Mental health refers to a person’s overall emotional and psychological well-being. It includes the ability to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively, as well as the ability to form and maintain healthy relationships. Good mental health is an important aspect of overall health and well-being.has found that young people who perceive themselves as coming from poorer backgrounds than their peers are more likely to have lower self-esteem and be victims of bullying.
“Adolescence is an age of transitions when we use social comparisons to make self-judgments and develop our sense of self,” said study lead author Blanca Piera Pi-Sunyer, a Cambridge Gates Scholar and Ph.D. candidate in the University’s Department of Psychology. Eleven-year-olds who believed themselves poorer than their friends scored 6-8% lower for self-esteem, and 11% lower in terms of well-being, than those who saw themselves as economically equal to friends.
Feeling both richer or poorer than peers was related to 3-5% higher rates of actually perpetrating bullying. “It may be that feeling different in any way at a time when belonging is important increases the risk of interpersonal difficulties such as bullying,” said Piera Pi-Sunyer.