Clinical and Counselling Psychology Review (CCPR)

Clinical and Counselling Psychology Review (CCPR)

Volume 1 Issue 1, 2019.

National Advisory Board

Editor-in-Chief Zahid Mahmood

Institute of Clinical Psychology, UMT, Lahore

Associate Editor Sadia Saleem


Assistant Editors Muhammad Rafiq Dar

Sara Subhan

Ayesha Jabeen

Anila Sarwar


Technical Editor Muhammad Rafiq Awan

Knowledge and Research Support Service, UMT,

Lahore

Format Editor Abid Ali


Lahore

Language Editor Muhammad Saad


Lahore

Composer Minhaj Fatima


Lahore

International Editorial Board Keith Dobson

Professor of Clinical Psychology

Department of Psychology

University of Calgary

2500 University Drive, NW

Calgary, Alberta Canada T2N 1N4

Abdul Khaleque Department of Human Development and Family

Studies, University of

Connecticut, USA.

Dr. Ushri Banerjee Dept. of Applied Psychology

University of Calcutta

Dr Rosie Mulholland University of Edinburgh, Institute of Sport, Physical

Education and health

Sciences, Edinburgh, Scotland , U.K

Anna (Anya) S. Evmenova, Ph.D. Associate Professor

George Mason University

College of Education and Human Development

4400 University Dr., MS 1F2

Fairfax, VA 22030

Dr Iram Zehra Bokharey Punjab Institute of Mental Health (PIMH) Lahore,

Pakistan

Mr. Ivan Suneel Forman Christian College (A Chartered University),

Lahore, Pakistan

Dr. Syeda Fariha Iram Rizvi Govt. MAO College, Lahore, Pakistan

Dr. Yousaf Jamal Government College, Township, Lahore, Pakistan

Dr. Syeda Farhana Jahangir Frontier Women University, Peshawar, Pakistan

Dr. Amina Muazzam Lahore College for Women University, Lahore,

Pakistan

Ms. Talat Suhail Lahore College for Women University, Lahore,

Pakistan

Dr. Rubina Hanif National Institute of Psychology, Shahdra Road,

Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

Dr. Anila Kamal National Institute of Psychology, Shahdra Road,

Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

Dr. Elizabeth Maria Schwaiger Forman Christian College (A Chartered University),

Lahore, Pakistan

Dr. Salma Hasan Government College for Women University,

Lahore, Pakistan

Dr. Sarah Shahed Lahore College for Women University, Lahore,

Pakistan

Dr. Urusa Fahim Kinnaird College for Women University Lahore,

Pakistan

Clinical and Counselling Psychology Review (CCPR) Volume 1 Issue 1, 2019

Aims and Scope: Clinical and Counselling Psychology Review (CCPR) is a peer-reviewed

biannual research journal which aims to publish empirical research, innovative ideas related to

indigenous psychology and practices in the area of clinical and counselling psychology. CCPR

welcomes original research articles, single case, and experimental studies relating to local, cultural,

and social issues. Also, CCPR accepts papers on psychopathology, psycho-diagnostics,

psychological assessments and the psychotherapeutic processes that exemplify the application of

current theories and practices in the field.

Editorial Policy: We prefer to publish articles based on empirical findings and experimental

work conducted with scientific rigor. We respect the confidentiality and privacy of subjects who

participated in scientific investigations.

Disclaimer: CCPR editorial board is not responsible for errors, misinformation or any

misunderstanding arising from the published material. Also, it does not endorse any views and

opinions included in CCPR publications. The content of any material published in this journal is the

sole responsibility of author/s and may not reflect the views of the editorial staff. Moreover, the

publication of an article shall not constitute or be deemed to constitute any representation by the

editor, Institute of Clinical and Counselling Psychology, University of Management and Technology

that the data presented therein are correct or sufficient to support the conclusions reached or that the

experiment design or methodology is adequate.

Copyright Policy: CCPR follows an open-access publishing policy and the full text of all

articles is available for free, immediately upon acceptance. Articles are published and distributed

under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits

reproduction, distribution, derivatives and commercial use, provided the original work is properly

cited and the authors and the publisher are properly identified. Thus, an article submitted to CCPR

implies that it is an original, unpublished work of the authors; neither published previously nor

accepted/under consideration for publication elsewhere. On acceptance of a manuscript for

publication, a corresponding author on the behalf of all co-authors of the manuscript will sign and

submit a completed Author Agreement Form.

All articles appearing in this journal are simultaneously published electronically. Their e-copy is

accessible via https://icp.umt.edu.pk/ccpr/home.aspx

Each article published in CCPR is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI®) number. The DOI

allocated to articles published in CCPR is a persistent identifier and serves as a permanent link to

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Cover art copyright © 2018 Office of Communication and Media, UMT

®™ The paper used in the publication of journal meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO

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https://icp.umt.edu.pk/ccpr/home.aspx

Editor’s Message

Finally, after four years of untiring work of a dedicated team of clinical psychologists

at ICP, UMT, we have been able to publish the first volume of our journal Clinical and

Counselling Psychology Review (CCPR). This journal is dedicated to clinical and research

work in the area of mental health / illness and human functioning.

We have strived to do our best to maintain the rigorous standards of articles accepted

for publication. Wherever appropriate, all papers include reliability, statistics and ethical

approval. We welcome studies related to our culture that will help us develop our

knowledge base. However, we must specify here that we also welcome research based in

other cultures and communities. Sharing our knowledge broadens our cultural and

intellectual horizons.

Our vision is to adhere to the biopsychosocial and spiritual model as the main

framework for clinical and research activities, with a special regard to theoretical and

methodological integration with the social and cultural demands of the society. Original

research work with a transparent methodology that is also beneficial to the community will

be very welcome. We also aim to publish periodically special issues relating to

psychosocial problems endemic to our society. We will also extend our scope to

marginalized populations and problems that have roots in subcultures as well. We hope

that CCPR will help to understand the origin of these problems and what steps can be taken

to prevent and manage them. The clinical psychological research will also help to lay the

foundation of a culture which will serve the community with scientific knowledge and its

thoughtful application. We are heading towards a global society. The interaction of diverse

cultures and communities brings inevitable challenges for us. In this regard, CCPR will be

a resourceful platform to know about the issues across the world.

Table of Content

S.No Title Page

1 Weight-Related Teasing, Coping Strategies and Self-Esteem in Obese University Students Iram Shehzadi and Madeha Naz 01

2 The Development of a Social Skills Scale for Adolescents Sana Hamid, Ayesha Jabeen and Zahid Mahmood 15

3 The Moderating Role of Coping Strategies in Occupational Stress and Burnout in Mental Health Practitioners in Pakistan Amna Noureen, Asghar Ali Shah and Muhammad Ali Shah

28

4 The Impact of Body Image on Self-Esteem in Adolescents Qurat-ul-Ain Javaid and Amna Ajmal 44

5 A Scientific Study of Religion as a Catalyst to Bring Positive Change in Human Behavior Prof. Dr. Naveed Shibli, Prof. Dr. Mudassir Ahmad, Prof.

Anwar ul Haq, Prof. Dr. Hafiz Hameedullah, Noshaba Anjum,

Dr. Alia Randhawa, Dr. Muhammad Irfan and Muhammad

Adeeb Nasir

55

1

To cite this article: Shahzadi, I., & Naz, M. (2019). Weight-related testing,

coping strategies and self-esteem in obese

university students Clinical and Counselling

Psychology Review, 1(1), 01–14.

Crossref

Article Published: 2019

Article DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32350/ccpr.11.01

Article QR Code:

Available online at:

https://icp.umt.edu.pk/ccpr/Home.aspx

© Copyright 2019 by Institute of Clinical Psychology,

University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.




1,2Clinical Psychology Unit, Government College University Lahore, Pakistan

*Corresponding author [email protected]

2 Clinical and Counselling Psychology Review

Volume 1 Issue 1, 2019

Weight-Related Teasing, Coping Strategies and Self-Esteem in Obese University Students

Iram Shehzadi1*

Madeha Naz2

Abstract The current study aimed to examine the relationship between weight-based

teasing, coping strategies and self-esteem among obese university students.

A total of 60 obese university students (Males=30, Females=30) of the age

group 17 to 26 years (M= 21.52, SD= 2.24) were chosen from different

universities of Lahore. The measures used in the current study were Body

Mass Index (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013),

Perception of Teasing Scale (Thompson, Cattarin, Fowler & Fisher, 1995),

Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced Questionnaire (Carver, Scheier

& Weintraub, 1989) and Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965).

The findings revealed no significant gender differences in the use of

problem focused and emotion focused coping styles. The results also

revealed that 70% of the overweight/obese students were living a sedentary

life style while 30% of the participants were engaged in taking a properly

balanced diet along with exercise. 60% of the students were overweight due

to the excessive eating, no physical activity or excessive sleeping. The

results also showed that there was a significant positive relationship

between perception of teasing and self-esteem and perception of teasing was

a strong predictor of self-esteem among obese university students.

Keywords: body mass index (BMI), obesity, peer teasing, sedentary life

style

Introduction Obesity in Pakistan has become a great health concern in the last few years.

Taking an unhealthy and a full of fats or oily diet, lack of physical activity

and changing lifestyles are the causes which contribute in the development

of obesity in the country. Pakistan is listed at 165 out of 194 countries in the

list of world's fattest countries published by Forbes, in which 22.2% of

individuals above the age of 15 are crossing the optimal level of obesity

(Streib, 2007).

There are many etiological factors which may contribute in causing

mailto:[email protected]

Shahzadi and Naz

3

obesity including genetic, psychosocial, biological and environmental

attributes. People who tend to experience different psychological problems

like anxiety, eating disorders or depression may face more problems in

controlling the expenditure of food, maintaining healthy body weight or

doing an adequate amount of exercise (Collins & Bentz, 2009).

Most of the students report that their peers bully them due to increased

weight. According to a national survey, almost 84% of overweight

adolescent students were teased, called names and were also teased during

physical activities as well. Ignorance, exclusion from collective activities,

teasing in the cafeteria, targeted by negative rumors etc. were characteristics

observed by two third of participants about their obese or overweight peers.

A majority of students also experienced physical or verbal threats (Feyler,

2012).

It has become a prevailing trend to bully, stigmatize and tease the obese

person. Persons with obesity are not obese by their choice. Many factors such

as genetic, physiological, psychological and environmental factors are

contributors in obesity. Modern lifestyle and the usage of innovative

technology has made affected persons oblivious to their growing weight.

People do not leisure time to manage their body mass. In Pakistan, obesity is

becoming a frightening issue.

Surveys and researches show many reasons and impacts of obesity

among university students. It is becoming hard for obese students to

maintain their self-esteem. Low self-esteem may induce them to various

types of addictions including smoking, drugs, gambling, online addiction,

sexual promiscuity and alcohol.

