Abuse among school going adolescents in three major cities of Pakistan: Is it associated with school performances and mood disorders?

Objective: To assess the proportion of various types of abuses and their association with school performances and psychological stress among adolescents from three major cities of Pakistan. Methods: The cross-sectional school survey was conducted fromMarch to September 2009, comprising adolescent students at six schools in Karachi, Lahore and Quetta. Data was collected using a self-administered and pre-tested questionnaire by trained medical students. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Of the 414 subjects in the study, there were 223(54%) boys and 191(46%) girls with an overall mean age of 14.36 ±1.08 years. In all, 140(33.7%) participants were physically abused and 236(57%) participants were verbally abused in the preceding 12months. Besides, 245(59.2%)were involved in physical fight and 195(47.1%) had suffered injury during the preceding year. There were 171(41.4%) subjects having suffered bullying during the same period. Verbal abuse (p=0.05), physical fight (p=0.05) and bullying (p<0.001) were significantly associated with poor school performances among adolescents. Physical abuse (p=0.05), verbal abuse (p=0.003), injury (p=0.02) and bullying (p<0.001) were significantly associated with psychological stress. Conclusion: Various types of abuse were quite prevalent in adolescents that were significantly associated with poor school performance and poor mental health.