Publication:

Perception of home environment and its effect on the mental health of school-going adolescent girls of Lucknow: a cross-sectional study

Background Home and family remains the primary social influence, an arena for fostering positive and negative influences in an adolescent’s life. The environment at home occupies a significant position. Objectives were to assess the perception of the home environment, level of anxiety and depression and to study the relationship between the two among school-going adolescent girls.

Methods School-going adolescent girls from two government schools of Lucknow were selected using a two-stage random sampling technique. A total of 200 participants were personally interviewed for their socio-demographic details, perception of the home environment and screened symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Results Of all the school-going adolescent girls who screened positive for anxiety and depression symptoms, 7.4-27.1% had severe anxiety, while 0-8.9% had major depression; severe severity, across classes 9th to 12th. Those for whom it was not easy to discuss problems with parents (AOR=3.65, p=0.009) and who perceived unnecessary restrictions (AOR=2.83, p=0.048) were at a greater risk of developing anxiety. While those, for whom it was not easy to discuss problems with parents were at 2.83 times greater risk of developing depression (p=0.048).

Conclusions The majority of school-going adolescent girls showed symptoms of anxiety or depression. Therefore, adolescents must be screened for poor mental health from time to time and those at high risk must be identified. Parents must be more involved and made aware of the issues leading to poor mental health of adolescents.