They may experience psychological problems including depression,

anxiety, loneliness and stress. They may have impaired job and academic

performance, dissatisfying and unhealthy relationships with family members

and friends, isolation and avoidance of social interaction, academic failure due

to a lack of confidence like performing poorly on a single test.

On the other hand, obese students use a bundle kind of coping strategies to

protect and maintain good self-esteem. Coping is a readily available kind of

behavior to deal with any type of stressor. Research data reveal that student

with obesity often use avoidance based coping strategies and problem focused

strategies to deal with distressing and teasing comments from others.

Compared to men, women suffer a disproportionate sense of worthlessness

Weight-Related Teasing, Coping Strategies…



and taunting attributable to overweight and obesity. The evidence for the

adverse effects of obesity on women's health is crushing and irrefutable.

More and more studies show that it is much tougher for females to protect

and uphold high quality self-esteem when they face deteriorating comments

from others for their obesity.

According to Puhl and Brownell (2001), obese individuals frequently

experience stigmatization, discrimination and biasness due to increased weight

which influences negatively their social, emotional and personal well-being. At

work they have to experience stigmatization and biasness in numerous aspects

of daily professional life. In employment settings, a negative perception exists

regarding obese persons such as obese workers are considered less competent

and lacking in self-discipline by their colleagues and employers alike and

also quite lazy. All these attitudes may have a negative impact on the

decisions regarding the status of employment, wages and promotions. In

educational settings, a different kind of weight oriented stigmatization may

also happen.

Puhl and Brownell (2001) stated that overweight/obese students face many

problems ranging from rejection to harassment from school or peers, lower

college acceptance, wrongful dismissals from college and biased attitudes from

teachers. Research has highlighted this problem and shows that stigmatization

towards obese or overweight students begins very early.

According to the findings, a negative approach has been reported in

children of pre-school with age between three to five years which links

overweight/obese peers with characteristics of mean, stupid, ugly, unhappy

and consequently they have few friends. Unluckily, in the health care

settings weight stigma also exists such as a negative view of overweight or

obese patients has been reported by physicians, medical students, nurses,

dietitians and psychologists. Researchers have also revealed that health

related professionals who are specialist in the treatment of obesity may hold

negative attitude for the obese as well.

To assess the practice of school students regarding their attitude,

knowledge and practice of healthy eating an indigenous study was conducted.

The students of grade 10th

were chosen as sample. Their body weight and the

level of obesity were also assessed by calculating their Body Mass Index

(BMI). To compute the BMI, the height and weight of each student was

calculated after finishing the questionnaire. The findings indicated that 17% of

the students were underweight, 65% of them were normal and 18% were

Shahzadi and Naz

5

overweight. This study concluded that the prevalence of overweight

individuals is on rise and it is very important to take certain steps for handling

this health issue which has long term consequences.

A long duration of physical activities should be encouraged. Certain

guidelines should be devised for school children as well as for the general

population based on their weight status and nutrition (Rizvi et. al., 2003).

A study was carried out to look at the different risk factors related to

obesity. It was done at the teaching hospital of DHQ at Dera Ghazi (DG)

Khan, Pakistan and used a cross sectional study design. Interviews were

taken of the 330 obese participants between 35 to 45 years of age. The

results showed that obesity prevailed more in women than men. Most of the

participants had a family history and inactive life style with no physical

activity which was found to be the major risk factor for obesity (Khan, et

al., 2008).

2. Rationale of the Study According to the 2012 estimate of World Health Organization (WHO) 26

% of females and 19% of males of Pakistan are obese. Females are 2 to 3

times more likely to be obese as compared to males. Numerous indigenous

and foreign studies have been conducted on obese people to assess their

self-esteem, body image, teasing or other areas but the current research

focuses on weight related teasing along with self-esteem and coping

strategies since it is imperative to draw the attention of educators,

counselors and other experts towards understanding the influence of teasing

on different aspects (social, personal life, academics etc.) of obese students’

lives.

2.1. Hypotheses

There is a positive relationship between body mass index and

perception of teasing among male and female obese university

students.

Perception of teasing is a strong predictor of low self-esteem among

male and female obese university students.

There is a positive relationship between self-esteem and problem

focused coping.

Male obese students use more problem focused coping than female




obese students.

Emotion focused coping strategies are more used by female students

as compared to male students.

3. Method 3.1. Research Design

The present study was conducted using co-relational research design.

3.2. Sample The sample consisted of 60 (Males=30, Females=30) obese university

students between 17 to 26 years of age (M=21.52, SD= 2.24). Purposive

sampling technique was used to select the participants and the sample was

selected from obese/overweight university students of Lahore.

4. Measures

4.1. Body Mass Index (BMI) In the current research, metric standardized formula of BMI was used

that was calculated by measuring weight in kilograms (kg) and dividing it

with height in square meters (kg/m2). The standard categories of weight

measurement linked with BMI posit individuals with less than BMI 18.5 as

underweight, with BMI from 18.5 to 24.9 as normal weight, with BMI 25

to 29.9 as overweight, with BMI 30 to 34.9 as obese, with BMI 35 to 39.9

as severely obese and with BMI 40 and above as morbidly obese (Centre

for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013).

4.2. Demographic Variable Questionnaire There were two sections of the demographic variable sheet. The first

section was related to the age, gender, class/degree, semester, institute, height,

weight and socio-economic status of the participants. The second section

consisted of open ended questions about the life style, behaviors and eating

patterns, reason(s) of increased weight, problems related to academics and

health issues due to being overweight, discrimination faced due to heavy

weight and the way obese students react and cope with this situation.

4.3. Perception of Teasing Scale (POTS) This scale was developed by Thompson et al. in 1995. The POTS is an

11-item scale that assesses the perception of teasing. It consists of two

subscales including competency teasing and general weight teasing. POTS

Shahzadi and Naz

7

is a five point rating scale from “Never” to “Very Often”. A high score on

the scale indicates that the person is experiencing a high level of teasing

regarding his or her increased weight. The alpha for competency is .78 and

for general weight is .94.

4.4. Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced Questionnaire (COPE) COPE was developed by Carver et al. (1989). For the current research,

the full version of COPE was used which comprises 60 items with 15 factors

that reflect avoidant and active coping strategies. This scale is divided into

three major scales including problem focused coping, emotion focused

coping and less useful coping. The ratings comprise Likert type 4 point

rating scale and range from "I (usually) don't do this at all" to "I (usually)

do this a lot”. This inventory has fine psychometric properties as its alpha

ranges from .45 to .92 and the test-retest reliability ranges from .46 to .86.

4.5. Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale This scale was developed by Rosenberg (1965). It consists of 10 items

which assess a person’s sense of self-worth when that person compares herself

or himself with others. A high score in the scale indicates that the person has

greater self-esteem. The scoring of items 2,5,6,8 and 9 was reversed and

marked as 4=strongly disagree and 1=strongly agree. Internal Consistency of

the scale ranges between .77 and .88 and test retest reliability lies between .82

and .85.

5. Procedure

With the permission of the administration of different universities, their

obese/overweight students were located and were explained the aims and

objectives of the study and their consent for participation in this study was

taken. With their consent, their BMI was calculated by recording their

height and weight. Sixty participants with BMI 25 and above were included

in the study and questionnaires were filled by them. The participants were

handed the questionnaire and they were given instructions to fill up the

questionnaire expressing their true feelings and were told that there were no

right or wrong answers. The questionnaire was administered on the

participants individually.

5.1. Ethical Considerations Certain ethical considerations were taken care of in the study.

Permission was taken from the authors for using their scales. Permission




from the competent authority of different universities was taken before

collecting data from students. Consent was taken from the participants after

explaining to them the aim and nature of the research. Questionnaires were

individually administered on participants. Participants were given the

complete right to terminate or withdraw from participation at any time.

Participants were informed that the given information will not be available

to anyone who was not directly involved in the study and complete

confidentiality will be maintained. Participants facing any psychological

problem were referred to campus counselor.

5.2. Results After the collection of data from participants, the results were analyzed.

Initially, descriptive statistics including means, standard deviations,

frequencies and percentages were calculated to find out detailed

information about the sample. Inter-correlation was carried out to find out

the relationship between the perception of teasing consisting of two sub-

scales including competency and weight-based teasing, coping strategies

comprising three sub-scales involving problem focused, emotion focused

and less useful coping and self-esteem. Simple regression analysis was

carried out to see the correlation between variables which were correlated

with each other and the predictors of self-esteem were marked. Independent

sample t-test was carried out to find out gender differences about coping

and self-esteem.

A series of statistical analyses were carried out on the basis of different

demographic variables including weight, socio-economic status and class

of participants, lifestyle and behavior, satisfaction with weight, health

related issues due to being overweight, as well as self-esteem, perception of

teasing and different coping styles including problem focused, emotion

focused and less useful coping styles. The results revealed no significant

differences or relationships among these variables which show that in our

culture obesity is not related to the particular socio-economic status or

lifestyle and there can be many reasons contributing in the growth of obesity

related problems peculiar to the circumstances of the obese individual.

There is no gender/class/institute related difference in the use of coping

styles or self-esteem.

Table 1 is showing the inter-correlations between weight based teasing,

coping strategies and self-esteem along two subscales of the perception of

Shahzadi and Naz

9

Table 1

Inter-correlations between Weight-based Teasing, Self Esteem and

Coping Strategies

Variables 1 CTS WTS 2 PFC EFC LUC 3

1 POTS .90*** .89*** .06 -.01 .01 .23 .62***

CTS .61*** .07 -.01 .03 .21 .55***

WTS .04 -.01 -.02 .20 .56***

2 COPE .91*** .92*** .78*** -.15

PFC .79*** .54*** -.21

EFC .64*** -.24

LUC .14

3 Self Esteem Note. POTS= Perception of teasing scale; CTS= Competency teasing scale; WTS=

weight based teasing scale; COPE= Coping orientation to problem experienced

questionnaire; PFC= Problem focused coping; EFC= Emotion focused coping; LUC=

less useful coping. **p<.01.

teasing scale (competency and weight based teasing) and three subscales of

COPE (problem focused, emotion focused and less useful coping). Pearson

product moment correlation was used for analysis. The results indicated that

a significant positive relationship exists between self-esteem and perception

of teasing scale r=.62, p<.01. The COPE scale was only correlated with its

subscales of problem focused, emotion focused and less useful coping

r=.91; r=.92; r=.78, p<.01.

