The Impact of Socio-Economic Conditions and School Types on Adolescent Mental Health

Abstract

Despite notable improvements in literacy rates and educational enrolment in recent decades, India still encounters significant obstacles preventing many from accessing quality education. Academic institutes and socio-economic conditions play important roles; this also teaches us to cope with stress and helps to develop well-being. The present study compared the socioeconomic condition and mental health status of the respondents. This study adopted a quantitative descriptive research design. The current study findings indicate that socioeconomic status influences adolescents’ mental health. The study findings show that private school respondents have significantly higher psychological well-being since they have good socioeconomic conditions. More importantly, it is observed that the public-school respondents have low socioeconomic conditions, reported low scores in psychological wellbeing, and significantly high psychological distress. It clearly shows that socioeconomic conditions affect the mental health of individuals in society. The current study aims to understand the socio-economic conditions, to assess psychological well-being, psychological distress, association between socio-economic conditions and mental health among private and government school going adolescents.