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The Study was conducted to find the effect of Emotional Maturity on Academic stress, Peer Pressure and Social Competence. The sample included 209 students studying in II PU. Emotional Maturity Scale by Singh and Bhargava (1991), Peer Pressure Scale by Singh and Saini (2010), Student’s Stress Scale by Akhtar (2011) and Social Competence Scale by Sharma and Rani (2013) was used to collect the data. The results of the study indicates that the sample of the study was found to be Extremely Emotionally Immature, above average level of Academic Stress, moderate levels of Social Competence and higher level of Peer Pressure. Emotional Maturity was found to facilitate handling Academic Stress and Social Competence and doesn’t facilitate handling Peer Pressure among adolescents.
Introduction
Adolescents’ are characterized by heightened Emotionality, which may be the result of physical, psychological or environmental causes, which leads to upset homeostasis, predisposes them to accidents, decreases mental efficiency (memory, concentration and reasoning), increases rigidity, narrows the perceptual field and decreases ability to respond to environment clues, affects school work and social adjustment.
Adolescence is the time of rapid social development as adolescents are able to identify themselves by interacting with others. Peer group is the adolescent’s real word and it provides a stage for new experimentation. Peer group members who are presumably their equals formulate, evaluate and modify the self-concept of adolescents. Social competence is the amalgam of social, emotional and cognitive skills and behaviours that one needs to have for a sound social adaptation. Peer group provides a different world to get socialized with the value set by others who are of same age but not by the adults. Academic Stress has become the integral part of Adolescent’s academic life due to the expectations placed upon them by self, parents as well as teachers. Adolescents’ in particularly are more vulnerable to the problems associated with Academic Stress, as adolescence is the transitional period.
Review of Literature
Kaur (2018) conducted a study to understand the relationship between Social Competence and Emotional Maturity among adolescents. Sample of the study included 100 students randomly drawn from government and private senior secondary schools of Mohali. The findings revealed that Emotionally Mature adolescents’ had more Social Competence and vice-versa. There was no significant gender difference in Social Competence and Emotional Maturity among adolescents and Type of School (Government and private) had no impact on both the variables.
Deb (1985) conducted a study to explore the personality variables associated with adjustment. The study was conducted on Females (aged 18–20 years) attending 1st-yr degree classes at a college in Calcutta, India. Results indicate that Emotional Maturity, extroversion, self-assurance, self-confidence, sociability, and achievement motivation were significantly associated with different dimensions of adjustment.
Sharma (2012) conducted a comparative study on college adjustment processes and Emotional Maturity between first and final year Female students enrolled in different undergraduate courses offered by colleges affiliated with University of Rajasthan in Jaipur city. Data was collected using Adjustment Inventory for College Students and Emotional Maturity Scale (Singh & Bhargava, 1991). Results indicated that the first year undergraduate students were less emotionally mature, and had difficulty in adjusting emotionally and socially to the changing demands of the environment and faced more academic difficulty as compared to final year students. The final year students were more socially adjusted and more integrated into the social fabric of the college
Methodology
Aim
To study the effect of Emotional Maturity on Academic Stress, Peer Pressure and Social Competence among Adolescents.
Hypotheses
- Emotional Maturity facilitates handling Academic Stress among Adolescents.
- Emotional Maturity facilitates handling Peer Pressure among Adolescents.
- Emotional Maturity facilitates Social Competence among Adolescents.
Emotional Maturity was assessed using Emotional Maturity Scale developed by Singh and Bhargava (1991) according to which scores ranging from 107-204 indicates extreme emotional immaturity and scores ranging from 50-80 indicates extreme Emotional Maturity. The mean score obtained by the sample was found to be 113.59 with a standard deviation of 23.71. Referring to the norms, the obtained mean score indicates that the sample was found to be Extremely Emotionally Immature. The result of the present study is in accordance with study on adolescents by Subbarayan and Visvanathan (2011) who found a higher degree of Immaturity among adolescents.
Academic Stress is a demand related to academics that tax or exceed the available resources (internal or external) as cognitively appraised by the student involved. Academic Stress was assessed using Students Stress Scale developed by Akhtar (2011). High score on this test means high stress and low score means low stress. In the absence of norms for Academic Stress scale, level of Academic Stress was considered based on the theoretical range i.e the minimum possible score is 51 and the maximum possible score is 255. The mean score obtained by the sample was found to be 161.29 with the standard deviation of 22.52. The obtained mean score indicates that the sample had above average level of Academic Stress.
Peer Pressure was assessed using Peer Pressure Scale developed by Singh and Saini (2010). Based on the norms given by the authors, scores ranging from 72 and above indicate high Peer Pressure and scores ranging from 55 and below indicate low Peer Pressure. The obtained mean score of the sample was found to be 71.74 which is closer to higher level of Peer Pressure (72) with the standard deviation of 12.79. The obtained mean score of the sample was found to be closer to higher level of Peer Pressure (72). Hence, the obtained mean score can be interpreted as high level of Peer Pressure.
Social Competence was assessed using Social Competency Scale developed by Sharma and Rani (2013). Based on the norms given by the authors, scores ranging from 168-188 indicates very good Social Competency and scores ranging from 47-77 indicates very poor Social Competency. The obtained mean score of the sample was found to be 134.78 with the standard deviation of 11.46. Referring to the norms the obtained mean score indicate that adolescents of the present study had average level of Social Competence.
Hypothesis 1
Adolescence being the stage of emotional turbulence, level of Emotional Maturity was perceived to influence the intensity of Academic Stress experienced by adolescence. Thus in the present study the researcher adopts directional hypothesis that “Emotional Maturity facilitates handling Academic Stress among Adolescents” is tested by computing F-ratio.
There were 14 respondents with relatively high Emotional Maturity had mean Academic Stress of 144.21with a standard deviation of 27.20, there were 77 respondents with moderate Emotional Maturity had mean Academic Stress score of 155.35 with a standard deviation of 21.22 and 118 respondents had low Emotional Maturity had mean Academic Stress score of 167.19 with a standard deviation of 20.83. Respondents with relatively high Emotional Maturity were found to have low Academic Stress level when compared to the respondents with relative low Emotional Maturity. However the degree of individual differences in terms of S.D is found to be more among participants with high Emotional Maturity compared to moderate and low Emotionally Mature participants. The observed difference in the mean score of Academic Stress among the three groups is further tested for its statistical significance using F-test and the obtained F-ratio of 11.86 is found to be significant at 0.01level. Thus the hypothesis 1 which states that “Emotional Maturity facilitates handling Academic Stress among Adolescents” is accepted. However, on the contrary study conducted by Pastey and Aminbhavi (2006) show an opposite finding in relation to present study and study by Rosa and Preethi (2012) have found a negligible relationship between Emotional Maturity and Academic Stress.
The primary reason of the finding of the present study is as follows. Respondents with low Emotional Maturity have high level of Academic Stress as they have reported that they are more worried about future, have an inferiority feeling, being lost in day dreaming and being submissive etc., (cited from responses to Emotional Maturity Scale items)
Academic problems of Adolescents’ include homework, lack of time, inability to concentrate, memory problems, difficulty in subjects, examination anxiety, fear of failure, getting up early in the morning, pressure to study, concentrating for longer college hours, financial issue (Latha & Reddy, 2006; Patel, et.al., 2007). Academic requirement is one of the most important and frequently reported causes for stress among students of all age groups. Further, in the context of Indian education system +2 is one of the most important stage as further academic and vocational progress found to be contingent upon the performance during this stage. Hence, this stage is found to be more prone to Academic Stress (Latha & Reddy, 2006). In addition, higher level of Academic Stress could be due to an abrupt change from school, high expectations of teachers and parents, forming and finding new friends etc.
The stressors among students include the physical and psychological changes, life events (Isakson & Jarvis, 1999) along with the day to day stressors such as conflicts in relationships, academic requirements and daily hassles (Sim, 2000. as cited in Manjula, 2016). Connor-Smith, et.al., (2000) found that among the daily hassles, Academic Stress is the most frequently reported factor contributing to distress among the college students. Adolescents with good skills in regulating emotions tend to experience less Academic Stress (Akgun & Ciarrochi, 2003) and thus did not get adversely impacted by the Academic Stress. Based on the above research evidences the finding of the present study is justified.
Hypothesis 2
Adolescence is a period of emotional turbulence. One of the major forces that lead to either conformity or non-conformity is influenced by the degree of Peer Pressure the individual has. This tends to depend on social needs of the individual concerned. Hence in the present study researcher adopts directional hypothesis stating that “Emotional Maturity facilitates handling Peer Pressure among Adolescents” is tested by computing F-ratio.
The level of Peer Pressure among three subgroups of Emotional Maturity. There were 14 respondents with relatively high Emotional Maturity had a mean Peer Pressure score of 68.93 with a standard deviation of 12.77, there were 77 respondents with relatively moderate Emotional Maturity had a mean Peer Pressure score of 72.51 with a standard deviation of 13.41 and 118 respondents had relatively low Emotional Maturity had a mean Peer Pressure score of 71.58 with a standard deviation of 12.43. Respondents with relatively high Emotional Maturity were found to have low Peer Pressure when compared to the respondents with low Emotional Maturity. However the degree of individual differences in terms of S.D is found to be more among participants with moderate Emotional Maturity compared to participants with high and low Emotionally Mature participants. The observed difference in the mean score of Peer Pressure among the three groups is further tested using F-test and the obtained F-ratio of .48 is found to be not significant. Thus the hypothesis 2 which states that “Emotional Maturity facilitates handling Peer Pressure among Adolescents” is rejected. The reasons for the observed contrary results are as follows. Adolescence is characterised by emotional ups and downs, but how well an individual becomes emotionally mature depends up on the nature of emotional experiences one experiences by the peer group. The study conducted by Lashbrook (2000) revealed that Adolescents who experience emotions like ridicule, rejection, humiliation tend to be more Emotionally Mature, hence it is hypothesised that Emotional Maturity facilitates handling Peer Pressure among Adolescents. However, the Peer Pressure Scale gives a measure of susceptibility for Peer Pressure rather than impact of Peer Pressure resulting in rejection of the hypothesis. Though the obtained F-ratio is not statistically significant, it is clear that the subgroup of the sample having high Emotional Maturity found to have low Peer Pressure compared to the other two groups. Components of Emotional Maturity such as being determined, having strong will power, having mental balance would have contributed to handle Peer Pressure among participants with high Emotional Maturity.
Hypothesis 3
Social adjustment is one of the difficult developmental tasks during adolescence, especially with regard to forming new relationship with opposite gender, adults outside the family and in new academic environment (Santrock, 2008). One needs to have control over their emotional expressions to adapt to new social environment. Thus in the present study researcher adopts the directional hypothesis that “Emotional Maturity facilitates Social Competence among Adolescents”, is tested by computing F-ratio.
There were 14 respondents with relatively high Emotional Maturity had mean Social Competence score of 140.86 with a standard deviation of 16.58, there were 77 respondents with relatively moderate Emotional Maturity had a mean Social Competence score of 136.97 with a standard deviation of 12.06 and 118 respondents had relatively low Emotional Maturity had mean Social Competence score of 132.63 with a standard deviation of 9.82. Respondents with relatively high Emotional Maturity were found to have high Social Competence when compared to the respondents with low Emotional Maturity. However the degree of individual differences in terms of S.D is found to be more among participants with high Emotional Maturity compared to moderate and low Emotionally Mature participants. The observed difference in the mean score of Social Competence among the three groups was further tested using F-test and the obtained F-ratio of 5.7 is found to be significant at 0.01level. Thus the hypothesis 3 which states that “Emotional Maturity facilitates Social Competence among Adolescents” is accepted. The obtained results are in accordance with the previous research findings (Kaur, 2018)
Conclusions
The sample of the study was found to be Extremely Emotionally Immature. The sample of the study was found to have above average level of Academic Stress. The sample of the study was found to have moderate levels of Social Competence. The sample of the study was found to have higher level of Peer Pressure.
Hypothesis 1 which states that “Emotional Maturity facilitates handling Academic Stress among Adolescents” was accepted. Hypothesis 2 which states that “Emotional Maturity facilitates handling Peer Pressure among adolescents” was rejected. Hypothesis 3 which states that “Emotional Maturity facilitates Social Competence among Adolescents” was accepted.
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