INVESTIGATING THE PREVALENCE OF MENTAL DISORDERS AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN WEST AZERBAIJAN PROVINCE

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of mental disorders among high school students in West Azerbaijan Province.

The research method was descriptive-cross-sectional. The statistical population consisted of 133060 subjects (71906 boys and 61154 girls) who were students of the first secondary school in the province. Of these, 800 students were selected as the research sample using multi-stage cluster sampling and completed the Akhenbach Behavior List (YSR) and they were interviewed by a clinical psychologist with semi-structured diagnostic tools (K-SADS-PL).

In this study, various descriptive indicators (percentage, mean and standard deviation), and statistical test of chi-square were used to analyze the research questions. The results showed that the overall prevalence of mental disorders in West Azerbaijan province was 16.99%. The prevalence of mental disorders in the city was 17.82% and in the village, it was 16.6%, in girls it was 18.51% and in boys, it was 15.94%. Also, the prevalence of emotional problems was 4.37%, anxiety was 6.12%, physical problems was 2.25%, ADHD was 1.75%, confronting disobedience was 1.5% and conduct disorder was 1% (p≤0.05).

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders is high in first-grade students of West Azerbaijan province. Given this prevalence, it is essential to conduct etiological studies for highly prevalent disorders. Also, health systems, in collaboration with education, should design and implement prevention programs for all the students.