ADOLESCENTS ’ MENTAL HEALTH AND HEALTH LOCUS OF CONTROL

Abstract

The purposes of the study were to explore the gender and age differences in negative mental health of Korean adolescents, to identify the relationship between negative mental health and health locus of control. 2,124 adolescents randomly selected from junior high and high schools in Seoul were surveyed. Two Korean-version instruments were used to identify negative mental health and health locus of control of adolescents. Results indicated that there were significant differences in adolescents' negative mental health across gender and ages. Furthermore, results revealed that the adolescents’ negative mental health were statistically correlated with the sub-domains of health locus of control. For Korea, this study has the potential to influence the development of better mental health education programs for adolescents. INTRODUCTION It has been widely witnessed that a surprising number of adolescents suffer emotional and mental dysfunction. Of added importance is the fact that such turmoil is very often carried over into adulthood with serious implications for adjustment during the post-adolescent years. Mental health problems presenting during the adolescent years may represent persistence of problems which arose in childhood or the onset of new illness. These mental health problems generally include interpersonal sensitivity, loneliness, stress, depression, anxiety, hostility, attention deficiency, and are sometimes associated with suicide1)2). Raphael reported that anxiety, depression and adjustment problems were the major examples of negative mental health which frequently occurred during adolescence. Within adolescent health, mental health is an issue and the behavioral outcomes of this issue are reflected in the mortality and morbidity statistics3). Nancarrow in an Australian community sample, indicated that a large number of students were concerned with general mental health problems. The results pointed out that an estimated 53 percent of students were concerned about feeling depressed; 50 percent were concerned about emotional upsets; and, 48 percent had negative feeling about themselves or aspects of their life. Such mental health problems are universal, caused by lack of social competence, uncertainty of future and life goal, low self-actualization and bad peer relationships4). In the latest study, McCauley et al. investigated gender differences in adolescents’ mental health. Authors, in this study, indicated that female adolescents reported significantly lower level of self-confidence and substantially higher level of depression and anxiety than did males5). Concerning the age differences of adolescents’ mental health, Neto and Barros noted that the students in early adolescence reported higher scores for loneliness and anxiety in social anxiety scale than did those in late adolescence6). Factors that impinge upon and effect mental health of adolescents can be related to issues from the emotional, social, psychological and behavioral domains. Available studies regarding adolescents’ mental health and their psychological attributes have indicated the significant relationships between those factors. Nada-Raja, McGee and Williams examined health beliefs of adolescents regarding mental health. In this study, male students had stronger and simultaneous beliefs in internal, chance and powerful others locus of control than females. Females differed significantly from males in that they believed good mental health was associated with external locus of control. Although there were statistically significant sex differences in locus of control about mental health, these differences were not enough to be considered meaningful7). In the latest study, argued that health locus of control construct was substantially correlated with adolescents’ mental health problems. Among three sub-domains of health locus of control, in special, internal health locus of control was strongly correlated with depression and anxiety, meanwhile powerful health locus of control had also significant correlation with anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity2). [Kim., 2(9): September, 2015] ISSN 2349-4506 Impact Factor: 2.265 Global Journal of Engineering Science and Research Management http: // www.gjesrm.com © Global Journal of Engineering Science and Research Management [15] In this regard, health locus of control that influence mental health of the adolescents in the different cultures have frequently been identified. However, the same level of research has not been focused on the Korean adolescent populations. The purposes of the study were to explore the gender and age differences in negative mental health of Korean adolescents and to identify the relationship between negative mental health and health locus of control.