Page 35 - IJPS-8-1

International Journal of
Population Studies School dropouts and mental health among Indian adolescents

(23–28), while worsening was more visible in unmarried follow-up) after controlling for the effect of socioeconomic
girls (Figure 1). variables is shown in Table 3 which contains results from
Findings of the frequency distributions and the bivariate and multivariate OLR. Age at the first marriage
associations between variables measured at adolescence equal to or greater than 19 was associated with 29% (AOR:
and the mental health outcomes at young adulthood are 0.71, 95% CI: 0.56, 0.90) lower odds as compared to ages
presented in Table 2. The results revealed that school at the first marriage younger than 19. In comparison with
attendance at adolescence showed a positive association girls who had the first childbirth before age 20 years, those
with later mental health status, which was indicated by who experienced childbearing after age 20 had nearly 24%
the likelihood of poor mental health. As compared to higher risk (AOR: 1.24, 95%CI 1.00, 1.54) and those who
girls who never attended school, those who dropped out did not have any child had 64% higher risk (AOR: 1.64,
from school in adolescence had lower adjusted odds ratio 95%CI: 1.15, 2.35) of having poor mental health status at
(AOR) (0.80, 95% CI: 0.64, 0.99) and those who continued age 23–28 years. In addition, it reduced with the increase
their schooling had lower AOR (0.73, 95%CI: 0.59, 0.91). in number of children a women have.
The effect of early marriage and childbearing on mental Table 4 presents the results from the analysis to assess
health status in early adulthood (at age 23–28 years in the effect of current schooling status and other women

Table 1. Response to statements of GHQ‑12 by adolescent girl’s cohort at baseline and follow‑up surveys in Bihar, India.
GHQ‑12 Adolescence (Baseline) Young adulthood (Follow‑up)
N=2360 N=2360
Not able to concentrate 1.5 8.3
Lost sleep over worry 4.2 13.8
Not felt playing a useful role 4.1 7.3
Not felt capable of making decisions 21.1 13.2
Felt constantly under strain 5.6 18.8
Felt cannot overcome difficulties 14.5 11.5
Not able to enjoy a normal day to day activities 1.9 10.5
Not able to face up problems 10.4 9.8
Unhappy and depressed 4.5 17.6
Losing self-confidence 4.3 9.1
Thinking of self as worthless 5.0 9.1
Reasonably not happy 2.5 13.7
Cronbach alpha 0.64 0.85
Marital status was taken from the baseline survey.

Figure 1. Changes in the mental health status of unmarried and ever married girls from adolescence to early adulthood (from baseline to follow-up).

Volume 8 Issue 1 (2022) 29 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v8i1.1280