Mental health, self-esteem and coping among Delhiites rape survivor

Pages: 90-93
Sanjeeda Khan and Sushma Suri (Department of Psychology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India)

Rape, as ultimate invasion of women’s modesty, privacy and self, has most severe physiological, psychological, and social consequences. This study designed to examine the mental health, self-esteem and coping among rape survivor in Delhi. For the purpose of the study 100 rape survivors were taken from different shelter homes, police stations and NGOs. Few survivors were contacted individually by making a direct visit to their home. All the subjects were divided on the basis of their age i.e. (11-20 years, N=50) and (21-30 years, N=50). After seeking permission from concerned authorities three scales namely Mental Health Inventory by Jagdish and Shrivastava (1987), Self-Esteem Inventory by Prasad and Thakur (1977) and Coping Strategy Scale by Shrivastava (2002) were used to all the subjects. Obtained scores were analyzed with the help of ‘t’ test and correlation coefficient. Results of this study indicated a significant difference between two different age groups on mental health, self- esteem (personal self- esteem and social self-esteem) and coping (approach coping) scores. Subjects within the age bracket of 21-30 years were scored high on mental health, self-esteem (personal self-esteem and social self- esteem) and approach coping and low on avoidance coping when compared to subjects within the age range of 11-20 years. A positive significant correlation was found between personal self-esteem and approach coping among subjects within the age group of 11-20 where as a negative significant relationship was also found between mental health and personal self-esteem, personal self-esteem and approach coping and approach coping and avoidance coping among subjects within the age bracket of 21-30.