Table 2

Simple Regression Analysis for Predictors of Self Esteem Variable B SE β 95%CI

Constant 13.20 1.25 10.69-15.71

POTS .15 .02 .- 62*** .10-.20

R2 .39***

F 37.33 Note. ***p<.001, POTS= Perception of Teasing Scale

Table 2 shows the predictor of self-esteem, for this purpose simple regression

analysis was carried out with enter method to find out the significant predictor




of the self-esteem with respect to perception of teasing. The results indicated

that there is a significant negative correlation (r=.-62) between perception of

teasing and the self-esteem. Regression analysis show that model is overall

significant (F=37.33, p<.001) and high perception of teasing is significant

predicator of low self- esteem (t=10.53, p<.001). The model shows that

perception of teasing accounted for 39.2% of the variance in the self-esteem.

Table 3

Correlation between Body Mass Index and Perception of Teasing Variables 1 2

1 Body mass index -- .31**

2 Perception of teasing -- --

Note. *p < .05

The table 3 is showing the relationship between body mass index and

perception of teasing among obese university students. Pearson product

moment correlation was used and the results indicated that there was

significant positive relationship between the body mass index and

perception of teasing, r=.31, p< .05.

Table 4

Gender wise Comparison on Emotion Focused Coping (n=60)

Note. EFC= Emotion Focused Coping

The table 4 is showing the Independent sample t-test which was carried out

to assess the mean differences of emotional focused coping between male

and female obese students. The results revealed that on average, female

participants experience more emotional focused coping (M= 60.96, SE=

2.19) than of male participants (M= 58.66, SE= 1.73). This difference was

not significant t (58) = -.82, p>.05; it represents small size effect at the end.

Males Females 95% CI Cohen’s

Variables M SD M SD t(58) p LL UL d

EFC 58.66 12.04 60.96 9.51 -.82 .90 -7.90 3.30 0.21

Shahzadi and Naz

11

Table 5

Gender wise Comparison on Problem Focused Coping 3(N=60)

Males Females 95% CI Cohen’s

Variables M SD M SD t(57) p LL UL d

PFC 50.93 12.7 50.31 12.4 .19 .05 -5.92 7.17 0.04

Note. PFC= Problem Focused Coping

The table 3.8 is showing the Independent sample t-test which was

carried out to assess the mean differences of problem focused coping

between male and female obese students. The results revealed that on

average, male participants uses more problem focused coping (M= 50.93,

SE= 2.31) than of female participants (M= 50.31, SE= 2.30). This difference

was not significant t (57) = .19, p>.05; it represents small size effect at the

end.

5.3. Summary of the Findings

Findings revealed that 70% of the overweight/obese students were

living a sedentary lifestyle including excessive eating of fattish/junk

food without any physical activity. The other 30% of the obese

participants were engaged in taking proper balanced diet along with

exercise.

Another important finding showed that 60% of the students were

overweight due to excessive eating, no physical activity or excessive

sleeping.

There was a significant relationship between the perception of

teasing and low self-esteem which suggests that weight related

teasing effects the self-esteem of the victim.

The regression co-efficient was found to be significant and the results

indicated that perception of teasing was the predictor of self-esteem.

No relationship was found between self-esteem and coping strategies

and no relationship was found between the perception of teasing and

coping strategies as well.




The t-test revealed minor differences of gender in emotion or

problem focused coping but no significant differences were found

which suggests that both genders use all coping strategies equally.

5.4. Discussion The findings of the study revealed that there are multiple factors which

play a vital role in the development of the obesity problem. According to

the findings, there is a relationship between self-esteem and the perception

of teasing which shows that teasing effects the level of self-esteem, that is

enhanced teasing may contribute in lowering the level of self-esteem of the

individual which further influences their daily life negatively. However, the

results did not reveal any differences of gender in using different coping

styles among male and female students which shows that both genders use

similar coping styles to cope with teasing related to obesity. It also shows

that different coping strategies mentioned in the study are missing in our

culture.

The results also depicted that the Body Mass Index (BMI) was the only

demographic characteristic which was related to weight-based teasing

which concludes that the person having an excessive BMI was teased by

other people to a greater extent. It is a trend in our culture that overweight

people are not being liked and praised as much as smart people and the

possible reason for it could be that the media represents a false concept of

beauty and smartness which influences the perception of people negatively.

6. Conclusion The findings of the current study will help to understand the influence of weight

related teasing on the self-esteem, academic, social and other aspects of life of

the obese university students. It may also help to focus the attention of students

towards taking a proper balanced diet and involve themselves in physical

activities to keep them healthy and to increase the awareness of the students,

university administration, and counselors regarding obesity and its effects

on the daily life of obese students. It may also help the campus counselors

to develop effective counseling plans for obese students to help them face

peer teasing while using different kinds of constructive coping strategies. It

can also play a role in boosting up their self-esteem or enhance their

confidence level by conducting some sessions or group therapies.

Workshops or seminars can be conducted to enhance the awareness of

university students regarding obesity, teasing related to obesity and its

Shahzadi and Naz

13

diverse psychological effects on different aspects of life of obese students.

6.1. Limitations of the Study

Due to limited resources, circumstances, unwillingness of the

participants and within the limited time period available for

research, only a limited sample could be taken and it was not

possible to take a large sample.

Students were taken from a limited number of universities of Lahore

and sample could not be collected from the universities of other

cities of Pakistan due to which the findings cannot be generalized

appropriately.

6.2. Suggestions/Recommendations

For future studies, it is recommended that a large sample of students

must be taken from various universities of different cities so that the

findings can be generalized readily.

Post-counseling sessions of students must be done so that it

increases their awareness and helps them to cope with the current

situation properly.

Future qualitative research may be directed towards different

personalities and the coping styles used by obese people.

The future researchers must focus on the psychosocial factors

contributing in the problem of the obesity found in Pakistani culture.

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http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/adult/causes/index.html

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Shahzadi and Naz

15

To cite this article: Hamid, S., Jabeen, A., & Mahmood, Z. (2019). The

development of a social skills scale for

adolescents. Clinical and Counselling Psychology

Review, 1(1), 15–27.

Crossref


Article DOI:


Article QR Code:








1,2,3Institute of Clinical Psychology, University of Management and Technology, Lahore,

Pakistan




The Development of a Social Skills Scale for Adolescents Sana Hamid1

Ayesha Jabeen2

Zahid Mahmood3

Abstract The main purpose of the study was to develop an indigenous tool to find out

the level and nature of social skills in adolescents. Initially, a pool of 32

items was generated after interviewing 20 participants (both girls and boys).

It was reduced later to 25 items excluding repetitions. These 25 items about

social skills were administered on 20 new participants as a self-report

measure on a 4-point rating scale. Moreover, one item considered

ambiguous by participants was dropped and a final list of 24 items was

given to 300 girls (50%) and boys (50%; M= 14.9 & SD= 1.07) along with

Demographic Proforma and School Children Problem Scale (Saleem &

Mahmood, 2011). The sample for the study was selected from government

schools using stratified random sampling technique. Exploratory factor

analysis revealed three factor solutions which were labelled according to

their emerging themes like Getting Along Skills, Social Attributes and the

Friendship Skills. The inter scale correlation ranged between (r=.66-.86)

and alpha co-efficient showed high reliability (α .80). The tool can be used

by school psychologists in assessing and training children with social skills

deficits.

Keywords: adolescents, scale development, social skill

Introduction The period of adolescence is one of the most important stages of human

development and growth that incorporates various steps and experiences

which become the basis for further improvement during the later stages of

life. Home is the locus of development of social skills of adolescents, while

stepping out of their homes and into the outside world prepares them to

interact with their surroundings (Brown, 1990). School is the place where

individual is exposed to the extremity of the learning process. Although it

enhances the knowledge and intelligence level of adolescents, it is also the

place from where most of their problems, tensions and stressors arise which


Hamid, Jabeen and Mahmood

17

further affect the related assets of their lives. During this period of emotional

upheavals, adolescents who enjoy a high level of socialization would

effectively deal with their problems (Eccles, 1983) and individuals who

respond negatively may experience decrease in their social support

(Eysenck, 1982).

In order to acquire closeness, affiliation and emotional support,

adolescents tend to interact more through disclosing their thoughts and

feelings (Buhemester & Furman, 1987). When adolescents achieve a certain

level of understanding, they start to differentiate relationships on the basis

of their complexity in order to make sense of them. They tend to move in

social events to apply their social understanding in developing real life

relationships (Parke & Ladd, 1992). Youngsters who lack the skills required

for the formation of social contacts are less accepted by peers and have

fewer affiliations (Saygili, 2014).

According to Mueser and Sayers (1992) social skills could be assessed

through the identification of social needs within adolescents and the

evaluation of the outcomes of the treatment. The outcomes of social skills

are subjective and could be analyzed according to the level of skills that are

important for the adolescents to interact with others and to fulfil the needs

they are lacking in themselves to achieve their life’s valuable goals

(Gresham, 1986).

Human nature favors socially acceptable behavior which is likely to

repeat itself in their lives due to the appreciation of others. Adolescents learn

the sense behind their behavior; that is if they behave according to the norms

and values of the prevailing culture then they would receive reinforcement

and acceptance. This kind of learning is based on Bandura’s (1977) social

learning theory which states that we learn from our interactions with others

in a social context.

Social skills constitute the specific and appropriate abilities that make

the adolescents competent enough to perform in a social situation with the

help of their actions, cognitions and by regulating their emotions (Caldarella

& Merell, 1997).

Social skills play the most important role in the development and growth

of adolescents both in learning and in socialization (Bilancia & Rescorla,

2010). Quinn, Kavale, Rutherford and Forness (1999) used a meta-analysis

to analyze the social skills of adolescents by using different quantitative

The Development of a Social Skills…



measurements in order to measure the intervention points of adolescents

with their emotional and behavioral problems. The results of this meta-

analysis showed the progress of adolescents in handling their emotional and

behavioral problems with their developed social skills.

A number of tools have been designed in the West to assess social skills

in children including School Social Behavior Scales (SSBS; Merrell, 1993),

Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham & Elliott, 1990), School

Social Skills Rating Scale (S3; Brown, 1984) and Social Behavior

Assessment Inventory (SBAI; Stephens & Arnold, 1992) etc. However, no

exclusively developed scale for social skills measurement was found for

Pakistani adolescents other than the study carried out by Rashid (2010)

which explored the development of social skills among children at

elementary level. The five most frequently focused social skills including

accepting criticism, showing respect, solving problems, accepting rights

and responsibilities and tolerance of individual differences were selected

from the social studies curriculum in the said study. The results indicated

that social skills have not developed among children to the extent expected.

The study was found to be limited in revealing the phenomenological

expression of the said variables. Therefore, the need was felt to explore the

expression and pattern of skills required for being social in Pakistani

culture.

2. Method The scale was developed through the following stages.

2.1. Phase 1: Exploring Phenomenology 2.1.1. Participants and procedure. The aim of the phase 1 of this study

was to explore the phenomenon of social skills in the adolescents of

Pakistan. For this purpose, twenty boys and girls of 8th, 9th and 10th classes

were selected randomly from government schools. The interview was

conducted and the responses were taken one by one from each student by

asking the question what kind of qualities and skills does a person possess

who is thought to be very friendly? The responses of each adolescent against

this question were noted on a paper separately in their verbatim.

