Abstract
Mental healt in Spanish adolescents. The study provides prevalence data on behavioral/emotional problems and psychosocial competencies as reported by adolescents aged 1118 from the general population of the Spanish region of Asturias. The instruments used in this study were the Youth Self Report (YSR), developed by Achenbach and Edelbrock (1987), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Junior) (EPQ-J), and the Health Locus of Control (HLC) scale (Wallston et al., 1976). The results revealed higher total problem scores for girls than for boys, and consistencies in the type of problems self-reported. Whereas girls tend to report internal conflict and distress (anxiety/depression and somatic complaints), boys scored higher on items that could be designated as socially less desirable (agressive and disturbing behaviors). Cross-cultural comparison of the YSR mean total problem scores for adolescents living in Asturias and European and American adolescents, revealed much higher scores in our Spanish sample.
