Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-495rp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-12T10:30:33.908Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychological distress among Canadian adolescents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Carl D'Arcy  and
C. M. Siddique
Carl D'Arcy*
Affiliation:
Applied Research Unit, Psychiatric Research, Saskatchewan Health, Saskatoon, Canada
C. M. Siddique
Affiliation:
Applied Research Unit, Psychiatric Research, Saskatchewan Health, Saskatoon, Canada
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Carl D'Arcy, Applied Research Unit, Psychiatric Research, CMR Building, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 0X0.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

This paper examines a comprehensive set of data on the prevalence and correlates of psychological distress in a sample of 1038 adolescent students in a major urban area of a Canadian prairie province. About 27% of the students reported 6 or more symptoms of psychological distress on the GHQ-30. The frequency of symptoms varied with age, grade level and average marks, with sex being the most significant variation. ‘Anxiety’ and ‘social dysfunction’ were the most frequent symptom dimensions reported. More detailed analysis of possible predictors of mental health showed that the nature and quality of family life strongly affected adolescent mental health. Adolescents' positive evaluation of their school atmosphere and peer group life and their locus of control orientation also positively influenced their psychological well-being.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , August 1984 , pp. 615 - 628
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Albert, N. & Beck, A. T. (1975). Incidence of depression in early adolescence: a preliminary study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 4, 301–307.Google Scholar
Angrist, S. (1969). The study of sex roles. Journal of Social Issues 25, 215–232.Google Scholar
Bachman, J. G., O'Malley, P. M. & Johnston, J. (1978). Youth in Transition, Vol. 6. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan: Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Banks, M. H. (1983). Validation of the General Health Questionnaire in a young community sample. Psychological Medicine 13, 349–353.Google Scholar
Binder, J., Dobler-Mikola, A. & Angst, J. (1981). An epidemiological study of minor psychiatric disturbances. Social Psychiatry 16, 31–41.Google Scholar
Coleman, J. S. (1961). The Adolescent Society. Collier-Macmillan: London.Google Scholar
D'Arcy, C. (1982). Prevalence and correlates of nonpsychotic psychiatric symptoms in the general population. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 27, 316–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dohrenwend, B. P., Dohrenwend, B. S., Gould, M. S., Link, B., Neugebauer, R. & Wunsch-Hitzig, R. (1980). Mental Illness in the United States – Epidemiological Estimates. Praeger: New York.Google Scholar
Douvan, E. (1960). Sex differences in adolescent character processes. Merrill Palmer Quarterly 6, 203–211.Google Scholar
Duncan-Jones, P. & Henderson, S. (1978). Use of a two-phase design in a prevalence study. Social Psychiatry 13, 231–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and Crisis. W. W. Norton: New York.Google Scholar
Finlay-Jones, R. A. & Murphy, E. (1979). Severity of psychiatric disorder and the 30-item General Health Questionnaire. British Journal of Psychiatry 134, 609–616.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilbert, L. A. (1976). Situational factors and the relationship between locus of control and psychological adjustment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 23, 302–309.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. (1978). Manual of the General Health Questionnaire. NFER Publishing Company: Windsor.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. (1981). Estimating the prevalence of psychiatric disorder from the results of a screening test. In What is a Case? (ed. Wing, J. K., Bebbington, P. and Robins, L. N.), pp. 129–136. Grant McIntyre: London.Google Scholar
Gove, W. R. (1978). Sex differences in mental illness among adult men and women: an evaluation of the evidence on the higher rates of women. Social Science and Medicine 12B, 187–198.Google Scholar
Gove, W. R. & Tudor, J. F. (1973). Adult sex roles and mental illness. American Journal of Sociology 78, 812–835.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, P. & Rutter, M. (1973). Psychiatric disorder in the young adolescent: a follow-up study. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 66, 1226–1229.Google Scholar
Grinker, R. R., Miller, J., Sabshin, M., Nunn, R. & Nunnally, J. C. (1961). The Phenomena of Depression. Paul B. Hoeber: New York.Google Scholar
