[Diagnosing mental health of adolescents on the basis of their subjective assessments].
OBJECTIVE
the aim of the study was to assess the possibility of diagnosing mental health status of adolescents according to their self-reports.


METHODS
13-years old students from randomly chosen Warsaw schools (N=1123, 54% girls), participated in the school survey. The assessment of health status was based on 3 questions from the HRQOL (Health Related Quality of Life) questionnaire. Respondents were asked to assess the number of days in the past month in which (1) their psychological state was not good, (2) they had problems related to their physical health, and (3) their functioning was impaired because of problems with health. Answers were included in the cluster analysis.


RESULTS
it permitted to identify a group of adolescents (5% of the sample) who cannot function as their peers because of health (mainly mental health) problems and a group of those who report that they often have psychological problems (9%). This negative subjective validation was consistent with the results of tests commonly used as psychological indicators of mental health: self-esteem (based on scores in Rosenberg's scale), sense of coherence (SOC-13) and psychological distress (GHQ -- General Health Questionnaire).


CONCLUSIONS
the study results permit to assess the scale of adolescents' needs for psychological support. Adequate service for groups, mentioned above, is necessary because negative self-perception of health and emotional problems in adolescence are risk factors of mental illness in adulthood.
Okulicz-Kozaryn
Katarzyna
K
Zakład Psychologii i Promocji Zdrowia Psychicznego, Instytut Psychiatrii i Neurologii, Sobieskiego 9, 02-957 Warszawa, Poland. kokulicz@ipn.edu.pl
Borucka
Anna
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data