Psychological Well-Being Among the School-Going Adolescents of Assam During Covid 19 Pandemic

Abstract

The Corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic has unleashed a tsunami of challenges for humanity over the last two years.COVID-19 has had a significant impact on people's lives all across the world, especially children and adolescents. The presented study examined the association of psychological well-being with parenting styles, perceived stress and loneliness among school-going adolescents of Assam during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, 200 school-going adolescents were chosen from four schools in Dibrugarh district, Assam. The purposive sampling technique was used for data collection using standardized scales like Parental Authority Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Questionnaire, UCLA Loneliness Scale, and Psychological Well-being Scale. The quantitative results of the study showed that there was a significant relationship between dimensions of parenting styles, perceived stress, loneliness and psychological well-being. Hierarchical regression showed that permissive parenting style and perceived stress significantly predicted psychological well-being among school-going adolescents. Moreover, gender differences in different dimensions of parenting styles showed that adolescent girls scored high on authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles, while adolescent boys scored high on permissive parenting style. In addition, adolescent girls scored high on perceived stress, loneliness and different dimensions of psychological well-being than adolescent boys. Furthermore, using thematic analysis five main themes were identified: personal problems faced by adolescents, physical and mental health, loneliness, socialization, and fear. Moreover, the students experienced decreased communications with peers, and home confinements during the pandemic, thereby undergoing feelings of loneliness. Although positive parenting ensures developmental outcomes in children and adolescents, it might be difficult to maintain healthier psychological well-being during the COVID-19 crisis. As such, along with a better quality of the home environment, parents could acknowledge their children's emotions and provide age-appropriate information as well as offer access to psychosocial support. Key Words: COVID-19 pandemic, parenting styles, perceived stress, loneliness, school-adolescents, psychological well-being