Assessment of mental health status among high school students in an urban area – a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Health is multi-dimensional. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity”. Good mental health is the ability to respond to the many varied experiences of life with flexibility and sense of purpose. Mental well-being is one of the most important aspects for leading a healthy and peaceful life, but less importance has been given to that aspect of health compared to physical health. Mental health problems commonly begin during childhood and adolescence leading to serious mental illness in adult age. There are about 1.3 billion adolescents accounting for 16% of world’s population. It is the period of transition from dependent child to independent adult and also various physical and hormonal changes takes place. According to WHO, in 2019 one in every eight adolescents (12.5%) suffer from mental disorder and major mental illness like Depression (3.9%), Anxiety (8.2%), Conduct (6%) and Behavioural problems (5.5%). There is 13% increase in the mental health problems and substance use in the last decade and it keeps increasing with each decade in the world. Adolescents with mental disorder are particularly vulnerable to social exclusions, discrimination, stigma, educational difficulties, risk taking behaviour and human rights violation. India being a country with most adolescents accounting for 253 million (19.5% of population) of which many of them suffer from some sort of psychiatric problems, but yet under diagnosed due to social stigma and ignorance by parents, teachers and fellow mates. So, assessing the mental status of the students in their early life can lead to early diagnosis, thus helping them to have a healthy and peaceful life. Only few studies and data are available in this age group which may be due to less concentration on adolescents over the adult population. viii So, this study has been planned to assess the mental health status of adolescents and identify those who are more prone for developing psychiatric problems. Based on our study findings specific interventions will be planned for prevention, so that the adolescents are made strong enough to handle the mental health issues in a better way. Objectives: 1. To assess the mental health status among high school students of an urban area 2. To study the factors influencing the mental health