Civic engagement and mental health trajectories in Norwegian youth
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Introduction: Applying variable-centered analytical approaches, several studies have found an association between civic engagement and youth mental health. In the present study, we used a person-centered approach to explore whether civic engagement was related to optimal trajectories of mental health compared to other trajectories. We also examined how sociodemographic factors, such as socioeconomic status (SES), gender and age were related to youth mental health trajectories. Methods: Our sample comprised 675 students (aged 16–22) who had participated in three waves of data collection (Mage = 18.85, SD = 0.55; 43% males) in the COMPLETE project, a cluster-randomized controlled trial that involved Norwegian upper secondary schools. Results: The results revealed three trajectories of mental health (reflecting a combination of mental distress and mental well-being): optimal, intermediate, and sub-optimal. Contrary to our expectations, higher levels of civic engagement were not related to the optimal trajectory of mental health vs. other trajectories. However, we found that students who reported higher levels of SES and males were more likely to follow the optimal trajectory compared to other trajectories. Discussion: While the findings on civic engagement could be due to our measurement’s inability to capture the concept of “dugnad,” a well-established civic activity in the Norwegian society, the findings regarding the influence of SES and gender suggest that there is still more work to be done concerning the assessment and advancement of factors that can address mental health inequalities across SES and gender.
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Social engagement was not associated with any mental health trajectories among Norwegian adolescents.
“On the other hand, from a person-centered approach where mental health was viewed as trajectories formed from mental distress and mental well-being, social engagement was not associated with any of these trajectories among Norwegian adolescents (Wiium et al., 2023 ).”
From The Effect of Civic Engagement on Different Dimensions of Well-Being in Youth: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Wiium et al., 2023
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- Authors
- Wiium, N., Kristensen, S. M., Årdal, E., Bøe, T., Gaspar de Matos, M., Karhina, K., Larsen, T. M. B., Urke, H. B., & Wold, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Bergen (NO)
- Corresponding author
- Wiium, Nora
- Venue
- Frontiers in Public Health
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2023-10-19
- Volume
- 11
- Pages
- 1214141-1214141
- ISSN
- 2296-2565 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10625422
- OpenAlex
- W4387776885
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 3
- FWCI
- 3.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Ministry of Education (20161789)
- Norwegian Research Council (302225)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Youth Development and Social Support
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Adolescent Health and Behaviors
- Keywords
- citizen participation, youth mental health, mental health trajectories, socioeconomic status, gender differences, psychological distress, psychological well-being, mental health disparities, high school students, Norwegian youth
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Schools, Social Class, Students
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