Written by Hannah Harp
Spoon Feed
Psychological empowerment appears to be a protective factor for substance use and mental-health-related outcomes in adolescents.
That’s the spirit!
Resilience, social support, and future orientation are well-studied protective factors for everyone when it comes to mental health and high-risk behaviors. Psychological empowerment is a sense of agency, belonging, and meaningful participation in society, and has also been shown to be a protective factor for social and behavioral outcomes. Could psychological empowerment be a protective factor, more particular to adolescents, as they differentiate themselves as individuals, develop their own interests, and experience expanding responsibilities and privileges?
This cross-sectional study assessed associations between psychological empowerment and adolescent health using survey data from 3,685 high school students. The screeners used to identify participants with a high sense of psychological empowerment included, “If issues come up that affect youth in my neighborhood, we do something about it,” and “I want to have as much say as possible in making decisions in my neighborhood.” Multilevel regression showed that high psychological empowerment was linked to lower odds of hopelessness (aOR=0.61), non-suicidal self-injury (aOR=0.57), suicidal ideation (aOR=0.56), and lifetime use of e-cigarettes (aOR=0.70), alcohol (aOR=0.75), and marijuana (aOR=0.77). It was also associated with better self-rated health (aOR=1.72) and greater receipt of preventive care (aOR=1.26). I’d be interested to see the other options researchers came up with for their psychological empowerment screening questions. Depending on the community, I’d think that psychological empowerment might develop within the school setting before the neighborhood setting. It’s a complex concept, and more questions might help tease out which components of psychological empowerment are particularly protective.
How does this change my practice?
We love anything that empowers adolescents! Some of my teenagers can’t even answer the question, “Does your foot hurt?” without looking to their parent for reassurance, and most have no idea how to get to the clinic without their parent. This study shows that confident teenagers are more likely to be healthy. Could we make building their self-confidence and self-efficacy a bigger part of what we do as pediatricians?
Source
Psychological Empowerment and Adolescent Health. Pediatrics. 2025 Jun 1;155(6):e2024069955. doi: 10.1542/peds.2024-069955. PMID: 40389254
