Family Influences on Mental Health: A Cross-sectional Study of Stress, Anxiety and Depression among School-going Adolescents from Haryana, India

Abstract Background: Adolescence can be particularly predisposed to mental health issues due to the physical, psychological and sexual changes that take place during this time. Mental Health Conditions such as stress, anxiety and depression often show up early and tend to recur. Aim: To assess the severity of depression, anxiety and stress (DAS) in adolescents and determine the associated factors. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study study conducted on 560 randomly selected school adolescents by stratified random sampling in Schools of Gohana block, Haryana, India. A semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire was utilised for socio-demographic profiles as well as the DAS Scale-21 to assess depression, stress and anxiety. Data were entered into Microsoft Excel software and analysed using R software (version 4.3.2). The manuscript was prepared in accordance with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines. Results: The overall prevalence of DAS was determined to be 34.6%, 34.3% and 20.4%, respectively. The statistically significant factors for depression and anxiety were class and parental arguments ( P < 0.01), stress was significantly associated with age, class, socio-economic status ( P < 0.001) and alcohol intake by the father ( P < 0.05). Conclusions: The growing incidence of DAS among adolescents who endure parental expectations to perform better mandates parent–student counselling sessions.