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Emotional Maturity and General Well-Being of Adolescents

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IOSR Journal Of Pharmacy www.iosrphr.org
(e)-ISSN: 2250-3013, (p)-ISSN: 2319-4219
Volume 8, Issue 5 Version. I (May 2018), PP. 01-06

Emotional Maturity and General Well-Being of Adolescents

Dr. Molly Joy1, Ms. Asha Mathew 2
1
HoDPsychology,KristuJayanti College Bangalore,
2
II year M.ScPsy

Abstract: This study aimed to find the relationship between emotional maturity and general well-being of
adolescents. Adolescence is the period of transition from child hood to adulthood, where there are various
changes in all the areas of life, which may have impact on adolescent’s life. Correlation within group design was
used to study Emotional Maturity and General Wellbeing of Adolescents”. Self-report questionnaires, and PGI
General Well-being Measure and Emotional maturity scale were administered to 300 higher secondary students
aged between 15-18years. Result of this study showed that there is a significant relationship between emotional
maturity and general well-being of adolescents.

Key Words: Emotional Maturity, General Well-Being, Adolescents, Adolescence

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Date of Submission: 05-05-2018 Date of acceptance: 21-05-2018
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I. INTRODUCTION
Adolescence is a major period in the life and major changes takes place because of the transitions from
the childhood to adulthood. The major changes are biological, cognitive, social and emotional, moral.etc.This
study focuses on emotional maturity and general well-being, and both are important variables which should be
discussed on adolescence. Emotional maturity is the ability of adolescents to stabilize emotions which include
their capability for Emotional progression, Independence, Socialadjustment, Emotional stability, Personality
integration, etc. General well-being is the subjective well-being. It is related to the physical condition, but not
dependent on the physical or physiological system of an individual.
“Adolescence is the period of transition between childhood and adulthood that involves biological,
cognitive and socio-emotional changes” (Hurlock E. , 1981). The age range of adolescence varies according to
the cultural and historical circumstances. According to World Health Organization the period of adolescence
begins with the onset of physiologically normal puberty, and ends when an adult identity and behaviour are
accepted. This period of development corresponds roughly to the period between the ages of 10 and 19 years
and the individuals fall in this category are called adolescents
Emotional Maturity of any level reflects the normal emotional developments. According to Walter D.
Smitson(1974) "Emotional maturity is a process in which the personality is continuously striving for greater
sense of emotions, health, both inters physically and intra personally”. Emotional maturity is a state of having
reached an adult level of emotional development which implies emotional control in social situation. (Shimsiya
& Parambat, 2016). Emotional maturity is considered as one of the major determinant in shaping an individual’s
personality, behavior and attitudes and it helps in enhancing the relationship with others and to enhance the self-
worth of the person and emotional stability is considered as one of the major component in mental health
(Anand, Kunwar, & Kumar, 2014). According to Menninger (1999), “Emotional maturity can be defined as a
process in which the personality always determined for better sense of emotional well-being” (Rajeshwari & S,
2015). If a person or a child is emotionally maturing he or she may have the capacity to make effective
adjustment with himself, family members, his peers, society and culture and his or her environment itself. He
has the capacity to enjoy his adjustment fully. According to Cole (1954), the most outstanding mark of
emotional maturity is the ability to bear tension and it will enable a person to tolerate the frustration they
undergo(kumar & Smriti, 2014) .Hence its considered as an individual’s ability to control emotions himself or
herself (Rajeshwari & S, 2015).
Boys and girls are said to have achieved emotional maturity if, by the end of adolescence, they do not
“blow up” emotionally when others are present, but wait for a convenient time and place to let off emotional
steam in a socially acceptable manner (Hurlock E. , 1981). An important indication of emotional maturity is that
the individual assesses a situation critically before responding to it unthinkingly as like an immature person or a
child. This results in adolescents ignoring many stimuli that would have caused emotional outburst when they
are younger. Emotional mature adolescents are stable in their emotional responses and they do not swing from
one emotion or mood to other, as they did earlier.

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Emotional Maturity and General Well-Being of Adolescents

According to Yashvir Singh and Mahesh Bhargava (1990) emotional immaturity includes emotional
instability and it is basically individuals lack of capacity in solving problems and they will show case irritability
and always wanted help from others they seem to be more stubborn and usually showcase temper tantrums. The
second area is all about emotional regression; it includes the characteristics such as feeling of inferiority,
restlessness, hostility, self-centeredness, etc. The third area is social adjustment, individuals who have social
maladjustment will be having lack of social adaptability and have hatred, they seem to be exclusive but always
boasting, they are mostly identified as liars. The fourth area is personality integration, where those who possess
personality disintegration will be showing fears, phobias, etc. independence is the fifth area, where those who
lack independence, seem to be showing more parasitic dependence, where, they will be overly dependent on
others. Others considers them as unreliable (Parikh, 2016)
According to Verma&Verma (1989) “General wellbeing is considered as the subjective feeling which
is of contentment, happiness, satisfaction with life’s experiences and of one’s role in the world of work, sense of
achievement, utility, belongingness and no distress, dissatisfaction or worry, etc. These things are difficult to
evaluate objectively, hence the emphasis on the term “subjective” well-being. It may well be maintained in
adverse circumstances and conversely, may be lost in favourable situation. It is related to but not depends upon
the physical or physiological conditions” (Verma & Verma, 1989).
Emotional maturity is of great significance in today’s competitive world where every individual learn
to develop stability intra-personally and inter-personally. It is found out that less emotionally mature persons
tend to prefer inefficient coping methods than that of useful methods and the more mature people prefer more
wise and useful methods Wagde&Ganaie (2013). A study by Singh (2013) on gender on social and emotional
maturity of senior school adolescents found that girls tend to score more on social adequacy component of social
maturity while boys scored on social adjustment component of emotional maturity. Pastey&Aminbhavi (2006)
on impact of emotional maturity on stress and self-confidence of adolescents found that adolescents with high
emotional maturity have less stress and high self-confidence.
It was found that general self-efficacy and subjective well-being has a positive relationship also gender,
age and socio-economic status has impact on both the variables which studied. (Santo, Magramo, Oguan, &
Paat, 2014).Girls was found to report more Flexibility and Adaptability than boys while boys were found to
report more Emotional-Regression and Faulty Social Adjustment than girls. Faulty Social Adjustment was
reported more among Low Socio-Economic Status respondents while no other significant results were found on
any other dimensions of Emotional Maturity across SES.(Gupta & srivastava, 2016).

II. FOCUS OF THIS STUDY

Adolescence is known as period of stress and storm and they undergo huge level of stress and conflicts
during this period, if an adolescent is emotionally mature, he or she can deal with the stress very effectively, and
they will lead to the state of well-being. Thus there is need to correlate emotional maturity and general well-
being among adolescents as variables. So, this study will be a basement for the further studies and researches on
the area.

III.METHOD
Correlation with in group research design is used to find the relationship between emotional maturity and
general well-being of adolescents. Self-report questionnaires were administered to the participants for data
collection and quantitative approach was used to test the proposed hypotheses.

Objectives of the study

 To assess emotional maturity and general wellbeing of adolescents and compare the areas of emotional
maturity
 To study the relationship between emotional maturity and general wellbeing among adolescents.

Variables
Emotional Maturity: State in which an individual attains the emotional development as similar as an adult. In
which, individual can manage the emotions and handle it in accordance with the social situations as well as
critically analyze a situation before responding to it. They will be having a stable emotion and would not swing
between two emotions.
General wellbeing: it is a subjective feeling of contentment, happiness, satisfaction with life’s experiences and
of one’s role in the world of work, sense of achievement, utility, belongingness and no distress, dissatisfaction
or worry, etc.(Verma & Verma, 1989).
Adolescents: The individuals at the period of transition between childhood and adulthood that involves
biological, cognitive and socio-emotional changes (Hurlock E. , 1981). Adolescence begins from 10 to 13 years
and ends between the ages ranges of 18-20 years.

2
Emotional Maturity and General Well-Being of Adolescents

Sample - The sample is selected from various CBSE higher secondary school students from southern district in
Kerala between the age group of 15-18 years. Selective Sampling method was used to identify 300 adolescent
students and only students got the consent from their parents was participated in the study

Inclusion criteria
 Adolescents pursuing Higher secondary education
 Age limit from 15-18
 Adolescents only from specific district in Kerala
 Students of CBSE schools.

Exclusion criteria
 Adolescents belongs to age Below 15and above 19
 Adolescents who are going to other board of studies
 Adolescents from other geographical areas

Tools used for the study

Emotional maturity scale developed by Dr. Yashvir Singh and Dr. Mahesh Bhargava was used to collect the
data. The scale consists of 48 items under five broad categories of emotional maturity.
1. Emotional stability- 10 item
2. Emotional progression- 10 item
3. Social adjustment- 10 item
4. Personality integration- 10 item
5. Independence- 8 items

It is a self-reporting five point scale. Items of the scale are in question form demanding information for
each in either of the five options with the scoring of much – 5, much – 4, undecided – 3 , probably – 2, never 1.
Higher the score on the scale greater the degree of emotional immaturity. The test-retest reliability has been
estimated at 0.75 and validity against the Adjustment Inventory by Singh and Bhargava (1980) at 0.46, and the
interpretation of the scores: 50-80 extremely stable; 81-88 moderately stable; 89-106 unstable; 107- 240
extremely unstable.
PGI General Well-being Measure by S.K Verma and Anita Verma and the scale consists of 20 items,
number of tick against the item indicate the wellbeing score .It is a reliable and valid tool to measure positive
mental health of Indian subjects. The Test-retest reliability of English version is .91 (p <.01. The test showed
high correlation with Bradburn Well-being scale (p<.01) (AmitaVerma, Mahajan& S.K. Verma1989).
The questionnaires were administered to the group by providing instruction to give appropriate
responses to the statements provided. The students filled the questionnaires within 20-30 minutes and all the
scoring sheets were collected for further analysis.

