Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety during Covid-19 Pandemic among adolescents of Bangalore North- A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Adolescence is a critical and formative period in which individuals begin their transition from childhood to adulthood and the presence of psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety at this stage of life is a matter of concern. Half of all mental health conditions start at 14 years of age but most cases are undetected and untreated. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of depression and anxiety among adolescents and to assess the factors associated with depression and anxiety among adolescents. Methods: Data were collected from a sample of 620 adolescents of ages 14 to 16 years studying through the multistage cluster sampling method. Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21, a pre-tested questionnaire for sociodemographic details were used. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 20 version. Pearson’s chi-square test and logistic regression were applied to find the association between categorical variables where appropriate. Conclusion: Out of 620 adolescents, 64.5% were female and 35.5% were male, 41.3% of the study population were 14 years old, 43.1% of 15 years old and 15.6% were 16 years old respectively. Prevalence of depression and anxiety among adolescents were found to be 50.32% and 62.74% respectively. Depression and play hours outside the house were significantly associated; anxiety and age, duration in present school, number of people at home, working people in the family were found to be statistically associated.