Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
1010539508327031v1
21/1/19    most recent
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dhuria, M.
Right arrow Articles by Gopal Krishan Ingle
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Dhuria, M.
Right arrow Articles by Gopal Krishan Ingle,
Right arrowPubmed/NCBI databases
Medline Plus Health Information
*Mental Health
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Assessment of Mental Health Status of Senior Secondary School Children in Delhi

Meera Dhuria, MD

Department of Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India, miradhuria{at}yahoo.com

Nandini Sharma, MD

Department of Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India

Devender Kumar Taneja, MD

Department of Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India

Rajesh Kumar, MD

Department of Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India

Gopal Krishan Ingle, MD

Department of Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India

Background. Schoolchildren undergo rapid mental, emotional, and social changes and are susceptible to psychiatric disorders. Objectives. This study aimed to assess the mental health status and some determinants in senior secondary school children in Delhi. Methodology. A cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 458 children, selected by 2-stage sampling. Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire containing 60 items (GHQ-60) was used for assessment of mental health. Results. GHQ was administered to 239 boys and 219 girls in the age group of 15 to 20 years. Of 458 students, 113 (24.7%) had a score ≥16, the cutoff score, indicating mental morbidity among them. Among boys and girls, 28.5% and 20.5%, respectively, had some component of mental morbidity. Morbidity was significantly higher in children hailing from nuclear families and among children who had either failed or those who had scored highest in the class. Conclusion. Mental health needs of schoolchildren need to be addressed by the school health services.

Key Words: general health questionnaire • mental health status • schoolchildren • senior secondary school

This version was published on January 1, 2009

Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, Vol. 21, No. 1, 19-25 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1010539508327031
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?