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Background: Suicide is the third leading cause of death in adolescents worldwide, self-esteem is a strong protective factor, and parents may be able to provide interventions. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine how parents can help enhance their adolescent’s self-esteem and prevent suicidal behavior among adolescents in Nepal. Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to adolescents aged 13–19 years and their parents at eight high schools in three provinces in Nepal (n = 575 pairs). The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (bivariate and multivariate regression analyses). Results: The mean self-esteem score of adolescents according to the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was 16.59, and the prevalence of suicidal behavior was 11.3%. Parent’s knowledge about the development of self-esteem in adolescents was significantly positively related to parenting practice (communication, support, positive reinforcement, etc.) (B = 1.0, 95% confidence interval, CI 0.89–1.11) and authoritative parenting style (B = 0.2, 95% CI 0.15–0.25). Parental authoritativeness was positively associated with the self-esteem of their adolescents (B = 0.1, 95% CI 0.01–0.18), while adolescents with authoritarian parents were prone to suicidal risk behavior (adjusted odds ratio, AOR = 1.1, 95% CI 1.0–1.19). Conclusion: Counseling to parents based on our findings would be helpful to enhance the self-esteem and prevent suicidal risk behavior in their adolescent children.

Adolescence the second decade of life is the crucial period demanding significant adjustment to the physical and social changes. During this transitional period, if adequate care and attention is not given adolescents are prone to develop various psychosocial problems with long standingimpact. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence of psychosocial problem and its associated factors among 360 adolescents studying in public schools of Pokhara Lekhnath Metropolitan City. Data was collected by using self-administered questionnaire. The data was analyzed in SPSS version 16 applying both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings of the study revealed that 21.7 percent of adolescents had psychosocial problem. Adolescents who are facing physical/verbal abuse (p=0.000, OR: 13.54),who do not feel good about home environment (p=0.000, OR: 5.01), have high academic/school relates stress (p=0.000, OR:5.304), who do not stay with their parents (p=0.000, OR: 4.49), belonged to hardly sufficient family income (p=0.000, OR: 3.29), those from joint family (p=0.004, OR: 2.12), whose mothers are illiterate (p=0.027, OR: 1.96) and having disrupted marital status of parents (p=0.040, OR: 1.78) were more likely to have psychosocial problem. Hence, the combined effort of family and school team is essential to protect adolescents from developing psychosocial problem. Janapriya Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 6 (December 2017), page: 121-133

Academic stress has many negative effects on the students, and support from different levels can prevent this. This cross-sectional survey study among 322 students of class 8 and 10 from 3 public schools in Pokhara, Nepal was conducted to identify the role of perceived social support (PSS) from different levels (family, friends, and others) on academic-stress of students. The schools and participants were selected through a multistage cluster sampling technique. To collect the data self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the participants in their respective classrooms by one of the researchers. The data were analyzed in SPSS 20 with descriptive and inferential statistics (chi-square test and odds ratio at 95% confidence interval) at <0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that 34.4% of students had moderate to high levels of academic stress. Among different socio-demographic and background variables, factors such as age of the adolescents, mother's education level, socioeconomic status of the family, parental marital-status with whom adolescents are staying, home environment, night sleep, abuse at home, the problem has not listened, and feeling of discrimination were significantly associated with academic stress. The study concluded that perceived social support from the family has a greater preventive role along with other background factors. Hence, combined efforts of family and school are essential, where the family plays the most important role. The study findings have important implications for parents, family, school teachers, health personnel, counselors, and others in preventing academic stress and achieving mental wellbeing for adolescent students.

Introduction: Tobacco is one of the proven risk factors, contributes substantially to the rising epidemic of non-communicable diseases. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of tobacco use and associated factors among adolescents of a selected public School in Kaski district. Non-probability purposive sampling technique was adopted and data was collected with self-administered questionnaire from 168 respondents. Results: The prevalence of tobacco-use was 19.6 percent and mean age of initiation was13.84 years. The most common reasons for smoking were peer pressure (63.3%), imitation (27.3%), family influence (27.3%) and quest for new experience (21.2%). Tobacco-use was strongly associated with ethnicity (p=0.03), mother's education level (p=0.02), father's occupation (p=0.03), peer pressure (p=0.01) and friends smoking habit (p=0.03). Conclusion: Tobacco-focused interventions are required for school going adolescents to promote cessation among users and prevent its initiation.