Psyche of physically challenged and non-physically challenged adolescents

Pages: 602-605
Ajay Kumar Chaudhary (Department of Psychology, Government Meera Girls College, Udaipur, Rajasthan)

Adolescence presents many developmental tasks to negotiate. The establishment of intimacy and the capacity for friendship, the movement toward peers, toward independence, becoming autonomous from parents and forming a personal identity are but a few examples. For a physically disabled youth who cannot venture far from care-taking adults, adolescence can be a disaster. Unrealistic academic, social, or family expectations can create a strong sense of rejection and can lead to deep disappointment. When things go wrong at school or at home, teens often overreact. Many young people feel that life is not fair or that things “never go their way”. They feel “stressed out” and confused. The study of psychological state of such Physically Challenged and Non-Physically Challenged adolescents is the main aim of the present paper. The sample of thirty Physically Challenged and thirty Non-Physically Challenged adolescents were selected from Udaipur city of Rajasthan. The Eight State Questionnaire by Cattell adapted by Kapoor and Bhargava is used for determining psychological state of Physically Challenged and Non-physically Challenged. The results are interpreted with a vision to understand the psychological state of Physically Challenged and Non-Physically Challenged adolescents in terms of anxiety, stress, depression, regression, guilt, fatigue, extraversion and arousal state. It was found that Physically Challenged adolescents have more anxiety, stress, fatigue and arousal than Non-Physically Challenged adolescents. While, non- Physically Challenged adolescents have more depression, guilt and extraversion. The paper is a step to understand the psyche of Physically Challenged and Non-Physically Challenged adolescents and to suggest need based intervention program (based on counseling) to be used for all members of society. The paper also throws light for making Physically Challenged adolescents empowered so that they pave a path for progressive nation.