TITLE:
Stressful Life Events and Risk of Illness among Urban Adolescents in Bangladesh
AUTHORS:
Robana Yesmin, Atm Nurul Kabir, Afroza Begum, Sadia Tasnim
KEYWORDS:
Adolscents, Risk of Illness, Stressfull Life Events
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Depression,
Vol.11 No.1,
March
9,
2022
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Adolescence describes the year between 13 and 19 and can be considered
the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood. The purpose of the study is
to investigate the relationship between stressful life events and risk of
illness during the period of adolescence. Methods: The study was carried
out in two high schools namely Civil Aviation High School and Hossain Ali High
School, Tejgaon, Dhaka. Dhaka is the most important capital city in Bangladesh.
The duration of the study was 1 year, from 1st January to 31st December 2017. Results: Data on lifetime stress about common life events
i.e., Romantic breakup (27.3%), family disruption (22.8%), Change in acceptance by peers (25.5%), Failure in grade in school
(22.4%), Not making extracurricular activity (25.3%), Outstanding personal
achievement (20.3%) were collected from 384 school-going adolescents.
The association between each source of stressful life events and risk of
illness was modeled in separate statistical analyses. The proportion of
adolescents reporting about senior in college (29.9%), Breaking up with
boy/girlfriends (27.3%), Changing in acceptance by friends (25.5%) change in
parent’s financial status (25%), Failure in grading in school (22.4%) were
statically significant. There was a positive relationship between the age of
adolescents and getting the risk of illness (df, r, p) and negative relation
with a monthly income of the family and getting the risk of illness (df, r, p).
About half of the respondents were suffering from a slight risk of illness
whether a small portion of respondents was in at risk of illness. The risk of
illness is mildly associated with age, sex, monthly income of a family, and
profession of the mother. Conclusion: Some stressful life events were
strongly associated with the risk of illness. Any other occurrences of
associated with stressful life events should be addressed properly to reduce
the risk of illness.