Furthermore, their verbatim were compiled as phrases and those found to

be repeating, dubious or ambiguous were dropped. Out of the 32 items,

eight items were dropped due to their repetition and ambiguity and the

remaining items were placed under the title of Social Skill Scale (SSS).


19

2.2. Phase II: Empirical Validation 2.2.1. Participants and procedure. A list of 25 items was given to four

clinical psychologists having a minimum of two years of experience in

dealing with school children for expert validation. The experts were asked

to verify each response and discuss its relevance to the construct under

study, culture and to the desired age range. Almost all the items were found

to have a 90% ratio of agreement. After empirical validation, a total number

of 24 items was obtained and given a 4-point rating scale.

2.3. Phase III: Pilot study The purpose of this phase was to determine the layout, user friendliness

and time taken to fill the Social Skills Scale. After empirical validation, the

items of the scale were translated and typed in Urdu for the adolescents to

make the tool easy to understand. Then it was again administered on boys

and girls of classes 8th, 9th and 10th (10 students from each class). The

participants easily understood the items of the scale and took 10 minutes to

respond to it.

2.4. Main Study Phase The aim of this phase was to determine the psychometric properties of

Social Skills Scale.

2.4.1. Participants. The sample of the study was selected from

government schools of Lahore, Pakistan though multistage sampling

technique. Firstly, the main strata of gender was divided into girls and boys

which were further divided according to their class , that is 8th , 9th and

10thclass with equal proportion from each class . The adolescents from these

strata were selected through simple random sampling. The age range of

these adolescents was found to be from 13 to 17 years (M= 14.9 &SD=

1.07).

3. Measures

3.1. Demographic Questionnaire The demographics of the current study consisted of the variables of age,

gender, class, family system, father’s education and mother’s education.

These variables were selected by reviewing the relevant literature and found

to be pertinent on its basis.




Social Skill Scale (SSS) was an indigenously developed scale by the

researcher that comprised a total of 24 items and three factors which ranged

from “seldom” to “always”. School Children Problem Scale (SCPS, Saleem & Mahmood, 2011) is

an indigenously developed scale used to measure emotional and behavioral

problems of adolescents of classes 8th, 9th and 10th. It consists of six factors

including anxiety, academic problems, anger, rejection, withdrawal and

somatic. The scale was found to have good psychometric properties.

3.2. Procedure Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved the study keeping in view

all its ethical concerns for research purposes. Initially, permission was taken

from schools after explaining the nature and aims of the current research

project. The school authorities were assured that all of the information

would be kept confidential and would only be used for research purposes

only. All ethical concerns like right to withdraw, confidentiality etc. were

also taken into account. Then the indigenously developed scale SSS was

administered to the adolescents of 8th, 9th and 10th classes along with the

demographic questionnaire and SCPS. They were provided with complete

guidelines and were asked to rate each item to the extent of their

preferences. It took 20-25 minutes to complete the research protocol. After

its completion, the participants were given feedback and debriefing about

the whole procedure.

4. Results The collected data was carefully computed with the help of Statistical

Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics was used for the

computation of mean, standard deviation and frequency of the

demographics of participants. Inferential statistics was used to analyze the

factor structure of the scale.

4.1. Factor Analysis of Social Skill Scale for Adolescents Factor analysis was used to collate the common items according to the

scree plot on the basis of the Eigen values. Scree plot is the graph of the

Eigen values set against the factors of social skills (Brown, 1990). The three

factors of the Social Skills Scale were analyzed by using the scree plot.

Factor analysis was performed by using the three factor solution with the


21

help of Varimax Rotation (Costello & Osborne, 2005 ) to maximize the sum

of total squared loadings.

Table 2

Eigen Values and Variances Explained by 3 Factors of Social Skills Scale

(SSS)

Factors Eigen values % of variance Cumulative %

Getting along skills 1.00 33.4 33.4

Social attributes 1.00 33.4 66.9

Friendship skills .99 33.0 100.0

4.2. Factor Description of Social Skills Scale Social skill scale has 24 items. The scoring option of this scale was

based on the Likert type format which ranges from 0-3. “0” for never, “1”

for sometimes, “2 for often” and “3” for always. It measures the three

dimensions of social skills of adolescents which include getting along skills,

attributes and friendship skills in adolescents.

4.3. Getting Along Skills The getting along skills are defined as the skills that an adult needs to

get along with others and to manage ups and downs of life which is

important for good mental health and wellbeing. These skills are gauged by

eleven items such as “taking care of others’ feeling”, “helping each other in

studies”, “being confident”, “amiable” and “could tell the difference

between good and bad”.

4.4. Social Attributes

Social attributes are referred to as the explanatory pattern that describes

how adults tend to explain the various attributes of others to themselves.

These attributes are gauged by six items such as “giving useful ideas to

others”, “to be honest”, and “be courteous”.

4.5. Friendship Skills Friendship skills are the skills that are based on a relationship that

requires care, sharing, mutual interest, respect and trust. Friendship skills

are gauged by seven items including “shares everything”, “don’t let you feel

inferior”, don’t talk inappropriately with others” and “never tell a lie”.




Table 3

Items of three Factors of Social Skills Scale (SSS)

Factors 1: Getting Along Skills (11 items)

1. Having friendly relationship with everyone

2. Always in contact with everyone

3. Good way of talking

4. Help others to understand their point

5. Having good intentions for others

6. Being approving and supportive of peers

7. Respects everyone

8. Helps others during studies

9. Cares for other people emotions

10. Self-confident

11. Have soft temperament

Factor 2: Social Attributes (5 items)

1. Cheerful

2. Amiable

3. Honest

4. Gives you best opinion

5. Caring of peers emotions

Factor 3: Friendship Skills (7 items)

1. Share everything

2. Never let anybody feel inferior

3. Never disrespects others

4. Never shuffles anybody words in front of others

5. Never lie

6. Never talk behind people back

7. Never talk rudely


23

Table 4

Summary of Inter-Correlations, Means, Standard Deviations of the

Participants (N=300) on 3 Factors of the Social Skills Scale for Adolescents

Factors F1 F2 F3 Total SSS

Getting along skills --- .49*** .32*** .86***

Social attributes --- --- .22** .71***

Friendship skills --- --- --- .66***

M 21.9 12.2 12.6 46.8

SD 5.21 3.26 3.74 9.32

Note. df= 299, ***p<0.001;**p<0.01, SSS = Social Skills Scale.

Table no. 4 shows the significant positive relationship between the three

factors of the Social Skills Scale which depicts the strong relationship

between the factors of SSS.

Table 5

Cronbach Alpha of Social Skills Scale (SSS) and 3 Factors of SSS

Factors No of items a

Getting along skills 11 .74

Social attributes 6 .67

Friendship skills 7 .51

Total 24 .80

The above table indicates acceptable internal consistency between the

three factors of SSS for adolescents. The total value of Cronbach alpha is

.80 which represents a good level of internal consistency.

5. Discussion

Social skills are important for individuals to perform their functions and

roles and for living in a community. Social skills are necessary for an

individual to participate in community events. The purpose of the current

research was to develop a scale for assessing social skills in adolescents

keeping in view their level of comprehension of stressful life experiences.




Social skills are very important in the social development of

adolescents. It takes an entire life of a person to achieve all the milestones

of social development. At first, home is the only place where a child

develops his/her social skills. With the passage of time, children grow up

and begin to move outside of their home in the society where they use their

observational skills that they have gained through their communication

within their homes. Their observational skills enable them to learn from

their environment and enhance their social skills according to their

environment and also learn the norms and values of society (Buhemester &

Furman, 1987).

According to the culture specific priorities of communication skills, a

scale was developed for the adolescents of Pakistan in which their responses

were taken based on their opinions. During the process of its development,

three factors or skills were identified which include the Getting Along Skill,

Social Attributes and Friendship Skills. This scale was found to be different

as compared to Western scales in which greeting others, taking initiative,

and responding through gestures were given importance. On the contrary,

in SSS the significance of moral values in relating with others was

highlighted. This difference could be due to cultural and religious factors,

such as in Pakistani culture taking initiative in greeting others, shaking

hands and giving smiles is performed as an obligation and a routine matter

contrary to the West where people usually relate mostly to familiar persons

only. The School Social Behaviour Scales (SSBS; Merrell, 1993) being a

famous measure of social skills is criticized because of its poor ethnic

representation (Demaray et al., 1995). An important difference found in

SSS and other scales was that the items related to behavioural problems or

antisocial domain were not found in SSS. The theme found in SSS was

mainly related to giving respect to others and providing help in different

scenarios which is also found in western scales (SSBS; Merrell, 1993;

SSRS; Gresham & Elliott, 1990., SBAI; and Stephens & Arnold, 1992) but

to a limited extent, because the values of the western countries focus on the

development of children into individuals who are autonomous and self-

sufficient (Rideout, 2006).

There was no difference found between boys and girls on the subscale

of Friendship Skills. However, there was a significant mean difference

between boys and girls on the subscale of Getting Along Skills and Social

Attributes. This could be due to the reason that in a collectivistic culture like


25

ours girls are appreciated for being introvert and lacking pro and active

social behaviors.

Good social skills are very important for a successful life. These skills

enable us to make good decisions and behave in a specific way according

to the cultural preferences in diverse situations. The extent to which

adolescents possess social skills have a direct and indirect influence on their

behaviour and performance in school, social environment, in extracurricular

activities inside and outside of the school, home and other environmental

areas. Social skills are the most vital skills that adolescents use to depict

their quality of behaviour in the social environment. The factor 1(Getting

Along skills) and 2 (Social Attributes) of SSS include items related to face

to face interaction with others in the social environment and the explanatory

behaviour that is necessary for interaction with the societal environmental

processes according to the norms and values of Pakistani culture,

respectively. As expertise in these two skills increases, it is most likely to

decrease the emotional and behavioural problems in adolescents that are

causing conflicts and interrupting their daily life through the challenges they

face.

5.1. Limitations and Conclusion

This study has addressed the important issue of culture specific

manifestation and presentation of the social skills of adolescents. The scale

is representative of experience of both genders, since separate versions for

boys and girls required tedious effort and more time. The scale is found to

have good psychometric properties and can be used in various settings. In

Pakistani culture, the adolescents feel more emotional and behavioral

problems which are likely to influence their current and future ability to

function, both socially and academically. Hence, identifying social skills of

adolescents in schools is essential for fostering the best possible growth and

adjustment in young people.

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McManus, M. S., & Leventhal. A. (1995). Social skills assessment: A

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training. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 15, 3–15.

