Transtornos mentais comuns em adolescentes grávidas: um estudo piloto

Common mental disorders among pregnant adolescents: a pilot study

Abstract

Adolescence is a period when great physical, social and psychological transformations occur. Pregnancy in adolescence is not a recent
phenomenon, historically women have been given birth during this time of life. Even though, all over the world birth levels showed important decrease during past years in Brazil we could not observe change in the trends of reproduction to higher ages like occurred in developed countries. Most Brazilian women have an average of two children and have been submitted to premature hysterectomy (BEMFAM/DHS,1997). Sistema Nacional de Nascidos Vivos (SINASC) show an increase in births from women under 20 years of age. Pregnancy in adolescence has become an important issue regarding this demographic context. The goal of this study is to assess the presence of common mental disorders among pregnant adolescents attending a public hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and describe the social and demographic profile of this population. The General Health Questionnnaire (GHQ-12) and a brief instrument regarding social and demographic issues have been applied to 60 pregnant adolescents. The prevalence of common mental disorders was 60% in the studied population and we concluded that adolescent pregnancy should receive more attention from public authorities in order to minimize the impact on mental health of young mothers.