Alienation, depression and social support among male and female college students

Pages: 198-204
Rupali Joshi (School of Social Sciences, Uttrakhand Open University, Haldwani, Nainital)

Late adolescence, a period from eighteen to about twenty-two years is a period when transition from school to college takes place and thus is a highly stressful transitional phase. The developmental tasks during this period involve preparing for a career, achieving socially responsible behavior, building a sound personality, developing healthy attitude towards marriage and family life and formation of identity. Depression is a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. Alienation refers to the condition in which a person is cut off from his own real or natural self, from reality and from the society and other fellow beings. Social support has been described as both buffer against life stressors as well as an agent promoting health and wellness. The sample consisted of 201 students (101 boys and 100 girls). The tools were Beck Depression Inventory (Arora & Prashant, 1988), Student Alienation Scale (Sharma, 1988) and Social Support Scale (Arora & Kumar, 1988). Both boys and girls display similar levels of depression and alienation. Among girls, depression was negatively correlated with various areas of social support but not among boys.