Contemporary adolescent social - behavioural issues among urban school going girls.

Background: Adolescence is a critical time of formative growth and development, which is highly influenced by their peer groups and family. Behaviours they adopt during this period have strong bearing on their whole life and family. Aim: This study aims to elaborate various socio-behavioural issues among school going adolescent girls. Methods: The study was school based descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in a school of Haryana. All the girls of class 9th and 11th present during study period were studied and analysed. The study tool was self-administered semi structured questionnaire. Data was entered and analysed on Microsoft excel and SPSS 16 and appropriate test were applied according to data. Results: Total 93 girls of class 9th and 11th were enrolled during study period. Adolescent girls belonged to age group12-18 years. Out of 93 girls, 3 girls reported history of substance use, 25 girls reported no physical activity and 4 girls reported disturbed sleep. Feeling of inferiority in academics and looks was present in 15.1 % and 11.8% girls respectively. Some girls (8.6%) also reported peer pressure for smoking. Most adolescent girls shared very good or good relationship with their friends (82.8%), parents (86.0%) and teachers (83.8%). In this study, 33.3% girls reported disturbance in their studies. Conclusion: This study concludes the significant presence of serious socio-behavioural problems among school going adolescent girls, which may have detrimental effect on their current and future health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]