Running head: MENTAL HEALTH CONDITION AMONG ADOLESCENSE IN LOW-
RESOURCES COMMUNITIES 1
Mental Health Condition among Adolescence in Low-Resources Communities
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Abstract
Among adolescents growing up in low-resource communities, there is a higher incidence
of mental health outcomes over time compared to adolescents who grow up in high-resource
communities. Poverty and inequality acceleration manifested through increasing the difference
between the rich and the poor populace, have significant effects on the vulnerable population
mental health. Mostly, the adolescents are the most vulnerable when it comes to the effects of
poverty. As the time of transition and change for the youth and their families, the adolescence
establishes both opportunities and challenges to arbitrate in the effects of poverty. In this regards,
the research paper seeks to discuss the increased incidence of mental health outcomes over time
among the adolescents growing up in low-resource communities as compared to adolescents who
grow up in high-resource communities. Further, the research was composed from an
interdisciplinary literature of data that was conducted or researched on the topic poverty and low
resources communities and the adolescent mental health.
Introduction
Mental health outcomes are about twice as frequent among the adolescents growing up in
low-resource communities over time compared to adolescents who grow up in high-resource
communities. Evidence shows that depression is two times more prevalent among adolescents
growing up in low-resources communities. People experiencing debts and hunger are more likely
to suffer from the common mental health disorders. Besides, the highest estimated prevalence of
mental health disorder is found among individuals with the lowest levels of education or people
who are unemployed. The lack of employment over time due to low-resources causing low
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employment opportunities drives people deeper into poverty. Adolescents growing up in low
resources communities lack the financial resources required to maintain their basic living
standards, they have fewer employment and educational resources, and they experience adverse
conditions of living and are not able to access good quality healthcare. The stressful upbringing
combined with the lack of enough resources place such adolescents at a higher risk of developing
mental health disorders. Adolescents or even people with mental health disorders are not able to
work because of their illness, therefore showing the significance of mental health diagnosis.
Others, because of discrimination, they end up being systematically denied opportunities or may
even lose their existing job. Further, the paper is going to educate the reader on the reason as to
why there are higher incidences of mental health outcomes over time among adolescents
growing up in low-resource communities, as compared to adolescents who grow up in high-
resource communities.
Objectives of the Research
The primary purpose of the research is to find out if there is a higher incidence of mental
health conditions outcomes among the adolescents in low-resource communities compared to the
adolescents who grow up in high-resource communities. The objectives include;
1) Identify the risk factors contributing to the rise of mental health conditions among the
youth in low-resource settings.
2) The impact of mental health conditions on the lives of adolescents.
3) Create awareness on the care and prevention of mental illness among the youths by
creating programs to educate the youths and even the parents as well.
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4) Identify social skills to help the youths overcome the challenges they face in their day-to-
day lives.
Clinical Issue
Mental health conditions have been on the rise especially among young people who live
in low-resource communities. This research examines the issue at large and compares it with the
outcome of adolescents living in high-resource communities. Mental health conditions which
include, anxiety disorders depression, behavioral problems, and disruptive behavioral disorders
such as suicidal thoughts have been the leading mental health outcomes among the youth
especially the ones growing in low resource communities. Mental health conditions depress the
self-esteem of adolescents, and not only limit their academic excellence but also social
interactions. Sequentially, the economic potential and engagement of the adolescent with other
communities are affected when she is experiencing mental health issues. In general, factors such
as poverty, street life, juvenile justice systems, and orphaning affect young people’s mental and
emotional health.
Nearly one-fifth of the world’s population is made up of the youth, with 90% of these
people living in low-resource communities. A review of epidemiological studies found the
prevalence of mental health condition conditions among adolescents in low- resources
communities range from 10 to 20 percent more than that of the high-resource living adolescent.
According to the research, the question of mental health issues is important since the risk factors,
and impacts were brought to the limelight and the challenges the affected youth experience.
Many of the risk factors that attribute to mental health conditions among adolescents in low-
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resource communities include poor nutrition, poor educational systems, conflict, and war. The
significance of mental health conditions eternalizes social exclusion and a negative cycle of
poverty among the youths. Consecutively, the mental health conditions affect the work
performance negatively, including work performance, employability, and overall work-related
efficiency. Therefore, the prevention of mental health conditions must be a priority to the world's
public health.
The aftermath of the mental health conditions has a significant impact on adolescent
development, economic and social relations. Moreover, mental health conditions have a weighty
impact on the development of safe and strong relationships with teachers, parents, peers, and
romantic partners. The youth’s self-esteem is also affected and their chances of harming
themselves and others increase. An adolescent with untreated mental-health conditions
experiences academic problems such as poor academic performances, school dropout, poor
attendance, and discipline problems and for this reason, it makes it significant to nursing as
public healthcare will be needed. In low-resource communities, nurse-home visitations programs
for the young parent will help in the upbringing of the adolescents. More also, school-based
programs such as social skills, emotion regulation, and conflict resolution should be
implemented in families that have financial constraints.
Literature Review
According to the research done, adolescents living in poverty experience high rates of
social exclusion, poor health care, stress, depression, and malnutrition which increase the rate of
mental disorders compared to those living in high-resource settings. People living in poverty
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experience food insecurity, poor housing, limited resources, and high crimes, all of which lead to
mental health outcomes among the young. Nevertheless, adolescents who are abandoned,
orphaned, or are homeless are also likely to experience mental health conditions. homeless
youths have higher chances of having mental health issues than the other groups. The fact that
these children were escaping discrimination, domestic violence, poverty, child abuse, and armed
conflicts, are some factors that already heighten the risk of mental health conditions. In addition,
while in the streets they experience exploitation, discrimination, police harassment, and violence
which lead to mental health issues. As a result, they experience problems such as low self-
esteem, trauma, and lack of positive adult socialization.
