Relationships between students' stress, anxiety and depression and; parents' obsessive‒compulsive disorder

Background According to the World Health Organization, stress disorders, anxiety and depression are among the most common mental disorders in the adolescent age group. These disorders have a lot of negative effects on the educational process, social relations and mental and physical health of teenagers. Currently, among mental disorders, the impact of parental depression and anxiety on children's depression and anxiety is known and accepted, but studies conducted on the impact of other parental mental disorders on children's health are limited. Obsessive compulsive disorder is an important mental disorder due to its prevalence and associated disabilities, and patients with obsessive compulsive disorder have an adverse effect on the quality of life of their relatives. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of investigating the relationships between parents' obsessive‒compulsive disorder and students' stress, anxiety, and depression. Methods In this descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study, 378 students aged 12 to 15 years from Arak city and their parents were selected by simple random cluster sampling. The data were collected via two standard questionnaires, the Maudsley Obsession Scale and the Stress, Anxiety and Depression Questionnaire (DASS-21), and were analyzed via SPSS 26 software. Results According to the findings of this research, the prevalence rates of stress, anxiety and depression at mild to very severe levels among the students were 32%, 40.7% and 36.3%, respectively. The percentage of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the parents of the study was 14.5%. There was a positive and significant relationship between students' stress and anxiety and parents' obsessive‒compulsive disorder (p = 0.0001), but no significant relationship was observed between depression and parents' obsessive‒compulsive disorder (p = 0.181). Conclusions The presence of obsessive‒compulsive disorder in parents was associated with greater stress and anxiety in students, and the presence of obsessive‒compulsive disorder in parents increased the severity of these disorders; however, the presence of obsessive‒compulsive disorder in parents was not related to students' depression. Trial registration: Arak University of Medical Sciences. ID: IR.ARAKMU.REC.1402.207