Academic Stress, Family Environment and Self Esteem as Predictors of Depression and Suicide Ideation in Adolescents

Abstract

The present research was carried out to examine the role of academic stress, family environment and self-esteem on depression and suicide ideation in adolescents. The purpose of the study was to examine the role of several variables like academic stress, family environment, and self-esteem as predictors of depression among middle to late adolescents comprising of the age group of 15- 20 years and the role of depression in suicide ideation. 400 male and female high school students from urban and rural areas, ICSE board and STATE board were selected for the study. The assessment was done with the help of the Academic Stress Scale (ASS), Family Environment Scale (FES), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Rosenberg Self –Esteem Scale and the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSI). The quantitative data was interpreted using the norms of the tests and the raw scores were obtained. Scores for the quantitative analysis were analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20. Descriptive statistics such as percentage mean and the standard deviation was used. Data were calculated by using the Levine test, Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), Carl Pearson Correlations, Regression, and t- test. The results indicated that there was no significant correlation between academic stress, depression, and suicide ideation. The various dimensions of the family environment scale, which includes dimensions like cohesion dimension, expressiveness dimension, acceptance, and caring dimension, independence dimension, active-recreational orientation dimension, organization dimension, control dimension of family environment scale, had no significant correlation with depression and suicide ideation. A significant negative correlation between the conflict dimension of the family environment scale and depression was found in the study. The research study also indicated that there was no significant correlation between the conflict dimension of the family environment scale and suicide ideation. The results indicated a significant difference in self-esteem where the self-esteem of girls being higher than boys is. There was no significant difference between boys and girls in terms of dimensions of cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, acceptance, active recreation, organization, and control in the family environment scale, although there was a significant difference between boys and girls in the independence dimension of the family environment scale. A significant difference was found between boys and girls in depression where the scores of the girls indicated higher than boys. The interpreted scores also revealed that no significant difference existed between boys and girls in suicide ideation. Keywords: Academic Stress, Family Environment, Cohesion, Expressiveness, Depression, Suicide ideation