General health status of male and female students in junior schools of Ilam at 2012

The World Health Organization defines mental health as communicate with others, improving the environment and conflict resolving. In recent years, the prevalence of mental disorders has increased and the prevalence of mental disorders has been reported to be 18-23% in Iran. This study is a descriptive- comparative research that the mental health of boys and girls in schools has been studied. The required information is obtained by means of the GHQ 28 standard questionnaire that is distributed among 118 students. The mental health is divided into four categories, the first category with 0-21 score, the second with 22-42, the third with 43-63 and the latter group which received the scores of 64-84. The SPSS software was used for data analysis. The sample included 64 (54%) male and 54 (46%) female and the overall score of the students were classified into 4 categories. Among the samples, 38 students (32.2%), 61 students (51.7%), 17 students (14.7 %) and two persons (1.7%) are received the were received the scores of 0-21, 22-42, 43-63 and 64-84, respectively. Also, the statistical meaningful relationship is observed between the age, the grade and mental health (P <0.05). Relatively large numbers of children are of good mental health state. It is found that as age of participants is increased the mental health of children degraded. Students have a maturity period of less than mental health. Therefore, schools can make physical changes of puberty class advice on the mental health of students to increase during puberty.