Hygiena 2014, 59(1):21-26 | DOI: 10.21101/hygiena.a1237

The Impact of Life Events on Mental Health of Pupils from Selected Primary Schools in the Žilina Region

Petra Dankovičová¹, Želmíra Fetisovová¹, Igor Ondrejka²

¹ Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave, Jesseniova lekárska fakulta v Martine,Ústav nelekárskych študijných programov, Martin

² Univerzitná nemocnica v Martine, Psychiatrická klinika, Martin

The thesis has focused on the issue of positive and negative life events of pupils and their impact on their mental health. Several goals have been defined: to ascertain the most frequently occurring positive and negative life events of pupils as a whole, and as dependent on gender and to discover the relationship between life events, general health and self-respect amongst these subjects. This survey was conducted in elementary schools and at an octennial grammar school in the Žilina Region. A total of 406 sixth and seventh grade pupils were involved in the survey. The average age of pupils was 12.4 years. Life Events Inventory (LEI), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 12) and Self-respect Scale (SeS) according to Rosenberg were used as research tools. Significant distinctions in rates of general health and self-respect depending on the number of experienced positive and negative events were confirmed. The option "I enjoyed holiday events in our family"(92.36%) was identified as the most positive life event whilst the sentence "I was unsuccessful in a school subject"(68.97%) was marked as the most negative event by pupils. Significant gender distinctions were discovered in four positive and two negative events. Outcomes have confirmed the importance of researching life events, general health and self-respect in order to contribute to suitable promotion of mental health in the public health system.

Keywords: mental health, children, event in life

Received: April 2013; Accepted: July 31, 2013; Published: March 1, 2014  Show citation