Abstract
INTRODUCTION: In tandem with rapid urbanisation, the figures of Malaysian youths experiencing poor mental health have escalated substantially. This study highlights the incidence of mental distress among youth from urban poor backgrounds, and reviews possible underlying social determinants. METHODS: An integrative literature review, using both quantitative and qualitative local and international studies. RESULTS: Evidence from three Malaysian public health surveys (NHMS 1996, 2006 and 2011) revealed that mental distress among youths from urban localities almost doubled in prevalence from 1996 to 2006, going from 10.5% to 19.7%. Among other factors, these patterns were found to be strongly correlated with membership of low socioeconomic status (SES) households. Specifically, youths belonging to lowest income quartile SES households registered escalating mental health problems over the years, rising from 17.2% to 19.0% and finally 24.6% in 2011. Research links early exposure to problematic social and environmental factors (e.g. family breakdown, hazardous living conditions, and unstable neighbourhoods with high levels of crime and violence) to the onset of non-specific, longer-term youth mental distress. While not absolute, these factors tend to occur synonymously with poverty. For instance, based on NHMS, mental health problems among children of caregivers with no formal education (a phenomenon typically seen in less affluent households) almost tripled between 2006 and 2011, rising from 12.4% to 33.5%. CONCLUSION: Though non-conclusive, these findings should serve as a starting point for urban public health policymakers to discuss effective planning for interventions to reduce mental distress and improve overall outcomes for urban poor youth in Malaysia.
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@proceedings{APCPH-2019-212,
title = {Living in Lack: How Poverty Affects the Mental Health of Urban Youth},
author = {Su Lin Lim},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-07-22},
urldate = {2019-07-22},
journal = {6th Asia-Pacific Conference on Public Health 2019 Proceedings},
issue = {6},
abstract = {INTRODUCTION: In tandem with rapid urbanisation, the figures of Malaysian youths experiencing poor mental health have escalated substantially. This study highlights the incidence of mental distress among youth from urban poor backgrounds, and reviews possible underlying social determinants. METHODS: An integrative literature review, using both quantitative and qualitative local and international studies. RESULTS: Evidence from three Malaysian public health surveys (NHMS 1996, 2006 and 2011) revealed that mental distress among youths from urban localities almost doubled in prevalence from 1996 to 2006, going from 10.5% to 19.7%. Among other factors, these patterns were found to be strongly correlated with membership of low socioeconomic status (SES) households. Specifically, youths belonging to lowest income quartile SES households registered escalating mental health problems over the years, rising from 17.2% to 19.0% and finally 24.6% in 2011. Research links early exposure to problematic social and environmental factors (e.g. family breakdown, hazardous living conditions, and unstable neighbourhoods with high levels of crime and violence) to the onset of non-specific, longer-term youth mental distress. While not absolute, these factors tend to occur synonymously with poverty. For instance, based on NHMS, mental health problems among children of caregivers with no formal education (a phenomenon typically seen in less affluent households) almost tripled between 2006 and 2011, rising from 12.4% to 33.5%. CONCLUSION: Though non-conclusive, these findings should serve as a starting point for urban public health policymakers to discuss effective planning for interventions to reduce mental distress and improve overall outcomes for urban poor youth in Malaysia.},
note = {Type: POSTER PRESENTATION; Organisation: The Penang Institute, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia},
keywords = {Mental health, risk, socioeconomic status (SES), urban poverty, youth},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {proceedings}
}