Internalizing and externalizing behaviors in high school adolescents in a northern border city of Mexico and their type of family

OBJECTIVE: Identify externalizing and internalizing behaviors in high school adolescents in three schools in a northern border city in Mexico and their type of family. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. LOCATION: Three schools in the city of Tijuana, Mexico: two public and one private. PARTICIPANTS: 454 baccalaureate students 14–19 years old. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: We utilized Youth Self Report Scale, adapted and validated in Spanish, that measure internalization behaviors (anxiety, depression, isolation or somatic complaints), and externalization behaviors (verbal aggressiveness, delinquent behavior and attention-seeking). For dichotomous discrimination between deviant and nondeviant scores, we use the borderline clinical range by classifying YSR scale's T scores ≥ 60, and to analyze the relationship between behavior problems or competencies and living or not in a nuclear family we utilized multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: 55% were female, mean age 16.4 years ± 0.98, and 62.3% came from a nuclear family. Prevalence of internalizing behaviors was 15.6%, and externalizing behaviors 14.8%. Women had statistically higher mean scores in depressive, anxious and verbally aggressive behavior, somatic complaints, and thought problems. The prevalence of internalizing behaviors in adolescents with nuclear family was 11.7% (n = 33), and for adolescents with another type of family was 22.2% (n = 38), OR 2.17 (CI 95% 1.30–3.61, p = 0.003), but no differences was observed for externalizing behaviors and family type. When adjusted for sex, age, and public or private school, internalizing behaviors and specifically depressive behavior remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: We detected a moderate prevalence of internalizing behaviors in Mexican adolescents, predominantly among women, and also observed that not living with a nuclear family increases the odds of presenting internalizing behaviors. It is important that parents, teachers, and healthcare workers remain vigilant to detect these problems in a timely manner and develop interventions to improve the mental health and well-being of adolescents.