My research interests cover the study of the protective and risk factors for youth and young adults´ health, with a recent focus on mental health. I am also interested in programs that aim at preventing adolescents´ alcohol and substance use and on promoting youth well-being.

At present I am the principal investigator of the project:

“The new generation of youth feel worse than in the past: a study of why this has occurred and the longitudinal stability of youth mental health problems.” funded by FORTE, 01/04/2020-31/03/2023.

Moreover, I am also involved as co-investigator in the following research projects:

“Understanding the value of adhering to or adapting evidence-based interventions: An experimental decision making study”, funded by FORTE to prof. Ulrica von Thielze Schwarz, Mälardalens University, 2020-2024.

“Prevention for children 6-12 years with parents who misuse alcohol/illicit drugs: The effectiveness of the most commonly used program - Group interventions” funded by FORTE to Dr. Peter Larm, Stockholm University, 2022-2024.

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Problem gambling, risk behaviours, and mental health in adolescence: A person oriented study

  2022. Fabrizia Giannotta (et al.). Journal of Gambling Issues 49, 90-107

  Article

  Adolescent gambling is becoming a public health problem. While comorbidities with other externalizing behaviours have been ascertained, few studies focus on adolescents with a multi-problem behaviour pattern, i.e., alcohol and tobacco use, in addition to antisocial behaviour, which includes problem gambling. The purpose of this study was to identify adolescents with multi-problem behaviours, i.e., alcohol abuse, daily smoking, antisocial behaviour, and problem gambling and to investigate the differences in relation to gender. Unlike most studies on this topic, we adopted a person-oriented approach to identify groups of adolescent boys and girls who reported multi-problem risk behaviours, i.e., alcohol abuse, daily smoking, antisocial behaviour, and problem gambling. Moreover, we explored to what extent these adolescents exhibited mental health problems, i.e., depressive, psychosomatic, and ADHD symptoms, as well as sleep problems. The sample consisted of 1,526 adolescents from two age cohorts, 15- to 16-year-olds (n = 711, 47%) and 17- to 18-year-olds (n = 815, 53%). Latent Variable Mixture Modeling (LVMM) revealed one group with low rates of all risk behaviours and three groups with multi-problem behaviours. Among the latter three groups, two reported problem gambling and had higher levels of mental health problems. These results suggest that gambling can be added to the constellation of risk behaviours in adolescence and might be more associated with mental health problems than other externalizing behaviours. 

  Read more about Problem gambling, risk behaviours, and mental health in adolescence

• Changes in Mental Health and Views on Communication and Activities of Public Institutions among Swedes during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Cross-Sectional Repeated Measures Design

  2021. Birgitta Kerstis (et al.). Healthcare 9 (11)

  Article

  Although many studies have been conducted on the effects of COVID-19 on individual lives, only a few focus on the changes in mental health and views of public institutions during the pandemic. This study aimed to investigate how mental health, i.e., life satisfaction, worries, and psychological distress, and views on public institutions’ communication and activities have changed among Swedes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether this was moderated by age and sex. In April–May 2020 (survey 1) and in January–February 2021 (survey 2), 2554 adults and 1904 newly recruited adults, respectively, anonymously completed online surveys. We found that life satisfaction and psychological distress did not change from survey 1 to survey 2. However, the level of worries increased, and the positive views of the public institutions decreased. Moreover, worries and psychological distress increased more in young adults than older adults. Finally, the change in the views of the public institutions was not related to the change in worries. Our results highlight the COVID-19 long-term impacts on individual mental health and call for the need for future research concerning the consequences for the population, especially among young adults. The results also indicate that the views on activities of public authorities decreased over time, especially among men. Given that loss of this trust can have vastly negative effects, for instance, on the vaccine campaign, it is important to monitor this trend, to increase awareness among Swedish authorities. The results also stress for institutions to provide adequate support both during the COVID-19 pandemic and in a future crisis.

  Read more about Changes in Mental Health and Views on Communication and Activities of Public Institutions among Swedes during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Cross-Sectional Repeated Measures Design

Show all publications by Fabrizia Giannotta at Stockholm University