symptoms. Interestingly, those who had severe problems before the pandemic reported a decrease in symptoms. Second, living in a city was associated with psychotic experiences in boys. Third, a combined risk score of 14 environmental factors predicted psychotic symptoms at age 18. Fourth, we also found that psychotic symptoms were associated with suicidal thoughts and attempts.

One of the most important findings was that most adolescents with mental health problems did not receive mental health care. Even those with serious symptoms often went unnoticed, especially boys. These studies show the importance of recognizing problems early and the variety of factors that are associated with the onset of mental health problems. It also offers new insights for prevention and future research.