A Study of mental health relation to quality of life and coping strategies of adolescents

Abstract

Adolescence is a phase in the life span of an individual when he or she is confronted by a series of developmental hurdles and challenges. Each of these developments and adaptations requires an ability to cope, that is, cognitive and behavioral strategies for effective transition and adaptation. newlineThe present study aims at investigating mental health in relation to quality of life and coping strategies of 450 adolescents in the state of Goa. The Personal Data Sheet, Mental Health Battery by A. K. Singh and Alpana Sen Gupta (2000), WHO s Quality of Life scale - BREF (WHOQOL - BREF) and the Adolescent Coping Scale by Frydenberg and Lewis (1993) were used to gather the research data. The variables were assessed on phases of adolescence, gender, mothers working status, type of family, birth order and coping strategies. newlinePercentage mapping, Pearson product moment correlational coefficient, One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Two Way Analysis of Variance, Post Hoc Analysis of Variance and t test were the statistically measures used. newlineThe findings were as follows: A percentage mapping on Quality of life across the three phases of adolescence indicated most adolescents perceive high and average quality of life with none showing in the low perception category. A percentage mapping on Coping strategies (General and Specific scales) across genders indicates a higher number of females use problem focused coping while the number of males using reference to others and non productive coping is higher. With regards to the phases of adolescence, significant differences were found on Mental health and all three Coping Strategies in both scales while no significant differences were found on Quality of Life. Gender analysis indicated significant differences in Mental Health. No significant differences were indicated on Mothers working status, family type and Birth order. Significant differences were reflected in Mental Health and Quality of Life with regards to the styles of Coping.