Life meaning and purpose as an unrecognized determinant of mental health equity in Canadian adolescents.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The etiological pathways through which structural determinants result in health inequities remain unclear. In adolescent populations, a sense of meaning and purpose in life has been hypothesized and considered cross-sectionally to represent an intermediary determinant in the pathway that connects wealth with mental health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to prospectively explore how life meaning and purpose contributes to disparities in mental health observed by affluence in an adolescent cohort.

Methods

We used two-year linked survey data collected from a cohort of 17,745 students at Canadian secondary schools in 2020/2021 and 2021/2022. Structural equation models were used to examine the prospective associations between students' perceived relative family

SUBMITTER: Michaelson V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12797469 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature