Study of Relationship between Mental Health and Assertiveness among Adolescents

It is estimated that around 20 per cent of the world’s adolescents have a mental health or behavioral problem. The prevalence of mental disorders among adolescents has increased in the past 20–30 years; the increase is attributed to disrupted family structures, and families’ unrealistic educational and vocational aspirations for their children. Assertive communication is the skill to speak and communicate in a manner that respects and look upon the rights and opinions of others while also standing up for your own rights, needs and personal boundaries. The purpose of the researchers was to find the relationship between mental health and level of assertiveness among adolescents. 80 college going students were randomly selected as the sample for research from Amity University Lucknow. Rathus assertiveness scale and Mental Health Inventory by Srivastava A. were used for assessing assertiveness and mental health among adolescents. Analysis was done using t-test to find gender differences among adolescents and Pearson r was used for assessing relation between both the variables. The result showed no significant gender difference among adolescents on assertiveness and mental health, but both the genders were found to be low assertive. Insignificant correlation was found on both the variables among adolescents.

• Mental health is indicated by the attitudes of the individual towards themselves • Mental health is expressed in the individual's style and degree of growth, development or self-actualization • Mental health is based on the individual's relation to reality in terms of autonomy, perception of reality, environmental mastery • Mental health is the ability of the individual to integrate developing and differing aspects of them over time.  Development of emotionality, creativity, intellect and spirituality.  Maintenance of mutually rewarding social relationship.  Ability to face problems and challenges without losing patience and respond to them with full strength and draw lessons for future.  Possessions of self-confidence, assertiveness, sensitivity and empathy with suffering of others.  Prepare constructively for joyful utilization of loneliness and participating in play and fun.  To laugh on the occasions which are really amusing, joyful, wonderful and amazing Even Jahoda (1958) conceptualized Mental Health in terms of characteristics of mentally healthy persons. Jahoda's perspective also provides a flavor of positive psychology to Mental Health. The six characteristics are- An attitude towards oneself in which self-inspection leads towards acceptance of weaknesses and pride in the strengths.  Growth and development towards understanding of one's potentialities, a blending of what one is in totality with what one might become.  Integration of personality involving a balance of cognitive, emotional and motivational aspects, thus making a unified outlook on life, as well as, some capacity to understand anxieties and stress.  Autonomy of action in which the individual determines behavior form within instead of drifting the impact of the environment.  A perception of reality which is relatively free from what one wishes things might be and which also tunes his attention and concern for the well-being of others.

Shamasundar (2008) in an in
Assertiveness can be understood as one's ability to directly express his/her feelings, desires and thoughts. Assertiveness is an important social skill which promotes personal well-being. Most definitions of assertiveness emphasize direct expression of feelings, desires and thoughts in interpersonal contexts. Eskin, (2003), Bijstra et al. (1994), Taylor et al., (2002), in studies have explored the relationship between assertiveness and mental health in adolescence and have found certain variables which influence assertiveness, including culture, self-esteem , psychological distress , depression , risk behaviour and gender.
Definitions of assertive behavior put an emphasis on individual rights. For instance, Alberti and Emmons (1990) stated that "assertive behavior pro-motes equality in human relationships, enabling us to act in our own best interests, to stand up for ourselves without undue anxiety, to express honest feelings comfortably, to exercise personal rights without denying the rights of others." For Galassi (1978), "assertion is the direct and appropriate communication of a person's needs, wants and opinions without punishing, threatening, putting down others, and doing this without fear during the process". According to a definition put forward by Lange and Jakubowski (1976), "assertiveness involves standing up for personal rights and expressing thoughts, feelings, and beliefs in direct, honest, and appropriate ways which do not violate another person's rights"

OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study was: 1. To study gender difference in mental health and assertiveness among adolescents. 2. To study relationship between mental health and assertiveness among adolescent.

VARIABLES
Variables of the study were as following: a) Independent variable: Gender -Biologically categorized as male and female gender is the independent variable in the present study. b) Dependent variable: 1) Mental health: Mental health has been operationally defined in present study in terms of scores obtained on the mental health inventory by Srivastava A. Higher score reflect better mental health. 2) Assertiveness: Assertiveness in present study is explained in terms of scores obtained on the Rathus Assertiveness Scale(RAS) by Spencer A. Rathus (1973). Scores can range from -90 to +90. Negative scores reflect no assertiveness and positive scores reflect assertiveness.

Sample:
The sample of the present study comprised of 80 adolescents (40 males and 40 females). They belong to age range of 18 to 21 years and were undergraduate students of following courses-  The mean of females and males on assertiveness variable was found to be -4.2000 and -4.3250 respectively, their S.D. was calculated which was found to be 13.20 for females and 13.799 for males. t score is .041 which is "not significant" at .05 level which means that there is no significant gender difference. This finding is supported by a study done by Karagözoğlu et al., (2008) found there are no significant gender differences in assertiveness. The negative mean scores means that both males and females are low-assertive. This may be due to Indian culture where people are traditional and they still follow patriarchal system. They have few rights to express themselves. Children in many region are still bound to follow elders without questioning. This finding is supported by following study: Furnham (1979) in a study with European, Indian and African nurses in South Africa, found Europeans to be the most assertive and Indians to be the least assertive.