Published by Global Vision Publishing House. Emotional and Behavioural Problems among Young Adults: A Study on Andhra University Students ABSTRACT

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1 Positive Psychology Published by Global Vision Publishing House Edited By Dr. Sunil Kumar Dr. S.B. Yadav Emotional and Behavioural Problems among Young Adults: A Study on Andhra University Students K. Srinivasa Rao* and V. Hari Lakshmi** ABSTRACT Emotional problems are those problems in which a person turns the problems inwardly and exhibits them in the form of emotional symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and withdrawal or in the form of psychosomatic disorders. Behavioural problems, on the other hand, are problems such as delinquency and aggressive behaviour in which a person turns his problems outwardly and expresses them in the form of acting out behaviours. Students who show signs of these behaviours interrupt on the rights of others and often violate the norms of the community. The present study examined the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems among Andhra University students, Andhra Pradesh, India. A total of 330 students between 20 and 42 years with a mean age of (±3.32) years participated in the study. Adult Self Report (Achenbach & Rescolra, 2003) was used for data collection. Findings indicate that emotional and behavioural problems are more among male students. The problems tend to be more pronounced for students who take up various courses reporting high rule breaking behaviours and withdrawn problems. The findings also indicate that such problems are more prevalent among hostellers. As hypothesized it was found that emotional and behavioural problems would be identified in various sub groups among the university students. Further studies can be taken up to identify additional etiological factors that induce such problems. Studies can also be taken up to examine the relevance of intervention programs aimed to reduce these problems. INTRODUCTION According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 450 million of the world s population suffers from mental or neurological disorders or from psychosocial problems; while one in every four persons is affected by a mental disorder at some stage in their life (WHO, 2001). Psychologists involved in dealing with psychological problems of students have classified their problems into emotional and behavioural problems. * Research Scholar, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. ** Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.

2 218 K. Srinivasa Rao and V. Hari Lakshmi Emotional problems are those problems in which a person turns the problems inwardly and exhibits them in the form of emotional symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and withdrawal or in the form of psychosomatic disorders. The behavioural problems, on the other hand, are problems such as delinquency and aggressive behaviour in which a person turns his problems outwardly and expresses them in the form of acting out behaviours. The two groupings of problems were designated as Personality Problems vs. Conduct Problems by Peterson (1961); Inhibition vs. aggression by Miller (1967); Overcontrolled vs. Undercontrolled by Achenbach and Edelbrock (1978). After decades of numerous multivariate analyses, children s behavioural problems are grouped as Internalizing vs. Externalizing by Achenbach (1965, 1966). ASSESSMENT OF EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS The primary task of the psychologist is to identify and treat those adults who suffer from emotional and/or behavioural problems. The assessment process helps the clinician determine which problems are clinically significant and might benefit from treatment, and which are only annoying and/or transient (Schroeder & Gordon, 2002). The assessment process should determine the factors contributing to the problem and identify the target areas for intervention. Assessment and diagnostic classification are parts of a single process. Assessment identifies the distinguishing features of an individual case, whereas classification groups cases according to these features (Kamphaus & Frick, 1996). The most commonly used categorical classification systems are Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and the International Classification of Diseases, 10 th version (ICD-10, WHO, 1992). The assessment of emotional and behavioural problems in dimensional approach has received a substantial amount of attention in recent years, and several excellent instruments and techniques have been developed. Examples of dimensional systems include the Adult Self Report Form (ASRF, Achenbach, 2001). In the dimensional approach, pools of items are selected for reporting behavioural and emotional and behavioural problems. The dimensional system of classification allows one to describe multiple behaviour patterns for an individual adults, with cutoff scores used to determine the clinical significance of specific behaviours for different age groups as rated by different respondents. ASEBA instruments set the worldwide standard for multi-informant assessment across the age span (from 1½ to 90+). ASEBA instruments can be readily used in diverse contexts, including schools, mental health, medical, forensic, residential treatment, training, public health, child, family service, adult, and research settings. The ASEBA adult forms (ASRF and YSRF) are parallel forms that facilitate systematic comparisons of multiple perspectives on adult s functioning. Because no single source can provide complete and accurate data, comprehensive assessment requires multiple sources of data (Achenbach, 2001). The ASEBA adult forms were developed to document specific problems and to identify syndromes of co-occurring problems. The authors used various statistical procedures to identify syndromes of co-occurring problems. Based on the factors that had counterparts in the ASRF the authors

