Abstrato

Anxiety disorders among adolescents attending secondary schools in Enugu South East Nigeria.

Chinawa AT, Onukwuli VO, Chinawa JM, Mayike P, Nduagubam OC,Odinka PC, Aniwada EC6, Ndukuba AC, Ukoh UC

Background: Anxiety disorders in adolescents can lead to serious psychosomatic problems. Objectives: This study was aimed at determining pattern and factors associated with anxiety disorders among adolescents who attend secondary schools in south east Nigeria. Methods: A total of 1500 adolescents who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were enrolled by simple random sampling. The questionnaire used was adapted from The Revised Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS). The RCMAS is a 37-item self-report inventory used to measure anxiety in children, for clinical purposes (diagnosis and treatment evaluation), educational settings, and for research purposes. Results: Three hundred and eighty-four students 384 (34.1%) had anxiety. On segregation into different components of anxiety 188 (16.7%) had physiological component, 674 (59.9%) had worry and 399 (35.5%) had concentration issues. There was statistical significant association between sex and general anxiety (χ2=30.121, p<0.001). There were statistical significant association between sex and physiological component of anxiety (χ2=10.838, p=0.001), class (χ2=5.546, p=0.009), father’s educational level (χ2=8.306, p=0.016) and mother’s occupation (χ2=12.348, p=0.015). There was statistical significant association between sex and worry component of anxiety (χ2=24.403, p<0.001). There was statistical significant association between sex and concentration component of anxiety (χ2=11.223, p=0.001). Conclusions: All the spectrum of anxiety disorders was present among adolescents in their institution with varying degrees of associated factors.