ArticlePLOS mental health2026
Association between physical and mental health in school-going adolescents: Sex-specific patterns of maladjustment in formative years of life.
Article in PLOS mental health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Adolescence is a turbulent period of rapid biopsychosocial changes that help transition to adulthood. Adolescence maladjustment shows sex-specific vulnerability such that internalizing pathologies are linked with depression-anxiety in females, whereas externalizing problems linked are with substance abuse and conduct disorders in males. Developing countries with patriarchal societies produce early gender-inequity that might impact physical health, family, and social environments of adolescents impacting adulthood. The link between sex-differences in physical health, social support (school & family) and adolescent problems in non-western context is unclear. Hence, adolescents from 19 schools (N = 5121, male = 48%, female = 39%, missing = 13%) filled Indian Adolescent Health Questionnaire to measure physical health, family, and social environment, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was used for adjustment problems (internalizing-externalizing). Males reported better physical health and nutrition whereas females had better attitude towards safety, substance use, and academics. Physical health, family, school and social environment were correlated (p = .00), t-test showed sex-differences in all subdomains except hygiene and family environment. For adjustment problems, 22.8% of school students experienced borderline problems and 16% were categorized highly problematic, male students had higher maladjustment problems. Contrary to the West, internalizing problems showed no sex-differences, but male students' internalizing problems were due to peers. Partial correlation controlling sex and class showed that family support negatively correlated with emotion problems (r = - .05, p < .05), hygiene attitude positively correlated with hyperactivity problems (r = .033, p < .05). School intervention involving families might shield adolescents from mental health problems, targeting sex-specific risks such as nutrition and physical activity for females or drugs and safety for males might improve health. Using standard health measures might allow follow-ups for comparing health gender-gap across the developmental phases of individuals accounting for urban-rural divide accentuated in developing countries and diverse population.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.