Higher Education and Mental Health of Students: Role of Psychosocial Factors

Description

Page: 397-401

Miloni Shah¹ and Raosaheb Raut² (School of Business & Economics, Loughborough University, England¹ and Department of Applied Psychology, University of Mumbai, Maharashtra²)

The Indian Council of Medical Research (2005) survey revealed that 12-13 percent of students in India suffer from psychological, emotional and behavioural conditions. In the given statistics the numbers of students who go to college are 18.2 million in 2007 and in that around 39% of are 18 to 24-year-old and additional 4,47,000 students were attending non-degree institutions of higher learning. Each state has its own tradition, regional language, culture and way of teaching which impacts the primary educational outcomes and the mental health of students. Hence, the exposure of every student differs as they come from different backgrounds (parental expectations, exposure to the quality of education, language dominance, academic environment, migration, socioeconomic status, & traditional gender roles). Due to the same, students are facing mental health-related challenges in higher education settings. The objective of this study was to understand the role of different psychosocial factors which affect the mental health of students in higher education settings. For the present research study, a systematic review was conducted and databases such as Research Gate, Google Scholar, ERIC, Frontiers, PubMed, and other databases were explored. The selected studies and their findings were discussed in detail the study. The studies reviewed have shown different psychosocial factors such as language, migration, exposure, socioeconomic status, academic environment, and others are significantly related to the mental health of students. This study will help to understand the importance of different psychosocial factors which may affect the mental health of students in higher education settings. Also, it will help to devise a holistic intervention to deal with psychosocial factors to foster better mental health of students.