An Exploratory Study to Find Out the Association Between the Nutritional Status and Psychological Well Being Among Adolescents

Abstract

Background: Human needs will only be fulfilled one level at a time. Abraham Maslow, famous American Psychologist described human needs as ordered in a prepotent hierarchy with physiological needs are factored into internal motivation. According to Maslow's theory, humans are compelled to satisfy physiological needs first, to pursue higher levels of intrinsic satisfaction. This means that if a person is struggling to meet their physiological needs, they are unwilling to seek safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization on their own. Physiological needs are the base of the hierarchy for human survival. Research conducted and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has found that A good nutrition status is important for maintaining normal body function. Nutrition deficiency often results in impaired function and has significant effect on mood and psychological well–being. Aim: Find out the association between the nutritional status and psychological well-being among adolescents. Setting and Design: A quantitative research approach with non-experimental research design was adopted for the study. The study focused on adolescent from selected school of Bhilai, (C.G.) Material and Methods: Totally 60 students between age 12-18 were enumerated from the selected schools of Bhilai, (C.G.) after obtaining informed consent data was collected using, 28 self-structural questionnaires (3 points Rating Scale) to assess Nutritional status and 32 questionnaires (3-point Rating Psychological wellbeing among adolescents. Results: as the present study aim to find out the association between nutritional status and psychological well-being the mean score of Nutritional status and psychological well-being are 34.56 and 39.58 respectively. As t test calculated between the study variables was 5.98 which is more than table of ‘t’=2.00 at 0.05 level of significance. There is association between nutritional status and gender. (x2 Cal =13.14>x2 tab =9.49). There is association between psychological wellbeing and area of residence, (x2 Cal = 6.46 > x2 tab = 5.99).