3 Emotional and Behavioural Problems among Young Adults constructed eight syndromes: Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn/Depressed, Somatic complaints, Thought problems, Attention problems, Rule-Breaking behaviour, Aggressive behaviour and Intrusive. METHOD The study was conducted to examine the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems among Post graduate level students. Data were obtained from Andhra University students (Visakhapatnam), Andhra Pradesh. Description of Sample A total of 330 students between 20 and 42 years with a mean age of (±3.32) years participated in the study. More than three fourth of the sample (76.3%) constituted males (n=252) and 78.4% hostellers (n=259) % of sample was from rural background. With regard to previous medium of education the sample consisted of both English medium students and Telugu medium students equally. Instruments A. Adult Self Report (ASR) The original English version of Adult Self Report (ASR) was used for the present study. The ASR is a component of ASEBA that have been developed based on decades of research and practical experience since the 1960 s (Achenbach, 1966), ASEBA forms capture both the similarities and differences in how adult function under different interaction partners (Achenbach, 2001). The Adult Self Report (ASR) consists of 126 problem items that enable the youth (18-59 years) to report the degree of severity in each problem by answering 0 if the item is not true of himself or herself, 1 if the item is somewhat or sometimes true, and 2 if it is very true or often true within the past 6 months. The ASR includes eight syndrome scales: i. Anxious/Depressed: The 14 problem items in this subscale measure anxiety and depression Cries Too guilty ii. Withdrawn: The Nine problem items in this subscale measure the feeling of withdrawn from social contacts Not liked Enjoys little. iii. Somatic Complaints: This scale has nine items that indicate the extent to which physical problems with unknown medical causes are reported by the student feels tired Headaches.

4 220 K. Srinivasa Rao and V. Hari Lakshmi iv. Thought Problems: The Seven problem items in this subscale measure the thought problems reported by the student Harms self Strange behaviour. v. Attention Problems: The 15 problem items in this subscale examine the attention problems experienced by the student Can t concentrate Fails to finish. vi. Rule Breaking Behaviour: The 13 problem items in this subscale identify the extent of Rule Breaking Behaviour indulged by the student Break rules Bad companions. vii. Aggressive Behaviour: The 15 problem items in this subscale examine the aggressive behaviour reported by the student Argues Attacks. viii. Intrusive: The six problem items in this subscale examine the Intrusive behaviour reported by the student Brags Shows off. Procedure Students were given English form of ASR and the scale was administered in small groups at the University Students. The administration was supervised by the researcher and a psychology research scholar. The subjects were asked to complete the column of gender, education, age, place of stay etc., related to individual information printed on the first page of the form. The researcher read out the instructions given at the beginning of the questionnaire audibly. The subjects were asked to read the same and doubts if any were cleared. Then the subjects were asked to begin marking the items. There was no time limit for answering the form, but normally 30 to 40 minutes were taken to complete the items in the form.

5 Emotional and Behavioural Problems among Young Adults RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The prevalence of behavioural and emotional problems among the sample of students was examined by estimating the occurrence of such problems in various subgroups of the sample. Subgroups were formed on the basis of the place they are residing, gender, age, previous medium of education, nativity of the student, their marital status, present working status and number of friends they have and often they visit their friends in a given week. Table 1 Differences between Hostlers and Days scholars on ASR Syndrome Staying N Mean S.D t Attention Problems Hostler * Days scholar Rule Breaking Behaviour Hostler ** Days scholar *P 0.05, **P 0.01 Table 1 shows the differences between hostler and days scholar groups on Emotional and Behavioural problems. The results indicate significant differences on attention problems, (t=2.227, pde.01) and rule breaking behaviour (t=2.714, pde.01) among student place of stay. It is interesting to note that both attention problems and rule breaking behaviours are high among hostlers with later having higher means in both the dimensions. From the results it is noted that both problems have significantly differed staying dimensions. Reasons for this could be that influence of the educational climate has major impacts on the students when new strategies are introduced in their educational environment. Since most of these students hail from rural backdrop, new factors that may lead students to develop an adverse perception of their educational environment cannot be ruled out. In some cases it may be possible that student s academic self-perception deteriorated because conventional strategies of learning were perceived as no longer useful (Bouhaimed, Thalib and Doi, 2009). Depending on the institutional settings, students have to adapt to a set of rules regarding their staying conditions, which need not be the case when they have to stay at their own places. The tendency sometimes to overlook these factors of rules could be common in institutional setting. So control or monitoring of individual use, and sometimes ways of imposing material or non-material costs or rewards to those breaking or following the rules might reduce rule breaking behaviours (Cardenas, 2000). Table 2 Gender differences on ASR Syndrome Gender N Mean S.D t Attention Problems Male * Female Rule Breaking Behaviour Male ** Female *P 0.05, **P 0.01

