Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Pages: 598-601
Ranjana and Kriti Hans (Department of Psychology, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana)

The present study examined the influence of school environment on the development of aggression. Participants were three hundred school students aged 14-16 years drawn from various private schools in Haryana in the year of 2013-14. Tools used for data collection were the (1) School Environment Inventory, (2) Aggression Questionnaire, chosen after a comprehensive review of related literature. Subjects were contacted in groups and data was collected. The responses were scored and statistically analyzed. Pearson's correlations were computed. Results obtained, confirmed the associations expected among the variables. Results indicated that rejection in school correlated positively and significantly with physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, Anger, Hostility and Indirect Aggression. Acceptance dimension correlated positively and significantly with Physical Aggression and Indirect Aggression whereas Cognitive Encouragement in school was found to correlate negatively and significantly with Physical Aggression. Overall, our findings suggested that a positive school environment seems to be a stronger protective factor in the development of problems of behaviour at school.

Pages: 606-609
Priyanka Jain and Sushila Pareek (Department of Psychology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, Rajasthan)

People face wide spectrum of diseases and problems in their lives but ones which are visible to the world can be particularly stressful. When considering the impact of skin disease, many people fail to realize just how important the psychological aspects can be. Skin disease is often considered to be 'only cosmetic' by many medical professionals and lay-people alike, but unlike most internal illnesses, skin disease is often immediately visible to others. The purpose of this research was to compare males and females suffering from acne, alopecia areata (AA) and melanosis on perceived stress, optimism and social appearance anxiety. The study included 120 skin patients ages ranged from 15 to 25 yrs. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) and Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) were administered to both males and females with acne, AA and melanosis. Analytical evaluation was done by ANOVA and Kruskal Wallis tests. The results of the present study revealed that females with skin diseases scored higher on perceived stress and social appearance anxiety as compared to the males. With regard to optimism, males were found to be slightly more optimistic than females. This study proposes a framework for gender sensitive research in the field of psychodermatology and is an attempt to increase awareness regarding the difficulties that patients with skin diseases can face. A more holistic approach towards the treatment of skin disorders is likely to come into shape with the inclusion of psychotherapy along with medical treatment and thus reflects the seriousness of the problem which needs to be attended to in a more comprehensive manner.

Pages: 613-615
N. D. Mangore (Department of Psychology, Shripatrao Chougule Arts & Commerce College, Malwadi Kotoli, Kolhapur, Maharashtra)
R. K. Adsul (Department of Psychology, Smt. Mathubai Garware Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Sangli, Maharashtra)

This study is conducted to find out the difference between male and female adolescents on Parent-Child-Relationship and Academic Achievement. 60 students were selected by random sampling method, who were studying in first year class of Arts, Commerce and Science faculties in Satara District from Maharashtra state. The Parent-Child-Relationship is measured by Bharadwaj, Sharma and Garg's Parenting Scale Inventory. Marks obtained in 12th std. were taken from their college record and these marks are considered as their academic achievement. The result indicates that there is no significant difference between male and female adolescents on parent-child relationship and academic achievement.

Pages: 619-621
Sunil Kumar S. Biradar (Department of Forensic Medicine, Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences Hubballi, Karnataka)
Smitha, M. (Department of Anatomy, Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences Hubballi, Karnataka)
Mallikarjun Biradar (Department of Community Medicine, Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences Mandya, Karnataka)

Stigma and discrimination, particularly in access to healthcare, remains a major problem for people infected with HIV in most part of India. Pregnant women are much receptive on health matters. 1) To assess their knowledge, attitude and perception regarding HIV/AIDS 2) To know the association between socio-demographic factors with knowledge, attitude and practice of married women about HIV/AIDS. The present community based cross sectional study was conducted in rural health training centre, Ukkali, under the Department of Community Medicine, BLDE University's Shri B.M.Patil Medical College Vijayapura. A total of 1182 Married Women, aged between 15 45 years were interviewed. Pretested, pre designed questionnaire was administered to them. Data was compiled, tabulated and analyzed using Percentages. Chi square test was used to find association. Among the study population 81.3% heard about HIV/AIDS. 30.2% of the study participant were in the age group of 21-25 years. 29.3% participants were illiterate and Among literate participants (70.7%), majorities (47.1%) were studied up to secondary school, Majority of the pregnant women 40% belonged to Class IV. Statistically significant association was observed between the age of married women, parity and literacy status of pregnant women with HIV/AIDS. There is a need for more information directly and indirectly through consistent awareness program among married women residing in rural areas. Since awareness is the only key to the prevention of HIV/AIDS, there is an urgent need to increase the awareness about HIV/ AIDS, especially among the low socio economic, illiterate people of the community using all methods of mass media and intensive information, education and communication (IEC) activities by use of local folk media.

