Academic Stress among Rural Adolescents due to COVID -19 : A Comparative Analysis

Adolescence is a period during which individuals’ transit from puberty to adulthood. Children go through many changes throughout this time, including biological, cognitive, and emotional changes. Excessive stress caused by studies, high expectations, and lack of capacity to maintain studies is referred to as academic stress. The study’s major goal was to assess the academic stress among rural adolescents owing to COVID- 19. The study was conducted in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. For the sample selection from four villages having Sr. Sec, schools were randomly selected. From selected schools, 180 students of age group of 16-18 years were selected randomly. The sample consisted equal no. of adolescent boys and adolescent girls. Slightly modified Academic stress scale developed by Rao (2012) was used to assess academic stress in adolescent boys and girls. Collected data was further classified, in tabulated form and analyzed through using suitable statistical measures. Results indicated that adolescents’ boys and girls faced moderate to high academic stress. Furthermore, girls were facing high academic stress as compared to boys.

Noise Exposure and Use of Hearing Protection Among Adolescents in Rural Areas

Purpose: Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has been found in rural children, potentially due to occupational and recreational noise exposure without consistent use of hearing protection devices (HPDs). However, questions remain regarding the specifics of rural adolescents' noise exposure and use of hearing protection around different types of noise. As such, the purpose of the current study was to provide preliminary results on rural adolescents' noise exposure and use of hearing protection for gunfire, heavy machinery, power tools, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and music. Method: A questionnaire was administered to 197 students (seventh to 12th grade) from rural schools in West Texas. Questions were related to noise exposure and use of HPDs for specific categories of noise. Testing was performed at the schools, with an investigator recording each student's responses. Results: Approximately 18%–44% of adolescents reported exposure 12 or more times a year to gunfire, heavy machinery, power tools, and ATVs. Only 1%–18% of the adolescents reported never being exposed to such noise sources. Almost half of rural adolescents never used hearing protection around gunfire, and 77%–91% reported never wearing hearing protection when exposed to heavy machinery, power tools, and ATVs. Conclusions: The current study revealed that rural adolescents are exposed to noise sources that could damage their hearing. However, the majority of rural adolescents do not consistently wear hearing protection. Additional research is now needed to extend these findings by assessing rural adolescents' duration of exposure to different noise sources, in addition to investigating prevention of NIHL in this population. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.17139335

School Bag-Related Factors and Their Implications for Walking and Cycling to School among New Zealand Adolescents

Excessive school bag weight may be a modifiable barrier to active transport to school. This study examined correlates of school bag weight and adolescents’ perceptions of excessive school bag weight for walking and cycling to school among New Zealand adolescents living in diverse settlement types. Adolescents (n = 1512; 15.0 ± 1.3 years) completed a questionnaire and had their bag weight (n = 1190) and body weight (n = 1038) measured. Adolescents using active transport and rural adolescents had lighter school bags compared to their counterparts. One-third of adolescents reported excessive school bag weight for walking (31.2%) and cycling (37.2%) to school. Positive correlates of relative school bag weight were female gender (regression coefficient (95% CI): 0.53 (0.13, 0.93)), and underweight (2.21 (1.39, 3.02)), whereas negative correlates were Māori ethnicity (−0.87 (−1.41, −0.32)), overweight (−1.84 (−2.35, −1.34)) and obesity (−3.57 (−4.26, −2.87)), and school location in small urban areas (−2.10 (−4.19, −0.01)), and rural settlements (−3.58 (−5.66, −1.49)). Older adolescents, females, those with greater relative school bag weight, and those experiencing school bag-related pain symptoms and/or fatigue were more likely to report excessive school bag weight for both walking and cycling to school. Future initiatives should target reducing excessive school bag weight, particularly in female and urban adolescents.

Comparative Study of Risk Profiles for Non-Communicable Diseases in Urban and Suburb Adolescents in Padang City (Indonesia)

Adolescence is when we still like to experiment and often develop bad habits which may lead to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the future. This study aimed to understand the lifestyle at risk of non-communicable diseases in adolescents that live in the urban and rural areas of Padang city. This research method is comparative descriptive with a descriptive-analytical approach, with a total sample of 788 people. The study was conducted from March 2019 to November 2019. Results: A total of 57.77% of respondents in urban areas and 69.54% of respondents in rural areas like to eat junk food. 45.35% urban respondents and 60.21% rural respondents like to consume high-sweetened beverages. 73.4% of urban respondents and 7.6% of rural respondents like to smoke. 80.6% of urban respondents and 87.8% of rural respondents lack physical activity. 59.9% of urban respondents and 49.05% of rural respondents do not like to exercise. 67% of urban respondents and 80.2% of rural respondents sleep late at night. Conclusion: The risk behavior of non-communicable diseases in rural adolescents is higher than in urban adolescents. It is recommended that parents, teachers, and health workers work together to carry out intervention activities for healthy lifestyles for all adolescents.

