Anxiety, stress, depression, and psychosocial functioning of Indian adolescents

Abstract

Background:Lifetime prevalence of depression and anxiety increases from 1% of the population under age 12 years to ~17%-25% of the population by the end of adolescence. The greatest increase in new cases occurs between 15-18 years. Indian empirical studies have reported a prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in the range between 14.4% and 31.7%; thus, affecting psychosocial functioning.Aims:The objectives of the current study were to (i) examine the psychometric properties of the DASS and SDQ on Indian adolescents, (ii) explore the role of socio- demographic variablesand (iii) examine if there was any difference between school going and school dropouts.Methodology:Data from 1812 students, aged 12-19 years was collected with mean age = 15.67 years (SD =1.41 years). The participants were administered a booklet containing demographic questionnaire and psychometric scales such as DASS-21 (Henry & Crawford, 2005; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1999) and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997).Statistical Analysis:Structure validation, correlational analysis and multivariate analysis.Results and Conclusions:The results of validation indicated that English and Hindi version of 3 factor model of DASS and 2 factor model of SDQ was an acceptable model fit. It was noted that early adolescents were high on prosocial behaviour whereas late adolescents were high on difficulties score. Females were higher than males on prosocial behaviour. Adolescents residing in rural areas differed from their urban counterparts on prosocial behaviour and anxiety. Government school going adolescents differed from private school going adolescents on prosocial behaviour, stress and anxiety. Negative perception of relationship with family affected adolescents difficulties score, depression and stress. Similarly, negative perception of self-concept leads to higher difficulties score and lower prosocial behaviour score. The school going adolescents differed from non-school going adolescents on stress, depression and anxiety.

Prevalence of Psychological Problems Among Adolescent Students of Selected Private School at Itahari Sub-Metropolis of Eastern Nepal

“…A study conducted by Singh k et al 18 keeps similarity with this study. They noted that early adolescents were found with high pro-social behaviours whereas late adolescents were with high difficulty scores.…”

Confirmatory factor analysis of the depression, anxiety, and stress scale among Indian adults

“…Otherwise, the factor loadings were more consistently strong in this study compared to findings of an English version among Indian adolescents. [ 8 ] It is possible that the older age of participants in this study, relative to the adolescents, entailed more experience with the English language, and therefore a more accurate interpretation of the meaning of DASS items.…”

“…In a second study, Singh et al . [ 8 ] administered English and Hindi versions of the shortened 21-item version of the DASS (DASS-21) to a large sample of school-attending adolescents described as being “well-versed” in both languages. Their results indicated that fit indices did not reach cutoffs, indicating a good fit for the English version; however, the Hindi version was acceptable.…”

Impact of Academic Resilience on the Scholastic Performance of High School Students

“…This study shows that counselling can impact performance in school examinations. Bhawna Sharma [27] has studied the relationship between resilience and social problem-solving skills in Indian urban adolescents exposed to information technology tools and multinational brands resulting in higher aspirational levels. The study brought out a high correlation between resilience and social problemsolving skills of the urban middle class Indian adolescents.…”