The prevalence and risk factors of mental disorders among students in Ilam: A cross-sectional study

Background and aims: Students experience some degrees of mental disorders during their life. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the prevalence and risk factors of mental disorders among the secondary school students in Ilam, Iran. Methods: This is a cross sectional study, carried out among the secondary school students in Ilam, Iran. We assessed 841 students including 446 males and 395 females from all grades of secondary school. A multistage cluster sampling method was used. Data were collected using two instruments including both demographic information questionnaire and DSM-IV. SPSS software was used to analyze the data of this project. Results: Totally, 841 secondary students were studied. Overall 34.96% of all the participants of the study had mental disorders. The Mean ± SD of participants' age and gender has not significant differences between groups (P>0.05). The results show that anxiety disorders are the most common disorder among the study population. Although no one in the study population had an adaptation disorders. Conclusion: About a third of students in Ilam province experience the mental disorders. So, we suggest that the school counselors consider pay attention to this important issue in their consulting planning.