6 222 K. Srinivasa Rao and V. Hari Lakshmi Table 2 shows the differences among male and female students on ASR forms. Differences were seen in the attention and rule breaking behaviour between male and female students. Problems related on attention (t=2.074, Pde.05) and Rule Breaking behaviour (t=3.304, Pde.01) are seen more in males than their counter parts. Previous studies have also shown similar findings with Turkish samples, indicating that there are higher attention problems and rule breaking behaviours among males and found to be more aggressive than females (Personal author, compiler, or editor name(s); click on any author to run a new search on that name.erol, Simsek, Zeynep; Oner, Ozgur, Munir and Kerim 2008). Table 3 Differences between Married and Unmarried Students on ASR Syndrome Marriage N Mean S.D t Anxious / Depressed Married * Unmarried Withdrawn Married ** Unmarried Attention Problems Married ** Unmarried Aggressive Behaviour Married ** Unmarried Rule Breaking Behaviour Married ** Unmarried Intrusive Married ** Unmarried *P 0.05, **P 0.01 The results regarding the influence of marital status on emotional and behavioural problems are presented in table 3. The significant influence of marital status on certain behavioural problems is noticed with unmarried students being more anxious / depressed than the married students. Similarly we can see from the table that the unmarried students have shown higher means in both emotional and behavioural problems, possible explanation could be that the sample size of unmarried is higher when compared to the married students. Table 4 Differences between Telugu and English Medium students on ASR Syndrome Medium N Mean S.D t Withdrawn Telugu ** English *P 0.05, **P 0.01 Table-4 shows the significant difference between students based on their previous medium education. Taking the cultural backdrop of the students they are divided into two sub groups that are

7 Emotional and Behavioural Problems among Young Adults students who come from Telugu medium and English medium. It was found that students from Telugu medium has more withdrawn (t=2.974, Pde0.01) problems. Similar findings were seen in ethnic studies, that indicated that African American students who were less engaged, had more disciplinary problems, and perceived their motivational contexts as more negative than students with fewer risk factors and found to be more withdrawn (Murdock, 1999). Major Findings The major findings of the study are the following: Prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems: The prevalence of behavioural problems was estimated on the basis of data obtained from a sample of 330 students between 20 and 42 years with a mean age of (±3.32) years. Gender: Males reported more problems with regard to attention problems and rule breaking behaviours than females. Place of Stay: Hostellers have reported more behavioural problems with regard to rule breaking behaviours and attention problems than day scholars. Marital Status: unmarried students tend to report more problems with regard to attention problems, withdrawn and anxious/ depressed. Previous medium of education: Telugu medium students reported withdrawn problems than their counterparts. CONCLUSION The major findings of the study indicate that emotional and behavioural problems are more among male students. The findings have also indicated that such problems are more prevalent among students who stay in hostels. As hypothesized we found that emotional and behavioural problems would be identified in various sub groups among the university students. REFERENCES Achenbach (1965). A factor analytic study of juvenile psychiatric symptoms. Paper presented at Society for Research in Child Development, Manneapolis, MN. Achenbach, T.M. (1966). The classification of children s psychiatric symptoms: A factor-analytic study. Psychological Monograph, 80,(615). Achenbach, T.M. (1998). Diagnosis, assessment, taxonomy, and case formulations. In T.M. Ollendick & M. Hersen (Eds.), Handbook of child psychopathology. New York: Plenum Press. Achenbach, T.M. and Edelbrock, C. (1978). The Classification of Child Psychopathology: A review and analysis of empirical efforts. Psychological Bulletin, 85, Achenbach, T.M. and Edelbrock, C. (1981). Behavioural problems and competencies reported by parents of normal and disturbed children aged 4 through 16. Monograph of the Society for Research in Child Development, 46(1, Serial No.188). Achenbach, T.M. and Rescorla, L.A. (2001). Manual for the ASEBA Adult-Age Form & Profies. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth & Families.

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