Mental Health of Adolescents in Relation to Spirituality

Transcription

1 International Multidisciplinary e-journal e Journal / S. Francisca, Sujitha Jasmine.W.A ISSN (70-78) Mental Health of Adolescents in Relation to Spirituality S. Francisca St. Ignatius College of Education, Tirunelveli Sujitha Jasmine.W.A Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli Paper Received on: 05/04/2012 Paper Reviewed on: 15/05/2012 Paper Accepted on: 25/05/2012 Abstract Keeping up mental health is one of the major problems of the world today. The present study is an attempt to investigate Mental Health of adolescents in relation to spirituality. Eight hundred higher secondary students were involved in this study. From the analysis it was found that there was a significant correlation between Mental Health and spirituality with reference to background variables Keywords: Mental Health, Adolescents, Spirituality. Health is the emotional and spiritual resilience that allows one to enjoy life and to survive pain, suffering and disappointment. It is a positive sense of well being and an underlying belief in one s own and others dignity and worth. Mental health is about how one feels inside. Balancing one s emotions and having control on his, Self-esteem and confidence by being comfortable with whom they are coping with one s feelings and building up resilience on one s bounce-back ability. Mental health is important as it affects everything one does how one sleeps, what one eats, the risk one will take and the types of things one does to relax and enjoy one.. According to Ross, The aim of education is the development of valuable personality and spiritual individuality. World Health Organization (1998) has incorporated spiritual dimension in its latest definition of health. WHO defines health as dynamic state of complete physical, mental, spiritual, and social well being and not merely the absence or infirmity. Adolescence may be an especially important juncture in Spiritual / Religious development. The home and School carry great responsibilities with respect to the development of good mental health of the learner. Therefore the home and the school should be conducive to his mental health. Vol-I, Issue-V, May-2012 Page - 70

2 RELEVANCE OF SPIRITUALITY ON MENTAL HEALTH The word spirituality comes from the Latin word Spiritus which means breath of life is a way of being and experiencing that comes about through awareness of a transcendental dimension and that is characterized by certain identifiable values in regard to self, others, nature, life and whatever one considers to be ultimate (Elkins 1998). Spirituality means believing in a higher power and action on a value system beyond self interest. It is a guiding force, which provides a sense of purpose and support in everyday life and during difficult times (Thames & Thomson, 2000). They pointed out that spirituality provides hope, support and sense of purpose to life. Spirituality provides tools and models for building good relationships in the family. Most people judge an adolescent as spiritual by his practices, rather than by his faith. As Thames and Thomson (2000) put it, the adolescent years can be filled with many changes and transitions that cause pain and confusion. A strong spiritual base can make these life events easier and give adolescents a sense of control over their destiny. It can open up positive ways of dealing with situations that challenge who they ate and where they are going in life. Adolescents can be very sensitive and emotional stage, but with a strong sense of spirituality, it can be a time of positive growth. Dai,Nolan, and Zeng(2002) opined that religious involvement appears to have the largest impact on how early adolescents evaluate themselves. Rhule and Soriano (2005) also supported their views with the point that religion plays a powerful role in teens everyday lives. Reinhold is of the opinion that adolescents have customary ways of integrating various dimensions of religious experiences into their spiritual life in a manner, which is consistent with typical adolescents psychological development. There is some evidence that spiritual intelligence development and spiritual experiences are helpful for health. At the same time, there is a significant relationship between awareness of spiritual experiences and health (Hay& Morisy, 1978). As a whole, it seems spiritual functions can be used as an instrument in relation with individual mental health. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Mental Health approach in education has emerged as strong movement that has spread to all enlightened educational systems of the world. It is for the reason that it has become a popular theme for research among psychologist and educationist. Mental health practices must be woven into the fabric of the school day. Adolescents who do not reach their full potential, who are destined to make fewer contributions to society than social needs, and who do not take their place as productive adults, diminish that society s future. The school has its influence on the child s personality developments and the teacher next to the parent, has the greatest responsibility and the opportunity to foster mental health. The result of the study will be of helpful in the following ways: Developing new educational strategies that will help in improving Psycho-Social variables and there by mental health, forming new theories of mental health in terms of spirituality, to suggest mental health programmes in schools. Because of the above mentioned facts, the investigator strongly convinced that a study on mental health of adolescents in relation to the spirituality is meaningful. Vol-I, Issue-V, May-2012 Page - 71

