Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Sep 22;13(9):e066654.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-066654.

Depression, anxiety, psychological distress and associated factors among students attending Nemelifen Secondary and Preparatory School, Afar regional state, Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Asamnew Teklewold Gebremariam  1 , Abenet Menene Gurara  2 , Teresa Kisi Beyen  3
Affiliations

Depression, anxiety, psychological distress and associated factors among students attending Nemelifen Secondary and Preparatory School, Afar regional state, Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Asamnew Teklewold Gebremariam et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the magnitude of depression, anxiety, psychological distress and associated factors in Nemelifen Secondary and Preparatory School at Awash 7 Kilo, zone 3, Afar, Ethiopia.

Design: An institutional-based cross-sectional study design was implemented.

Setting: This research was conducted in Afar regional state, zone 3, Awash 7 Kilo town.

Participants: A pretested, structured, self-administered questionnaire was used to gather information from 392 study participants. For the purpose of identifying risk variables for depression, anxiety and psychological distress, bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were used.

Outcome measures: The primary outcome of the study was magnitude of depression, anxiety and psychological distress and the secondary outcome was factors associated with depression, anxiety and psychological distress.

Results: Overall, 109 study participants showed symptoms of depression (28.91%; 95% CI: 24.3%, 33.2%), 85 had symptoms of anxiety disorder (22.55%; 95% CI: 18.7%, 27.3%) and 168 had symptoms of psychological distress (44.56%; 95% CI: 39.6%, 49.6%). While anxiety was linked to ever drinking alcohol (adjusted OR (AOR)=2.87; 95% CI: 1.13, 7.28) and suicidal ideation (AOR=3.23; 95% CI: 1.80, 5.79), depression was significantly associated with having very good relationships with classmates (AOR=0.22; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.55) and suicidal ideation (AOR=2.26; 95% CI: 1.29, 3.94). The level of education (being in the ninth grade) and suicidal ideation (AOR=2.86; 95% CI: 1.49, 4.86) were also related to psychological distress.

Conclusion: High levels of depression, anxiety and psychological distress were discovered. Very positive relationships with classmates were significantly linked to depression, while ever drinking was linked to anxiety. Likewise, the level of educational was related to psychological distress. All three of the dependent variables were linked to suicidal ideation. Above all, there was a connection among psychological distress, anxiety and depression.

Keywords: anxiety disorders; depression & mood disorders; mental health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic presentation of sampling procedure and selection process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Global Health Estimates Licence CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO ed . Depression and Other Common Mental Disorders. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2017.
    1. Deribew A, Deribe K, Reda AA, et al. . Do common Menal disorders decline over time in TB/HIV Co-infected and HIV patients without TB who Areon antiretroviral Treament BMC Psychiatry 2013;13:1–6. 10.1186/1471-244X-13-174 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Murphey D, Barry M, Vaughn B. Adolescent mental disorder, adolescent health highlight. Child Trends 2013:1–10.
    1. Merikangas KR, Nakamura EF, Kessler RC. Epidemiology of mental disorders in children and adolescents. Dialogues Clin Neurosci 2009;11:7–20. 10.31887/DCNS.2009.11.1/krmerikangas - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Elliott I, Breedvelt J, Chakkalackal L, et al. . Fundamental Facts About Mental Health. United Kingdom: Mental Health Foundation, 2015.