Response Rate of the Respondents
The researcher distributed 392 questionnaires to form three students in the sampled 28 private
secondary schools in Nairobi County, by giving 14 questionnaires in each schools. The aim was
to meet targeted sample size of 367 students. After cleaning the data, the researcher discarded the
questionnaires that had some items unattended to, and still managed to achieve 100 percent
response rate. The researcher also carried out semi-structured interviews to 7 guidance and
counseling teachers which was achieved through purposive and convenience sampling and also
managed to obtain 100 percent response rate. The response rate of the respondents is captured in
table.
Table
Response Rate of the Respondents.
Instrument Sampled Respondents Achieved response percentage
Questionnaires 367 367 100%
Interviews 7 7 100%
Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents
The demographics characteristics of the respondents are presented descriptively using the
scheme of age, gender, and the educational level of the parents as shown in table
Table
Socio- demographic Characteristics of the Adolescent Respondents.
Variable Frequency (f) Percentage (%)
16
22 6.8
17
191 57.1
Age of Respondents
18
105 28.4
Mean = 17.5
19
46 12.9
20
3 0.8
Total
367 100
Male
170 46.8
Gender
Female
197 53.2
Total
367 100
Primary
49 13.9
Secondary
74 20.3
Father‟s Educational
College
92 25.0
Level
University
152 40.8
Total
367 100
Primary
67 18.7
Secondary
81 22.1
Mother‟s Education
College
105 28.4
Level
University
114 30.8
Total
367 100
The demographic characteristics of the adolescent respondents as shown in Table 4.2 reveals the
mean age to be 17.5 years, the minimum age being 16 years and the maximum being 20 years.
These findings reflect that the population of respondents was within the researcher‟s target of
school going adolescents aged 13 to 19 years. In terms of gender, most (n=197, 53.2%) student
respondents were females while rest (n=170, 46.8%) were males. Generally, gender
representation of respondents was adequate.
In terms of father‟s educational level most (n=152, 40.8 %) of the fathers of the adolescents in
private secondary schools in Nairobi County were found to have attained university education.
The others had college (n=92, 25.0%), secondary (n=79, 20.3%) and least primary (n=49,
13.9%). In terms of mother‟s educational level, more (n=114, 30.8%) had attained university
education. The rest were distributed among college (n=105, 28.4%), secondary (n=81, 22.1%)
and the least having primary level (n=67, 18.7). The parents‟ educational levels were sought as
factors that could affect the academic expectations that the parents had towards their school
going adolescents.
Prevalence of Psychological Distress among Adolescent Students in Private Secondary
Schools in Nairobi County
The initial goal was to find out how common psychological distress was among adolescent
pupils in Nairobi County's private secondary schools. The Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale with
21 items was used to gain information on the prevalence of psychological distress from the
respondents (DASS 21). The frequency and percentage of prevalence of anxiety symptoms,
stress symptoms, and depression symptoms among teenagers in private secondary schools in
Nairobi County were investigated using descriptive statistics.
Table
Frequencies and Percentages of the Prevalence of Psychological Distress
Distress Variable Frequency (f) Percentage (%)
Normal
45 12.4
Mild
20 5.8
Moderate
55 15.3
Anxiety Severe
52 14.5
Extremely
195 52.1
Severe
Total
367 100
Normal
60 16.3
Mild
91 24.5
Moderate
93 25.3
Stress Severe
91 24.5
Extremely
32 9.5
Severe
Total
367 100
Normal
102 27.6
Mild
42 11.6
Depression
Moderate
93 25.3
Severe
60 16.3
Extremely
70 18.9
Severe
Total 367 100
According to table, most of the respondents (n=195, 52.1%) reported extremely severe
symptoms of anxiety. The others were fairly distributed in other levels of anxiety, reporting
normal (n=45, 12.4%), mild (n=20, 5.8%), moderate (n=55, 15.3%) and severe (n=52, 14.5%).
The prevalence of stress symptoms were fairly distributed with more exhibiting moderate stress
(n=93, 25.3%) severe stress (n=91, 24.7%), mild stress (n=91, 24.5%), normal stress (n=60,
16.3%), while 32 of the respondents (9.2%) reported extremely severe symptoms of stress.
Finally, the variable of depression symptoms reported more respondents (n=102, 27.6%) had
normal depression symptoms, compared to 4 2respondents (11.5%) who showed mild
depression symptoms, 93 respondents (25.3%) with moderate symptoms, 60 respondents
(16.3%) with severe, and 72 respondents (18.9%) reporting extremely severe depression
symptoms.
The finding of this study reveals high prevalence of psychological distress among adolescents in
private secondary schools in Nairobi County Kenya with most (n=195, 52.1 percent) showing
extremely severe anxiety symptoms, 9.5 percent (n=32), manifesting extremely severe stress
symptoms and 18.9 percent (n=70), showing extremely severe depression symptoms. The
findings agree with a study conducted in Kenya by Malik & koot (2018) which expressed that
the adolescents in Kenya are struggling with mental health issue, and other study conducted in
China by Lui et al., (2017) which reported that adolescents in secondary schools were battling
mental health issues.
In particular these findings are in agreement with a study conducted by World Health
Organization (2020), which reported that depression was a leading cause of illness among
adolescents in the world, and also another study conducted by Osborn et al., (2019), which
reported prevalence of depression symptoms (45.9 percent) and anxiety symptoms (37.99
percent) among the adolescents.
