General mental health status among adolescents: Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study

when occurred during adolescence, adolescents in district 13 in Tehran as a part of Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS) .

randomly selected. A demographic questionnaire as well as General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) which had already been validated for the Iranian population, were gathered by face-to-face interview. We have considered score of 6 as cut off point. Freedman, chi squared and Mann Whitney tests were used, when appropriate .

suspected to have some kinds of mental disorders . The mean (±SD) score of GHQ was 6.9±5.1 with the median of 6. The means of each of the subscales of the questionnaire were 0.9±1.4 for somatic system 1.3±1.7 for anxiety and sleep disorders, 3.7±2.0 for social dysfunction and 1.0±1.7 for depression. The median of these subscales were 0, 1, 4, 0, respectively . Compared with other subscales, subjects with social dysfunction had lower mental health statues (p<0.001) . Females were affected more frequently than males 65% vs. 35%, (p 0.001<. )

frequency of females being higher . With respect to the importance of mental health in adolescence, investigating the risk factors of mental disorders, especially the social dysfunction scale , in future studies is recommended .