Psychological Well-Being and Adolescents Mental Disorders - Assignment Example

Psychological well-being and adolescents mental disorders. Name: Institution: Tutor Date: Abstract. Mental illness has been identified recently among the young people aged between 13-17 years in South Australia. Researches have also identified that heavy resources are being used in curing illness which could have been prevented using less costly measures. PERMA model has been identified to be the best method of enhancing psychological well-being. The research aims at identifying the best PERMA method to be put into use. It was identified that different mental states are significantly related to one another. The research also revealed that there is significant relationship between gender, age and psychological well-being; at F(1,175)=0.609, P=0.469. The result also identified that the best predictor of the psychological well-being among the PERMA model components is positive emotions. Enhancing positive emotions increases the psychological well-being. The research also shows that different PERMA methods could be appropriate for different gender or age group. Extensive research should therefore be done to identify the best PERMA method at different age or gender groups. Introduction Different adolescents’ have different mental health state, as changes in the body impact their psychological wellbeing. Given the fact that there has been increased financial, physical and emotional burden related to mental illness, increases the need to focus positively psychologically. Different elements have been associated with positive psychological focus as a way of reducing mental illness. Development of the five PERMA elements enhances the human mental wellbeing as one perceives things positively. The five PERMA essential elements are very crucial in enhancing happy life when focused critically and impact individuals’ psychological wellbeing differently. There has been a debate that PERMA elements affect different gender and age groups different. Adolescents from different age groups have also been affected by the elements differently in enhancing their psychological well-being. However there has been a need for designing and inventing elements necessary for health promotions, hence different elements should be analyzed effectively to identify the element which is necessary for the health intervention and which acts as the best prediction on the adolescence psychological wellbeing. Different researches have been conducted in relation to the adolescents and the factors affecting the adolescence psychological wellbeing in relation to age and gender. The research therefore aims at identifying which element of the positive functioning affects psychological wellbeing the most. Adolescent has been identified as the beginning of the mental disorders hence the best element of positive functioning should be identified as it could be very useful in enhancing their positive behavior during developments (Pitman & Philips, 2007). There will also be identification of the relationship between element- positive functioning and participants’ age and gender. Different factors have also been associated with individuals’ wellbeing like societal context, age, sex and body development among adolescents. Gray and Leland (2008) in their research on adolescence psychological well-being on boys and girls and causes for the variation they reported that girls are more affected by emotional, physical and psychological changes in their body as opposed to boys. They also identified that slight physical changes in body affects girls at very higher margin compared to boys during adolescents. Perez, (2012) claims that psychological wellbeing is a situation where by feelings of happiness is overstated by negative feelings. In his research in identifying whether there is gender difference in different aspects of psychological wellbeing. He found out that there is gender difference in aspects like relationship with others, peer relationship and life purpose and meaningfulness and quality of interpersonal relationship depicted by an individual are termed as major components of psychological wellbeing. Salami, (2011) in his research to identify major personal factors affected psychological wellbeing on adolescents. The research revealed that there is significant relationship between emotional intelligence and personal factors on psychological well-being. Salami also found out that little has been done in relation to the adolescent psychological well-being and he advocated for further research to enhance implication as it will provide necessary information for identifying the best method for enhancing emotional health. Goossens, Soenens and Duriez (2005) in their research they reported that there is gender difference among the youths as far as psychological well-being and positive relations and emotions are concerned. They also identified that female are more emotional as opposed to male participants. Positive and negative emotions have been categorized to be not associated with gender difference in their effects to psychological well-being. Roothman and Colleagues (2007) in their research did not identify gender difference on negative and positive perceptions. Chez (1999) reported that there is gender difference between self-esteem, positive relationship and emotional autonomy in relation to adolescence psychological well- being. Recent study conducted by (Venning, Wilson, Kettler, & Eliott ( in press) showed that large proportion of young people in south Australia between 13-17year are engaged in certain health risk behaviors. Adolescence is a period which depicts high level of vulnerability to mental disorders and other health risk issues and might impact individuals’ future development. Adolescent is also seen as the best stage for development and enduring of positive mental health. Few researches have been conducted to identify how element-positively functioning best impacts the psychological well-being of the adolescents in southern Australia. Research questions. i. Describe the percentage of adolescence within mental health states. ii. Is there significant relationship between psychological wellbeing and age and gender. iii. Which of the PERMA measure best describes the psychological wellbeing and which independent variable best predict dependent variables. Methods. Participants. The research was conducted on youths within adolescence stage for different regions. Total of 178 respondents were selected through stratified sampling techniques. The participants ranged between 13-17 years old, with 108 of them being female and 70 male. Regardless of gender all the participants were approached and treated in accordance to research code of Measures. The following scales were used to measure variables under study in identifying participant’s psychological