3 OBJECTIVES 1. To find out significant difference between Higher Secondary Students in Mental Health and its dimensions such as attitude towards self, perceptions of reality, social competence, regularity of habits, emotional stability, autonomy and mental health total with respect to religion, community and type of management. 2. To find out significant difference between Higher Secondary Students in their spirituality with respect to all background variables such as religion, community and type of management. 3. To find out significant correlation between Mental Health and its dimensions and spirituality. HYPOTHESIS 1. There is no significant difference between Higher Secondary Students in Mental Health and its dimensions such as attitude towards self, perceptions of reality, social competence, regularity of habits, emotional stability, autonomy and mental health total with respect to religion, community and type of management. 2. There is no significant difference between Higher Secondary Students in spirituality with respect to background variables such as religion, community and type of management. 3. There is no significant correlation between Mental Health and its dimensions and spirituality. TOOLS FOR THE STUDY: 1. Mental Health Status Scale of adolescents constructed and validated by the Investigator and Francisca (2011). 2. Spirituality Scale by Sreekumar & Sanandaraj (2002). MENTAL HEALTH STATUS SCALE To assess the mental health status of adolescents in higher secondary level, the investigator developed a tool known as Mental Health Status Scale. After a very careful analysis of the factors, the investigator decided to study mental health status under six dimensions. They are attitude towards self, perceptions of reality, social competence, regularity of habits, emotional stability, and autonomy. METHOD SELECTED FOR THE STUDY The method adopted for the present study was determined by considering the nature of the problem, the kind of data required for its solution and the objectives of the study. The purpose of the study is to find the mental health of adolescents studying in higher secondary level.. They can be gathered by employing survey method to achieve the purpose of the study. So, the investigator adopted survey method for the study. POPULATION Vol-I, Issue-V, May-2012 Page - 72

4 The population for the present study consists of adolescents studying in Higher Secondary level in schools of Thiruvananthapuram District. SAMPLE SELECTED The investigator had used simple random sampling technique for selecting a sample of 800 Higher Secondary students in Thiruvananthapuram District. Distribution of the sample in terms of background variables Sl.No Background Variables Categories No. of students Percentage 1 Hindu Religion Christian Muslim SC\ST Community FC OBC Govt Type of management Aided Unaided ANALYSIS Table 1 Difference among the higher secondary students in mental health and its dimensions with respect to religion Dimension Category Count Mean Sum of Squares df F Remar k Scheffe Attitudes towards Self Hindu Christian S Muslim Perception reality of Hindu Christian S Muslim Social Hindu Vol-I, Issue-V, May-2012 Page - 73

5 Competence Christian NS Muslim Regularity Habits of Hindu Christian NS Muslim Emotional Stability Hindu Christian Muslim NS Autonomy Hindu Christian Muslim S Mental Total Health Hindu Christian Muslim S S- Significant NS- Not Significant (At 5% level of significance the table value of F is 3.03) Table 2 Difference among the higher secondary students in mental health and its dimensions with respect to community Dimension Category Count Mean Sum of Squares df F Remark Scheffe Attitudes towards Self SC/ST FC S OBC Perception of reality SC/ST FC S OBC Social SC/ST &2 Vol-I, Issue-V, May-2012 Page - 74

6 Competence FC OBC S Regularity Habits of SC/ST FC S 1&2 OBC Emotional Stability SC/ST FC S 1&2 OBC Autonomy SC/ST FC S 1&2 OBC Mental Health Total SC/ST FC S 1&2 OBC S- Significant NS- Not Significant (At 5% level of significance the table value of F is 3.03) Table 3 Difference among the higher secondary students in mental health and its dimensions with respect to type of management Dimension Category Count Mean Sum of Squares df F Remar k Attitudes towards Self Govt Aided NS Unaided Perception of reality Govt Aided NS Unaided Vol-I, Issue-V, May-2012 Page - 75

