Violence against the adolescents of Kolkata: A study in relation to the socio-economic background and mental health

Mental Health Issues Among School Children and Adolescents in India: A Systematic Review

Childhood and adolescence are critical developmental stages for mental health, and the environment in which they grow has an impact on their well-being and growth. This study aims to assess mental health issues among school children and adolescents in India. A systematic search was conducted on the literature published between January 2013 and August 2023 in PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Eric database. Thirty-one studies with a sample size of 30,970 were included in the final quantitative synthesis, of which 14,381 were male. The overall mean age of the school children and adolescents was 14.58 years, with a standard deviation of 1.35. A diverse range of mental health concerns have been documented in school children and adolescents, exhibiting differing degrees of severity and frequency. The analysis showed that depression was the most prevalent mental health issue among children, followed by social, behavioral, and emotional problems, anxiety, psychological distress, internet technology addiction, stress, social phobia, sexual and emotional abuse, violence, and attention deficit hyperactive disorder. The study concludes that school mental health research in India is critical for personalizing interventions to the specific requirements of the diverse student population, decreasing stigma, and enhancing overall student well-being within the cultural and educational context of the country.

Gender-based Violence and its Predictors: A Cross-sectional Study Among the Adolescents of Madhya Pradesh, Central India

Background

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a global public health concern. India's socio-cultural and regional diversity poses challenges for obtaining accurate and comprehensive indicators of gender-based violence. This study aimed to explore the prevalence and predictors of GBV among adolescents. This was a community-based cross-sectional study conducted among adolescents aged 10 to 19 years in six districts of Madhya Pradesh, the central part of India, from December 2017 to 2019.

Methods and Material

GBV was assessed using a validated questionnaire adapted from a nationwide survey. Data were analyzed using SPSS (version 16.0). Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with GBV.

Results

The study revealed that 10.4% of adolescents were victims of GBV. The multi-variable logistic regression showed that girls were at higher risk (odds ratio = 5.7) of facing GBV. Other significant factors associated with GBV included older adolescents (15-19 years old), those belonging to scheduled caste/tribal areas, those whose mothers were literate, those who had a boyfriend/girlfriend, and those who justified wife beating.

Conclusion

GBV is a serious public health problem among adolescents, with one in every 10 adolescents experiencing GBV. It is essential to instil awareness of gender-equal norms from early childhood and within households. Implementing violence prevention policies and strategies in educational and work institutions, as well as at the community level, is crucial.

The Relationship Between Negative Self-Concept, Trauma, and Maltreatment in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis

Experiencing trauma in childhood is a global public health issue linked to worse physical and mental health outcomes, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Self-concept is a transdiagnostic concept linked to various psychopathologies and understanding its unique relationship to trauma is important. This meta-analysis aimed to understand the size of the effect between trauma and maltreatment and self-concept in children and adolescents. The current meta-analysis searched PubMed, PILOTS, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases. Inclusion criteria involved studies with defined trauma exposure, valid measures of self-concept, and participants' mean age under 18 years old. One-hundred-and-thirty-four studies were included in the meta-analysis (N = 255,334). A random-effects meta-analysis was performed. A small negative relationship was observed between trauma exposure and self-concept (r = - 0.20, 95% CI - 0.22, - 0.18). This relationship was significantly moderated by some variables (type and nature of trauma exposure) but not others (participant gender, type of self-concept measure, quality of studies, country economic status). A small relationship between trauma exposure and negative self-concept in children and adolescents was detected, with repeated trauma exposure and type of trauma exposure moderating this relationship. This provides important directions for clinical practice around providing support for those exposed or most vulnerable to experiencing trauma.

Experience of childhood sexual violence and its associations with depressive symptoms among university students in Guangdong, China

BACKGROUND

Sexual violence, especially childhood sexual violence, is a serious social issue, yet the prevalence of childhood sexual violence among university students is unknown. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of these experiences and assess their associations with depressive symptoms.

METHODS

The study included 29,311 participants, mean (SD) age 20.5 (1.4) years, from a cross-sectional survey of a multi-stage stratified cluster random sample from all universities in Guangdong province of China. Data were obtained through an anonymous electronic questionnaire from December 2 to 15, 2019. Undergraduates' experiences of childhood sexual violence were self-reported. Current depressive symptoms were measured by Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10). Stress measures in recent months were measured by the College Student Stress Scale.

