RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL MATURITY AND MENTAL HEALTH OF HIGHER SECONDARY STUDENTS

The researcher conducted a study to find out the relationship between Emotional maturity and Mental health of higher secondary students. A sample of 200 XI standard students were selected from six higher secondary schools in Melmalaiyanur block of Viluppuram district in Tamil Nadu using random sampling technique. The data were collected using survey method for the study. Emotional maturity scale standardized by Dr.Yashvir Singh and Dr.Mahesh Bhargava (2012) and Mental health scale Standardized by Peter Becker (1989) were administered to collect the data. Percentage analysis, Mean, SD, ‘t' test and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient were the techniques used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that 8.5% higher secondary students only had high level emotional maturity and 10.0% students had high level mental health. Regarding emotional maturity mean score of girls was higher than boys but there was no significant difference in terms of locality of students. No significant difference was found between mental health of students in terms of gender and locality of school. There was a significant correlation between emotional maturity and mental health of higher secondary students. Hence counselors and teachers should adopt intelligent strategies to create supportive and favorable educational climate for the students to develop emotional maturity and mental health to cope up with stress and face challenges in all the sphere of life.