Background: Adolescents have many misconceptions regarding reproductive and sexual health and lack access to age and gender appropriate health information. So, they find out about the same from inauthentic sources of information. Attitudes and decisions based on such information greatly influence a woman’s health. Objectives: This study was carried out to study the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding reproductive and sexual health and to study the sources used to obtain information on reproductive and sexual health. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 400 schools going adolescent girls in rural area of Maharashtra. Self-structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to assess their knowledge and attitude regarding reproductive and sexual health and study menstrual practices. Results: Total 400 adolescent girls participated in the study. The knowledge and attitude of 164 (41.0%) and 315 (78.8%) participants respectively was poor. The menstrual practices of 271 (67.8%) participants were poor. Conclusion: The knowledge, attitude and practices regarding reproductive and sexual health of more than half the participants was poor. For development of healthy attitudes and practices, age and gender appropriate health education is a must.

Background: Disordered eating behaviour is an emerging problem among young Indian females who undergo multiple changes during early adulthood. It may pose serious health consequences for these young women in their reproductive age. Psychological factors such as depression, anxiety and stress are likely to influence the eating practices of young females and predispose them to disordered eating behaviour. Objectives: The study was conducted to determine the prevalence and severity of depression, anxiety and stress among female college students in Delhi having normal and disordered eating behaviours. Materials and Methods: A total of 734 female undergraduate college students from University of Delhi comprised the study sample. An adapted Eating Attitudes Test (EAT)-26 was used to identify subjects having disordered eating behaviour and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS)-21 was used to assess the occurrence and severity of depression, anxiety and stress among them. Results: Findings revealed that prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress, ranging from mild to extremely severe forms, among the subjects was 46.6%, 63.8% and 43.1% respectively. Scores on stress, anxiety and depression subscales for subjects having disordered eating behaviour were significantly higher than those having normal eating behaviour and with regard to severity of depression, anxiety and stress, significant differences were found between the subjects. Significant positive correlations between EAT-26 scores of subjects and their scores on depression, anxiety and stress subscales were also found. Conclusion: The study indicated that prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was substantial among the female college students in Delhi and played an important role in the occurrence of disordered eating behaviour among them. Suitable interventions for alleviating depression, anxiety and stress among young females need to be promoted to prevent disordered eating behaviour among them.

Introduction: Adolescence is a challenging and sometimes difficult stage of life. Television, Movies, Magazine, Music, Videos, Internet and Mobile phones are some of the many ways today’s adolescents are influenced. Material and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted to assess the impact of multimedia on adolescents’ educational, behavioral and social aspects of life in selected undergraduate colleges of Krishna District, in Maris Stella College and Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada among 100 adolescents of 1st year degree course and the participants selected by using purposive sampling. Semi-structured questionnaire and Likert 5-point scale was used to collect the data. The responses are tabulated, organized, analyzed and interpreted by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Maximum subjects were in the age group of 18 years (50% males and 50% females). Majority (68%) of them were from nuclear family and were Hindu. More than half (52%) were from urban area. Half (53.3%) of the samples had a positive influence of multimedia on educational life of adolescents. More than half (54.8%) of the samples had a positive influence of multimedia on behavioral life of adolescents. 50.8% of the samples had a negative impact of multimedia on social life of adolescents. Conclusion: Adolescents who participated in the study had positive impact of multimedia in their educational and behavioral aspect and had negative impact on social aspect.

Onset of menstruation is an important indicator of puberty among girls. A large number of adolescents suffer from abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) during the initial months after the onset of menarche. Although menstrual problems seen among most of the adolescents are physiological, however, a large proportion of adolescents suffer from pathological AUB. The knowledge of magnitude and causes of abnormal uterine bleeding among adolescents, pathological as well as physiological, is important to plan strategies for management of this problem. Review of literature was done manually as well as electronically through PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane library, IndMed, Embase and WHO databases. Relevant studies conducted in India as well as other countries were searched. The most common cause (72-80%) of AUB among adolescents is anovulatory cycles due to immature hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis. Other causes include bleeding disorders, thyroid disorders, and Polycystic Ovarian Disease. AUB is an important health concern among the adolescents. There is a need to create awareness regarding the physiological and pathological causes of menstrual problems among adolescents. The health care providers also need to be trained for identification and management of this problem

Understanding and dealing with social issues is definitely not an easy task. A social evil like ‘Sati’ was eradicated over a period of time and as a result of dedicated contributions of many and at the same time due to strict legal consequences. Thus, dealing with social issues and bringing about a social change requires intervention at many levels and by different means. There are various social issues that need to be dealt with. Some of these issues are well discussed, especially in media and to also certain extent in communities, amongst social scientists and even students. However, there are other issues that are equally relevant but do not get the adequate attention, whether its media, society or social scientists. It is thus important to first identify the social issues and then derive measures to deal with them. Social psychologists can play an important role in this regard by not only being more observant and sensitive but also by employing suitable research methodology to study these issues and design intervention strategies. Interventions can be carried out at various levels including individual, familial, community, societal, organizational, state and even at national and international levels. The present article will focus on, first of all, identifying various social issues. Further, it will also discuss about the relevance of research in order to understand these issues and its attributes. It will also focus on the significance of imbibing a sense of understanding and awareness about the social issues amongst the students of social psychology so as to develop in them a sense of concern and also identification with these issues. Thus, the article focuses on the role of both, the social psychologists of today and the social psychologists of future (students of social psychology), in order to bridge the gap between social psychology and social issues.

Background: In India, as in the rest of the world, young people face several challenges to their well-being. One of the important challenges is air pollution; however, the impact of air pollution on adolescents’ health is not fully explored. Objective: This article represents an attempt to explore impact of air pollution on adolescents’ health through available width of information. Method: For this study we utilized the rapid review methodology that allows comprehensive review of the literature that describes urgent public health issue in the relatively short period. Result: It has been found that air pollution not only leads respiratory ailments of adolescents, but also has an impact on cardiovascular system, development of hyperactivity disorder, cancer, and many other conditions. Moreover, exposure to air pollution could increase susceptibility to chronic diseases later in life. This article can play a key part in raising the awareness of adolescents’ health issues related to air pollution, initiate discussions and actions on preventing future damaging health effect for this subset of population.