7 Social Competence Govt Aided NS Unaided Regularity of Habits Govt Aided NS Unaided Emotional Stability Govt Aided NS Unaided Autonomy Govt Aided NS Unaided Mental Health Total Govt Aided Unaided NS S- Significant NS- Not Significant (At 5% level of significance the table value of F is 3.03) Table 4 Difference among the higher secondary students in spirituality with respect to background variables Background variables Categories Coun t Mean Sum of Squares df F Rem ark Scheffe Hindu Religion Christian NS Muslim Community SC/ST Vol-I, Issue-V, May-2012 Page - 76

8 FC NS OBC Type of Management Govt Aided S Unaided S- Significant NS- Not Significant (At 5% level of significance the table value of F is 3.03) Table 4.62 Correlation between mental health and its dimensions and spirituality Dimensions Count Table Value r Result Attitude towards Self S Perception of reality S Social Competence S Regularity of habits S Emotional Stability S Autonomy S Mental Health Total S S- Significant The results in the table 1 show that, there is significant difference among higher secondary students in their mental health and its dimensions attitude towards self, perceptions of reality, autonomy and mental health total with respect to religion. Comparing Hindu, Christian and Muslim students, Christian students have better attitude towards self and mental health; Hindu students have better perceptions of reality and autonomy. The results in table 2 show that, the calculated F value is greater than the table value, at 5% level of significance, there is significant difference among higher secondary school students in their mental health and its dimensions attitude towards self, perceptions of reality, social competence, regularity of habits emotional stability, autonomy and mental health total with respect to community. The Scheffe test proves that the students of FC have better Mental Health and its dimensions than OBC and SC/ST students. Vol-I, Issue-V, May-2012 Page - 77

9 The table 3 show that there is no significant difference among higher secondary students in their mental health and its dimensions with respect to type of management. The results in the table 4 show that there is significant difference among higher secondary school students in their spirituality with respect to type of management. The Scheffe test proves that the aided school students have better Spirituality than government and unaided school students. The calculated F values for variable religion and community is less than the table value. So there is no significant difference between higher secondary school students in spirituality with respect to religion and community. It is inferred from the table 5 that the calculated r value is greater than the table value, at 5% level of significance for the dimensions attitude towards self, perceptions of reality, social competence, regularity of habits emotional stability, autonomy and mental health total. That is there is correlation between the dimensions attitude towards self, perceptions of reality, social competence, regularity of habits emotional stability, autonomy and mental health total and Spirituality. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Take up measures to introduce guidance and counseling programs in all the schools in the state. 2. Popularizing religious and moral education program which is the crying need of the hour. 3. To extend training in yoga for physical as well as mental growth. 4. Developing objective and scientific understanding about the intricacies of adolescent s development through inter-disciplinary approaches and impacting it to parents, teachers, and most importantly to adolescents themselves. Ensure proper commitment and effective contributions from family, neighborhood, school, teachers, counselors etc. 5. Providing positive friendly and open social environment at school and ensuring that each student has access to community and family supports that are associated with healthy emotional development. REFERENCES Aggarwal.Y.P (1990) Statistical methods, Concepts, applications and computations, Sterling publishing Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. Dai.Y, Nolan.R.F &Zeng.Q (2002) Self-esteem on early adolescents: A national survey of 8 th graders. Paper presented at the annual meeting of American Psychological Association in San Francisco. Elkins, Leaf &Saunders (1988) Religiosity and spirituality as relation to certain personality needs. Journal of Community Guidance and research 11(2),p Hay, D., & Morisy, A. (1978). Reports of Esctatic, Paranormal, or Religious Experience in Great Britain and the United States: A Comparison of Trends. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol-I, Issue-V, May-2012 Page - 78