Mental Health Profile of Urban and Rural Adolescents in Jammu District of J&K

The importance of this measure is based on its association with severe morbidity and mortality outcomes, including intentional injuries stemming from mental health issues like depression, aggression and suicidal ideation and chronic diseases resulting from substance abuse etc. Father's occupation wise urban class dominated in the service class and business class (difference was statistically significant) whereas rural population was ahead in other classes like skilled workers, semiskilled workers, unskilled workers and unemployed (the differences were statistically significant in case of skilled and unskilled worker categories). Symptoms of depression were found among 26.59% of students (n=117) with urban adolescents reporting higher frequency as compared to rural adolescents (urban : n=68, 33.3% ; rural : n=49, 20.7%; and that difference was highly significant (p = 0.0029).It is much higher as compared to a study conducted by Srinath et al on a community sample from south India, which reported a prevalence of depression among 0.1% in the 4-16 year age group (6). Conclusion This study shows that mental health issues like drug abuse and depression leading to suicidal ideation and attempts are gaining prominence among the adolescents in Jammu district and there is an urgent need to address this issue.