wellbeing. Psychological wellbeing scale was employed with eighteen questions and six subscales scored on a six point likert scale. Social wellbeing scale was also employed with 5 subscales which were scored in 6 point likert scale. Depression anxiety stress scale was also employed in answering 21 questions, with three scales and scored at 4 point likert scale. Satisfaction with life scale measure was used in answering questions, 5 scales which was scored at 7 point likert scale. Other scales employed included positive emotion scale, short flow scale, social support appraisal scale, meaning in life scale and accomplishment scale. Procedure. The researcher was conducted by the psychological course students who were directed to identify a participant between 13 to 17 years and who should not be their close relatives. The collected and filled up questionnaire where submitted to Results. Reporting the percentage of adolescents within different mental health states the research indicates that different participants lied within different mental health states. Psycowell has the highest means of 79.8034 and Std=10.5027 and Grit is lowest with 3.0765 and STD=.5969. Relationship between the different mental health states was also established. The relationship between psychological well-being and gender as well as age differences was also established. Reporting the two way analysis to identify the impact gender and age have on psychological well-being the results are as below. The results showed an F(1,175)=0.602 and P=0.439. compared to alpha value of 0.05. In identifying the best PERMA measure which predicts psychological well-being the results are as below: Discussion and conclusion The research questions were fully tested in the report. The report was aiming at identifying the PERMA variable which is the best predictor of the psychological well-being. Different variables have affected psychological well-being among the adolescence. The result shows that the mental health status with higher percentage of adolescent is the psychological well-being. Depression, stress, flow, grit and anxiety are the states which have lowers percentage of adolescence. This indicates that different adolescence groups have different mental health states. The results have also revealed that there is significant relationship between different mental health states. Pearson correlation scores show that there is positive relationship between PERMA elements and psychological well-being. At 0.01 and 0.05 significant level the two tailed test shows that there is no significant difference between the variables. A Pearson correlation show there is relationship between different mental states the significant test reveals that the relationship is not significant at most variables. Satisfaction, psychological well-being, social well-being, depression, mental health group, flow and grit have no significant relationship with other mental states. This indicates that certain mental state can be achieved as it is not significantly affected by other states. This will enhance proper implementation of the best PERMA tool as correlation tends to impact the achievement of actual results. The results also revealed that there is significant relationship between psychological well-being with gender and age. Different age groups are affected differently by the negative or positive emotions they experience in life. This also impacts the weight at which depression or any other form of mental illness affects the body. Therefore this indicates that different PERMA tool requires being used at different genders and different age levels as a way of promoting mental health in southern Australia. In identifying the best PERMA measure which best predicts psychological well-being of the adolescents’, the results revealed that positive emotions is the largest predictor proportion of the psychological well-being with bet coefficient of 0.370. This revealed that positive emotions are very crucial in enhancing individuals’ mental health. The second best predictor is accomplishment followed by engagement, then relationship, and lastly meaning in life. Negative emotions has been revealed as a way of reducing psychological well-being hence it is necessary for the parties participating in eliminating the mental illness and disorders among the adolescents to look for the best ways to enhance positive emotions and reduce the negative emotions. With increased level of mental disorders as revealed by previous researchers the best method of curbing mental disorders among the youths should always be established as adolescent are the development stage and the onset for mental disorders. Resources which has been used to curb and cure mental illness like depression has increased spontaneously, this could be due to lack of relevant measures which could be used as a way of eradicating mental illness at early stages apart from curing it when it develops as it requires a lot of resources. It has been identified that promotion of psychological well-being will be used as the best methods of eradicating future issues which could have been curbed at early stages. Flourishing in life mental illness in future could be prevented by building PERMA on individuals, as PERMA provides necessary and adequate information concerning adolescents and theorist which are underpin to enhance flourishing. The research has therefore identified and concluded that PERMA measures could be adequate in enhancing psychological wellbeing, with promotion of positive emotions being the identified best measure to put into use. Therefore measures related to promoting positive emotions should be put forward and be put into use as a way of enhancing mental health and psychological well-being among the adolescents aged between 13-17 years. References. Chen, Z. (1999). A gender comparison on the association of adolescent emotional autonomy with educational expectations and self-esteem. Applied behavioural science review, 7:(1):1-21. Goossens, L. Soenens, B. & Duriez, B. (Feb, 2005). Social-Psychological profiles of identity styles: attitudinal and Social-cognitive correlates in late adolescence. Journal of adolescence. Vol 28(1):107-128. Gray L. & Leland, H. (July 2008). Overweight status and psychological well-being in adolescents’ boys and girls: a multilevel analysis. European Journal of public health.18 (6): 616-621. Philips, M. & Pitman F. (2007). Adolescent psychological well-being by identifying style journal of adolescence.Vol 30(6):1021-1034. Roothman, B., Kirsten, D. & Wissing, M. (2003). Gender differences in aspects of psychological well-being. South African Journal of Psychology. V33 (4):212-218. Venning, A., Wilson, A., Kettler, L., & Eliott, J. (in press) Mental Health among Youth in South Australia: A survey of Flourishing, Languishing, Struggling, and Floundering. Australian Psychologist. Read More