Mental health problems among pregnant and non-pregnant youth
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-89102007000400011Keywords:
Pregnancy in adolescence^i2^spsychol, Adolescent psychology, Adolescent psychiatry, Mental health, Cross-sectional studies, DepressionAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of mental health problems in primiparous adolescents and to compare their mental health profile with the profile of sexually active adolescents who have never gotten pregnant. METHODS: Cross-sectional study that compared two groups of adolescents aged 13 to 17 years from a city in Southern Brazil, 2003-2004. The sample included 207 primiparous who attended prenatal care programs in urban public services, and 308 sexually active students from state public schools who had never gotten pregnant. A screening instrument to identify mental health problems in adolescents (Brazilian version of the Youth Self-Report) was applied to the participants together with a questionnaire on risk factors for pregnancy in adolescence. Statistical analysis included Chi-square tests, Fisher's exact test, Mann Whitney's U and logistic regression models. RESULTS: Pregnant and non-pregnant adolescents did not differ in the prevalence of total mental health problems (24.6% vs. 27.3%; p=0.50). Compared to the group of never pregnant adolescents, the group of primiparous presented higher prevalence of anxious/depressive symptoms (24.2% vs. 15.3%; p=0.01) and withdrawn/depressed symptoms (13.0% vs., 4.5%; p<0.001) and there was a greater number of tobacco users (21.3% vs. 11.0%; p=0.002). These differences were confirmed by logistic regression models controlled for maternal education. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety and depression symptoms and tobacco use were more frequent in pregnant adolescents in comparison to non-pregnant. These problems require special attention from prenatal care services in order to avoid potential damages for the health of mothers and their children.Downloads
Published
2007-08-01
Issue
Section
Original Articles
How to Cite
Caputo, V. G., & Bordin, I. A. (2007). Mental health problems among pregnant and non-pregnant youth . Revista De Saúde Pública, 41(4), 573-581. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-89102007000400011