Data Analysis
The raw score obtained was analyzed using SPSS. For the assessment descriptive statistics and to test the
hypotheses Pearson correlation was used

IV.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Objective 1 .To assess emotional maturity and general wellbeing of adolescents

Table1: Descriptive statistics of the variable emotional maturity and general well-being of adolescents.
Variables N 300 Mean Standard Deviation standard Interpretation
error
Emotional 124.05 31.062 1.793 Extremely
Maturity Unstable
General Well-being 5.69 3.943 .228 Below
Average
*Primary source

The above table shows that emotional maturity of adolescents has a mean score of 124.05 which is interpreted as
extremely unstable. They have a standard error mean score of 1.793 and standard deviation of 31.062.
The general well-being of 300 adolescents has a mean score of 5.69, which is interpreted as below average and
as a standard error mean of .228. The standard deviation of adolescents on general well-being is 3.943

3
Emotional Maturity and General Well-Being of Adolescents

According to Crow and Crow, a person of any age group can be emotionally matured who has the
capability to overcome the stress by neglecting certain emotion stimulators that have a direct bearing on the
behavior and attitude of the individual. As adolescence is known to be major period of development, the
emotional maturity will have a definite impact on general well-being of adolescents. Adolescents are found to be
having below average well-being and they are having extremely unstable emotional maturity. As described by
Hurlock, the lesser emotional maturity and poor well-being of adolescents may be because of the transition of
adolescents from child hood to adulthood where there will be a greater change in areas of biological, cognitive
and socio-emotional areas and may be those changes negatively influencing the adolescents(Hurlock E. ,
1981).Mental well-being of an individual is highly affected by emotional maturity they possess, and emotional
mature person can manage stress more effectively than others(Rajeshwari & S, 2015).

Objective1.1: To study the areas of emotional maturity

Table 2 Assessment of Areas of Emotional maturity
Areas of Emotional maturity N=300 Mean Std
Deviation
Emotional stability 28.5 7.6
Emotional progression 26.8 7.7
Social adjustment 25.8 7.8
Personality integration 23.2 7.7
Independence 19.6 5.0

Table shows that the mean score of the participants for the various areas of emotional maturity scale
such as emotional stability, emotional progression, social adjustment, personality integration and independence
are 28.5,26.8, 25.8 23.2, and 19.6 respectively. The standard deviation obtained is 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.7, and 5.0
respectively for each area.
While comparing the dimensions of emotional maturity, group has fewer score in area of
Independence, which indicates that having a better independence than that of other areas. Group has better
independence than personality integration and has better personality integration than that of social adjustment.
Group has better social adjustment than that of emotional progression and the high mean score for the area of
emotional stability which indicates that the group has comparatively less stability than that of all the four other
areas of emotional maturity.
Objective 2. To study the relationship between emotional maturity and general wellbeing among adolescents.
There is no significant relationship between emotional maturity and general well-being among adolescents.

Table 3: Showing the correlation between emotional maturity and general well-being of adolescents
Variables N=300 Emotional General Well-
Maturity being
Emotional -.522**
Pearson
Maturity .000
Correlation
General -.522**
Sig. (2-tailed)
Well-being .000
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

To find out the relationship between emotional maturity and general well-being of adolescents Pearson
correlation was used and has found that there exists a correlation between the variables such as emotional
maturity and general well-being of adolescents. At 0.01 level, the adolescents obtained.-522** correlation,
which is a negative correlation. It means that as the score increases the emotional instability also increases and
the score for general well-being decreases. The increases in score of emotional maturity indicate emotional
instability and the decreases in well-being scores indicate low level of well-being or poor well-being.
The sample rejected the null hypothesis, thereby the alternative hypotheses is accepted which states that there is
a significant relationship between emotional maturity and general well-being of adolescents. The relationship
obtained was that as the unstable emotional maturity increases the general well-being of adolescents’ decreases.

Implication
This study helps to focus on people with unstable emotional maturity and poor general well-being to
modify the way of their living. All the adolescents will grow up in to a person who pre-occupies different
professions and sometimes most of them may turn into powerful authorities. Without emotional maturity and
general well-being, it’s difficult to succeed in their life goals. To lead a healthy social and individual life,
adolescent should need to be emotionally mature and state of well-being also should be achieved. Emotional
4
Emotional Maturity and General Well-Being of Adolescents

maturity helps the adolescent to lead a socially appropriate way of life and it helps them to guide themselves on
what to do and what not do. It also guides to find out the adolescents with emotional instability and poor well-
being and to provide proper guidance from educational sector to empower them and to achieve a state of having
a stable emotional maturity. While developing the curriculum for the school going adolescents in such a way
that it facilitates well-being and mould them to have a sound emotional maturity and wellness in life. It can also
help to give information’s and guidance on the upbringing of adolescents.

Suggestion for future studies

It is suggested that, for subsequent researches it can be conducted on a more appropriate sample size
and should use probability sampling. The demographic variables like socio-economic status can also be included
for further studies. The geographical area of selecting sample should not be restricted to one place; the further
researchers can focus on much more geographical areas to get a valid data.

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