Health Adjustment and Anxiety Levels: A Comparative Study on Adolescent Boys and Girls of Shimla District

Adolescence is a stage of transition in human life. Physical, mental, social and emotional upheavals are apparent in this phase. Children in this passage struggle to adjust themselves to their environment. The rapid growth and their efforts to make adjustments with their physical self, family and peer group is often characterized by emotional turmoil and anxiety. The change in lifestyle, peer pressure, emotional disturbances, media influence and attempt to follow the ongoing trends create an imbalance giving rise to stress and strain. Adolescents’ eating behavior is also a matter of great concern. Faulty eating habits can lead to poor health adjustment and malnutrition as the growth in this period is influenced by nutrition, genetics and hormonal factors. Missing meals, eating fast foods, soft drinks, beginning to take alcohol and unconventional meals can lead to serious health hazards. The present research work is an effort to study the relationship between the levels of anxiety and health adjustment in adolescent boys and girls studying in different colleges of Shimla district. The tools used were AICS inventory in Hindi and STAI to find out the connection between the anxiety and health adjustment in these young adults. A positive correlation was observed in both boys and girls with girls showing poor health adjustment as compared to boys.