Invisible risk group among adolescents at risk of mental ill-health

Adolescents with high media use, reduced sleep and low physical activity comprise an 'invisible-risk' group that has high prevalence of psychiatric symptoms, according to a large international study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet. The results of the study are published in the February issue of World Psychiatry. Over 12,000 adolescents (1416 years old) in eleven European countries answered questionnaires covering different risk behaviours and psychiatric symptoms. Statistical analyses of the results identified three risk groups among the adolescents. Individuals who scored high on all examined risk behaviours clustered in the 'high-risk' group (13 per cent of the adolescents). The 'low-risk' group (58 per cent) consisted of responders who had no or very low frequency of risk behaviours. However, i addition to these two expected groups a third group labelled the 'invisible risk' group was identified.