Association between psychosocial stressors and predictive psychiatric disorders among adolescents in slum areas of Dhaka city

• High Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders: Nearly half (46.73%) of the adolescents from Dhaka slums were found to have predictive psychiatric disorders, indicating a significant mental health burden in this population. • Significant Psychosocial Stress Levels: About 34.4% of the adolescents experienced severe psychosocial stress, as measured by the Dhaka Stress Scale for Adolescents (DSS-Ad). • Strong Association Identified: A statistically significant association was found between psychosocial stressors and psychiatric disorders among adolescents (ANOVA, p = 0.001), especially for conduct disorder ( p = 0.04). • Disorder-Specific Findings: Emotional disorders (36.1%) were most prevalent, followed by conduct disorders (16.4%) and hyperactivity disorders (13.12%). Hyperactivity showed a positive correlation with stress levels. • Need for Targeted Mental Health Interventions: The study highlights the urgent need for mental health interventions and further research in adolescent populations living in urban slums in Bangladesh. Adolescence is a crucial period of human development with various changes in multiple contexts. Psychosocial stress is one of the risk factors for making this age group vulnerable to mental health problems. Prevalence of mental illness and maladaptive behaviors among adolescents living in slum areas are increasing at an alarming rate in many developing countries. In Bangladesh there is lack of research that explore the relationship between psychosocial stressors and psychiatric morbidity among adolescents of slum areas. : To assess whether any relationship between psychosocial stressors and psychiatric disorders among adolescents in two slums of Dhaka city. This was a cross-sectional study. Participants were selected from Korail and Kallyanpur slums of Dhaka city. A total 132 respondents and their parents were informed about the purpose of study and ethical issues. Informed written consent was taken from parents and adolescents who met up inclusion and exclusion criteria. The socio-demographic information was collected by using semi-structured questionnaire. Information about psychiatric disorders was reported by using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ -self version), whereas information about psychosocial stressors were measured by using Dhaka Stress Scale – Adolescent (DSS-Ad). After collecting the data, it was checked and rechecked for omission, inconsistencies, and improbabilities and then total 122 full completed data was analyzed by statistical package for social science (SPSS), version-25. All comparisons were considered significant if p < 0.05. : The overall prevalence of predictive psychiatric disorders among adolescents was found 46.73% based on Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-self version) and 34.4% had severe level of stress with Dhaka Stress Scale for adolescents. Among them 36.1% had predictive emotional disorders,16.4% had predictive conduct disorder and 13.12% had predictive hyperactivity disorders. The findings showed that there was a significant association between psychosocial stressors and psychiatric disorders among adolescents in two slums of Dhaka city with ANOVA test (p value =0.001). Pearson correlation test showed hyperactivity and severity of psychosocial stressors had positive correlation, however emotional disorders and psychosocial stressors had a negative insignificant correlation. Chi -square test was done and found there was a significant (p=0.04) association between conduct disorder and severity of psychosocial stressors. : The burden of unrecognized psychiatric disorders among adolescents is high in Bangladesh specially in slum areas. Psychosocial stressors experienced by adolescents also remain unaddressed often. To improve the adolescent mental health services in Bangladesh, further well-designed epidemiological and clinical research are needed.