Determinants of emotional distress and common mental health disorders

Adolescence is a key time for mental health, with many mental health problems first starting during the teenage years. Findings from Age of Wonder suggest that young people from South Asian backgrounds report fewer mental health problems than those from White British backgrounds, though the reasons for this are unclear and may include difference in distress levels, differential response to self-report questions, and other explanations.

In this study we wish to study known determinants of emotional distress and common mental health disorders, as part of a six-paper series triangulating data from multiple sources to more fully understand the relationship of ethnicity to mental health in this population.

Born in Bradford’s Age of Wonder is a large research study of adolescents in Bradford, a diverse city in the North of England. A central element of the study is surveys that participants complete at school. The surveys measure determinants of mental health disorder in multiple questions and we plan to understand to what extent these vary by the participant’s ethnicity.