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27

Mueser, K. T., & Sayers, M. S. D. (1992). Social skills assessment: An

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meta-analysis of social skills interventions for students with emotion

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Disorders, 7, 54–64.

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Elementary Level. Bulletin of Education and Research, 32(1), 69–78.

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learning+environment.-a0149613308

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To cite this article: Noureen, A., Shah, A. A., & Shah, M. A. (2019). The

moderating role of coping strategies in

occupational stress and burnout in mental health

practitioners in Pakistan. Clinical and Counselling

Psychology Review, 1(1), 28–43.

Crossref


Article DOI:


Article QR Code:








1,2Foundation University Rawalpindi Campus, Rawalpindi, Pakistan 3International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan (IIUI)

*Corresponding author [email protected] 29

The Moderating Role of Coping Strategies in Occupational Stress and Burnout in Mental Health Practitioners in Pakistan

Amna Noureen1*

Asghar Ali Shah2

Muhammad Ali Shah3

Abstract The current study was aimed to observe the moderating role of coping

strategies in occupational stress and burnout among mental health

practitioners. It was also aimed to examine the relationship of demographic

factors with occupational stress, burnout and coping strategies. Data was

collected from 200 mental health practitioners (clinical psychologists and

psychiatrists) from different government and private hospitals and

rehabilitation centers situated in different cities of Pakistan. Three scales

were used in the research, that is, Mental Health Professional Stress Scale

to measure occupational stress, Brief Cope to measure coping strategies and

Maslcah Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey to assess burnout. The

results indicated that there is a strong positive correlation between

occupational stress, burnout and emotion focused coping strategies. The

analyses showed that coping strategies did not moderate the relation

between occupational stress and burnout. In demographic variables, the

variables of age, education, experience and work hours were significant.

Younger mental health practitioners scored high on occupational stress,

burnout and use of emotion focused coping strategies than older ones. In

qualification and experience, less qualified and less experienced

practitioners had more occupational stress, burnout and used emotion

focused coping strategies than more qualified and more experienced

practitioners. Those practitioners whose working hours were less had low

occupational stress and burnout and used problem focused coping

strategies.

Keywords: burnout, coping strategies, occupational stress, mental health

practitioners

Introduction

Mental health practitioners (clinical psychologists and psychiatrists)

working in human services settings spend most of their time dealing with


The Moderating Role of Coping Strategies…



patients who have severe emotional, behavioral, social and physical

problems. Dealing with these patients brings frustration, fear, despair, anger

in mental health practitioners especially when the patient relapses and there

is a small chance of recovery. Additionally, if the work environment is not

protective, there is a lack of facilities, resources and other work related

problems are there, then persistent occupational stress can cause Burnout.

Currently, in Pakistan, there are not many consultant psychiatrists and

clinical psychologists and a large number of patients. The ratio of

psychiatrists in Pakistan is 1 for every 10,000 individuals who suffer from

any mental disorders. The same ratio for child psychiatrists is 1 for every

4,0000 children and for the entire180 million population there are only four

major psychiatric hospitals with fully equipped facilities. This is a major

reason which causes stress and frustration in mental health practitioners as

the number of patients is large (Qasim, 2012). The number of practicing

psychiatrists in Pakistan is just 349 and this could be a major cause of

burnout (Waqas, Bukhari & Ghanzafar, 2015). In order to cope with burnout

due to stress, mental health practitioners could use different coping

strategies which can reduce the burnout.

In the medical field, one of the utmost stressful professions is

psychiatry, since the psychiatrist works with chronic psychological patients

with little hope of getting cured (Fischer, Kumar & Hatcher, 2007). Clinical

psychologists and psychiatrists are two types of professionals who have the

same level of therapeutic liability and do their work on similar grounds.

Most of the work in mental health field were conducted on the sample of

nurses and psychiatrists and comparative studies on clinical psychologists

and psychiatrists are scarce and practically non-existent (Oubina, Calvo &

Rios, 1997).

1.1. Rationale of the Study Among all occupations, mental health practitioners’ work could be

contemplated as highly stressful. In Pakistan, few studies have been

conducted on stress and burnout among mental practitioners. But no study

has been conducted on how mental health practitioners cope with stress to

avoid burn out and which coping strategies they use. Secondly, most studies

on mental health practitioners have been conducted in western societies and

in a variety of human service settings including social workers, nurses,

community psychologists, counselors, educationists etc. There is a

Noureen, Shah and Shah

31

difference in the practice of psychiatry in western and Asian countries in

terms of the type of work, nature of stressors, gender roles, kind of facilities

for work etc. So, in Pakistan, the level of stress and the use of coping

strategies is different and this study is intended to measure only the stress

level of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists working in hospitals and

rehabilitation centers.

The outcome of study is related to training programs which ought to be

organized for mental health practitioners. This study helps us to know that

demographic variables do have an impact on occupational stress and

burnout. So, in intervention programs differences of experience, education,

age etc. should be keep in mind while arranging workshops.

1.2.Occupational Stress

Stress that occurs due to a person’s employment is called occupational

stress (Butt, 2009). There are three levels of stress. Firstly, there is stress

which arises from an exterior source stress due to occupation and stress

which is connected with main life act. Secondly, there are coping strategies

which act as moderators and are used as main defense when stress affects a

person negatively. Coping strategies include both active and passive coping

strategies. Lastly, there is the stress outcome. Outcome could be adverse or

conclusive. An adverse outcome can be low job satisfaction and burnout

(Carson & Kupier, 1998).

1.3. Coping Strategies According to Lazaru and Folkman (1980), coping is “Doing cognitive

and behavioral attempt continuously to maintain exterior and interior

demands that are considered as outstrip the person resources”. Although much of the coping literature has used the broad active versus

passive or problem- versus emotion-focused dichotomy in assessing the

impact of coping on stress, theorists such as Lazarus caution against broad

generalizations (Lazarus & Folkman, 1980). He emphasizes the importance

of context as one coping solution may be more or less adaptive in one

situation versus another. In his view, coping strategies operate much like

defenses and may be protective in certain situations. Likewise, people are

more likely to use combinations of strategies in addressing environmental

stressors (Berger, 2011). Burnout among human service providers,

including psychologists (Berger, 2011) were measured by them.




1.4. Major Categories of Coping Strategies 1.4.1. Emotion focused coping. It refers to coping which regulates

stressful emotions (Lazaru & Folkman, 1980) 1.4.2. Problem focused coping. These are strategies used to handle the

issues which are main source of stress (Lazaru & Folkman, 1980).

1.4.3. Burnout. It is a syndrome which appears in a person whose nature

of work is to labor with others in an enclosed space which causes emotional

exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment.

1.5. Stress, Burnout and Coping Strategies A study by Lazarus and Folkman (1980) on coping strategies of middle

aged community were analyzed. The analyses showed that 98% of them

used both emotion and problem focused coping strategies and it emphasized

that the conceptualization of coping strategies either as emotion or problem

focused is inaccurate. Many kinds of coping strategies are often used in

combination and intra-individual results also showed that people are more

variable than constant in the use of coping strategies. Among demographic

variables, age and gender were examined which have a particular impact on

coping. Males use more problem focused coping strategies than females in

workplace setting. Among middle aged man between 45 to 64 years of age

there was no difference in coping pattern.

Cushway and Tyler (1994) conducted a study on stress and coping in

clinical psychologists. She selected a sample of 101 West Midlands’ clinical

psychologists and sent them the questionnaire through post. The results of

the study showed that stress level in qualified clinical psychologists and

trainees was the same. The demographic variables showed that gender wise

women suffer from more occupational stress than males. Similarly, less

experienced psychologists face more stress than more experienced ones and

junior psychologists reported a higher stress level than senior ones.

Gillespie and Numerof (1991); Numerof and Abrams (1984); Benbow and

Jolley (2002); Rathod, Roy, Ramsay, Das, Birwistle and Kindgdom (2000);

and White (2006) found out more experienced psychologists demonstrated

fewer characteristics of burnout. To cope with stress, the coping strategies

used most were behavioral such as talking to others and the coping strategy

of avoidance (Emotion Focused Coping Strategies). The use of passive or

emotional coping strategies predicted emotional exhaustion (Jenaro, Flores

& Arias, 2007).


33

A study on the relationship of self-efficacy and burnout among

physicians by Aftab, Shah and Mehmood (2012) found out that female

physicians experienced more burnout than male physicians.

Taycan, Kutlu, Cimen, and Aydýn (2006) have found that with

increasing qualification the lack of accomplishment also increases. Whereas

small differences were found for emotional exhaustion which was greater

in employees with less than one year of experience. Overall burnout was

greater in employees with an experience of 5 to 10 years. Deckard, Meterko

and Field (1994) found out that the initial two to five years of professional

life is a crucial period in which emotional exhaustion could affect personal

and professional achievement as well as major steps related to the job itself.

For working hours, significant difference was found in the level of

emotional exhaustion between employees with different working hours.

Employees whose working hours were 9 to 12 scored greater on emotional

exhaustion as compared to employees with 4 to 8 or 13 to 16 working hours. A study on work stress in psychiatrist and the coping strategies they use

was conducted by Rathod et al. (2000). Findings of the study revealed that

younger psychiatrists who are less than 40 years of age take more stress and

use problem focused coping strategies as compared to older psychiatrists or

consultants. In terms of gender, there was not much difference due to work

stress but overall females were more stressed as compared to males.

2. Hypotheses of the Study 1. There is a positive relation between occupational stress and burn

out.

2. Coping strategies do not moderate the relationship between

occupational stress and burnout.

3. Younger mental health practitioners experience more occupational

stress and burn out and use emotion focused coping strategies.

4. Less qualified mental health practitioners endure more stress, burn

out and use emotion focused coping strategies as compared to more

qualified mental health practitioners. 5. Less experienced mental health practitioners endure more

occupational stress, burn out and use emotion focused coping

strategies as compared to more experienced ones.




3. Method 3.1. Sample

Questionnaires were filled from 200 mental health practitioners

(psychiatrists and clinical psychologists). Their ages varied from 24 to 60

years. Data was collected using convenient sampling technique from

different cities of Pakistan including Rawalpindi, Lahore, Islamabad,

Peshawar, Faisalabad, Karachi, Pano Aqal, Kohat, ottack, Kharian Cantt,

Multan, Muzzarafad, Sanjwal Cantt. Sample comprised those participants

who worked in human services setting. The sample was taken from

hospitals including private and government hospitals and some participants

were chosen from rehabilitation centers.

