INTRODUCTION:

Adolescence is a critical phase of life where an individual undergoes many changes. The word ‘adolescence’ comes from the Latin verb ‘adolescere’, which means ‘to grow’ or ‘to grow to maturity’. “Adolescence is much more than one rung up the ladder from childhood. It is a built-in, necessary transition period for ego development.

This period from roughly age 12 through the late teens, is a time of dramatic and far reaching change. It is a time when all early developmental issues were reworked, a period when storm and stress were inevitable because of rapid physical changes. Some of the behavioral changes are tied more closely to the physical changes than to chronological age or level of cognitive development. The impact of puberty on adolescents depends partly on its timing--- i.e., whether it occurs early, on schedule, or late compared with the majority of their peers.

Today, anxiety is a common phenomenon of every day’s life. It plays a crucial role in human life because all of us are the victims of anxiety in different ways. Generally, anxiety can either be a trait anxiety or a state anxiety. Trait anxiety is a stable characteristic or trait of the person. State anxiety is one which is aroused by some temporary condition of the environment such as examination, accident, punishment etc.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:

“A lot of the negative effects of anxiety appears to be caused by difficulties with controlling attention. This suggests that training techniques designed to enhance attention control the ability to ignore distractions and to switch attention from one task to another could help anxious students to achieve their academic potential” (Eysenck 2009)

H. Durell Johnson, Joseph C. LaVoie, Molly Mahoney show that late adolescents’ perceptions of their family environment (i.e., perceptions of interparental conflict and family cohesion) are associated with their reports of loneliness, social anxiety, and social avoidance. It is proposed that interparental conflict and family cohesion are positively associated with adolescents’ feeling of loneliness, which, in turn, are positively related to their reports of social anxiety and avoidance. However, gender is expected to moderate the association between adolescents’ reports of loneliness and perceptions of interparental conflict and family cohesion. Perceptions of interparental conflict are expected to be associated with increased reports of loneliness for males, and family cohesion is expected to be associated with increased reports of loneliness for females.

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

Young people those who fortunate enough to graduate, late adolescence ends with a mixture of triumph, loss, anxiety, and regret. There is triumph from knowing that one has actually completed high school. There is loss as one's community of friends begins to disband and disperse. There is anxiety about managing the next step into a larger world or job or further education. And there is regret that the simpler time of living at home and going to school is over and now the true complexity of earning and making one's way in the world begins. For those who dropped out or were pushed out of high school, the challenge of finding one's way has already begun, often handicapped with a lack of confidence for not making it through, and the lack of diploma when seeking a job.

Risk-taking – a common feature of early to middle adolescence, as individuals experiment with ‘adult behaviour’ – declines during late adolescence, as the ability to evaluate risk and make conscious decisions develops. Nevertheless, cigarette smoking and experimentation with drugs and alcohol are often embraced in the earlier risk-taking phase and then carried through into later adolescence and beyond into adulthood. For example, it is estimated that 1 in 5 adolescents aged 13–15 smokes, and around half of those who begin smoking in adolescence continue to do so for at least 15 years. The flip side of the explosive brain development that occurs during adolescence is that it can be seriously and permanently impaired by the excessive use of drugs and alcohol. Girls in late adolescence tend to be at greater risk than boys of negative health outcomes, including depression, and these risks are often magnified by gender-based discrimination and abuse. Girls are particularly prone to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia; this vulnerability derives in part from profound anxieties over body image that are fuelled by cultural and media stereotypes of feminine beauty.

These risks notwithstanding, late adolescence is a time of opportunity, idealism and promise. It is in these years that adolescents make their way into the world of work or further education, settle on their own identity and world view and start to engage actively in shaping the world around them.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Affective symptoms and personality traits demonstrate moderate to high relative stabilities during adolescence and early adulthood, there has been little work done to examine differential stability among these constructs or to study the manner in which the stability of these constructs is expressed. The present study used a three-year longitudinal design in an adolescent/young adult sample to examine the stability of depression symptoms, social phobia symptoms, specific phobia symptoms, neuroticism, and extraversion. When considering one-, two-, and three-year durations, anxiety and personality stabilities were generally similar and typically greater than the stability of depression. The full TSO(trait stability occasion) model was the best representation for depression, a trait stability model was the most parsimonious of the best-fitting models for the anxiety and personality constructs. Over three years, the percentages of variance explained by the trait component for the anxiety and personality constructs (73-84%) were significantly greater than that explained by the trait component for depression (46%). These findings indicate that symptoms of depression are more episodic in nature, whereas symptoms of anxiety are more similar to personality variables in their expression of stability.

Cummings, Davies, and Simpson (1994); Harold, Fincham, Osborne, and Conger (1997); and Snyder (1998) suggest that perceptions and interpretation of intense interparental conflict may be more damaging to child and adolescent development than the act of witnessing conflict. This research shows that adolescents’ reports of and awareness of conflict were associated with adjustment difficulties and internalizing symptoms (i.e., anxiety, depression, worry, and withdrawal) over a 12-month period

Schwab, Scalise, Ginter, and Whipple (1998) show that individuals who report feeling lonely are increasingly aware of being embarrassed and/or rejected during social situations. This feeling may increase adolescents’ anxiety when faced with social situations and their desire to avoid these situations all together. Newcomb and Bagwell (1996) state that individuals who experience high levels of loneliness are more likely than others to distance themselves from social situations and feel increased apprehension when faced with social interactions. As a result, feelings of loneliness may be related to adolescents’ feelings of anxiety during social interactions as well as their increased social isolation from others.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

Descriptive study to assess the level of anxiety in late adolescents pursuing professional courses residing in selected areas of Namakkal.

