Mental Health at the Crossroads of Policy and Practice: A Legal-Epidemiological Study of Indonesian Adolescents

Rosnalisa  Zein; Iwan  Kusnawirawan; Dwi Ratna Sari  Handayani; Hernayati; Muhammad Arsyad  Subu; Imam  Waluyo

doi:10.55927/ajha.v5i1.16347

Authors

Rosnalisa Zein Trust Psikologi Indonesia - Biro Psikologi, Sudindik JU II Kota
Iwan Kusnawirawan High School of Law Litigation, Citizens Foundation, Ministry of Law and Human Rights
Dwi Ratna Sari Handayani Physiotherapy Department, Binawan University
Hernayati High School of Law Litigation, Citizens Foundation, Ministry of Law and Human Rights
Muhammad Arsyad Subu Indonesian Manual Manipulative Association
Imam Waluyo Indonesian Manual Manipulative Association

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55927/ajha.v5i1.16347

Keywords:

Adolescent Mental Health, Gender Differences, School Type, Self-Confidence, Indonesia

Abstract

Adolescence is a critical period for mental health development, yet in Indonesia, systemic and legal gaps exacerbate vulnerabilities related to anxiety, depression, and self-confidence. While previous research highlights gender and school-type differences, few studies integrate a legal health perspective to frame these disparities within Indonesia’s evolving mental health and education policies. This study examines the psycho-legal implications of anxiety, depression, and self-confidence among Indonesian adolescents across gender and school types, with a focus on rights-based interventions. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 311 high school students (167 females, 144 males; 217 public, 94 private) in North Jakarta. Participants completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Self-Confidence Inventory (SCI). Data were analyzed using factorial ANOVAs and multiple regression. Students from private schools reported significantly higher anxiety and lower self-confidence than those in public schools. Female adolescents had significantly lower self-confidence than males. The findings highlight the private school environment as a potential risk factor and underscore the profound impact of depressive symptoms on an adolescent's self-concept. The persistent gender gap in self-confidence, independent of anxiety and depression, points to underlying sociocultural factors. Interventions must be targeted.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Avenevoli, S., Swendsen, J., He, J. P., Burstein, M., & Merikangas, K. R. (2015). Major depression in the national comorbidity survey–adolescent supplement: Prevalence, correlates, and treatment. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 54(1), 37–44.

Badan Pusat Statistik. (2020). Statistik Pemuda Indonesia 2020. BPS.

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W.H. Freeman.

Barendse, M. E. A., et al. (2018). Multimodal imaging of the self-regulating developing brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(34), 8544–8552.

Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Beck, A. T., & Clark, D. A. (1997). An information processing model of anxiety: Automatic and strategic processes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35(1), 49–58.

Beck, A. T., Epstein, N., Brown, G., & Steer, R. A. (1988). An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: Psychometric properties. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56(6), 893–897.

Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Psychological Corporation.

Breslau, J., Gilman, S. E., Stein, B. D., Ruder, T., Gmelin, T., & Miller, E. (2017). Sex differences in recent first-onset depression in an epidemiological sample of adolescents. Translational Psychiatry, 7(5), e1139.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.

Clayborne, Z. M., Varin, M., & Colman, I. (2019). Systematic review and meta-analysis: Adolescent depression and long-term psychosocial outcomes. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 58(1), 72–79.

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Sage Publications.

Firriana, A., et al. (2022). Academic stress and coping strategies among students in Indonesian Islamic private schools. Journal of Educational, Health, and Community Psychology, 11(2), 245–260.

Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. A. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women's lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21(2), 173–206.

Hidayah, N., & Wangid, M. N. (2019). Academic stress and its relationship with the mental health of senior high school students in Yogyakarta. Jurnal Bimbingan Konseling, 8(2), 134–140.

Ingram, R. E., & Luxton, D. D. (2005). Vulnerability-stress models. In B. L. Hankin & J. R. Z. Abela (Eds.), Development of psychopathology: A vulnerability-stress perspective (pp. 32–46). Sage Publications.

Istiana, M., et al. (2021). Prevalence and predictors of anxiety disorders among high school students in Jakarta. Indonesian Journal of Mental Health, 15(1), 45–56.

Kessler, R. C., Amminger, G. P., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Alonso, J., Lee, S., & Ustun, T. B. (2007). Age of onset of mental disorders: A review of recent literature. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 20(4), 359–364.

Masten, A. S. (2018). Resilience theory and research on children and families: Past, present, and promise. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 10(1), 12–31.

Merikangas, K. R., He, J. P., Burstein, M., Swanson, S. A., Avenevoli, S., Cui, L., ... & Swendsen, J. (2010). Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in US adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 49(10), 980–989.

Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2012). Emotion regulation and psychopathology: The role of gender. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8, 161–187.

Orth, U., & Robins, R. W. (2019). Development of self-esteem across the lifespan. In D. P. McAdams, R. L. Shiner, & J. L. Tackett (Eds.), Handbook of personality development (pp. 328–344). Guilford Press.

Pols, H. (2020). The development of psychiatry in Indonesia: From colonial to modern times. International Review of Psychiatry, 32(5–6), 455–463.

Pratiwi, S. A., et al. (2023). Social anxiety and self-esteem in Indonesian adolescent girls: The mediating role of fear of negative evaluation. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 26(1), 89–102.

Raffaelli, M., et al. (2020). Gender socialization during adolescence in low- and middle-income countries: Conceptualization and future directions. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 30(1), 189–219.

Rahmatia, I., et al. (2021). Psychometric properties of the Beck Anxiety Inventory for Indonesian adolescents. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 43(3), 589–598.

Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton University Press.

Sari, D. K., et al. (2021). A comparative study of academic stress between public and private high school students in urban Indonesia. Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, 11(1), 1–9.

Sawyer, S. M., Azzopardi, P. S., Wickremarathne, D., & Patton, G. C. (2018). The age of adolescence. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 2(3), 223–228.

Setyawati, V., & Halim, M. S. (2020). Depressive symptoms among Indonesian adolescents: A survey study in West Java. Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 32(2), 115–127.

Siswandari, S., et al. (2022). Validation of the Beck Depression Inventory-II in a community sample of Indonesian adolescents. Psychological Assessment, 34(4), e45–e58.

Stapinski, L. A., et al. (2020). The intricate relationship between anxiety and depression in adolescence: A network analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 274, 1–9.

Weems, C. F., & Silverman, W. K. (2020). Anxiety disorders. In M. J. Prinstein, E. A. Youngstrom, E. J. Mash, & R. A. Barkley (Eds.), Treatment of disorders in childhood and adolescence (4th ed., pp. 321–362). Guilford Press.

World Health Organization. (2021). Mental health of adolescents. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health