This thesis analyzes the understanding on the mental health of Danish high school students’, as being influenced by macrostructures in our society, as well as phenomena influencing the mental health of Danish high school students’. In the thesis we will try to answer the following research question:
“How can we understand the mental health of Danish high school students’, as a development through phenomena? And which influence can function systems have on the mental health of Danish high school students?”
We have decided to use social constructivism, as our scientific approach in understanding society and phenomena. This approach can contribute to an understanding of society and phenomena as being constructed. Our approach is the current context of society.
Our methodological approach is a qualitative method where we use statements from high school students, politicians and professionals as our empirical data. The statements we use are from interviews, either from reports or from news media.
Our thesis concludes that the mental health of Danish high school students’ might be influenced by the macro structurers in our society. Our understanding is that function systems can contribute in constructing certain phenomena in society. These phenomena, as a product of the function systems can throughout a process define how the mental health of high school students’ can be reduced. By this we mean that phenomena created around the high school students can contribute to the reduced mental health.
We call this process the following: Construction-correction-defining. The function systems construct a phenomenon which the individuals in society can respond to and a correction from the function systems can happen. The defining happens when the individuals in society gives the corrected construction a set of value. Our understanding is that the mental health reduction, the Danish school students can experience. This could be a result of the function systems influence, both individually by each function system, but also by the structural coupling between these functions systems. Even though each function system could be considered blind from its surroundings. This structural coupling can be considered, as the way phenomena can be constructed. As described previously we can understand this, in the before mentioned process of creating phenomena with a certain set of value. This can influence the mental health Danish high school students.