OBJECTIVES:

· To describe the sample in terms of demographic characteristics.

· To assess the level of anxiety in late adolescents pursuing professional courses

· To associate the level of anxiety with selected demographic variables.

ASSUMPTION:

1.Late adolescent girls are prone to profound anxiety than boys over body image

2.Substance use in family members may influence the level of anxiety

Hypothesis:

There is a significant association of level of anxiety with selected demographic variables of late adolescents in Namakkal.

There is significant level of anxiety among the late adolescents pursuing professional courses

MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY:

Research design: Univariate Descriptive design

Study variable : Level of anxiety

Sample : Late adolescents in Namakkal

Sample size : 50

Sampling technique : Non probability convenient sampling technique

Tool : Division A :Demographic data

Division B : Zung self rating anxiety scale. It is a twenty item likert type scale with four points.

Scoring Key

• 20-44 Normal range

• 45-59 Mild to moderate Anxiety

• 60-74 Marked to Severe Anxiety

• 75-80 Extreme Anxiety

Data Collection Procedure

Self-report method is used to collect the data. Oral informed consent has been obtained from the subject.

Data analysis plan

Descriptive statistics: Percentage, mean

Inferential statistics: Chi-square test

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

Section A

Description of samples according to the Demographic Variables.

Table 1 : Frequency and percentage distribution of demographic variables.

S.No

Demographic Variables

Frequency

Percentage

Age in Years

· 16-18

· 19-21

64%

36%

Sex

· Male

· Female

48%

52%

Religion

· Hindu

· Muslim

· Christian

· Others

78%

22%

Residence

· Urban

· Rural

16%

84%

Socio Economic Status

· Low class

· Middle class

· High Class

84%

10%

Substance abuse by family member(s)

· Yes

· No

82%

18%

Type of Family

· Nuclear

· Joint

· Extended

54%

28%

18%

Marked inter-parental conflict

· Yes

· No

26%

74%

Section C Associate the level of Anxiety with selected demographic variables.

Tab 3 : Association of level of anxiety with selected demographic variables

S.No	Demographic Variables	DF	Chi Square	Table Value	Level of significance
1	Age	2	1.34	5.99	P=0.05,Not Significant
2	Sex	1	6.79	3.84	P=0.05, Significant
3	Religion	3	0.005	7.82	P=0.05,Not Significant
4	Socio Economic Status	2	2.42	5.99	P=0.05,Not Significant
5	Substance Abuse in Family Member(s)	3	2.7	7.82	P=0.05,Not Significant
6	Type of family	3	1.32	7.82	P=0.05,Not Significant
7	Residence	1	0.005	3.85	P=0.05,Not Significant
8	Marked inter-parental conflict	1	0.22	3.84	P=0.05,Not Significant

IMPLICATIONS IN NURSING:

Various interventional packages in reducing anxiety shall be tried to early, middle, and late adolescents.

The state anxiety of students in times of examination, shifting to hostel, adapting to college atmosphere should be addressed.

Community level programmes focusing on family cohesion, inter parental unity, healthy child rearing practices are quite proving.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

The study shall be replicated to adolescents of various age groups.

The impact of parent - adolescent relationship on the level of anxiety shall be addressed

Studies shall be conducted in knowing the effectiveness of relaxation exercises, complementary therapies on anxiety of adolescents

Impact analysis of academic programme, peer stress, substance use, cultural constraints on the level of anxiety of adolescents shall be studied

CONCLUSION:

This study focus on anxiety 50 late adolescents. Subjects were recruited by convenient sampling Technique. Chi square association has been proved for the demographic variable sex. 52% of late adolescents had mild to moderate level of anxiety; 14% had moderate to severe level of anxiety; 34% were in the normal range. This study proves the assumption that adolescent girls are more anxious than adolescen boys and does not prove the impact of substance abuse in family member(s) on the level of anxiety of late adolescents.

REFERENCE:

1. Late-adolescence (15–18) = Acting More Grown Up.psychologytoday.com/...adolescence/.../late-adolescence-15-18-acti. Mar 6, 2009 Carl E. Pickhardt, Ph.D. in Surviving (Your Child's) Adolescence

2. J Abnorm Psychol. 2011 Nov;120(4):832-43. doi: 10.1037/a0023939. Epub 2011 May 23.Are anxiety and depression just as stable as personality during late adolescence? Results from a three-year longitudinal latent variable study. Prenoveau JM1, Craske MG, Zinbarg RE, Mineka S, Rose RD, Griffith JW

3. Cummings, E. M., Davies, P. T., & Simpson, K. S. (1994). Marital conflict, gender, and children’s appraisals and coping efficacy as mediators of child adjustment.Journal of Family Psychology,8, 141-149

4. Schwab, S. H., Scalise, J. J., Ginter, E. J., & Whipple, G. (1998). Self-disclosure, loneliness, and four interpersonal targets: Friends, group of friends, stranger, and group of strangers. Psychological Reports, 82, 1264-1266.

5. http://jar.sagepub.com DOI: 10.1177/0743558401163004 2001; 16; 304 Journal of Adolescent Research H. Durell Johnson, Joseph C. Lavoie and Molly Mahoney Avoidance in Late Adolescence Interparental Conflict and Family Cohesion: Predictors of Loneliness, Social Anxiety, and Social Avoidance in late adolescence

Received on 17.12.2014 Modified on 27.12.2014

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research 3(1): Jan.-March, 2015; Page 74-77

DOI:

ANXIETY	MEAN	SD	MEAN%
NORMAL	29	5.7	61.25%
MILD-MODERATE	50	5	62.5%
MODERATE -SEVERE	66	4.4	82.5%
EXTREME	0	0	0%