Prevalence Of Psychopathology Among School Adolescents

Abstract

Background: It is a transitional rapid growth phase of individual development between childhood and adulthood. Adolescents feel changes in cognitive, emotional, physical, intellectual, attitudinal, social roles, relationships, redeployment, and self-discovery during this phase, which is a stressful experience for them. Although it is the phase of tremendous growth in preparation of adults' roles and skills to sustain pressures and challenges, it is also a transitory phase that can raise the risk of various psychopathology or mental health problems. Objective: The present study aims to assess the prevalence of psychopathology among school adolescents. Methods: The sample consisted of 200 school-going adolescents through simple random sampling from the different districts of Jharkhand. Both male and female adolescents in the age range of 13 to 17 years were recruited for the study. Both male and female adolescents were studying in 8th to 10th standard and had no history of mental retardation and major physical illness. Socio-demographic and  Clinical  Datasheet,  Informed  Consent  Form, and  Adolescents  Psychopathology  Scale  (APS-SF)  were used for data collection.  Results & conclusion: Overall findings of the present study indicated that moderate level prevalence rate of psychopathology i.e. conduct disorder (5.5%), generalized anxiety disorder (5.5%), major depression (7.5%), eating disturbance (6%), suicide (10%) and interpersonal problems (5%) have been existing among adolescents.