Navigating Stress and Mental Health among Female College Students: A Comparative Study of Marital Status and Rural–Urban Residential Background

The mental health and well-being of college-going girls are a critical area of concern, as they face many stressors during this phase of life. The aim of the research is to explore the relationship between mental health and stress among college-going girls. Using purposive sampling, 100 college-going girls were selected from various government colleges in the district of Bhojpur, Bihar. Further, the sample was divided into two groups based on marital status: married (N=50) and unmarried (N=50). For data collection, the Stress Scale, developed by Dr. M. Singh (2002), was used to assess the level of stress, and the Mental Health Scale, developed by Dr. Kamlesh Sharma (2002), was used to evaluate the overall mental health of the participants. Correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between stress and mental health, and a Student t-test was used to compare the levels of stress and mental health between married and unmarried groups. The results showed a significant negative correlation between stress and mental health among overall college-going girls, an Insignificant negative correlation between stress and mental health among married girls, and a significant negative correlation between stress and mental health among unmarried girls. Further, a significant mean difference was found between married and unmarried college-going girls on the variables stress and mental health.