Mental health and substance use problems among adolescents in Lesotho: Prevalence, access to care, and association with lifestyle factors.

ABSTRACT: Adolescence is a developmental window in which mental health symptomatology and other health behaviors can set lifelong trajectories. Yet, adolescent development research in rural areas of low-resource communities is severely lacking. Conceptualized in the Adolescent Well-Being Framework, where diet and activity form a core domain of well-being, we examined two modifiable risk behaviors (sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and physical activity) and their associations with mental health and substance use problems among 1351 adolescents aged 10-17 years (51% girls) in a rural setting in Lesotho, southern Africa. Standardized screening measures showed at least one clinically relevant mental health problem among 3% of the overall sample and 5% among 15-17 year-olds. Among those in the overal

SUBMITTER: Johnson NE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12379077 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature