Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:17:16.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Non-traditional lifestyles and prevalence of mental disorders in adolescents in Goa, India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Aravind Pillai ,
Vikram Patel ,
Percy Cardozo ,
Robert Goodman ,
Helen A. Weiss  and
Gracy Andrew
Aravind Pillai
Affiliation:
Sangath, Goa, India
Vikram Patel*
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and Sangath, Goa
Percy Cardozo
Affiliation:
Sangath, Goa, India
Robert Goodman
Affiliation:
Kings College London Institute of Psychiatry, UK
Helen A. Weiss
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
Gracy Andrew
Affiliation:
Sangath, Goa, India
*
Vikram Patel, PhD, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. Email: vikram.patel@lshtm.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Background

Adolescents comprise a fifth of the population of India, but there is little research on their mental health. We conducted an epidemiological study in the state of Goa to describe the current prevalence of mental disorders and its correlates among adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years.

Aims

To estimate the prevalence and correlates of mental disorders in adolescents.

Method

Population-based survey of all eligible adolescents from six urban wards and four rural communities which were randomly selected. We used a Konkani translation of the Development and Well-Being Assessment to diagnose current DSM-IV emotional and behavioural disorders. All adolescents were also interviewed on socio-economic factors, education, neighbourhood, parental relations, peer and sexual relationships, violence and substance use.

Results

Out of 2684 eligible adolescents, 2048 completed the study. The current prevalence of any DSM-IV diagnosis was 1.81%; 95% CI 1.27–2.48. The most common diagnoses were anxiety disorders (1.0%), depressive disorder (0.5%), behavioural disorder (0.4%) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (0.2%). Adolescents from urban areas and girls who faced gender discrimination had higher prevalence. The final multivariate model found an independent association of mental disorders with an outgoing ‘non-traditional’ lifestyle (frequent partying, going to the cinema, shopping for fun and having a boyfriend or girlfriend), difficulties with studies, lack of safety in the neighbourhood, a history of physical or verbal abuse and tobacco use. Having one's family as the primary source of social support was associated with lower prevalence of mental disorders.

Conclusions

The current prevalence of mental disorders in adolescents in our study was very low compared with studies in other countries. Strong family support was a critical factor associated with low prevalence of mental disorders, while factors indicative of adoption of a non-traditional lifestyle were associated with an increased prevalence.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 192 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 45 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2008 

Footnotes

Declaration of interest

None.

Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

References

1 Elster, AB, Marcell, AV. Health care of adolescent males: overview, rationale, and recommendations. Adolesc Med 2003; 14: 525–40.Google Scholar
2 Roberts, RE, Attkisson, CC, Rosenblatt, A. Prevalence of psychopathology among children and adolescents. Am J Psychiatry 1998; 155: 715–25.Google Scholar
3 Melzer, H, Gatward, R, Goodman, R, Ford, T. The Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in Great Britain. TSO (The Stationery Office), 2000.Google Scholar
4 Shaffer, D, Fisher, P, Dulcan, M, Dulcan, MK, Davies, M, Piacentini, J, Schwab-Stone, ME, Lakey, BB, Bourdon, K, Jensen, PS, Bird, HR, Canino, G, Regier, DA. The NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version 2.3 (DISC 2.3): Description; acceptability; prevalence rates; and performance in the MECA study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1996; 35: 865–77.Google Scholar
5 Ford, T, Goodman, R, Meltzer, H. The British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Survey 1999: the prevalence of DSM-IV disorders. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2003; 42: 1203–11.Google Scholar
6 Boys, A, Farrell, M, Taylor, C, Marsden, J, Goodman, R, Brugha, T, Bebbington, P, Jenkins, R, Meltzer, H. Psychiatric morbidity and substance use in young people aged 13–15 years: results from the Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health. Br J Psychiatry 2003; 182: 509–17.Google Scholar
7 Patel, V, Flisher, A, Hetrick, S, McGorry, P. Mental health of young people: a global public-health challenge. Lancet 2007; 369: 1302–13.Google Scholar
8 World Health Organization. Programming for Adolescent Health and Development: Technical Report, number 886. WHO, 1999.Google Scholar
9 Timimi, S. Effect of globalisation on children's mental health. BMJ 2005; 331: 37–9.Google Scholar
10 Remschmidt, H, Belfer, M. Mental health care for children and adolescents worldwide: a review. World Psychiatry 2005; 4: 147–53.Google Scholar
11 Registrar General of India. Population projection for India and States, 1996–2016. Report of the Technical Group of Population Projection. Planning Commission, New Delhi, 1996.Google Scholar
12 Aaron, R, Joseph, A, Abraham, S, Muliyil, J, George, K, Prasad, J, Minz, S, Abraham, VJ, Bose, A. Suicides in young people in rural southern India. Lancet 2004; 363: 1117–18.Google Scholar
13 Srinath, S, Girimaji, SC, Gururaj, G, Seshadri, S, Subbakrishna, DK, Bhola, P, Kumar, N. Epidemiological study of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders in urban and rural areas of Bangalore, India. Indian J Med Res 2005; 122: 67–79.Google Scholar
14 Hackett, R, Hackett, L, Bhakta, P, Gowers, S. The prevalence and associations of psychiatric disorder in children in Kerala, South India. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 1999; 40: 801–7.Google Scholar
15 Sethi, B, Gupta, S, Kumar, R. 300 urban families: a psychiatric survey. Indian J Psychiatry 1967; 9: 280–302.Google Scholar
16 Sethi, B, Gupta, C, Kumar, R, Kumar, P. A psychiatric survey of 500 rural families. Indian J Psychiatry 1972; 14: 183–96.Google Scholar
17 Lal, N, Sethi, B. Estimate of mental ill health in children in an urban community. Indian J Pediatr 1977; 4: 55–64.Google Scholar
18 Nandi, D, Ajmany, S, Ganguly, H, Banerjeee, G, Boral, G, Ghosh, A. Psychiatric disorder in a rural community in West Bengal – an epidemiology study. Indian J Psychiatry 1975; 17: 87–9.Google Scholar
19 Verghese, A, Beig, A. Psychiatric disturbances in children: an epidemiological study. Indian J Med Res 1974; 62: 1538–42.Google Scholar
20 Hoare, P, Will, D, Wrate, R. Forfar and Arneil's Textbook of Pediatrics (5th edn). Churchill Livingstone, 1998.Google Scholar
21 Beam, MR, Gil-Rivas, V, Greenberger, E, Chen, C. Adolescent problem behavior and depressed mood risk and protection within and across social contexts. J Youth Adolescence 2002; 31: 343–57.Google Scholar
22 Gureje, O, Omigbodun, OO. Children with mental disorders in primary care: functional status and risk factors. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1995; 92: 310–14.Google Scholar
23 Rahim, SI, Cederblad, M. Epidemiology of mental disorders in young adults of a newly urbanised area in Khartoum, Sudan. Br J Psychiatry 1989; 155: 44–7.Google Scholar
24 Chandra, R, Srinivasan, S, Chandrasekaran, R, Mahadevan, S. The prevalence of mental disorders in school-age children attending a general paediatric department in southern India. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1993; 87: 192–6.Google Scholar
25 Young, SE, Mikulich, SK, Goodwin, MB, Hardy, J, Martin, CL, Zoccolillo, MS, Crowley, TJ. Treated delinquent boys' substance use: onset, pattern, relationship to conduct and mood disorders. Drug Alcohol Depend 1995; 37: 149–62.Google Scholar
26 Bagley, C, Mallick, K. Prediction of sexual, emotional, and physical maltreatment and mental health outcomes in a longitudinal cohort of 290 adolescent women. Child Maltreat 2000; 5: 218–26.Google Scholar