Juvenile justice facilities in low-resource communities lead to higher incidences of
mental health outcomes among adolescents than in high-resource settings because the youths are
subjected to violence, exploitation, inadequate nutrition, inadequate hygiene, and police
harassment. In some low-resource communities, they lack juvenile facilities resulting in
adolescents being housed with adults in prison where they may be subjected to exploitation and
abuse. As a result, the issue of mental health conditions continues to be on the rise in low-
resource settings, and sometimes it is not prioritized due to lack of resources unlike in high-
resource communities.
Additionally, in low-resource communities, youths are exposed to child labor, female
genital mutilation, and HIV/AIDS, which causes depression, stress, discrimination, and violence.
Youths with AIDS and those orphaned by HIV/AIDS experience anger, anxiety, hopelessness,
and suicidal thoughts that leads to mental health conditions. The orphans have increased mental
health conditions due to the experience of AIDS-related stigma. The adolescents who keep
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parental death a secret is at a higher risk of experiencing mental health conditions, stress, and
isolation due to stigma and the risk of discrimination by the community.
The samples obtained from the research show that young people, 10-19 years, suffer from
mental health issues. Adolescents, 14 years and above are more likely to be affected by mental
health conditions since they are exposed to the risk factors such as bullying, stress, and
depression more. Adolescents in the low-resource setting are affected more compared to those in
high-resource communities due to the inadequacy of resources to provide them with the
necessary mental health care. Due to his reason, adolescents in low-resource settings may have
long-term mental health issues when untreated.
Interpretation of the Findings
With the increased number of mental health conditions among adolescents living in low-
resource settings, early intervention and awareness should be implemented. Programs and school
workshops need to be developed to reduce stigma among adolescents and improve the awareness
of their mental health. To ensure positive outcomes the programs and school workshops need to
be implemented and also increased. However, a plan needs to be drawn and followed. The
stigma around mental health will decrease when parents, families, school administrators, and
students are involved in creating awareness on the mental health issue and the adolescents will
be able to socialize freely and without fear of rejection. At large, people around adolescents with
mental health issues should be educated on the importance of creating awareness, prevention,
care, and love of these youths with the mental health issue
Sources and Search Process
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The source and search process involved the use of library resources to look for books,
articles, journals, as well as other sources of data required for the research. Whitney et al. (2016)
source search involved the use of keywords to search the various databases in the library, which
involved the checking out of the search tips in order to make better searches. The database
limiters were significant in the source and search process because they help to shorten and focus
the list of results. The start searching process may not bare any fruit right away; therefore, there
is need for flexibility that involved barrowing or broadening the research topic or even using
different keywords while searching. The source and search process involved the use of phrase
searching, which involves the use of quotations to search the exact words or phrase together in a
sentence or paragraph.
Heberle & Carter (2020) resource is significant in enhancing more fact corroboration.
The resource data has fact that is well supported in other reference source, therefore bringing
assurance that the fact used in the research paper analysis is accurate for the research topic. The
resource has more viewpoints to be considered during the exploration of the mental health
disorder exploration. Therefore, the resource helps in considering more ideas than the original
single idea assigned by the research topic. Finally, the article gives more facts enabling the use of
more research sources and skills gaining more facts in the final project.
McKenzie et al. (2004) research source was significant in giving a large frame of
understating in the research topic. Different research sources give different types of data. One is
able to find different techniques of understanding the research topic depending on the manner in
which he findings needs to be presented. The source helped in gaining more knowledge quickly
since the research requires intense research and going through many research sources, there is
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need to find the topic facts more quickly. Therefore, with the basic skills required for research,
one will find the required data more promptly.
Summary of Practice Change
Nurses being the frontline providers of health care facilities in the communities, their
services will be more essential to the adolescents with mental health conditions in low-resource
settings. Promotion of care and mental health awareness among adolescents will increase the
understanding and familiarity they have with mental health. Furthermore screening, and
appropriate medications need to be done to know the possible mental illness and encouragement
of mental health management. The nurse needs to be equipped with essential skills and training
to make the right judgment on the mental health of adolescents. The nurses can conduct activities
such as encouraging more exercise and a healthy diet, sleep hygiene, and providing
psychological therapy to the adolescents. In response, the nurse is expected to take part in
appropriate training skills to increase knowledge and create awareness of mental health issues.
Conclusion
The research result indicates that nurses need to remain active participants in the mental
health services provision among adolescents growing up in low-resource communities and
increase their advocacy in the creation of policy changes addressing mental health needs of this
populace. Adolescents with mental health disorders are supposed to be targeted when it comes to
development programs and poverty reduction in order to help in bringing such group of
population out of poverty as well as promote development. Addressing very low levels of mental
health education and the associated stigma at all societal levels is significant because it helps in
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the improvement of understanding the risk associated with mental health as well as the coping
methods with the associated risks, and this will promote mental health among the population.
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References
Heberle, A. E., & Carter, A. S. (2020). Is Poverty on Young Minds? Stereotype Endorsement,
Disadvantage Awareness, and Social-Emotional Challenges in Socioeconomically
Disadvantaged Children. Developmental Psychology, 56(2), 336–349.
KM Bennett, Whitney Schott, Sofya Krutikova, & Jere R Behrman. (2016). Maternal mental
health, and child growth and development in four low-income and middle-income
countries.KJournal of Epidemiology and Community Health (1979-),K70(2), 168–173.K KK
McKenzie, K., Patel, V., & Araya, R. (2004). Learning from low income countries: Mental
health. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 329(7475), 1138–
1140.Khttps://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.329.7475.1138