3.2. Instruments

3.2.1. Mental health professional stress scale (MHPSS). It is a self-

report measure which shows different causes of stress for mental health

practitioners. It has 42 items and has seven subscales and it was applied on

a sample of clinical psychologists which comprised 154 psychologists. A

four point response scale was used to measure the responses in which 0

indicated “does not apply to me” and 3 indicated “does apply to me”

(Cushway, Tyler & Nalon, 1996). This research scale showed good internal

consistency (alpha=.87 for clinical psychologist.). The preliminary

evidence also proved that this scale has a good concurrent validity. On a

sample of clinical psychologists in India, alpha of full scale was .89

(Mehrotra, Rao & Subbakrishna, 2000).

3.2.2. Brief COPE. There are 28 items and 14 subscales, each scale is

composed of two items. Based on definition, Brief Cope is divided into two

main categories: problem-based coping and emotion- focused coping.

Active coping (items 2 and 7), use of instrumental support (items 10 and

23), planning (items 14 and 25), are classified as problem-based coping.

Self-distraction (items 1 and 19), denial (items 3 and 8), substance use

(items 4 and 11), use of emotional support (items 5 and 15), behavioral

disengagement (items 6 and 16), venting (items 9 and 21), positive

reframing (items 12 and 17), humor (items 18 and 28), acceptance (items

20 and 2), religion (items 22 and 27), self-blame (items 13 and 26) fall into

emotion-based coping (Macdonald, 2011). For 14 subscales, reliabilities range from 0.57-0.90 (Carver, 1997) and

reliability for each subscale ranges from .75 to .82 (Maldonado, 2005) and


35

0.54-0.93 (McDonald, 2011). The reliability of Brief COPE full scale is

0.81 and coping strategies are divided mainly into problem-based and

emotion-based coping with 0.79 and 0.75 reliability, respectively

(McDonald, 2011). The responses are measured on Likert scale in which

‘1’ is ‘I have not been doing this at all’, ‘2’ is ‘I have been doing this a

little bit’, ‘ 3’ is ‘I have been doing this a medium amount’ and ‘4’ is ‘I

have been doing this a lot’.

3.2.3. Maslach burnout inventory- human services survey (MBIHSS). MBI-HSS has three subscales. The first is emotional

exhaustion (9 items). The second subscale is depersonalization (5 items).

The third subscale is personal accomplishment (8 items). The MBI-HSS is

a 22 item self- report inventory and the responses are measured on Likert-

type frequency scale on 7 points beginning with 0 = never, 1 = a few times

a year or less, 2 = once a month or less, 3 = a few times a month, 4 = once

a week, 5 = a few times a week, 6 = every day.

Internal consistency is 0.83 and Cronbach alpha for the subscales are

0.89 for emotional exhaustion, 0.74 for personal accomplishment and 0.77

for depersonalization.

3.2.4. Demographics. The demographic sheet was used attached with

written consent form. For the purpose of the current study, the demographic

information obtained included gender, age, education, number of years

practicing, primary work setting, hours worked, occupation, location and

name of the organization.

4. Procedure

Questionnaires using all measurement scales were distributed among 200

mental health practitioners working in private and government hospitals.

First of all, inform consent was taken from each participant and in

Rawalpindi, Islamabad questionnaires were handed over to them on a

personal basis. They were thoroughly introduced about the nature of study,

its aim and how it is good for academia and for mental health practitioners.

The queries of participants were entertained on the spot.

5. Result Reliability analysis was done to measure Cronbach alpha and alpha scores

of the Mental Health Professional Stress Scale and its subscales which are

as follows, Overall MHPSS Scale .980, workload .883, client related




Difficulties .901, organizational structure and process .888, lack of

resources .882, professional self-doubt, home-work conflict .888. For Brief

Cope overall alpha score is 765, and for subscale problem focused coping

.891, emotion focused coping.884. Cronbach alpha score for combined

scale is .722, while for subscale emotional exhaustion .939,

depersonalization .823 and lack of accomplishment .895.

Table 1

Correlation of Independent, Moderator and Dependent Variable

Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

MHPSS 1

EFC .81** 1

PFC -.59** -.46** 1

MBI-HSS .71** .64** -.34** 1

EE .87** .79** -.59** .85*

* 1

PA -.63** -.54** .66** -.16* -.62** 1

DP .82** .69** -.58** .77*

* .85** -.66** 1

Note; MHPSS= Mental Health Professional Stress Scale, EFC=Emotion Focused Coping

Strategies, PFC= Problem Focused Coping Strategies, MBI-HSS= Maslach Burnout

Inventory Human Services Survey, EE= Emotional Exhaustion, PA= Personal

Accomplishment, DP= Depersonalization

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2- tailed)

Table 1 shows the correlation of scales. Occupational stress and emotion

based coping are positively correlated with overall burnout and with the

subscale of emotional exhaustion and depersonalizations, whereas it is

significantly negatively correlated with personal accomplishment and

problem focused coping strategies. So, the overall relation of stress with

burnout and with emotion focused coping is significant p< 0.01.


37

Table 2.

Hierarchal Regression Analysis Predicting Burnout from Occupational

Stress X Coping Strategies (N=200) Predictor R R(square) df f β

.71 .50 198 204.85

Job Stress 1.899

PFC .111

EFC -0.32

.72 .51 196 3.687

Job Stress ×PFC .261

Job Stress× EFC -.199

Note: PFC= Problem Focused Coping, EFC= Emotion Focused Coping

The results are non-significant. The non-significant findings show that

either problem or emotion based coping strategies do not affect the relation

of occupational stress to burnout.

Table 3

t- test Independent For Age

<40 years >40 years t(198) p

(n=159) (n=41)

M SD M SD

Total Job Stress 1.24 .790 .57 .492 .01 .001**

Brief Cope

Emotion-Focused 2.09 .517 1.55 .371 .02 .001***

Problem-Focused 2.28 .877 3.22 .710 .02 .001***

MBIHSS 2.74 .790 2.33 .534 .02 .001***

Emotional. E 2.34 1.590 .88 1.206 .01 .001***

Personal. A 3.65 1.435 4.94 1.074 .10 .001***

Depersonalization 2.02 1.626 .77 1.122 .10 .001***








Table 3 depicts comparison on the basis of age difference. T-test shows

significant difference in occupational stress, burnout and coping strategies

between age groups of <40 and >40. >40 have less stress, low burnout and

use more problem focused coping strategies. All results are significant with

p<.001.

Table 4

One way Analysis of Variance for Experience <1 1-5 6-10 >10 f p

(n=26) (n=85) (n=67) (n=22)

Variables M SD M SD M SD M SD

MHPSS

1.80 .64 1.59 0.80 0.67 .47 .54 .43 31.14 .001***

EFC

2.11 0.53 2.26 0.44 1.68 .46 1.63 .36 25.15 .001***

PFC

2.28 0.70 2.09 0.87 2.88 .86 3.94 .83 13.56 .001***

MBIHSS

2.68 0.77 2.99 0.77 2.37 .63 2.24 .53 12.36 .001***

EE

2.33 0.48 3.00 .53 1.13 1.14 .80 .98 30.59 .001***

PA

3.42 1.40 3.28 1.39 .52 1.24 5.05 .91 18.27 .001***

DP

2.12 1.72 2.50 1.68 .16 1.11 .35 .63 18.92 .001***





Table 4 shows mean differences and value of significance for different

educational levels. The results are significant. The value is below .05 which

means that the results are highly significant. There is difference in stress,

coping strategies and burnout level on the basis of experience. Table 5

shows that less experienced practitioners have more stress, use more

emotion focused coping strategies and have high burnout than highly

experienced ones.

6. Discussion

The study investigated the extent to which coping strategies play a

moderating role in the relation between occupational stress and burnout.


39

Table 1 indicates a positive relationship of occupational stress with

subscale emotion focused coping strategies (r=.814**) which is consistent

with previous research findings of Maldonado (2005) and McDonald (2005)

that occupational stress and emotion based coping strategies are positively

correlated and when mental health practitioners use emotion focused coping

strategies occupational stress also increases. Occupational stress (MHPSS)

overall mean is positively correlated with overall burnout (r=.713**), with

emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment (r= -.633**),

depersonalization (r= .871**, r= .817**) and is negatively correlated with

personal accomplishment (r= -.633**) and this finding is consistent with

the result of Emma Jones Cotes(2004) who anticipated that overall

underlying construct measured by MHPSS AND MBI-HSS are similar.

Occupational stress is negatively correlated with problem focused coping

strategies (r=-.592**) and this finding is consistent with Macdonald (2011)

that problem based coping strategies are negatively correlated with stress.

Hypothesis 2 indicates the moderating effect of coping strategies on

occupational stress and burnout. Moderated regression analysis was

performed for problem focused coping and emotion focused coping to

explore the incremental variance of product term. This hypothesis was not

supported. Coping strategies play a small role in the prediction of burnout.

The non-significant interaction indicates that the use of problem or emotion

focused coping strategies do not affect the relation of job stress and burnout.

This finding is consistent with the finding of Maldonado (2005) which

depicts a similar result for the moderating role of coping strategies in

occupational stress and depressive affect. According to Lazarus and

Folkman (1980) a person changes the coping strategies depending on the

situation. People are more variable than constant in the use of coping

strategies. They used emotion and problem focused coping strategies

depending on the circumstances.

Table 3 indicates that the younger mental health practitioners would

experience more burnout, occupational stress and use emotion focused

coping strategies with these passive strategies often linked to burnout. For

example, the use of passive or emotion focused coping strategies predict

emotional exhaustion (Jenaro et al., 2007). Senior employees have a low

level of burnout than their younger counterparts (Gillespie & Numerof,

1991; Numerof & Abrams, 1984). Shanaya Rathod and colleagues (2000)

revealed that younger psychiatrists who were less than 40 years of age




experienced more stress and used problem focused coping strategies than

older psychiatrists or consultants.

Table 4 indicates that the results are significant at p<.01 level. Less

qualified practitioners experience more stress, burnout and use emotion

focused coping strategies whereas more qualified ones experience low

stress, burnout and use problem focused strategies.

Table 5 indicate that the results are significant at p<.05 level. Less

experienced practitioners with < 1 to 5 years’ experience more occupational

stress, burnout and use emotion focused coping strategies whereas more

experienced practitioners with an experience of 6 years to >10 experience

low stress and burn out and use emotion focused strategies. Similar results

are shown in mean plot, as experience increases stress, burnout and use of

problem focused strategies also increases. According to Numerof &

Abrams (1984) employees with a long experience of same post at work

place experience low burnout. Richard A. White (2006) found out that more

experienced practitioners demonstrated fewer characteristics of burnout. Senior and experienced psychologists show less stress than young

professionals (Cushway & Tyler, 1994).

7. Conclusion The present study finds out the moderating role of coping strategies in

occupational stress and burnout among mental health practitioners and the

positive association between stress and burnout. The study also makes the

use of demographic variables like gender, age, occupation, education,

experience, working hours etc. and their impact on stress and burnout.

