Perception of self and it’s effect on anxiety and depression among adolescent girls

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction: Perception of self is a primary source for fostering negative influences in an adolescent’s life. This stage may increase the risk for various psychiatric disorders. Objectives: To assess the grade of anxiety and depression and to study their relationship with various factors of perception of self, among adolescent girls. Materials and Methods: School-going adolescent girls from two government schools at Lucknow were selected using a two-stage random sampling technique. A total of 200 participants were personally interviewed for their socio-demographic details, perception of self, and screened for symptoms of anxiety and depression. Results: Of the 200 school-going adolescent girls who participated in the study, 63.5% screened positive for the symptoms of anxiety and 73.0% for symptoms of depression. A total of 11.5% and 3.5% school-going adolescent girls had severe anxiety and major depression; severe severity, respectively. Both anxiety and depression among school-going adolescent girls were significantly associated with factors like possessing qualities that they are ashamed of (P = 0.005 and 0.011), body image dissatisfaction (P = 0.004 and 0.017), and getting suicidal thoughts in times of difficulties (P < 0.001). Conclusion: A fair number of adolescent girls had severe anxiety and major depression of severe severity. Therefore, adolescents must be screened for mental disorders from time to time and those at high risk must be identified.