A cross sectional study on various psychiatric disorders prevalent among adolescents in the suburban areas

Abstract

Worldwide, there are 1.2 billion adolescents of which 253 million reside in newlineIndia. World Health Organization estimates that many mental disorders start in newlinechildhood-adolescent phase, with a global prevalence of 10-20%. Increased incidence newlineof mental disorders among adolescents can deter a healthy transition into adulthood.Mean age of respondents was 15.53 ± 1.10 with male to female ratio of 1:1.08. newlineEqual distribution of respondents was present from government and private schools newlinewith majority hailing from nuclear, upper socio-economic status families. Overall, newline31.1% suffered from depression, 13.5% from anxiety and 30.1% from stress. newlineSignificant associations were observed between depression and gender (plt0.05), newlineanxiety and age groups(plt0.05) and stress and SES(plt0.05). Higher levels of newlinedepression, anxiety and stress were also noted in students receiving tuitions as newlinecompared to those who did not (plt0.05). Positive distractions was the most used newlinecoping mechanism and negative distraction was least used. Differences of coping newlinemechanism used were observed within gender and class levels. This study showcased the prevailing burden of common mental disorders among adolescents and highlighted the need for further health education and awareness about newlineadolescent mental health in schools and the community. newline