Assessment of Social Functioning among Adolescent School Children in Manipur: A Cross-sectional Study

Bishwalata  Rajkumari; Konjengbam Erora; Shyami  Tarao

Bishwalata Rajkumari Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, Manipur, India. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8596-329X
Konjengbam Erora Post-graduate Trainee, Department of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, Manipur, India.
Shyami Tarao Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, Manipur, India.

Keywords: CASAF Scale, Social Functioning, Adolescent Mental Health

Abstract

Background: Globally 10-20% of adolescents experience mental health disorders. The greater part of disease being subclinical, identification has been a big challenge. Social functioning impairment is a sensitive indicator of underlying mental disorder. It forms a baseline for early identification of mental disorders.
Objectives: The study plans to assess the social functioning skill and its associated factors among adolescent school children.
Methods: The study was conducted among 3200 school-going adolescents studying in class 9th to 12th attending government and private schools located in Imphal-East and Bishnupur districts of Manipur recruited by stratified random sampling technique. The Child and Adolescent Social and Adaptive Functioning Scale (CASAFS), a validated tool consisting of 24 items designed to measure psychosocial functioning, was used. Descriptive and analytical statistics were generated taking p < 0.05 as level of significance.
Results: A total of 25 schools were sampled with females constituting 52.3%. Overall 21.8% had good social adaptive functioning skills whereas 29.6% showed poor skills. Around 36.3% showed poor performance in â€˜peer relationship domainâ€™ and 27.1% showed poor performance in â€˜self-care/ home domainâ€™. Socio-demographic variables such as age, gender, number of siblings, and education of parents were found to be significantly associated with having â€˜good social adaptive functioning skillâ€™(p < 0.05).
Conclusion: A significant proportion of adolescents face psychosocial issues in their day to day life. Improving social skills will be an effective intervention to reduce mental disorders.

How to cite this article:
Rajkumari B, Erora K, Tarao S. Assessment of Social Functioning among Adolescent School Children in Manipur: A Cross-sectional Study. Ind J Youth Adol Health. 2021;8(2):1-7.

References

World Health Organization [Internet]. Adolescent mental health: time for action. Geneva; 2019 [cited 2019 Aug 9]. Available from: https://www.who.int/pmnch/knowledge/publications/AMH.pdf

World Health Organization [Internet]. Adolescent health. The missing population in universal health coverage. Geneva; 2019 [cited 2019 Aug 10]. Available from: https://www.who.int/pmnch/media/events/Adolescent-Health-Missing-Population-in-UHC.pdf?ua=1

World Health Organization [Internet]. Global Health Estimates; 2019 [cited 2019 Aug 20]. Available from: https://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/en/

World Health Organisation [Internet]. Adolescents and young adult health. Geneva; 2019 [cited 2019 Sep 9]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/factsheets/detail/adolescents-health-risks-and-solutions

Price CS, Spence SH, Sheffield J, Donovan C. The development and psychometric properties of a measure of social and adaptive functioning for children and adolescents. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2002;31:111-22. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India [Internet]. New Pathways, New Hope: National Mental Health Policy of India. 2014; [cited 2018 Oct]. Available from: https://nhm.gov.in/images/pdf/National_Health_Mental_Policy.pdf

Gupta AK, Mongia M, Garg AK. A descriptive study of behavioral problems in schoolgoing children. Ind Psychiatry J. 2017;26:91-4. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Rajkumari B, Rajkumar BS, Nula P. Assessment of social and functional skills and its correlates among adolescents-across-sectional study. Ann Int Med Den Res. 2017;3(4):CM05-9. [Google Scholar]

Singh K, Junnarkar M, Sharma S. Anxiety, stress, depression, and psychosocial functioning of Indian adolescents. Ind J Psychiatry. 2015;57(4):367-74. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Timalsina M, Kafle M, Timalsina R. Psychosocial problems among school going adolescents in Nepal. Psychiatry J. 2018;1:1-6. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Bhosale S, Singru SA, Khismatrao D. Study of psychosocial problems among adolescent students in Pune, India. Al Ameen J Med Sci. 2015;8(2):150-5. [Google Scholar]

Kandel D, Davies M. Epidemiology of depressive mood in adolescents: an empirical study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1982;39:1205-12. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Pathak R, Sharma RC, Parvan UC, Gupta BP, Ojha RK, Goel NK. Behavioural and emotional problems in school going adolescents. Australas Med J. 2011;4(1):15-21. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Deb S, Chatterjee P, Walsh K. Anxiety among high school students in India: comparisons across gender, school type, social strata, and perceptions of quality time with parents. AJEDP. 2010;109(1):18-31. [Google Scholar]

SanmartÃn R, InglÃ©s CJ, Vicent M, GonzÃ¡lvez C, DÃaz-Herrero Ã, GarcÃa-FernÃ¡ndez JM. Positive and negative affect as predictors of social functioning in Spanish children. PLoS One. 2018;13(8):1-25. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Muzammil K, Kishore S, Semwal J. Prevalence of psychosocial problems among adolescents in district Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Ind J Public Health. 2009;53:18-21. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Van Wel F, Ter Bogt T, Raaijmakers Q. Changes in the parental bond and the well-being of adolescents and young adults. Adolescence. 2002;37(146):317-33. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Vashisht A, Gadi NA, Singh J, Mukherji MP, Pathak R, Mishra P. Prevalence of depression and assessment of risk factors among school going adolescents. Ind J Comm Health. 2014;26(2):196-9. [Google Scholar]

Aziz S, Tariq N. Depression, anxiety, and stress in relation to life satisfaction and academic performance of adolescents. Pak J Physiol. 2019;15(1):52-5. [Google Scholar]

da Silva RA, Horta BL, Pontes LM, Faria AD, Souza LD, Cruzeiro AL, Pinheiro RT. Psychological well-being and adolescence: associated factors. Cad Saude Publica. 2007;23(5):1113-8. [PubMed]

Dietz T, Kalof L, Stern PC. Gender, values, and environmentalism. Soc Sci Q. 2002;83:353-64. [Google Scholar]

Jayanthi P, Thirunavukarasu M, Rajkumar R. Academic stress and depression among adolescents: a crosssectional study. Indian Pediatr. 2015;52:217-9. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Bista B, Thapa P, Sapkota D, Singh BS, Pokharel PK. Psychosocial problems among adolescent students: an exploratory study in the central region of Nepal. Front Public Health.2016:4:158-62. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Puig-Antich J, Kaufman J, Ryan ND, Williamson DE, Dahl RE, Lukens E, Todak G, Ambrosini P, Rabinovich H, Nelson B. The psychosocial functioning and family environment of depressed adolescents. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1993;32:245-53. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Fatiregun AA, Kumapayi TE. Prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms among in-school adolescents in a rural district in southwest Nigeria. J Adolesc. 2014 Feb;37(2):197-203. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Slotkin J, Forehand R, Fauber R, McCombs A, Long N. Parent-completed and adolescent-completed CDIs: relationship to adolescent social and cognitive functioning. J Abnormal Child Psychol. 1988;16:207-17. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]