Comparison of behavioral disorders, self-esteem and life satisfaction in orphaned and normal adolescents

To obtain a master's degree

Educational psychology field

Abstract

The aim of the research was to compare behavioral disorders, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in orphaned and normal adolescents. The design of this research was causal-comparative. The statistical population of the current research consists of unsupervised teenagers, boys and girls in Semnan and Tehran, and normal teenagers from schools in Semnan and Tehran. 60 people were selected using the available sampling method, who were the group of orphaned students, and 60 people were selected using the purposive sampling method, which were the group of normal students. The participants completed Eichenbach's Behavioral Disorders Questionnaire, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Questionnaire, and Diener's Life Satisfaction Questionnaire. Multivariate variance analysis was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the average scores of behavioral disorders, self-esteem, and life satisfaction among homeless and normal teenagers are significantly different. The scores of behavioral disorders of homeless teenagers were higher than the scores of normal teenagers, and the scores of life satisfaction and self-esteem of normal teenagers were higher than the scores of homeless teenagers. The results of the research indicate that unaccompanied adolescents have more problems compared to normal adolescents, and this indicates the need for more attention and better planning for unaccompanied adolescents.                                                                     

Key words: behavioral disorders, self-esteem, satisfaction with life, homeless, normal

Homelessness has existed since the beginning of creation, and homeless children live in children's and adolescent homes and are far from the love of their parents and family members, and some of them suffer from deprivations and a sense of failure, and sometimes suffer from injuries and psychological trauma. These children feel a void in their existence and are unhappy and upset people who may engage in inconsistent and deviant behaviors in order to assert their rights. By comparing their living conditions with normal children, orphaned children find themselves in irreparable failure, which provides the basis for the child's aggression and incompatibility, and since adolescence is considered one of the important periods in the construction and foundation of a person's personality, it is possible that behavioral problems may arise at this time and show themselves as stable characteristics in the following periods of life. For example, internalizing behavioral problems in childhood and adolescence have been related to mood disorders and suicide in adulthood, and high levels of aggression in childhood have been related to criminal behavior [1] and other antisocial behaviors (Liu [2], 2003). For this reason, knowing the factors and correlations effective in solving the problems and behavioral abnormalities of adolescents and taking action in the field of planning in order to correct and improve these factors will be among the most effective methods in preventing mental disorders in adulthood. (Mayer[3], Salovey[4], 1997). Adolescent's efficiency in dealing with personal and social issues is significantly determined by emotional experiences and how to face and adapt to events. In the present century, when psychological pressure has cast a shadow on people's lives, they have the ability to control their emotions, they can better compensate for negative emotional states through pleasant activities (Salovei, 1997, quoted by Khosrow Javid, 2011). Studies conducted have reported the prevalence of behavioral disorders in school-aged children to be high and around 11 to 25 percent (Almgoist [5] et al., 1999). Children with behavioral disorders have short attention spans, have lower self-esteem, have problems in communicating with family members, people around them, and fail easily. (Sasser, Waller, [6] 2006). Self-respect is one of the determining factors of human behavior. In fact, the perception and judgment that people have about themselves determines how they deal with different issues. A person who has low self-esteem and does not value and respect himself may experience isolation, withdrawal, or aggression and anti-social behaviors.They can believe that they can perform their duties efficiently in different situations with whatever skills they have, in other words, adapt themselves to the conditions of different social situations, this behavior is the satisfaction of life (Blaskovic and Tomaka [7], 2007). Feeling satisfied with life, which is a field of positive psychology. It is a field that tries to examine people's cognitive and emotional evaluations of their lives (Anas [8], 1993 from Laughlin and Heuenber [9], 2001). Research also shows that those who have higher self-esteem are more satisfied with their lives (Keats [10], 2007).

In some experimental studies, there is a negative correlation between self-esteem and depression in the case of orphaned and normal children, and in another research titled the relationship between self-esteem and depression of students, the results showed that there is a negative correlation between self-esteem and depression (Mohammadi, 2017). So that in both of the aforementioned studies, the results were not significant between the level of depression and self-esteem, and therefore, the hypotheses of this research that the level of self-esteem is low and the level of depression, which is a branch of behavioral disorders, is higher in homeless teenagers compared to normal students have been rejected (Walker et al., 1998). The importance of paying attention to unaccompanied teenagers and their issues and problems shows the need for research in this field. Therefore, the aim of the current research was to compare behavioral disorders, self-esteem and life satisfaction in homeless and normal teenagers. In every society, the health of children and adolescents is of particular importance, and paying attention to their mental health helps them to be mentally and physically healthy and to play their social role better (Koshan [11], 2000)

Studies conducted in different cultures have shown that a significant percentage of school-aged and pre-school children have behavioral problems (Harland, Reginald, Bragman, Verlo, Vanhurik, Verholst [12], 2002). Unsupervised and poorly cared for children who have been deprived of maternal affection and close parental relationships often suffer from emotional disorders, insecurity, feelings of dependence or rejection, group phobia or acute groupism. and they seriously need intimate and emotional communication, and show interest in projection methods and rehabilitation tools that facilitate the emergence of their problems (Nelson, 2000). In general, a behavioral disorder arises when the child's behavior is not approved by the parents, extroverted behaviors are seen in the child's behavior, the inappropriate behavior is repeated and the family's punishments to eliminate it are ineffective and the child does not have a mental illness (Shams Esfandabad, 2012).

New psychology tries not to focus its attention only on mental problems and to emphasize more on the positive aspects of life. Life satisfaction [13] is also one of the basic components in knowing the quality of people's lives. The research conducted in the field of life satisfaction among teenagers has shown that the satisfaction and positive perception of life in the traditional group of teenagers or students is completely different from that of adults, and the research in this field needs to consider their special components.   Increasing tensions and behavioral problems, frustration, anxiety and depression are among the negative effects of dissatisfaction with life, which will have consequences such as reducing the spirit of social participation, cooperation and social trust (Cameron [14], 2001). Based on practical findings, people's estimation of their mental health regularly changes in terms of the amount of value or degree of importance they attach to different areas of life such as work, health, leisure time, education or love life (Akram Khamse, 2019). In addition, only valuable areas and areas, that is, areas that have shown overall satisfaction with life, affect people's judgment about overall satisfaction with life. Areas or areas that are not important do not affect the overall satisfaction rating. Satisfaction with life can be one of the factors that affect people's self-esteem.

Self-esteem as one of the dimensions of human personality is always formed under the influence of relationships with others, and family as the first source of communication for a child is an important factor in the formation of this dimension of human personality. This important factor that plays a role in building a child's personality is less visible in orphaned children due to the lack of a family. Kaplan is one of the researchers who looked at the self-esteem [15] of people as a trait. He carefully studied the parenting style of parents and its relationship with children's self-esteem.