A Comparative Study of Mental Health of Teenage Boys and Girls

The concept of mental health is as old as human beings. It includes those behaviors, perception and feelings that determine a person's overall level of personal effectiveness, well being, success, life satisfaction and excellence of functioning as a person. The objective of the study is to find out well being, life satisfaction, depression and aggression in teenage boys and girls. It further aims to find out whether teenage boys and girls exhibit same level of mental health or there are differences. This explorative study was carried out in urban area of Jind (Haryana), with a sample of 100 teenagers, from middle socioeconomic group, in the age range of 17 to 19 years. PGI General well being scale, Life satisfaction scale, Beck Inventory, Aggression Questionnaire were administered individually to each participant. Mean, SDs and t test revealed that non significant difference emerged on well being, life satisfaction, depression and aggression in both groups. Correlational analysis revealed highly significant positive relation between life satisfaction and well being. Aggression and depression were also found to be positively related. Results further indicated that well being is negatively correlated with both depression and aggression.