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Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Suicide | Research article

Prevalence and correlates of psychological distress among 13–14 year old adolescent girls in North Karnataka, South India: a cross-sectional study

Authors: Tara S. Beattie, Ravi Prakash, April Mazzuca, Leslie Kelly, Prakash Javalkar, T. Raghavendra, Satyanarayana Ramanaik, Martine Collumbien, Stephen Moses, Lori Heise, Shajy Isac, Charlotte Watts

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

Background

Mental health disorders among adolescents have emerged as a major public health issue in many low and middle-income countries, including India. There is a paucity of research on the determinants of psychological distress, particularly among the poorest girls in the poorest communities. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlates of different indicators of psychological distress among 13–14 year old low caste girls in rural, south India.

Methods

Cross-sectional survey of 1191 low caste girls in two districts in north Karnataka, conducted as part of a cluster randomised-control trial. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis assessed correlates of different indicators of psychological distress.

Results

More than one third of girls (35.1%) reported having no hope for the future. 6.9% reported feeling down, depressed or hopeless in the past 2 weeks. 2.1% reported thinking they would be better off dead or of hurting themselves in some way in the past 2 weeks. 1.6% reported sexual abuse, 8.0% rrecent eve teasing and 6.3% having no parental emotional support. Suicidal ideation was independently associated with sexual abuse (AOR 11.9 (3.0–47.0)) and a lack of parental emotional support (AOR 0.2 (0.1–0.5)). Feeling down, depressed or hopeless was independently associated with recent eve-teasing (AOR 2.9 (1.6–5.4)), a harassing or abusive school environment (AOR 3.9 (1.8–8.2)), being frequently absent (AOR 2.8 (1.5–5.5)) or having dropped out of school (AOR 2.1 (1.0–4.3)), and living in Vijayapura district (AOR 2.5 (1.6–4.1)). Having no hope for the future was independently associated with a range of factors, including recent “eve-teasing” (AOR 1.5 (1.0–2.4)), being engaged (AOR 2.9 (0.9–9.7)), not participating in groups (AOR 0.5 (0.4–0.6)) and a lack of emotional support (AOR 0.6 (0.4–0.7)).

Conclusions

Rather than being a time of optimism, a third of low caste girls in rural north, Karnataka have limited hope for the future, with some contemplating suicide. As well as having important development benefits, interventions that address the upstream structural and gender-norms based determinants of poor mental health, and provide adolescent services for girls who require treatment and support, should have important benefits for girls’ psychological wellbeing.

Trial registration

Prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.​GovNCT01996241. November 27, 2013
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
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Metadata
Title
Prevalence and correlates of psychological distress among 13–14 year old adolescent girls in North Karnataka, South India: a cross-sectional study
Authors
Tara S. Beattie
Ravi Prakash
April Mazzuca
Leslie Kelly
Prakash Javalkar
T. Raghavendra
Satyanarayana Ramanaik
Martine Collumbien
Stephen Moses
Lori Heise
Shajy Isac
Charlotte Watts
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Keywords
Suicide
Suicide
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-6355-z

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