Pages: 625-627
Suryawanshi Manikrao Shivaji (Department of Psychology, P.V.P. Mahavidyalaya Kavathe Mahankal, Sangli, Maharashtra)
R. K. Adsul (Department of Psychology, Smt. Mathubai Garware Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Sangli,Maharashtra)

Present study was conducted to see the impact of teens and parent relation on various personality factor of high school students. Researcher randomly selected sample of IX & Xth Class 14 to 16 years old students from various places Kavathe Mahankal, Jath and Tasgaon Tehsil in Maharashtra State. Dr. GovindTiwari's Parent-Child Relations Questionnaire and Kapoor & Srivastava's H.S.P. Questionnaire has been used for collection of data. Data was analyied by mean, S.D. and ANOVA. The conclusions observed that students who experienced positive teens and parent relations exhibited higher personality factor i.e. self-sufficiency than students who experienced negative teens and parent relations. Personality factors i.e. tense and dependency exhibited highly by high school students who experience positive teens-parents relation than students who experience negative teens-parent relation.

Pages: 631-633
Pradeep, R. Pawar (Department of Psychology, D. D. Shinde Sarkar College, Kolhapur, Maharashtra)
R. K. Adsul (Department of Psychology, Smt. Mathubai Garware Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Sangli, Maharashtra)

Family is vital factor in healthy psychological development. It carry significant role in wholesome psychological development. In the present study gender differences (male-female) and nature of family (joint-nuclear) taken into consideration and their influences on psychological well-being is studied. 176 higher secondary school students integrated in the study as a sample. The age of the subjects was varied from 16 to 18 yrs. They completed Psychological well-being scale by Sisodia and Choudhary. It was found that gender strongly influence on psychological well-being. The level of psychological well-being among male is higher than that of female adolescents. Nature of family (Joint and nuclear) does not play significant role in the nourishment of psychological well-being.

Pages: 637-639
Priyanka Vijayan (Department of Psychology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore)
M. I. Joseph (Department of Psychology, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit Kalady)

Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood. In preparing for adult roles, an adolescent's wellness as well as effectiveness of her/his social interaction plays a vital role. The present study was an attempt to understand how wellness and social interaction are related in adolescent's life. The participants comprised of adolescent students belonging to the age range of 15 to 20 years selected randomly from recognized educational institutions in Thrissur district of Kerala state. The tools used in the study were Social Interaction Anxiety Scale developed by Mattick and Clarke (1998) and Five Factor Wellness Inventory developed by Mayers and Sweeny (2005). The results revealed lack of age and gender differences in wellness and social interaction anxiety among the adolescents. The present study implicates that with improved wellness the social interaction anxiety of adolescents can be reduced.

Pages: 644-647
Nidhi Chadha (Department of Psychology, Panjab University, Chandigarh)

In today's era of multitasking and global competition, work lives mean hectic and pressured lifestyles, cause stress and even emotional burnout. All human beings do not possess the same degree of stress or pressure and the level and kind of stress constantly varies. Many a times, stress or anxiety depends on several factors such as occupation, family environment, friends, relatives, personal etc. Stress has becoming significantly with the result of dynamic social factors and changing needs of life styles. Thus, the present study explores the harmful effects of stress on our mental and physical health and provides suggestions for more effective stress management in terms of strategies that include changes in lifestyle, stress management techniques such as relaxation and exercise, and the use of music or humour as coping strategies.

Pages: 648-655
Tina Fernandes, Nandini Sanyal and Sakshi Chadha (Department of Psychology, St. Francis College for Women, Begumpet, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh)

The objective of the present study was to determine whether there is any relationship between self-esteem and social interaction anxiety in cyberbullied and non-cyberbullied adolescent boys and girls. This study also aimed to determine whether there is any effect of cyberbullying and gender on self-esteem and social interaction anxiety of the adolescents. Furthermore, the present research went on to explore whether there is any difference between the cyberbullied boys and girls with respect to self-esteem and social interaction anxiety. A randomly selected sample of 480 adolescents, between the age range of 16 19 years, were administered the Cyberbullying and Aggression Survey Instrument (Hinduja & Patchin, 2014) to screen those who were cyberbullied. Based on their responses, 60 cyberbullied (30 boys and 30 girls) and 60 non-cyberbullied (30 boys and 30 girls) were selected for the present study. Thereafter, the Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1963) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (Mattick, & Clarke, 1998) was administered to them. Results indicated that there is a significant negative correlation between self-esteem and social interaction anxiety in the cyberbullied girls. Moreover, the findings revealed that the non-cyberbullied adolescents had significantly higher self-esteem than the cyberbullied adolescents, and the cyberbullied adolescents had significantly higher levels of social interaction anxiety than the non-cyberbullied adolescents. Furthermore, the study reported that the cyberbullied boys had significantly higher self-esteem than the cyberbullied girls. Thus, the outcomes of studies such as this are surely indicative of the need for some degree of adult guidance and supervision with regard to adolescents' online activities and engagements, as that may prove to be helpful in channelizing their interests in more constructive than destructive ways.

