Impact of Personality Disposition, Study Habits and Mental Health on Academic Achievement of Orphan Students: Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Orphan and underprivileged care of children has evolved as one of the global priorities and social-public health issue and as a crucial component of overall holistic development. Globally one in every five children and adolescent suffer from a psychological and behavioural disorder, affecting quality of life and it is expected that by 2025 adolescent neuropsychiatric disorders will rise to over 30% leading to increased morbidity, disability, and mortality. This study aims at understanding relationships between crucial constructs of personality, study habit, mental health and academic achievement and their co relational impact on orphan adolescents.

 There is evidence that the adolescent orphans have remained as the most sensitive strata of society, vulnerable to psychological distress with detrimental effect of environment on their cognitive, behavioural, academic, and overall development. Addressing and reducing orphan adolescent sociopsychological burden has been coalited as a significant developmental issue particularly in conflict-affected regions. This study attempts to seek psychosocial approaches to properly understand and address these issues and services needed for adolescent orphans especially in orphanages and educational institutions settings and aims to establish the level of mental and personal distress with academic performance in orphans. The study is a cross sectional in nature consisting sample of 412 studying adolescent orphans of 13-18yr age from 10 caregiving institutions of two districts of UT of Jammu and Kashmir. To measure study constructs various scales and inventories have been used as per existing literature and average grade score of last two years was used as index of academic achievement.  

Data was analysed using inferential and correlation coefficient  analysis through independent t-test for study constructs. The results showed that adolescent orphans demonstrated high rates of mental and personal distress anxiety, reduced academic achievement and decreased levels of study habits as compared to non-orphans and there was strong significant relation of these constructs with their academic outcomes.

Implications of findings of this study include that we need an orphan centered comprehensive solution within the policy dimensions for caregiving institutions especially orphanages and should include psychosocial syndemic determinant approach to tackle wider social, personal, and mental health constructs within the philosophy of inclusive holistic development.