Some factors that affect mental health of adolescents / Монголын Анагаах Ухаан

ABSTRACT

Introduction@#In a report from the WHO 2013 it states that, 23% of children between the ages of 13 and 17 had suicidal ideation and 9.3% attempted suicide in the last 12 months. According to the research of Bayarmaa V et al, the prevalence of behavioral and emotional disorder among adolescents is between 8.7% & 9.4%. As a result of these researches, it can be concluded that evaluating the mental health of adolescents and learning the risk factors that can affect it has become an urgent matter in Mongolia.@*Goal@#To establish the prevalence, the factors that influence it and the type of signs and symptoms common to this behavioral and emotional disorder in adolescents of the Gobi-Altai province.@*Material and Method@#No ethical errors were reported during the implementation of this study. We used various versions of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) applicable for children, adolescents, parents and teachers and determined exhibition of emotional and behavioral problems by cross-sectional analysis. 2192 adolescents between the ages of 11-18 years old, 1808 parents and caregivers and 102 teachers from the secondary school in Gobi-Altai province were screened from March to December of 2018.@*Results@#In our study, 50.5% (n=1107) of participants were boys, 49.5% (n=1085) were girls and totally 2192 participants were involved. Regarding the survey results, 58.6% of adolescents in Gobi-Altai province were healthy, 36.1% of them had emotional and behavioral problems and 5.2% of them had emotional and behavioral disorders. For the mental health of adolescent, peer bullying (child 1.4 times higher, parents 6.4 times higher), moving house (child 2 times higher), domestic disputes between parents (child 1.6 times higher), loneliness (child 1.4 times high), hormonal change (teacher 7.7 times high, parents 2 times high), obtaining a qualification for a better life (teacher 6.4 times high) are the factors affecting their mental health negativ ely and creating a mental health problem.@*Conclusion@#58.6% of adolescents in Gobi-Altai province were healthy, 36.1% of them had emotional and behavioral problems and 5.2% of them were with emotional and behavioral disorders. Peer bullying, moving house, domestic disputes between parents, loneliness, hormonal change are the factors affecting the mental health of adolescents negatively.