ShodhPatra: International Journal of Science and Humanities

Prevalence of Mental Health Problems among Students: A Systematic Review

Objectives: Research suggests that children and adolescents are more prone to experience mental health problems, and if it remains undetected, it can badly affect their adulthood. This systematic review aimed to identify the prevalence of mental health problems among students. Methods: A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Only English articles were searched in Google Scholar, PubMed, and ERIC. Results: 85 studies were included, covering all the prevalent mental health problems of the students over the last 12 years (2012-2023). Depression and anxiety were the most common mental health problems. The prevalence of depression ranged from 6.2% to 99.2%, and anxiety from 5.2% to 76.7%. Robust prevalence estimation of other MHPs could not be possible because of the minimal number of reports. Additionally, students belonging to developing countries were more likely to suffer from MHPs than the developed countries. Conclusion: Research on mental health problems of the students mainly focuses on anxiety and depression, leaving important gaps concerning other MHPs. Distinct terminologies, diagnostic criteria, and assessment tools hinder the comparability of outcomes across studies. Further studies should concentrate on using standardized assessment tools and expand their scope to more MHPs. Keywords: Mental health problems, students, prevalence, systematic review