7.1. Limitation and Suggestions There are important limitations that must be considered in drawing

conclusions and that have implications for future research designs. Firstly,

small sample size is a major limitation of the study as results cannot be

generalized on the larger population. Secondly, the combined length of the

three questionnaires was considerable and each participant was supposed to

fill all three questionnaires having a sum of 100 questions. Next, the study

was limited to only those participants who were working in hospitals.

Although it is hoped that these results may also be helpful for all practicing

psychologists and psychiatrists as well as those in other human services

professions (medical profession, school teachers, social workers,

academicians etc.). In future studies, it is imperative to include the salary


41

and socioeconomic status of mental health practitioners as they have a lot

of impact on stress and burnout among practitioners in Pakistan.

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To cite this article: Javaid, Q. A., & Ajmal, A. (2019). The impact of body

language on self-esteem in adolescents. Clinical

and Counselling Psychology Review, 1(1), 44–54.

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1,2Department of Applied Psychology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan.

*Corresponding author [email protected] 45

The Impact of Body Image on Self-Esteem in Adolescents Qurat-ul-Ain Javaid1

Amna Ajmal2*

Abstract The purpose of the current study was to explore the impact of body image

on self-esteem in adolescent males and females. A sample of 290

adolescents (144= male, 146= females) was taken from different schools

and colleges of Multan. Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Body Image

Scale were used to measure the impact. Findings indicated a positive

relationship between the level of confidence in the body image of adolescent

males and their self-esteem. Moreover, it was found that adolescent females

in their later years of adolescence had a high level of self-esteem as

compared to adolescent females in their early years of adolescence.

Independent t-test scores found that adolescent females report feeling more

conscious about their body image and weight as compared to adolescent

males. Results also showed that adolescent females disclose less

information about themselves as compared to adolescent males.

Keywords: adolescents, body image, self-esteem

Introduction Most teenagers have similar questions and concerns about their bodies.

They think a lot about their appearance which seems in a constant state of

change during adolescence. Everyone has an "image" of their body and

appearance and how well it fits in what they consider normal, acceptable,

or attractive. For adolescents, body image is a big part of their total self-

image. They are very much sensitive and responsive regarding criticism

about their body image which they find irritating and they perceive

negatively things like comments and taunts. Many of them begin to lose

self-esteem or confidence if they get unfavorable or bad comments about

their appearance, physical abilities, social looks, ethnic features and

changes in their body that are linked with puberty. To focus equally on all

aspects of their lives, they need to give equal importance to other major

factors such as mental aptitude, their personalities and inner strengths,

artistic and musical talents etc. that also contribute significantly in the

making of the overall self-image. Adolescence is a specific time period,

generally considered between 10 – 19 years of age, during which certain


The Impact of Body Image on Self-Esteem…



changes occur in human beings including social, morphological and

psychological changes. Evidence shows that responsibility increases along

with demands and changes in friendship occur during this stage of life

(Polce, Myers, Kilmartin, Forssmann & Kliewer, 1998).

The level of confidence also known as self-esteem is determined by how

much a person believes in his/her own worth and also by his/her perception

of the degree of respect shown to him/her by others. Self-esteem is essential

since liking oneself can influence one’s emotional wellness and how one

may act in a particular situation. An exploratory research was directed by J.

A. O’Dea in the University of Sydney, NSW, Australia on 26 March, 2012.

The research focused primarily on body image and self-esteem in children

and adolescents. It indicated that body image and self-esteem encourage

adolescents to develop a positive self-image and promote overall

psychological health, healthy eating habits, and regular physical activity.

The findings of this exploratory research strongly support the hypothesis of

the current research.

Research shows that the percentage of body fats also increases among

females during adolescence. These changes and certain other changes may

affect how a person looks. Self-perception is a person’s impression of the

style or sexually engaging quality of his/her own body. Image

dissatisfaction relays the dissatisfaction regarding one’s physical shape,

appearance and weight.

An exploratory research was directed by Defora in Brazil amid 2012-

2013 on self- perception and the level of confidence among young people.

The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was utilized to asses the relationship

between body image and self-esteem. 387 youths finished all estimations.

The outcome demonstrated that 30.6% of adolescents showed body

disappointment. 56% youths had low self-esteem because of dissatisfaction

with their body image. Findings demonstrate that there is a critical effect of

self-perception on self-esteem. Another study conducted by Clay, Vignoles

and Dittmar (2005) led an examination on "Body Image and Self-esteem

among immature young adolescent girls aged 11-16 years”. Results bolster

calls for timely instructive mediations to help young ladies to deconstruct

the media pictures.

1.1. Rationale

The aim of this research is to check or assess the impact of body image

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123849250000213

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123849250000213

Javaid and Ajmal

47

on self-esteem in adolescents because there has been little work on it in our

region. This study will not only fill the existing gap in research but it will

also help adolescents to come to know more about the importance of self-

esteem in their lives and how their body image can help them look better

and feel more confident. Hence, the purpose of this research is to measure

the relationship between body image and self-esteem, gauge the effects of

gender differences on this relationship and find the level of self- perception

and self-respect in adolescents.

1.2. Hypotheses

There is a significant impact of body image on self-esteem.

Adolescent females have a low level of confidence about their body

image as compared to adolescent males.

Older adolescent males have a high level of confidence in their body

image as compared to younger adolescent males.

Older adolescent females have a high level of self-esteem as

compared to younger adolescent females.

2. Methods

2.1. Research Design

A simple survey research design and convenient sampling technique

was used in this study.

2.2. Participants and Sample

A sample of 290 adolescent boys and girls (144 boys, 146 girls) was

taken from different schools and colleges of Multan. The sample included

both younger adolescent boys and girls who were between 12-15 years of

age and relatively older adolescent boys and girls aged between 15-19 years.

For this research, convenient sampling technique was used to collect data.

Along with the instrument, demographic variables’ (name, age, gender,

qualification) sheet was attached.

2.3. Procedure

The co-relational research method was used. Demographic sheet was

administered on a sample of 290 adolescents. The data was taken from

different schools and colleges of Multan. Permission was taken for data

collection from the principles of schools and colleges. General instructions




were given to the respondents regarding the purpose and time of task. They

were requested to fill the statistical data sheet according to the directions

given before each scale. Data was analyzed through SPSS (version 21).

2.4. Instruments

Two instruments were used in this research. The first was Rosenberg

Self-esteem Scale (SES) developed by Rosenberg (1965). It consists of 10

items and the response scale provides three options namely strongly agree,

agree and disagree. The other scale used in this research was Body Shape

Questionaire developed by Cooper et al. (1986). It consists of 16 items and

the responses are scored as Never=1 and Always=6. The general score is

the aggregate over all the16 items.

3. Results

To study the significance of the relationship between body image and self-

esteem on the basis of different types of responses for male and female

recipients one way ANOVA was performed using SPSS (Statistical package

for Social Sciences).

Table 1

Regression Analysis Showing the Impact of Body Image on Self-esteem

(N=290)

Predictors B Std. E b t p

Body image -.347 .177 .138 1.961 .002* R2 =0.6, Adjusted R2 =.002, F=1.645, p<0.05*

Regression analysis in the table shows that there is a significant impact

of body image on self-esteem in adolescents. The given value in table is

p>0.05<0.05 which shows an impact.

Table 2

Correlation Matrix Scores of Body Image and Self-esteem (N=290)

Scales Items Body Image Self-esteem

BSS 16 1 0.240**

SEE 10 1

Javaid and Ajmal

49

Note: Inter subscale correlation of adolescents’ (N=290). BIS = Body image Scale; SES

= Self-Esteem Scale.

Table 2 illustrates a meaningful connection between self-perception and

self-esteem among young adolescents. If responses towards body image are

negative then it affects the self-esteem. This finding is emphatically

connected to this theory.

Table 3 Mean, Standard Deviation, t and p Values on the Scale of Body Image

and Self-esteem in Male and Female Adolescents (N= 290)

Scale Gender N M SD T P Cohens’d

Body image

Male 144 34.56 9.894

1.50 0.15 0.1474

Female 146 32.89 12.60

Self-esteem

Male 144 24.75 2.291

-.401 0.25 0.462

Female 146 25.86 2.50

N= 290. f= 288, p>0.05

The above results demonstrate that there is a compelling contrast among

male and female adolescents with regard to their self-perception. There is

no valid difference among male and female adolescents with regard to the

level of their self-esteem.

Table 4

Level of Confidence in Body Image among Younger and Older Adolescent

Males (M=144)

Group N Mean S.D T P

Younger 32 32.89 .251

Adolescent

2.893 .029

Older 38 34.56 .273

Adolescent




This table shows that older adolescent males have a higher level of

confidence in their body image (P>0.05).

Table 5

Level of Self-esteem among Younger and Older Adolescent Females

Group N Mean S.D T P

Younger Adolescents 36 33.33 .251

2.587 .034

Older Adolescents 34 36.45 .273

Table 5 shows that older adolescent females have a higher level of self-

esteem (P>0.05).

4. Discussion

Body image and self-esteem are two major factors of an individual’s

personality that are linked together. Positive thoughts, perceptions and

attitude towards body image contribute in making a positive personality.

Self-perception depends on one’s musings about their personality, their

mentality and sentiments, and the way their body looks. On the contrary,

confidence is based on how much one likes oneself, and how one perceives

or values his/her individual character, qualities, aptitudes, and

achievements. Youngsters who have low confidence may not generally feel

certain about themselves or what they look like. Individuals with great

confidence regularly have a constructive and certain disposition about their

body and mind, can perceive their qualities and also maintain their

individual esteem and worth (Abell & Richards, 1996).

The results show that the first hypothesis is supported and there is an

impact of body image on self-esteem among adolescents. Self-esteem grows

up in adolescents through positive body image. If self-body image is

negative and unfavorable then it prompts distress and dissatisfaction with

oneself which leads to a low level of self-esteem.

The second hypothesis of the study states that female adolescents have

a low level of confidence in their body image as compared to male

adolescents. This hypothesis is bolstered on the grounds that male

adolescents have more familiarity with their body image. This study

supports this research hypothesis. Schacter (2009) led an exploratory

Javaid and Ajmal

51

research on the "Relationship between Body Image and Self-esteem of

Ninth and Twelfth Graders”. The research was conducted on a sample of 36

ninth graders and 38 twelfth graders who volunteered for the study. The

outcomes demonstrate that adolescent females have a lower level of

confidence in their body image and low self-esteem as compared to their

male counterparts.

The third hypothesis posited that male adolescents have a higher level

of self-esteem as compared to female adolescents. The third hypothesis has

not been supported on the grounds that if male adolescents have low

confidence in their body image then they should not turn out to have high

self-esteem. Since males are strong and have the capacity to confront their

negative and positive self-perception (McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2004).

