Super-healthy students 20 years later: The mental health of Finnish students, a 20-year follow-up

Abstract

Holmström R. Super-healthy students 20 years later: The mental health of Finnish students, a 20-year follow-up.

The paper describes a longitudinal research project on mental health, covering a period of 20 years. The study population and the research methods used in each of the four stages of the project are described briefly. The basic findings are given with references to results from 15 other publications. The results from phase IV are preliminary and tentative. Data for this phase were collected from autumn 1985 to spring 1987. Because the last sample was small (18 women and 22 men, i.e. 93% of the subgroup) a more detailed analysis is possible. The research approach is designed to be as detailed and individual as possible - to describe the healthy person just as completely as the mentally ill have traditionally been pictured. We still do not have a concrete and systematic concept of the healthy. Tentative results of the super-healthy population suggest that children constitute an important feature in the quality of life for them and they recognize this fact.

Key Words:

• Mental health
• Sex differences
• Student population
• Super-healthy
• 20 years follow-up