Role of Psychological Factors in Distress during Adolescence

Psychological distress is a term that discusses undifferentiated patterns of symptoms which can vary from depression and anxiety tendencies to personality characteristics, functional disabilities and behavioral symptoms. Mostly adolescents are at a risk of feeling depressed especially if they are living in vulnerable home environments. The nature of distress can be altered by improving the family systems and social support networks. This study has been taken up for the purpose of understanding the association of a number of psychological variables with distress. 400 adolescents with equal numbers of males and females have been taken from the different schools of Jammu city. The scores were factor analyzed. Results of the study stated that 3 factors were extracted out of total 23 variables with a variance of 81.7%. The results are elaborately explained with the help of factor loadings that are obtained. The implications of the study are highlighted.