27 Krupnick, JL, Green, BL, Stockton, P, Goodman, L, Corcoran, C, Petty, R. Mental health effects of adolescent trauma exposure in a female college sample: exploring differential outcomes based on experiences of unique trauma types and dimensions. Psychiatry 2004; 67: 264–79.Google Scholar
28 Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Census of India 2001. http://www.censusindia.gov.in Google Scholar
29 Andrew, G, Patel, V, Ramakrishna, J. Sex, studies or strife? What to integrate in adolescent health services. Reprod Health Matters 2003; 11: 120–9.Google Scholar
30 Patel, V, Kirkwood, BR, Pednekar, S, Pereira, B, Barros, P, Fernandes, J, Datta, J, Pai, R, weiss, H, Mabey, D. Gender disadvantage and reproductive health risk factors for common mental disorders in women: a community survey in India. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2006; 63: 404–13.Google Scholar
31 Hackett, R, Hackett, L. Child psychiatry across cultures. Int Rev Psychiatry 1999; 11: 225–35.Google Scholar
32 Rahi, M, Kumavat, AP, Garg, S, Singh, MM. Socio-demographic correlates of psychiatric disorders. Indian J Pediatr 2005; 72: 395–8.Google Scholar
33 Blum, RW, Beuhring, T, Shew, ML, Bearinger, LH, Sieving, RE, Resnick, MD. The effects of race/ethnicity, income, and family structure on adolescent risk behaviors. Am J Public Health 2000; 90: 1879–84.Google Scholar
34 Bhui, K, Stansfeld, S, Head, J, Haines, M, Hillier, S, Taylor, S, Viner, R, Booy, R. Cultural identity, acculturation, and mental health among adolescents in east London's multiethnic community. J Epidemiol Community Health 2005; 59: 296–302.Google Scholar
35 Khurana, S, Sharma, N, Jena, S, Saha, R, Ingle, G. Mental health status of runaway adolescents. Indian J Pediatr 2004; 71: 405–9.Google Scholar
36 Goodman, R, Ford, T, Richards, H, Gatward, R, Meltzer, H. The Development and Well-Being Assessment: description and initial validation of an integrated assessment of child and adolescent psychopathology. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2000; 41: 645–55.Google Scholar
37 World Health Organization. The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. WHO, 1992.Google Scholar
38 American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic Criteria from DSM-IV (Indian edition). Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers, 1994.Google Scholar
39 Fleitlich-Bilyk, B, Goodman, R. Prevalence of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders in southeast Brazil. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2004; 43: 727–34.Google Scholar
40 Goodman, R, Neves dos Santos, D, Robatto Nunes, AP, Pereira de Miranda, D, Fleitlich-Bilyk, B, Almeida Filho, N. The Ilha de Mare study: a survey of child mental health problems in a predominantly African-Brazilian rural community. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2005; 40: 11–17.Google Scholar
41 Goodman, R, Slobodskaya, H, Knyazev, G. Russian child mental health – a cross-sectional study of prevalence and risk factors. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2005; 14: 28–33.Google Scholar
42 Department of Health. Mental Health of Children and Young People in Great Britain, 2004. Palgrave MacMillan, 2005.Google Scholar
43 Mullick, MS, Goodman, R. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders among 5–10 year olds in rural, urban and slum areas in Bangladesh: an exploratory study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2005; 40: 663–71.Google Scholar
44 Woerner, W, Fleitlich-Bilyk, B, Martinussen, R, Fletcher, J, Cucchiaro, G, Dalgalarrondo, P, Lui, M, Tamrock, R. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire overseas: evaluations and applications of the SDQ beyond Europe. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2004; 13 Suppl 2: 1147–54.Google Scholar
45 Costello, EJ, Egger, H, Angold, A. 10-year research update review: the epidemiology of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders: II. Methods and public health burden. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2005; 44: 972–86.Google Scholar
46 American Psychiatric Association. DSM-IV: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edition). American Psychiatric Association, 1994.Google Scholar
47 Nair, MK, Paul, MK, John, R. Prevalence of depression among adolescents. Indian J Pediatr 2004; 71: 523–4.Google Scholar
48 Stern, SB, Smith, CA, Jang, SJ. Urban families and adolescent mental health. Soc Work Res 1999; 23: 15–27.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Pillai et al. supplementary material

Supplementary Table S1-S4

Download Pillai et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 49.5 KB
Supplementary material: File

Pillai et al. supplementary material

Supplementary Material

Download Pillai et al. supplementary material(File)
File 533 Bytes
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.