Mental Health of High School Students in Bandar Abbas, Iran: A Cross- Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: According to world health organization definition, which concerns for from mental health problem could not realize his/her own potential, cope with the normal stresses of life and work productively and fruitfully. Objective: This study aimed to assess mental health of high school students in Bandar Abbass, Iran. Patients and Methods: A total of 440 students recruited in this cross-sectional study through randomly cluster sampling. Thirty students filled out the questionnaires incompletely, so 410 questionnaires were analyzed (response rate = 93.2%). The 12-items General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was used as data collection instrument. Results: The mean age of participants was 16.5 (SD = 1.34) year. 50.2% of them were male. The mean GHQ-score of all participants was 2.99 (SD = 2.5), and 35.4% of them obtained the cut of point score of ≥ 3.7. The mean GHQ-scores of males and females were 3.27 (SD = 2.4) and 2.71 (SD = 2.6) respectively. There were significant differences among participants in terms of gender (P < 0.02), age groups (P < 0.003), and study grade (P < 0.001). Male, younger and lower grade study students had worse condition. Conclusion: According to the results of this study it is recommended that more attention be paid to improve mental health of students.