ASSESSMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS AND MENTAL HEALTH OF ADOLESCENT SCHOOL GIRLS

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Dr. K. Maheswari, Mr. R. Mathiyalagan Martin

Abstract

           Adolescents, at the cusp of adulthood, go through a lot of changes not just hormonal but emotional as well. Our education system still lacks a proper mechanism to provide counselling and guidance to students about the mental health issues they go through. To top it all, adolescents also have to endure the pressure of Board exams in India, thus adding in to the stress and anxiety they have to face. According to the 'Mental Health Status of Adolescents in South-East Asia: Evidence for Action', a report published by WHO in April 2017, in 2007, 5.8% population of India was in the age group of 13-15. The report suggested that about 25% adolescents in the country reported being depressed for 2 weeks or more in a row. The percentage of adolescents who reported being in anxiety was 8%. 8% felt lonely most of the times or always and a 10% of the surveyed students had no friends. 11% of those surveyed also admitted to substance abuse. The report also suggested that an active parental involvement reduced the mental health issues, while bullying in school and by peers increased the mental health issues and substance abuse. This study aimed to investigate the mental health status among school going adolescent girls studying in CSI Girls Hr. Sec. School, Pasumalai, Madurai District. The total sample for the study comprised of 50 adolescent girls studying in this school, selected from the universe of 243. Descriptive research design and purposive sampling method was adopted in the present study. An interview schedule and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI) developed by Paul G. Ritvo et. al (1997) with 18 items were administered in this study to collect data. The major findings of the study showed that more than half of the respondents (54%) had low level of anxiety, 52 per cent had high level of depression and more than  half of the respondents had low of behaviour control.

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