Prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress among high school students in a block of Hooghly district, West Bengal: Across-sectional study.

BACKGROUND

Adolescent mental health is a concern. A high magnitude of deranged mental health conditions among adolescents is prevailing, which often gets extended into adulthood too. Hence, assessment of mental health morbidities like depression, anxiety, and stress is crucial to address them. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among school-going adolescents studying in classes IX-XII and find out its correlates among the subjects.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted among 812 adolescents studying in classes IX-XII in four randomly selected schools of Haripal block of Hooghly district, West Bengal, in 2022. A complete enumeration of students in each class of the selected schools was done. Data were collected by using a pretested schedule that included standardized depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21). Descriptive statistics and a Chi-square test were applied. Regression analysis was doneto determine associations and compute the adjusted odds ratio. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.

RESULTS

Overall prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress were found to be 52.3%, 47.4%, and 33.7% respectively. Subscale scores shows 16.1% and 10.8% suffered from extremely severe depression and anxiety, respectively. It was noted that these were more common among female students, the late adolescent age group (16-19 years), students having social problems in the family, and those reporting using substances.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress being high among school students indicates a significant burden of mental health disease. Effective strategies to alleviate the adverse mental health, along with early identification of disease, can help in along way.