Stress and Psychological Well-being: An Explanatory Study of the Iranian Female Adolescents

Abstract

Objective: Female adolescents are suffering a higher prevalence of psychological disorder such as depression, anxiety and stress. Also they have high prevalent poor dietary behaviors and physical inactivity especially in low income countries. This study aimed to measure students’ stress and psychological well-being status among sample female adolescents among a sample of girls in an Islamic country. Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 289 female students in the ninth grades randomly selected high school students in Tabriz, Iran. Numerous psychological variables including general health status, happiness, self-efficacy, perceived stress, hopefulness and life satisfaction were measured by using selfreport written questionnaires. Results: It was found that an inversely significant relation exists between stress and psychological well-being (r = -0.68). Findings also indicated that students, who had good relation with teachers, had 54% less probability of low psychological well-being than those who had not. No causal inferences were drawn due to non-experimental nature of the study. Conclusion: This study concluded that the prevalence rates of mental disorders and stress reported for high school females of Iran, Thus there it is needed to develop effective strategies to promote psychological well-being and stress management, especially for female adolescence.