AI Article Synopsis

  • The study focused on mood disorders in teenage girls transitioning from school to other life paths, revealing a significant concern in mental health.
  • Approximately 20.8% of the girls evaluated showed signs indicating a risk for psychiatric disorders, linked to factors like parental separation and unemployment.
  • The findings suggest that while many girls face mood challenges during this transition, age and parental socioeconomic status did not play a significant role in these issues.

Article Abstract

Background: This study was undertaken to fill gaps in our knowledge of the rate of mood disorder in teenage girls in transition from school to further education, employment or unemployment.

Method: Girls aged 15-20 years (n = 529) whose names were drawn from general practitioner age/sex registers were interviewed at home and completed the Great Ormond Street Mood Questionnaire. Their mothers completed the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Social background variables were obtained.

Results: Of the girls, 20.8% scored over the cut-off point previously established to indicate risk of psychiatric disorder. Scoring over the cut-off point was not associated with age or parental social class. It was associated with parental separation/divorce (P < 0.004), with maternal self-report on the GHQ (P < 0.001), and with parental unemployment (P < 0.04). Lowest self-report scores were obtained by girls who had left school and were in employment (P < 0.01).

Conclusions: About one in five of girls aged 15-20 are at risk of affective disorder. Self-reported mood disturbance is associated with a wide range of social and familial background variables, but not with age or parental socioeconomic status.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.165.6.760DOI Listing

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