Mothers’ emotional expressivity in urban and rural societies: Salience and links with young adolescents’ emotional wellbeing and expressivity

This research aims to investigate the salience of mothers’ emotional expressivity and its links with adolescents’ emotional wellbeing and expressivity in an urban society endorsing more individualism and a rural society ascribing to more collectivism. By comparing Chinese urban (N = 283, M age = 14.13) and rural (N = 247, M age = 14.09) adolescents, this research found that urban mothers’ expression of positive-dominant and positive-submissive emotions (PD and PS) were more common while expression of negative-dominant (ND) emotions was less common than rural mothers’. PD and PS had significant links with urban and rural adolescents’ increased emotional expressivity and self-esteem, however, only significantly related to urban adolescents’ decreased depression but not with rural adolescents’. ND had significant links with both urban and rural adolescents’ expression of negative emotions, however, only significantly correlated with urban adolescents’ less level of self-esteem and rural adolescents’ more expression of positive emotions. No significant difference was found in the salience of urban and rural mothers’ expression of negative-submissive (NS) emotions, which positively related to both urban and rural adolescents’ depression and emotional expressivity. Moreover, we found that adolescents’ emotional wellbeing (i.e., self-esteem and depression) mediated the relationship between mothers’ emotional expressivity and adolescents’ expressivity in both societies. Overall, the study findings document that the salience of mothers’ emotional expressivity and its relations with adolescents’ emotional adjustment differ between urban and rural societies.

Dietary intake in indigenous adolescents in rural Buryatia, Russia

Background. The diet of adolescents is an important factor in their future health. The diet is formed under the influence of biological, personal, family, socio-economic, environmental, and cultural factors.The aim: to study the diet of adolescents in rural areas of Buryatia and compare the dietary intake of the Russian and Buryat ethnic groups.Materials and methods. The study included 92 rural adolescents 11–17 years old (44 boys, 48 girls); 49 of them were Buryats, 43 – Russians. Dietary intake was assessed by the food record method. The intake of energy, macronutrients (proteins, fats and carbohydrates) and micronutrients (major groups of vitamins and trace elements) of the diet was determined. The values obtained were compared with references to daily energy and nutrient intake, and between groups of adolescents of different ethnicity.Results. The diets of rural adolescents were not balanced. Only 7.6 % of adolescents include fish in their diet. Milk and dairy products are consumed by 38 % of the respondents. Daily energy intake was significantly lower the recommended guidelines. The diet is characterized by a deficiency of vitamins of groups A, C, and D, group B (with the exception of cobalamin), niacin, biotin, essential trace elements (calcium, phosphorus, iodine), high sodium intake. A significant deficiency of dietary fiber has been noted. The Buryats showed a shift in the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the diet towards carbohydrates (1 : 1.2 : 5.3).Conclusion. The results indicate significant disturbances in the composition of the diet in rural adolescents in Buryatia, more pronounced in the Asian subgroup. This can be a rationale for the development of targeted nutrition monitoring programs aimed at preserving the health of the youth.

Parental Awareness of Rural Adolescents’ Dating Behaviors: Implications for Parent Education

Most parent education programming focuses on educating parents with young children. Programming has focused less on supporting parents during their adolescent children’s dating and sexual development. This study extends literature by exploring the extent to which rural parents are aware of their adolescent child’s dating behaviors, as perceived by adolescents. Findings reveal three main themes: parents are fully aware of their child’s dating behaviors, parents are aware they date but not aware of specific dating behaviors, and parents are not aware at all. Discussion includes practical implications for Extension and other parent education efforts in rural areas based on findings to support the development of healthy relationships during adolescence and into adulthood.

Depression and Deliberate Self-Harm Among Rural Adolescents of Sichuan Province in Western China: A 2-Year Longitudinal Study

Objective: To explore the change in the prevalence and association of depression and deliberate self-harm and their common and independent influencing factors among western Chinese rural adolescents.Methods: A total of 2,744 junior and senior high school students from two rural schools in Sichuan Province, China, participated in the baseline survey and were invited to participate in two follow-up surveys. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, a deliberate self-harm item, the Social Support Rating Scale, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale were administered. A bivariate four-level logistic regression model was used for analysis.Results: The prevalence of depression and deliberate self-harm were 39.6 and 21.2%, respectively. Regular physical exercise, a good relationship with parents, high resilience, and high self-esteem were common protective factors for both depression and deliberate self-harm. Feeling disliked by teachers was a common risk factor for both. Being female, having a mother who emigrated as a migrant worker before the student was 3 years old, feeling disliked by classmates and having a poor family economic status were associated only with an increased risk of depression. Participants with medium social support were less likely to report deliberate self-harm than those with low or high support. Depression and deliberate self-harm were clustered at the class level.Conclusions: The comorbidity of depression and deliberate self-harm in rural adolescents should be given ample attention. Interventions should consider the class clustering of depression and deliberate self-harm and their common and unique influencing factors.