A comparative study of mental health of juvenile delinquent and normal adolescent

Abstract

Mental health plays a very significant role to decide the quality of life. Mental health is an expression of emotions and signifies a successful adaptation to a range of demands. A growing body of evidence indicates that mental disorders and criminal events are becoming increasingly numerous and serious among college students in developing countries like India. In today’s World of rapidly–rising crime in both rate of juvenile drug use and the rate of admission to residential treatment centers for emotionally disturbed children. The aim of the study is to find out the difference between juvenile delinquent and normal adolescent with six dimensions (emotional stability, over-all adjustment, autonomy, security-insecurity, self-concept and intelligence) of mental health battery developed by Arun Kumar Singh & Alpnana Sen Gupta. Samples of this study were selected 20 for juvenile delinquent and 20 for normal adolescent of both (male and female). Result of t-value show that total mental health scores were found significant (p<.01) but mean scores of some dimensions like: emotional stability, over-all adjustment, autonomy, security-insecurity and self-concept were found more effective in normal adolescents and dimension of  intelligence was better in juvenile delinquents.