Henderson, S., Duncan-Jones, P., Byrne, D. G. & Adock, S. (1979). Psychiatric disorder in Canberra: a standardized study of prevalence. Acta Psychiatrica Scandanavica 60, 355–374.Google Scholar
Hetherington, R. W., Dickinson, J., Cipywynk, D. & Hay, D. (1978). Drinking behaviour among Saskatchewan adolescents. Canadian Journal of Public Health 69, 315–324.Google ScholarPubMed
James, W. H. (1963). The James I–E Scale. Library of Congress: Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Jenkins, R. (1980). Minor psychiatric morbidity in employed men and women and its contribution to sickness absence. Psychological Medicine 10, 751–757.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, J. H. & Sarason, I. G. (1978). Life stress, depression and anxiety: internal–external control as a moderator variable. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 22, 205–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaplan, S. L., Nussbaum, M., Skomorowsky, P., Shenker, R. & Ramsay, P. (1980). Health habits and depression in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 9, 299–304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kellam, S. G., Ensminger, M. E. & Turner, R. J. (1977). Family structure and mental health of children. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1012–1022.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Komarovsky, M. (1946). Cultural contradiction and sex roles. American Journal of Sociology 52, 184–189.Google Scholar
Krupinski, J., Baikie, A. G., Stoller, A., Graves, J., O'Day, D. M. & Palke, P. (1967). A community mental health survey of Heyfield, Victoria. Medical Journal of Australia i, 1204–1211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larzelere, R. E. & Mulaik, S. A. (1977). Single-sample tests for many correlations. Psychological Bulletin 84, 557–569.Google Scholar
Leslie, S. A. (1974). Psychiatric disorder in the young adolescent of an industrial town. British Journal of Psychiatry 125, 113–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maccoby, E. E. & Jacklin, N. J. (1974). The Psychology of Sex Differences. Stanford University Press: Palo Alto, CA.Google Scholar
Mechanic, D. & Greenley, J. R. (1976). The prevalence of psychological distress and help seeking in a college student population. Social Psychiatry 11, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendels, J.Weinstein, N. & Cochrane, C. (1972). The relationship between depression and anxiety. Archives of General Psychiatry 27, 649–653.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nott, P. N. & Cutts, S. (1982). Validation of the 30-item General Health Questionnaire in postpartum women. Psychological Medicine 12, 409–413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paton, S., Kessler, R. & Kandel, D. (1977). Depressive mood and adolescent illicit drug use: a longitudinal analysis. Journal of Genetic Psychology 131, 267–289.Google Scholar
Prusoff, B. & Klerman, G. L. (1974). Differentiating depressed from anxious neurotic outpatients. Archives of General Psychiatry 30, 302–309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riesman, D. (1950). The Lonely Crowd. Yale University Press: New Haven.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the Adolescent Self-Image, Princeton University Press: New Jersey.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs 80, 1, entire issue No. 609.Google Scholar
Russell, T., Curtis, G., Aitken, J. & Mihalyko, J.(1980). Saskatchewan Health for Children and Youth. Report of the Review of Child and Youth Health Service: Government of Saskatchewan.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1980). Changing Youth in a Changing Society. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Graham, P., Chadwick, O. F. D. & Yule, W. (1976). Adolescent turmoil: fact or fiction? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 17, 35–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M., Maughan, B., Mortimore, P., Outson, J. with Smith, A. (1979). Fifteen Thousand Hours: Secondary Schools and Their Effects on Children. Open Books: London.Google Scholar
Stavig, G. R. & Acock, A. C. (1976). Evaluating the degree of dependence for a set of correlations. Psychological Bulletin 83, 236–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarnopolsky, A., Hand, D. J. & McLean, E. R. (1979). Validity and uses of a screening questionnaire (GHQ) in the community. British Journal of Psychiatry 134, 508–515.Google Scholar
Tennant, C. (1977). The General Health Questionnaire: a valid index of psychological impairment in Australian populations. Medical Journal of Australia ii, 392–394.Google Scholar
Verbrugge, L. M. (1976). Females and illness: recent trends in sex differences in the United States. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour 17, 387–403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed