the association of mental health with family relationships and high-risk behaviors in female students of south-eastern iran

Objectives: the current study aimed at examining the association of mental health with family relationships and high-risk behaviors among female students in iran. methods: the current cross sectional study was conducted on 457 10th-grade students from four public female high schools in south-eastern iran. information was collected using the general health questionnaire-28 (ghq-28) of mental health and self-report questionnair of family relationships and high-risk behaviors with good content validity and reliability (α) 0.71. data were analyzed by linear and binary logistic regression using spss version 15. results: the mean scores of mental health and high-risk behaviors of the subjects were 31.06 ± 16.44 (of maximum 84), and 18.03 ± 3.72 (of maximum 78), respectively. the most prevalent problems were associated with social performance scale. binary logistic regression showed a statistically significant relationship between mental disorders and communication with parents, as well as relationship with opposite gender and sleeping time. a significant correlation was also observed between mental health, family behaviors, relationship with opposite gender, nighttime sleep, being abused by parent, and high-risk behaviors (p < 0.01). conclusions: the results suggest that parent the education and counseling programs should be designed and implemented to protect adolescents and prevent socio-mental problems and high-risk behaviors in them. such program should also be used as a basis for healthy growth of students.