More than two-fifths of Kenyan teenagers reported having a mental health problem, and one in eight met the criteria for a mental illness.
Mental health problems and mental disorders are common health problems among adolescents. Globally, mental and substance use disorders are the leading causes of disability among adolescents, according to the National Adolescent Mental Health Survey published by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), University of Queensland and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Social phobia, general anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, conduct disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were among the mental illnesses included in the survey.
“These disorders were chosen as they are the most prevalent mental disorders in adolescence and are responsible for a significant proportion of disease burden in this age group,” the report reads in part.
Adolescent mental health issues can have immediate and long-term effects on their health and social well-being, the study found. For instance, adolescents with poor mental health are more likely to take drugs, get pregnant while young, drop out of school and engage in risky behaviour.
Anxiety, for instance, had the highest prevalence (26.7 per cent) of any mental health problem, followed by problems with inattention and hyperactivity (18.2 per cent).
Anxiety had the highest reported prevalence (26.2 per cent and 27.2 per cent, respectively) of any mental health problem for males and females. Males had a higher prevalence of problems with inattention and/or hyperactivity (20.1 per cent vs 16.4 percent) and conduct problems (10.6 per cent vs 6.4 per cent) than females.
Further, older adolescents had a higher prevalence of depression (9.9 per cent) and post-traumatic stress (7.1 per cent) than younger adolescents (4.6 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively).
Comparatively, younger adolescents had a higher prevalence of problems with inattention and/or hyperactivity (21.3 per cent) than older adolescents (14.6 per cent).
The study also shows that most teenagers with mental health issues indicated some impairment due to their symptoms, whether they ticked all symptoms necessary for a diagnosis (12.2 per cent) or at least half of the symptoms (17.9 per cent).
Among those reporting impairment, almost half reported impairment in the family domain (49.9 per cent), while over two-fifths reported impairment concerning personal distress (44.6 per cent) or school/work (42.3 per cent).
Diagnostic criteria for mental disorder were met by 12.2 per cent of adolescents, with 2.4 per cent having two or more mental disorders in the past 12 months. Anxiety disorders had the highest prevalence (5.6 per cent) of any mental disorder.
Similarly, no difference in the overall prevalence of mental disorders was seen between younger (11.8 per cent) and older (12.6 per cent) adolescents overall.
Younger adolescents had a higher prevalence of ADHD (4.8 per cent) than older adolescents (2 per cent). Older adolescents had a higher prevalence of major depressive disorder (3.0 per cent) and conduct disorder (3.6 per cent), in comparison to younger adolescents (1.2 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively).
Of those with any mental disorder, close to two-thirds reported impairment in the family domain (63 per cent), with over half reporting impairment in the school/work (56.4 per cent) and personal distress (54.2 per cent) domains, respectively.
The average age of the adolescent participants was 13.3 years, with younger adolescents aged 10-13 years constituting more than half (54.6 per cent) of the adolescent sample. Regarding sex distribution, the sample consisted of more females (53.1 per cent) than males (46.9 per cent).
