[Mental health indices in senior schoolchildren and students].

ABSTRACT

Mental health indices were studied in a representative sample comprising young persons aged 16 to 25 years. Senior schoolchildren in their early teens were ascertained to have neurotic symptoms more frequently than students at older age. When the manifestations of mental stress were less evident, senior students at the age of 22-25 years were found to have a negative trend of social adaptive indices as their achievement dissatisfaction, frustration, and anxiety for further professional carrier and social security, which leads to interpersonal conflicts, unstable familial relations, alcoholization, and intake of psychoactive substances. The findings of the high prevalence of neurotic disorders among young individuals suggest that it is necessary to implement active psychopreventive measures.