ISSN: 2320-9038 Volume 5, Issue 1 (2017)
____________________________________________________ Page 618
Guru Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Psychosocial Problems, Help-Seeking Behaviour and Resilience among
Students in schools with no Psychologist
Santhosh, K. R* and Ngullie, T**
*Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Christ University, Bengaluru, Karnataka – 560029.
**Special Teacher, Christian Institute of Health Sciences & Research, Dimapur, Nagaland – 797115
Received: 27 Jan 2017
Revised: 12 Feb 2017
Accepted: 20 Feb 2017
Keywords:
Help seeking behaviour,
Psycho-social problems,
Resilience, Students,
Psychologist
Abstract
The psychosocial problems and help seeking behaviour among students in the schools with no
psychologist were investigated. A purposive sample of 209 students, from different private
schools with no psychologist at Kohima district in the state of Nagaland, India, was chosen for
the study. Multi-Problem Screening Inventory (MPSI), General Help-seeking Questionnaire-
Vignette Version (GHSQ-V), and Bharathiar University Resilience Scale were used to
measure the variables. Males were identified to be significantly different from females in their
problems with school, aggression, alcohol abuse and drug abuse. Significant sex differences
were seen in help seeking behaviour to a friend not closely related to them, to parent, and
others. Resilience was significantly negatively related to depression, reduced self-esteem,
problems with mother, problems with father, personal stress, problems with, suicidal, feelings
of guilt, problems with school, confused thinking, and disturbing thoughts.
© 2017 Guru Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Psychosocial problems include personality and presence of psychiatric disorder, as well
as family, peer and other environmental factors that shall increase the risk of an individual
developing an addictive disorder (Institute of Medicine, 1987). Common psychosocial problems
noted among the students include depression, low self-esteem (Reddy, Rhodes, & Muhall,
2003), bullying, suicidal ideation (Kiltiala-Heino, Rimpela, Marttunen, Rimpela, & Rantanen,
1999), stress, faulty coping strategies, tensed family relationships (Ng & Hurry, 2011), self-
derogation, peer influenced social control (Kalpan, Martin, & Robbins, 1984), alcohol use and
drug abuse (Ross, Richard, &Potvin, 1998). Resources, either external or internal, shall help
students maintain resilience, the ability to face and respond to changing situational demands
and to bounce back from negative emotional experiences (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004).
External resources include support from parents, siblings, neighbours (Conger & Conger, 2002),
school and peer support (O'Donnell, Schwab-Stone, & Muyeed, 2002), social support (Smith &
Carlson, 1997), positive child-hood development (Lee, Kwong, Cheung, Ungar & Cheung,
2010), parental involvement, parent's values about school, parental expectations about the
student, involvement in religion, involvement in prosocial activities, close ties to an adult
outside the family (Smith, Thornberry, Krohn, & Lizotte, 1995), etc. High self esteem (Dumont
& provost, 1999), active and internal coping strategies (Krenke, Aunola & Nurmi, 2009), good
learning and problem solving capacity, perceived efficacy valued by self or society (Masten,
Best, and Garmezy, 1990), and so on were identified to be the internal resources.
There are some factors that can challenge and thereby depose resilience. These factors
include domestic violence (Torteya, Bogat, Eye, & Levendosky, 2009), stressful situations
(Krenke, Aunola, & Nurmi, 2009), unhealthy life style factors such as substance use, low
physical activity (Skrove, Romundstad & Indredavik, 2013), increasing adversity (Lee, Kwong,
Cheung, Ungar & Cheung, 2010), economic deprivation, less social network (Benard, 1991), etc.
These factors can lead to psychosocial problems also. For instance, poor interpersonal
interactions with parents, peers and life events show the way to depression, which in turn leads
to suicidal ideation (Kandel, Raveis & Davies, 1991). Due to low resilience, students may lack
Guru Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Volume 5 Issue 1(Jan –Mar, 2017)
ISSN: 2320-9038 www.gjbss.org