Psychological distress in a national sample of male and female adolescents from public and private schools in Bahrain

Abstract

The study aimed to estimate the prevalence and correlates of psychological distress among male and female adolescent school children in Bahrain. Cross-sectional nationally representative data were analysed from 7,141 school students (14 years median age) that participated in the “2016 Bahrain Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS).” Results indicate that 20.4% of female students and 12.6% of male students reported multiple psychological distress. In adjusted statistical analysis using multinomial logistic regression, among both boys and girls, older age, attending a public school, bullying victimization, injury, low parental and low peer support were associated with multiple and single psychological distress. In addition, among boys, sometimes, mostly or always feeling hungry increased the likelihood of multiple psychological distress. Moreover, among girls, current tobacco use, victim of physical assault, sedentary behaviour and participation in physical fighting were associated with multiple psychological distress. One in five girls and more than one in ten boys reported multiple psychological distress and gender specific factors associated with psychological distress were discovered which can guide in developing prevention programmes.

Keywords: gender, psychological distress, public school, private school, Bahrain