Prevalence of Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms Amongst Adolescents in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia

Purpose: Mental health disorders make up 15% of the global burden of disease among adolescents aged between 10-19 years. In various African countries, the burden of adolescent mental health disorders is disproportionately high when compared to other areas of the world. Accordingly, the primary objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms amongst adolescents attending public secondary schools in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. Moreover, this study aimed to discover the significant stressors faced by Ethiopian adolescents and their commonly used coping mechanisms to maintain their mental wellbeing.Methods: This study was conducted amongst secondary school students in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, from December 2023 to March 2024. It was implemented across three public schools and consisted of two main components: (1) a survey including various psychometric measures (N=258) and focus group discussions (N=18).Results: 38.5% and 43.5% of participants reported clinically elevated depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively. In addition to different family-related and gender-based stressors, students emphasized that they found the schoolwork to be difficult and time-consuming, exacerbated by their lack of proficiency in English and lack of adequate support from schools.Implication: Our team believes that this study makes a worthwhile contribution towards developing a thorough understanding of Ethiopian youth mental health. Identifying common stressors, coping mechanisms and desired solutions for improving youth mental health can highlight specific areas on which researchers and mental health practitioners can focus to maximize the impact of their efforts and create solutions to improve youth mental health.