RESULTS

The prevalence of childhood sexual violence experience among university students was 4.8 % (95 % confidence interval (CI) = 4.6 %-5.0 %), 7.3 % (95 % CI = 6.9 %-7.7 %) for female students and 1.8 % (95 % CI = 1.6 %-2.0 %) for male students. Sexual violence in childhood was related to students' current depressive symptoms after adjustment for stress and socio, demographic characteristics (adjusted prevalence ratio (PRa) = 1.36, 95 % CI = 1.30-1.42). Significant differences in the association between childhood sexual violence and depressive symptoms were also found by sex.

CONCLUSIONS

Experiences of childhood sexual violence among university students are not negligible and associated with their current depressive symptoms. The association between childhood sexual violence and depressive symptoms among female and male students is different. Schools, families, and society as a whole should be encouraged to provide education on healthy sexual behavior preventive interventions related to sexual violence for childhood students.

Adverse childhood experiences and substance misuse in young people in India: results from the multisite cVEDA cohort

BACKGROUND

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increases vulnerability to externalising disorders such as substance misuse. The study aims to determine the prevalence of ACEs and its association with substance misuse.

METHODS

Data from the Consortium on Vulnerability to Externalising Disorders and Addictions (cVEDA) in India was used (n = 9010). ACEs were evaluated using the World Health Organisation (WHO) Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire whilst substance misuse was assessed using the WHO Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test. A random-effects, two-stage individual patient data meta-analysis explained the associations between ACEs and substance misuse with adjustments for confounders such as sex and family structure.

RESULTS

1 in 2 participants reported child maltreatment ACEs and family level ACEs. Except for sexual abuse, males report more of every individual childhood adversity and are more likely to report misusing substances compared with females (87.3% vs. 12.7%). In adolescents, family level ACEs (adj OR 4.2, 95% CI 1.5-11.7) and collective level ACEs (adj OR 6.6, 95% CI 1.4-31.1) show associations with substance misuse whilst in young adults, child level ACEs such as maltreatment show similar strong associations (adj OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1-3.5).

CONCLUSION

ACEs such as abuse and domestic violence are strongly associated with substance misuse, most commonly tobacco, in adolescent and young adult males in India. The results suggest enhancing current ACE resilience programmes and 'trauma-informed' approaches to tackling longer-term impact of ACEs in India.

FUNDING

Newton Bhabha Grant jointly funded by the Medical Research Council, UK (MR/N000390/1) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR/MRC-UK/3/M/2015-NCD-I).

Experience of gender-based violence and its effect on depressive symptoms among Indian adolescent girls: Evidence from UDAYA survey

BACKGROUND

Violence against women has been one of the most prominent issue and a major public health concern. It is a principle violation of basic human rights and has both physical and mental effect on the victim. This study focuses on married and unmarried girls aged 15 to 19 years, belonging to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India. This study attempts to examine depression level among married and unmarried girls who have faced violence against them. With the unprecedented growth in social networking, online digital platform and its accessibility, the study also brings out the pertinent aspect of internet based violence and its psychological outcome on adolescent girls. Hence, the study can be seen as an important and needed value addition to the existing pool of knowledge on the subject.

METHODS

The study uses Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) project data for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Depressive symptoms among adolescent girl is the outcome variable of the study. Descriptive statistic and bivariate analysis has been used to get to preliminary results. Chi-squared test is used to test the significant of variables. Further, multi-variate analysis (logistic regression) was used.

RESULTS

Almost 29, 23 and 26 percent of married adolescent girls had faced emotional, physical and sexual violence respectively. It was found that about five per cent of unmarried and eight per cent of married girls had high depressive symptoms. It was found that unmarried adolescent girls who had witnessed their father beating mother were 71 percent more likely to suffer from higher depressive symptoms [OR: 1.71, 1.09-2.69]. Adolescents who faced perpetrated bullying had 90 per cent [OR: 1.90, 1.32-2.72] and 86 per cent [OR: 1.86, 0.98-3.52] higher likelihood to suffer from higher depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSION

The study goes beyond intimate partner violence and includes various covariates to explain the association between violence and depressive symptoms among married and unmarried adolescents. Hence, more inclusive policies are needed to address the issue of violence against women as the spectrum of the violence is expanding with time.

The effect of university students' violence tendency on their attitude towards domestic violence and the factors affecting domestic violence attitudes

Background:

The aim of this study was to investigate the tendency of violence and the factors affecting their attitudes towards domestic violence in university students studying health sciences.

