Institutional Influence on Behavioural Disorders in Early Adolescents

Abstract

Early adolescence a period of transition between childhood and late adolescence, is where one experiences dramatic changes physically, and psychologically. These transitions cause cognitive, emotional, and social changes. The developmental changes that occur during this period cause varying degrees of disturbance in them. The period of transition leaves its mark on the individual's behaviour, as they feel unsure of themselves and insecure in their status. This intrudes them to be aggressive, self conscious and withdrawn. When an individual's behaviour is unusual for a particular age, this leads to poor adjustment, and is termed as behavioural problems. Schools play a significant role in the early adolescents' development because of the environment they provide. Though researches have been carried out focusing school environment of early adolescents, the investigators were interested to find if institutional variables can be significant contributors to the behavioral disorders exhibited by early adolescents. The study was designed to investigate the impact of institutional variables on behavioral disorders in early adolescents, studying in Standard IX. Random Sampling Technique was done on the basis of nature of the school, locality of school, type of school and medium of instruction to draw the sample size of 1275. Self constructed tool on Behavioral Disorders was used. Collected data were analyzed using statistical techniques such as t-test, ANOVA (Analysis of Varience). The statistical results revealed that institutional variables significantly contributed to the behaviourial problems in early adolescents. There should be some guidance service in each school, in order to provide some strategies for managing the behavioral problems among early teens as well as reducing the problem at this stage.