Citation

Nygren K, Bergström E, Janlert U, Nygren L. Scand. J. Caring Sci. 2012; 26(4): 643-653.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Nordic College of Caring Science, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1471-6712.2012.00973.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explore whether parent-adolescent relations are associated to self-reported health of adolescents. Logistic regression analyses were performed on a cross-sectional data set consisting of 5060 adolescents, grades 79, from six municipalities in the northern part of Sweden. The study was approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board in Umea, Sweden.

RESULTS showed that, in both boys and girls, experiencing low parental demands as well as perceiving the relationship quality and the communication with parents as poor were significantly associated with having poor general health, somatic complaints and feelings of stress. In general, girls scored lower on self-reported health than boys, but our findings indicate that these gender differences could not be explained by relations to parents. In conclusion, relations to parents play an important role for self-reported health of adolescents. Although no causal-effect statements can be determined in this study, it is implied that there is a need for health professionals, such as school nurses, school welfare officers, etc., to pay special attention to parent-adolescent relations in their work with adolescents.