Methods:

The research was conducted with a total of 318 voluntary students studying in the senior year of nursing department in Faculty of Nursing, Ege University, Turkey and bearing the appropriate criteria for the participation and data were collected in the period June-July 2017. “Personal Information Form”, “Violence Tendency Scale (VTS)” and “Domestic Violence Attitude Scale (DVAS)” developed by the researchers have been used in data collection.

Results:

The research was conducted with a total of 318 students with average age of 22.41±1.49. Av-erage VTS scores of the students were found to be 28.13±6.28. The factor effective on violence tendency has been determined to be the student’s sex. DVAS of the students has been found to be 19.90±6.76.

Conclusions:

Violence phenomenon directed to youth was conducted on senior university students being a more developed group socially. However, young people’s exposure to violence was found high (42.8%). Nevertheless, their scores on violence tendencies and domestic violence attitude were ascertained low.

EXPRESSÃO DA VIOLÊNCIA INTRAFAMILIAR: HISTÓRIA ORAL DE ADOLESCENTES

RESUMO Objetivo: desvelar as expressões da violência intrafamiliar vivenciadas por adolescentes. Método: estudo com abordagem qualitativa que utilizou como referencial metodológico a história oral. Foram entrevistadas(os) oito adolescentes matriculadas(os) em uma escola pública de Salvador, Bahia, Brasil, no período de março a maio de 2015. Os dados foram sistematizados conforme a análise temática e respaldados em referenciais teóricos sobre violência doméstica e adolescência. Resultados: as(os) adolescentes relatam uma infância e adolescência marcadas pela ausência de atenção às necessidades físicas e emocionais, fundamentais para o crescimento e desenvolvimento, e pela vivência cotidiana de humilhações, depreciações, difamações, calúnias, injúrias, além de agressões por meio de tapas e socos. Tais achados foram organizados nas seguintes categorias: Negligência e abandono; Violência moral e psicológica; e Violência física. Conclusão: considerando que a história oral das(os) adolescentes desvela um contexto familiar permeado pelas mais variadas formas de expressão da violência, o estudo ratifica a realidade de abuso a que nossas crianças e adolescentes encontram-se expostas dentro de seus lares, entendidos enquanto cenários de proteção e segurança. Alerta-nos, ainda, para a naturalização da violência intrafamiliar, socialmente arraigada na crença da educação dos filhos a partir de medidas punitivas e coercivas, mais comumente por meio de castigos e agressões físicas. Urge estratégias que viabilizem a desconstrução dessa cultura de maus tratos a crianças e adolescentes.

Are there differences in the mental health status of adolescents in Puducherry?

The present study assessed the mental health of adolescents in Puducherry, India. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 291 students (121 male and 170 female) in the 14-17year old age group, grades IX and XI. The students were recruited from private, public, co-ed and single sex schools. Along with a Structured Questionnaire, the Mental Health Inventory was administered. We sought to investigate as to whether there would be differences in mental health status of adolescents based on age, class, gender and other demographic variables. There were significant age differences with respect to global mental health, psychological distress, anxiety and loss of behavioural/emotional control. Family type-wise significant differences in global mental health, life satisfaction and loss of behavioural/emotional control were also found. Significant differences were observed with respect to global mental health, psychological well-being, positive effects, psychological distress and depression across socio-economic groups. Number of siblings also accounted for differences in anxiety and emotional ties. However, no significant gender differences were observed across mental health sub-scales. Results suggest the need for promotion of mental health awareness and intervention programs for adolescents, their parents and teachers. There is also a need for advocacy in children and adolescent rights regarding welfare, well-being and protection from violence. The objective is to enhance psychological well-being and reduce psychological distress in students across different social strata.

School corporal punishment, family tension, and students’ internalizing problems: Evidence from India

There is considerable evidence that parental corporal punishment (CP) is positively associated with children’s behavioral and mental health problems. However, there is very little evidence addressing whether CP perpetrated by teachers or school staff is similarly associated with problematic student functioning. To address this gap in the research literature, data were collected from students in a locale where school CP continues to be widely practiced. Participants were 519 adolescents attending public or private schools in Puducherry, a city in eastern India. Students completed surveys assessing school CP, internalizing problems, social support, and resilience. The results indicated that 62% of the students reported experiencing school CP in the past 12 months, with males and those attending public schools being significantly more likely to report school CP than females and those in private schools. Youth who reported school CP reported more anxiety and depression. That relation was more pronounced in youth who reported family tension. Social support and resilience did not moderate the relations. The findings add to the substantial evidence about negative associations regarding the use of CP but in a new venue—the school, and provide some evidence for the need to change how students are disciplined in schools in India and elsewhere.