Assessment of Self-Reported Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties Among Pre-University College Students in Bangalore, India

Background: The understanding of youth mental health needs and development of service delivery models is a national public health challenge. Objectives: The rates and predictors of emotional and behavioral problems among 1087 youth were assessed in a pre-university college in Bangalore, India. Variations in rates of disturbance, identified by using different cut-off points, were also examined. Materials and Methods: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was used as a self-report screening tool. Results: Results indicated that 10.1% of adolescents had total difficulty levels in the abnormal range, with 9% at risk for emotional symptoms, 13% for conduct problems, 12.6% for hyperactivity/inattention and 9.4% for peer problems. Select gender differences were present. Cut-off scores derived from the sample yielded lower estimates of disturbance than the published cut-offs. Regression analysis identified predictors of total difficulty levels. Conclusions: Implications for assessment of youth mental health and planning targeted services in educational institutions are discussed.

[1]  Trupti N. Bodhare,et al.  An epidemiological study of emotional and behavioral disorders among children in an urban slum , 2013, Psychology, health & medicine.

[2]  V. Patel,et al.  Cross-national differences in questionnaires do not necessarily reflect comparable differences in disorder prevalence , 2011, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

[3]  T. Wentzel‐Larsen,et al.  Paternal predictors of the mental health of children of Vietnamese refugees , 2011, Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health.

[4]  B. K.R.,et al.  ASSESSMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH OF INDIAN ADOLESCENTS STUDYING IN URBAN SCHOOLS , 2011 .

[5]  B. Srikala,et al.  Empowering adolescents with life skills education in schools – School mental health program: Does it work? , 2010, Indian journal of psychiatry.

[6]  B. Pradhan,et al.  Incidence of childhood psychiatric disorders in India , 2009, Indian journal of psychiatry.

[7]  Wayne M Glines,et al.  Epidemiology of mental disorders in children and adolescents , 2009, Dialogues in clinical neuroscience.

[8]  R. Venkatesh,et al.  The Psychological World of Adolescence: A Comparative Evaluation Between Rural and Urban Girls , 2009, Indian journal of psychological medicine.

[9]  M. Cannon,et al.  Assessment of the mental health of Irish Adolescents in the community , 2009 .

[10]  J. Semwal,et al.  Prevalence of psychosocial problems among adolescents in district Dehradun, Uttarakhand. , 2009, Indian journal of public health.

[11]  S. Goyal,et al.  Study of prevalence of depression in adolescent students of a public school , 2009, Industrial psychiatry journal.

[12]  Yasong Du,et al.  Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health the Validity, Reliability and Normative Scores of the Parent, Teacher and Self Report Versions of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in China , 2022 .

[13]  P. Sharan,et al.  The Need for National Data on Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders , 2008, Journal of Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

[14]  C. Zahn-Waxler,et al.  Disorders of childhood and adolescence: gender and psychopathology. , 2008, Annual review of clinical psychology.

[15]  G. Priebe,et al.  The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a screening instrument in a community sample of high school seniors in Sweden , 2008, Nordic journal of psychiatry.

[16]  V. Patel,et al.  Non-traditional lifestyles and prevalence of mental disorders in adolescents in Goa, India , 2008, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[17]  Vikram Patel,et al.  Mental health of young people: a global public-health challenge , 2007, The Lancet.

[18]  J. Allen,et al.  Use of harsh physical discipline and developmental outcomes in adolescence , 2007, Development and Psychopathology.

[19]  P. Vostanis.  Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: research and clinical applications , 2006, Current opinion in psychiatry.

[20]  S. Heyerdahl,et al.  Self-reported strengths and difficulties in a large Norwegian population 10–19 years , 2006, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

[21]  I. Elgen,et al.  Teacher ratings of mental health among school children in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo , 2005, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

[22]  Narender Kumar,et al.  Epidemiological study of child & adolescent psychiatric disorders in urban & rural areas of Bangalore, India. , 2005, The Indian journal of medical research.

[23]  A. Rothenberger,et al.  Normative data and scale properties of the German parent SDQ , 2004, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

[24]  P. Bhola,et al.  Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Epidemiology in India , 2003, Indian journal of psychiatry.

[25]  H Meltzer,et al.  The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: a pilot study on the validity of the self-report version , 2003, International review of psychiatry.

[26]  R. Goodman,et al.  The extended version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a guide to child psychiatric caseness and consequent burden. , 1999, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.