A Comparative Study of Mental Health and Self-Esteem of Freshman and Junior Students

The study reported here was conducted to compare the mental health and self-esteem of freshman and senior students of Pars Abad Azad University by using the descriptive-analytical method. By using Kokran sampling formula 573 male and female students were selected to a stratified random sampling from among the entry year 1386 (69 females and 206 males) and 1388 (74 females and 224 males). To collect the needed data, in addition to the demographic questionnaire, Goldberg (28-CHQ) and Eysenck self-esteem (30 questions) Questionnaires were also used. The reliability and validity of Goldberg (28-CHQ) and Eysenck self-esteem (30 questions) Questionnaires were 0.88 and 79% respectively. To analyze the data, the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) method was used. The results suggested that there were significant differences in the mental health subscales both in terms of the students’ entering year and in terms of gender.Also, freshman students, in all subscales of mental health, were higher than the senior students. Female students had lower health than males in the subscales of physical symptoms, anxiety and insomnia. Gender and year of entry with any of the mental health subscales were not significant. Variance analysis results indicated that there were significant differences between overall scores of public health of students in terms of gender and year of entry to university; also, the results indicated that there was no significant difference between self steem of students in terms of gender and year of entry to university.