Loneliness and Ethnic Composition of the School Class: A Nationally Random Sample of Adolescents

TY - JOUR

T1 - Loneliness and Ethnic Composition of the School Class

T2 - A Nationally Random Sample of Adolescents

AU - Madsen, Katrine Rich

AU - Damsgaard, Mogens Trab

AU - Rubin, Mark

AU - Jervelund, Signe Smith

AU - Lasgaard, Mathias

AU - Walsh, Sophie

AU - Stevens, Gonneke G.W.J.M.

AU - Holstein, Bjørn E.

PY - 2016/7/1

Y1 - 2016/7/1

N2 - Loneliness is a public health concern that increases the risk for several health, behavioral and academic problems among adolescents. Some studies have suggested that adolescents with an ethnic minority background have a higher risk for loneliness than adolescents from the majority population. The increasing numbers of migrant youth around the world mean growing numbers of heterogeneous school environments in many countries. Even though adolescents spend a substantial amount of time at school, there is currently very little non-U.S. research that has examined the importance of the ethnic composition of school classes for loneliness in adolescence. The present research aimed to address this gap by exploring the association between loneliness and three dimensions of the ethnic composition in the school class: (1) membership of ethnic majority in the school class, (2) the size of own ethnic group in the school class, and (3) the ethnic diversity of the school class. We used data from the Danish 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey: a nationally representative sample of 4383 (51.2 % girls) 11–15-year-olds. Multilevel logistic regression analyses revealed that adolescents who did not belong to the ethnic majority in the school class had increased odds for loneliness compared to adolescents that belonged to the ethnic majority. Furthermore, having more same-ethnic classmates lowered the odds for loneliness. We did not find any statistically significant association between the ethnic diversity of the school classes and loneliness. The study adds novel and important findings to how ethnicity in a school class context, as opposed to ethnicity per se, influences adolescents’ loneliness.

AB - Loneliness is a public health concern that increases the risk for several health, behavioral and academic problems among adolescents. Some studies have suggested that adolescents with an ethnic minority background have a higher risk for loneliness than adolescents from the majority population. The increasing numbers of migrant youth around the world mean growing numbers of heterogeneous school environments in many countries. Even though adolescents spend a substantial amount of time at school, there is currently very little non-U.S. research that has examined the importance of the ethnic composition of school classes for loneliness in adolescence. The present research aimed to address this gap by exploring the association between loneliness and three dimensions of the ethnic composition in the school class: (1) membership of ethnic majority in the school class, (2) the size of own ethnic group in the school class, and (3) the ethnic diversity of the school class. We used data from the Danish 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey: a nationally representative sample of 4383 (51.2 % girls) 11–15-year-olds. Multilevel logistic regression analyses revealed that adolescents who did not belong to the ethnic majority in the school class had increased odds for loneliness compared to adolescents that belonged to the ethnic majority. Furthermore, having more same-ethnic classmates lowered the odds for loneliness. We did not find any statistically significant association between the ethnic diversity of the school classes and loneliness. The study adds novel and important findings to how ethnicity in a school class context, as opposed to ethnicity per se, influences adolescents’ loneliness.

KW - Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

KW - Skolebørnsundersøgelsen

KW - Skoleklasse

KW - etnisk komposition

KW - Multilevel analyse

KW - Unge

KW - Diversitet

KW - ensomhed

KW - Børn

KW - Indvandrere

KW - Efterkommere

U2 - 10.1007/s10964-016-0432-3

DO - 10.1007/s10964-016-0432-3

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26861709

SN - 0047-2891

VL - 45

SP - 1350

EP - 1365

JO - Journal of Youth and Adolescence

JF - Journal of Youth and Adolescence

IS - 7

ER -