The Association of Mental Health with Family Relationships and High-Risk Behaviors in Female Students of South-Eastern Iran

 The current study aimed at examining the association of mental health with family relationships and high-risk behaviors among female students in Iran.

 The current cross sectional study was conducted on 457 10th-grade students from four public female high schools in South-Eastern Iran. Information was collected using the General Health questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) of mental health and Self-report questionnair of family relationships and high-risk behaviors with good content validity and reliability (α) 0.71. Data were analyzed by linear and binary logistic regression using SPSS version 15.

 The mean scores of mental health and high-risk behaviors of the subjects were 31.06 ± 16.44 (of maximum 84), and 18.03 ± 3.72 (of maximum 78), respectively. The most prevalent problems were associated with social performance scale. Binary logistic regression showed a statistically significant relationship between mental disorders and communication with parents, as well as relationship with opposite gender and sleeping time. A significant correlation was also observed between mental health, family behaviors, relationship with opposite gender, nighttime sleep, being abused by parent, and high-risk behaviors (P < 0.01).

 The results suggest that parent the education and counseling programs should be designed and implemented to protect adolescents and prevent socio-mental problems and high-risk behaviors in them. Such program should also be used as a basis for healthy growth of students.