Introduction: A single-parent family is a primary socializing unit critical in the psycho-social development of adolescents. Over the last decades, single-parent families are increasing across the world, and adolescents may or may not have psychosocial challenges because of growing up in a single-parent family. By virtue of its definition, adolescence is a transitional period of growth wherein the bio-psychosocial-cultural changes are happening at an incredible rate, which can be compounded by the absence of one of the two parents.

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to evaluate the socio-demographic characteristics of adolescents living in lone-parent families, to identify the incidence of psychosocial and behavioural problems among these adolescents, and to analyze relationships between any psychosocial concerns and some socio-demographic factors.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the age group of 12 - 19 years in the selected Grama Panchayats of the Idukki district in Kerala, living in single-parent families. Snowball sampling was applied for the study. The data was obtained using the Socio-Demographic Checklist and the Pediatric Symptom Checklist: Youth Report (PSC-YR). Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied for the analysis.

Results: Results found out that a high occurrence of internalizing symptoms like sadness, anxiety, sleep problems, and somatic complaints, and externalizing problems such as irritability, rule-breaking, and aggressive behaviour. School problems such as lack of academic achievement, truancy, and lack of interest in study activities were also frequent. There were statistically significant relationships found for psychosocial problems and chosen socio-demographic parameters.