Pages: 667-671
Sujeet Kumar and Md Iftekhar Hossain (Department of Psychology, Patna University, Patna, Bihar)

The prevalence of mental health problems is high in the offending population. It has been well recognised internationally, that poor mental health is more prevalent among prisoners than the general population. It is needless to mention that mental health aids the aged in developing moral and disciplined life for their own growth and development and that of other. Higher index of mental health indicates high individual effectiveness, and good individual effectiveness reflects health and well being. The purpose of the current investigation is to examine the relationship between mental Health and criminal behaviour. Despite considerable empirical investigation and theoretical argument, the relationship between mental health and criminal behaviour continues to be debated. With the help of Mental Health Inventory it is found out in the present investigation that male convicted criminals of the age group of 33-43 years are in ill/poor mental health and there is no significant relationship between marital status and mental health of convicted criminals.

Pages: 676-679
Anubha Srivastava (Amity Institute of Behavioural and Allied Sciences, Amity University, Gurgaon, Haryana)

The aim of the present study is to compare the levels of depression, anxiety and quality of life among diabetic and asthmatic patients. Asthma and diabetes are chronic conditions and were considered earlier as having a psychosomatic origin. In the past, prominent psychoanalysts such as Menninger (1935) and Dunbar (1936) claimed that diabetes was a part of psychosomatic disease caused by emotional stress. Diabetes like other chronic medical conditions constitutes a source of stress to sufferers and, as such, affects their quality of life (Rubin et al., 1999). Psychiatric morbidity among asthmatics has also been extensively studied worldwide. The purpose of this investigation was to identify psychiatric morbidity among diabetic patients as compared to asthmatics and their QOL. So, this study was planned to assess the presence of anxiety and depression, if any, and to see their effect on the overall quality of life of people with diabetes and asthma. The sample size is 60 in total, where 30 diabetic and 30 asthmatic patients from different medical hospitals of Raipur and Chandigarh has been taken for the study through purposive sampling. The tools used for assessing the variables are Beck depression inventory (BDI), State trait anxiety inventory (STAI), Quality of life (WHOOL-BRIEF). Findings revealed that there is a negative correlation between quality of life, depression and anxiety in both the groups which means that with increase in severity of the level of depression and anxiety there will be poor quality of life but our findings also suggested that there is significant relationship between depression and quality of life where as no such significance has been observed between anxiety and quality of life it may be due to the reason that diabetics had to depend on lifelong medication and regular medical check-up which is not the case with the asthmatics thus it might be the reason for no significant relationship. Both the groups are of equal severity and life threatening. These patients are just taking pharmacological treatment without any awareness regarding their psychiatric co morbidity so; our study can be useful for the implementation and betterment of these groups.

Pages: 684-687
Vaishali Chaudhari (Institute of Behavioural Science Gujarat Forensic Science University, Gujarat)
Rejani T. G. (Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Behavioural Science, Gujarat Forensic Sciences University, Gujarat)

Obesity and overweight have become a global epidemic, and it is still increasing in both industrialized and developing countries. Aim of this study was to find level of depression, anxiety, stress and self-esteem among adults with obesity Study design was cross sectional survey. Purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of sample. They were selected by inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria and also calculated BMI (Body Mass Index). Total sample size was 60, obese adults were 30 and non-obese were 30. All adults were asked to give consent about their participation as a subject in the study. Demographic details of both groups were collected. Then, they were individually administered following test: Beck Depression scale, Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Perceived Stress scale and The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale for assessing severity of depression, anxiety, stress, level of self-esteem. Result showed statistically significant differences between obese adults and non-obese adults on depression (p=.000,t value 5.860), anxiety (p=.000, t value 5.525), stress level (p=.000,t value 7.077), but there was no significant differences found on self-esteem level (p=..325). Study concluded that adults with obesity found to have depression, anxiety, stress than adults with non-obesity, however there was no significant difference found in self-esteem in adults with obesity and non-obesity.