Depression, anxiety and stress among high school students: A cross-sectional study in an urban municipality of Kathmandu, Nepal

Abstract

Depression and anxiety are the most widely recognized mental issues affecting youths. It is extremely important to investigate the burden and associated risk factors of these common mental disorders to combat them. Therefore, this study was undertaken with the aim to estimate the prevalence and identify factors associated with depression, anxiety, and stress among high school students in an urban municipality of Kathmandu, Nepal. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 453 students of five randomly selected high schools in Tokha Municipality of Kathmandu. Previously validated Nepali version of depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21) was used to assess the level of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress (DAS). Multivariable logistic regression was carried out to decide statistically significant variables of symptoms of DAS at p-value<0.05. The overall prevalence of DAS was found to be 56.5% (95% CI: 51.8%, 61.1%), 55.6% (95%CI: 50.9%, 60.2%) and 32.9% (95%CI: 28.6%, 37.4%) respectively. In the multivariable model, nuclear family type, students from science or humanities faculty, presence of perceived academic stress, and being electronically bullied were found to be significantly associated with depression. Female sex, having mother with no formal education, students from science or humanities faculty and presence of perceived academic stress were significantly associated with anxiety. Likewise, female sex, currently living without parents, and presence of perceived academic stress were significantly associated with stress. Prevention and control activities such as school-based counseling services focusing to reduce and manage academic stress and electronic bullying are recommended in considering the findings of this research.

Levels of Perceived Need for Mental Health Care among High School Students with Depression: A Study in the East Gonja Municipality, Ghana

“…Moderately severe and severe forms of the disease were found in 15.2% and 9.1% of the respondents respectively. et al, 2021), 47.3% in high school students in Manipur, India (Khongwir et al, 2020), and 56.5% in high school students in Kathmandu, Nepal (Karki et al, 2022). The current finding is also consistent with that of Zhang et al (2020) who in a cross-sectional survey among high school students in Shandong Province, China, reported that 52.4% of them had depression.…”

“…Moreover, the largest proportion of the respondents came from rural communities and the change of environment (from a rural to an urban community) and perhaps the inability to cope with the stresses associated with this transition, especially in the first few weeks, could have also contributed to the current findings. Similar observations were made in a study among high school students in an urban municipality of Kathmandu, Nepal (Karki et al, 2022). It is important, however, to emphasize that these tentative assumption are but not an exhaustive list of the possible causes of the high rate of depression in the current study, given that several other factors play a significant role in the occurrence of depression in adolescence.…”

The Use of Collaborative Intervention to Reduce the Depression and Anxiety of Students with Learning Difficulties

“…A similar study by Karki et al (2022) found to have more than half of the students had depression and anxiety symptoms and nearly one-third of the students had stress symptoms. Prevention and control activities such as schoolbased counseling services focusing to reduce and manage depression, anxiety, and stress faced by the students were recommended.…”

Association between academic pressure, NR3C1 gene methylation, and anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents: a nested case-control study

“…This study provides evidence that a higher level of academic pressure was positively associated with anxiety symptoms among adolescents, even after adjusting for age, sex, BMI, cortisol, living arrangement, classmate relations, and teacher-classmate relations. Similarly, Zhu et al found a positive correlation between academic pressure and anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents [ 16 ], Karki et al reported a significant association between perceived academic pressure and anxiety symptoms among high school students in Nepal [ 42 ], and Trevethan et al observed a longitudinal direct effect of academic pressure on changes in symptoms of generalized anxiety and panic [ 43 ]. According to Lazarus’s cognitive appraisal theory, stress is seen as a relation between individuals and their environment [ 44 ].…”