Correlates of mental health among research students

Abstract

The investigation focused upon studying the correlates of mental health among research students. For this purpose, the study was designed to assess the differences on mental health, depression, anxiety, stress, quality of life, self-esteem and social support among fellowship holder and non-fellowship holder research students in Panjab University Chandigarh. Further the research was aimed to study the gender differences among research students. The total sample consisted of 400 research students selected from various departments under all the faculties of Panjab University Chandigarh. The sample was equally divided into fellowship holder (n=200) and non-fellowship holder (n=200) groups. Equal number of males and females were also included in the total sample. To newlinefulfil the objectives of the study raw scores were analysed with descriptive statistics, t-test, analysis of variance, inter-correlation analysis and stepwise regression analysis. The analysis was done using the classifications based on fellowship and gender. At a glance, the comparison between fellowship holder and non- fellowship holder research students display a significant difference where fellowship holders emerged to be better on mental health, quality of life and self-esteem whereas non-fellowship holders were found to be higher on depression, anxiety and perceived stress. Further, non-fellowship holders were prone to mental health difficulties than fellowship holders. Findings indicated that females suffer from poor mental health and perceive less social support than males. However, no significant differences were found on majority of the measured variables. Inter-correlation between mental health and rest of the variables indicated significantly positive correlation between mental health score, depression, anxiety, and perceived stress scores. Significant negative correlation was found between mental health score, quality of life, self-esteem and social support scores. Higher score is the indicator of poor mental health.