To investigate the relationship between Socioeconomic Status and Subjective Wellbeing among Rural and Urban, Scheduled Caste and Non-Scheduled Caste School Students

Abstract

It has been drawn from extensive literature and community-based studies that in developing nations Socioeconomic status (SES) is a strong predictor of mental health and wellbeing. Therefore, Socioeconomic status can affect the subjective wellbeing of school students in different ways. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between Socioeconomic status and subjective wellbeing (SWB) in a sample (n = 480) of senior secondary school students age ranged from 15-18 years, almost equal number of male and female participants belonging to urban and rural areas of Himachal Pradesh, India. The subjects were administered with measures of SES and SWB. The findings of the study revealed a negative correlation between SES and SWB, where SC and NSC, school students differ in SWB according to the low and high SES and this difference was noticeable among urban and rural students as well. The research implications recommend government and non-government organizations should come forward and look at the policy formulation and law enforcement in a strict manner for the upliftment of socio-economically deprived students in urban and rural backgrounds of Himachal Pradesh.