Previous research is inconclusive as to whether having an immigration background acts as a risk factor for poor mental health in adolescents, and furthermore, what contribution the social context in which adolescents grow up may make. To address these questions, the current study uses an integrative resilience framework to investigate the association between immigration background and adolescent mental health, and the moderating role of social capital at the individual, the school, and the national level. The study uses data gathered from nationally representative samples of adolescents aged 11, 13, and 15 years (Ngirls = 63,425 (52.1%); Mage = 13.57, SD = 1.64) from 29 countries participating in the 2017/18 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Data analysis reveals that first- and second-generation immigrants reported higher levels of life dissatisfaction and psychosomatic symptoms than their native peers, and that this association varied across schools and countries. In addition, social capital was found to moderate the association between immigration background and adolescent mental health. Individual-level social support from peers and family and national-level trust protected against poor mental health in adolescents with an immigration background, while the opposite was true for individual-level teacher support. Supportive teacher-student relationships were found to provide more protection against poor mental health for native adolescents than for immigrant adolescents. Our findings indicate the importance of taking an ecological approach to design interventions to reduce the negative effects of having an immigration background on adolescent mental health.

Department of Criminology Bar Ilan University Ramat Gan 5290002 Israel

Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology Universidad de Sevilla Sevilla Spain

Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Utrecht University Padualaan 14 3584 CH Utrecht the Netherlands

Department of Social Sciences University of Luxembourg 4366 Esch sur Alzette Luxembourg

Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science VSB Technical University of Ostrava Ostrava Czech Republic

GCU London 40 Fashion Street London United Kingdom

Health Promotion Unit Department of Public Health and Primary Care Ghent University Corneel Heymanslaan 10 9000 Ghent Belgium

Hedera Department of Sociology Ghent University Korte Meer 5 9000 Ghent Belgium

Movement and Nutrition for Health and Performance Research Group Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy Pleinlaan 2 1050 Elsene Belgium

Sts Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology Olomouc University Social Health Institute Palacky University in Olomouc Olomouc Czech Republic

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