Studies have illustrated that boys are almost equally divided between

wanting to lose weight and increasing weight, but there are few studies that

have illustrated a desire for increased muscle size. In adulthood, men show

a stronger desire to lose weight as they grow older.

The fourth hypothesis expressed that younger adolescents have a higher

state of confidence in their body image as compared to older adolescents.

The speculation is bolstered by the study of Simmons, Blyth, Van Cleave

& Bush (1979). As per findings of the research, the seventh grade girls faced

more problems in the new environment as compared to boys and girls who

remained in the same school. Moreover, girls with multiple problems

including change of school and reaching puberty suffered with the lowest

self-esteem.

The fifth hypothesis is accepted that older adolescent females have a

higher self-esteem as compared to younger adolescent females. The girls

who study magazines focused at grown women are more dissatisfied with

their outlook as stated in the study Body Image Concerns in Young Girls:

The Role of Peers and Media in 2006 by Tiggemann and Dohnt. Thus, the

current research highlights that girls between 11-18 years of age are

living in an age in which both media and their peers influence body

image and provide them awareness of dieting. There is a remarkable

contrast between male and female youngsters about their self-respect.

5. Conclusion

The results are analyzed on the basis of the assumptions in previous studies

that females report being more conscious about their weight as compared to




males but the findings state that a significant impact of body image on self-

esteem has been supported by the current study. Results show that

confidence in body image is higher in adolescent males as compared to

adolescent females. Older adolescent females have a higher level of self-

esteem. Educated adolescent males have a high level of confidence in their

body image. So, there is an impact of body image on self-esteem in

adolescents.

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and Adolescence, 35(2), 135.

French, S. A., Story, M., & Perry, C. L. (1995). Self-esteem and obesity in

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Frost, J., & McKelvie, S. (2004). Self-esteem and body satisfaction in male

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Roles, 51(1-2), 45–54.

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Furnham, A., Badmin, N., & Sneade, I. (2002). Body image dissatisfaction:

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exercise. The Journal of Psychology, 136(6), 581–596.

Huang, J. S., Norman, G. J., & Zabinski, M. F. (2007). Body image and

self-esteem among adolescents undergoing an intervention targeting

dietary and physical activity Behaviors. Journal of Adolescent Health,

40, 245–51.

Human Disease and Conditions Forum. (1999).

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Olsen, J. M., Breckler, S. J., & Wiggins, E. C. (2008). Social Psychology

Alive (1st Canadian ed.). Toronto: Thomson Nelson.

Kostanski, M., & Gullone, E. (1998). Adolescent body image

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Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 39(2), 255–262.

Lawler, M., & Nixon, E. (2011). Body dissatisfaction among adolescent

boys and girls: The effects of body mass, peer appearance culture and

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Adolescence, 40(1), 59–71.

Lerner, B. (1985). Self-esteem and excellence: The choice and the

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McCabe, M. P., & Ricciardelli, L. A. (2004). Body image dissatisfaction

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file:///D:/UMT-LIB/CCPR/www.humanillnesses.com/Behavioral-Health-A-Br/Body-Image.html%23ixzz54iMfHf9N




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55

To cite this article: Shibli, N., Ahmad, M., Haq, A. Hameedullah, H.,

Anjum, N… & Nasir, M. A. (2019). A scientific

study of religion as a catalyst to bring positive

change in human behavior. Clinical and

Counselling Psychology Review, 1(1), 55–60.

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1,5Department of Psychology Riphah International University Faisalabad 2,3,6,7,8Riphah International University Faisalabad 4Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Riphah International University Faisalabad




A Scientific Study of Religion as a Catalyst to Bring Positive Change in Human Behavior

Prof. Dr. Naveed Shibli1

Prof. Dr. Mudassir Ahmad2

Prof. Anwar ul Haq3

Prof. Dr. Hafiz Hameedullah4

Ms Noshaba Anjum5

Dr. Alia Randhawa6

Dr. Muhammad Irfan7

Muhammad Adeeb Nasir8

Abstract It is a fact well-established that religion has influenced humankind

throughout the course of history irrespective of the strength of its influence

and its permanence that reflects its relatedness with human existence. It was

assumed that the lesser befitting implementation of ‘modernity’ in the

ancient tradition of religion is one of the causes of low religious productivity

and less positivity in the present day life. Perhaps this is the case with all

the Abrahamic religions. An amalgamation of tradition and moderation in a

chain of a school system was assessed. The psychological and scientific

follow up of the outcome supported the fact that religion has the ability to

bring in positive and desirable ‘behavioral change’ in a given direction and

to contribute towards ‘peace’ which is an internationally known positivity.

Keywords: amalgamation, moderation, peace, positivity, religion, school

systems

Introduction Religion approximately is as old as humankind (Mark, 2009) and it has been

influencing human conduct and behavior since the very beginning (Bowker,

2007). What was its first appearance and how it changed shapes and forms

(Dubuisson, 2003) is not relevant to the current paper. However, what is

granted is the fact that religion has existed for the human race perhaps since

its inception and that is what has been reported and that most of us know

and perhaps that is what all of us need to know?


Shibli et al.

57

The extended relationship of religion with humankind has contributed

in various forms in molding human existence. Religion contributed to a

great extent in the making of ancient civilizations, cultures, customs, value

systems and norms and even today its contributions are visible in both etic

and emic forms in the present day society. The proposition that tradition and

moderation are not similar and this difference may cause ‘conflict’ between

the two was considered a strong argument. Then writings like the one by

Gusfield (1967) tried to bring in a new form of argumentation. However,

the fact remains that the role of religion whatever argumentation is used and

irrespective of the relationship between the past and present is important

even today. Why is it so is a question that is not related with this paper, but

is it so?

If such is the case than it must be important that how far the

‘permanence’ of the variable known as ‘religion’ has been feat and utilized

to suave human beings of the modern day world? And if so then how far

modern social sciences have pursued this very aspect or can moderation and

tradition be combined in this very context? Moreover, how far this

proposition could be pragmatic? These are the basic purposes of the current

paper.

It has been established that the role of ‘naïve beliefs’ about various

variables like values, knowledge and modern knowledge and learning play

a vital role in achieving motivation (Ricco, Pierce & Medinilla, 2009)

because values are related with ‘purpose’ and ‘reason’ to achieve (Wigfield,

2010). Moreover, due to media exposure and fast means of transportation

as well as globalization and urbanization, concepts like ‘homogenization’

as a result of mixing of urban and rural cultures are very much known and

present day society is considered under the influence of such ‘inter

influence’ (Petković, 2007).

The question is how far the majority of the present day scholarly elite

adhering to Abrahamic religions, that is Judaism, Christianity and Islam

propose, consider, examine and argue about the ‘combination’ of the

amalgamation of ‘religious tradition’ and ‘moderation’? Because the

present day experimentation is in the form of ‘inter influence’ (Petković,

2007) of urban rural tradition with a new one. Even in case of religious

experimentation, as reported by a Christian clergy institution the

‘syncretism’ (Cotter, 1990), the possibility of the mixing of existing

religious trends with various new social constructs do exist.

A Scientific Study of Religion as a Catalyst…



In Israel, a study about the female student dropouts from schools

reflected that such dropouts were because of the co-education system in that

school. Since such a system was not culturally and mentally acceptable for

girls belonging to that particular region of Israel, so that was the cause of

school dropouts (Abu-Rabia, 2006). This state of affairs is close to a

mindset that a couple of Pakistani scholars confronted when both husband

and wife who were college professors were looking forward for the

admission of their daughter in some school where besides modern English

literature Muslim cultural values also prevailed in totality. However, despite

making a lot of efforts both did not find a single school system in

Faisalabad, which is the third largest urban population center of a majority

Muslim Pakistan that met the requirements of the parents (Personal

communication Prof. Dr. Mudassir Ahmad, 2016). This was the situation

that made the parents start a new school system in Faisalabad in 1999 that

may fulfill all the modern requirements of the Western modern school

system but within the traditional Islamic parameters. The acceptance of the

idea by society is visible in its impact. Currently, more than 300 branches

of this school system are working in Pakistan and abroad. A known

professor of pure science who made major contributions in the promotion

of the new ‘formation’ remarked that the school system is not merely a

blend of moderation and tradition but in itself is a moderation of a new kind

that came into existence due to a novel amalgamation (Personal

communication Prof. Anwar ul Haq, 2016).

2. Method and Procedure

This crucial situation generated the justification for the current study. It was

assumed that the amalgamation of moderation with a religious tradition in

a popular and well-known school system of Pakistan ensures that there

exists a possibility that this may be contributing into the inculcation of

various attitudes and behaviors among students who are associated with this

system. To study this proposition, a few dialogue themes like ‘parents

respect’, ‘punctuality in prayers’, ‘importance of Quran in Muslim life’,

‘truthfulness’ and ‘honesty’ were generated and were exchanged with a few

students of the early classes of the selected school system labelled as A and

also with a few students studying in established and well-known

international chains of a school system labelled as B. These only followed

moderation in their teaching systems and the data was collected from them

in a few informal interviews by the experts.

Shibli et al.

59

3. Results

The thematic content analysis was made of the responses of students

studying in both school systems A and B which revealed that the students

of the school system A were closer to the prevailing societal norms of the

Pakistani culture. Moreover, it was also found that the students studying in

the chains of the school system B revealed ‘certain conflicts’ regarding

adoptability and relationship.

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

Although the current paper was an informal type of study and few measures

were adopted for maintaining the objectivity of results but as a pilot study

it supports the possibility of conducting such studies on a large scale and

with better planning because a lesser number of conflicts in a society ensure

societal peace as compared to a society that has a greater rate of conflicts.

References Abu-Rabia-Queder, S. (2006). Between tradition and modernization:

Understanding the problem of female Bedouin dropouts. British Journal

of Sociology of Education, 27(1), 3–17.

Bowker, J. W. (Ed.). (2007). Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cotter, J. (1990). The New Age and Syncretism, in the World and in the

Church. Long Prairie, Minn: Neumann Press.

Dubuisson. D. (2003). The Western Construction of Religion (William

Sayers, Trans.). Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Gusfield, J. R. (1967). Tradition and modernity: Misplaced polarities in the

study of Social change. American Journal of Sociology, 72(4), 351–362.

Mark, J. J. (2009). Religion in the ancient world. In Ancient History

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Petković, J. Niš. (2007). Traditional values and modernization challenges

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A Scientific Study of Religion as a Catalyst…



Ricco, R., Pierce, S. S., & Medinilla, C. (2009). Epistemic beliefs and

achievement motivation in early adolescence. The Journal of Early

Adolescence, 30(2), 305–340.

Wigfield, A., & Cambria, J. (2010). Students’ achievement values, goal

orientations, and interest: Definitions, development, and relations to

achievement outcomes. Developmental Review, 30, 1–35.

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