Impact of Prolonged Deprivation on Mental Health of Widows and Half-Widows in Kashmir Valley

Objective: Mental health is not just the evasion of serious mental illness. Individual’s mental health is influenced by various factors in his everyday life. Present day’s mental illnesses are commonly found among people globally. Researcher’s show that one out of every two adults is mentally disturbed, about 45% of adult population in Kashmir has mental distress. This paper is an endeavour to consider the impact of prolonged deprivation and widow type on mental health. Method: This study depends on sample of 60 subjects separated into two equivalent group’s widow type (widows and half widows) and the period of deprivation (10 years and 15 years of deprivation). Mental health scale developed and standardized by Dr. Jagadish and Dr. A. K. Srivastava was used for data collection. For statistical analysis Mean and Two Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were applied. Findings: The results reveal that both experimental variables (widow type and period of deprivation) have significant effect on criterion variable (Mental Health). Conclusion: On the basis of our findings it is concluded that half widows have poor mental health than widow, simultaneously those widows and half widows who are deprived since 15 years have poor mental health than those deprived since 10 years.