A Cross Sectional Study to Assess the Level of Social Functioning Among Adolescents.

Abstract

Background: Globally, 10-20% of teenagers suffer from mental health issues. Identification has been difficult due to the fact that the majority of sickness is asymptomatic. Impairment of social functioning is a sensitive sign of underlying mental illness. It serves as a starting point for the early detection of mental illnesses.

Objectives: The goal of the study is to evaluate adolescent's social functioning skills and their associated elements.

Methods: The study involved 100 school-aged teenagers in Pune who were recruited using a stratified random sample technique from government and private schools in the city. The scale utilized was the Child and Adolescent Social and Adaptive Functioning Scale (CASAFS). The level of significance for descriptive and analytical statistics was set at p 0.05.

Results: Females made up 52.3 percent of the sample, which was taken from two schools. Overall, 21.8 percent of people had strong social adaptive functioning capabilities, whereas 29.6% had low abilities. Around 36.3 percent performed poorly in the 'peer relationship domain,' while 27.1 percent performed poorly in the ‘self-care/home domain.' Age, gender, number of siblings, and parents' educational level were all found to be substantially associated with having an "excellent social adaptive functioning competence" (p 0.05).

Conclusion: A large percentage of adolescent’s deal with psychosocial challenges on a daily basis. Improving social skills will be a successful strategy in the treatment of mental illnesses.