Assessment of Mental Well Being among School going Adolescents Using GHQ-12

Introduction: Adolescence is a transition period where many physical, social, emotional and psychological changes take place. As adolescents mature cognitively, their mental process becomes more analytical. The 12-Item General Health Questionnaire is the most extensively used screening instrument for common mental disorders, in addition to being a more general measure of psychiatric well-being.

Objective: To assess mental well being of school going adolescents of urban Meerut, UP.

Methodology: Purposive technique was used for the selection of schools and total enumeration of all the students belonging to age group of 12-19 years was done after obtaining clearance from institutional ethical committee and permission from schools making a total of 1185 sample size. This was followed by distribution of GHQ-12 questionnaire among all adolescents.

Results: Majority (80.9%) of adolescents had good mental well being and only 19.1% had poor mental well being with maximum score being 11 and minimum being zero. The mean score also lied in the range of good score representing good mental well being.

Conclusion: GHQ-12 score can be used to screen the mental health of the adolescents in the school so that the adolescents falling in poor score can be taken care of in school itself by proper counseling and appropriate behavior therapy.