. Kezia Gupta; . Jayanti Semwal; . Neha Sharma; . Abhay Srivastava; . Shaili Vyas
Volume 12, Issue 9 , October 2022, , Pages 1-10
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The preeminent mental health conditions, namely social phobia and depressionamong adolescents, usually remain incognito. The transition period from childhood to adulthoodmakes ...
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BACKGROUND: The preeminent mental health conditions, namely social phobia and depressionamong adolescents, usually remain incognito. The transition period from childhood to adulthoodmakes adolescents more liable for low amour‑propre, loneliness, and even increases the suicidaltendencies among them. To burgeon the knowledge regarding social phobia and depression amongadolescents, the present study was put forward with the objective to assess the prevalence of socialanxiety disorders (social phobia) and depression among adolescents.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross‑sectional study was conducted for 2 months on 600 studentsaged 10–19 years belonging to classes VIII–XII of government and private schools in the Dehradundistrict recruited through multistage random sampling technique. A pre‑tested semi‑structuredquestionnaire having sociodemographic details, validated self‑administered tools, Social PhobiaInventory tool, and Kutchers Adolescent Depression Scale (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.77 and 0.79) wereused. Statistical package for social sciences, version 23 was used for data analysis. Chi‑square test,Fisher exact test, and Pearson correlation analysis were used for analysisRESULTS: Prevalence of social phobia was found to be 37% among school‑going adolescents.Further, 23.7% of the study participants had mild social phobia, while moderate and severe phobiawas seen among 11.5% and 2.3%, respectively. Females had more moderate and severe socialphobia than males. Adolescents of government schools had more moderate affective distress andsomatic distress as compared to adolescents of private schools.CONCLUSION: Social phobia and depression among school‑going adolescents are on the upsurge.The present study shows that social phobia and depression have a strong correlation amongthemselves, which needs to be addressed as expeditiously as possible. Coping strategies and socialskill therapy and programs are pressing priorities for the fulgent future of adolescents.