MENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL NETWORKING ADDICTION AMONG HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN NAGALAND: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

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Published: 2026-05-22
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46281/bjmsr.v11i3.2896
Keywords:
Well-being, Addiction, Health Behavior, Adolescence

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Murathoti Rajendra Nath Babu
Associate Professor, Department of Education, Nagaland University (A Central University), Kohima Campus, Meriema, Nagaland, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8904-383X
Ankita Lahon
Research Scholar, Department of Education, Nagaland University (A Central University), Kohima Campus, Meriema, Nagaland, India
https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9889-1691
Radhakrishnan Vasanthan
Associate Professor, Department of English, Nagaland University (A Central University), Kohima Campus, Meriema, Nagaland, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7193-4711
Raj Balamurugan
Assistant Professor, Department of Education, National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Karaikal, Puducherry, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0862-0928
Ravi Vanguri
Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Studies, Central University of Jammu, Bagla (Rahya-Suchani), District Samba, Jammu and Kashmir, India
https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9545-8189

Abstract

The greater use of social networking sites by students leads to unhealthy addiction that may have an impact on their mental health. The study examines the relationship between the mental health of higher secondary school students and their addiction to social networking. In the study, a descriptive survey method was used, and 500 students (198 boys and 302 girls) from private and government higher secondary schools in Nagaland participated. Two research instruments, the Mental Health Scale (Jagdish & Srivastava, 2005) and the Social Networking Addiction Scale (Shahnawaz & Rehman, 2020), were adopted and revalidated in the context of Nagaland. The t-test, correlation, and percentage were employed to analyze the data. The study found that 55.8% students have below average to average levels of mental health, and 95% students have an average level of social networking addiction. No significant difference was found in the scores for social networking addiction between boys and girls (t=1.766, p > .001), government and private secondary school students (t=1.128, p > .001). There is a substantial difference in the mental health scores of boys and girls (t=6.667, p < .001), while no significant differences were found between government and private secondary school students (t=1.029, p > .001). The study also found a significant correlation between social networking addiction and the mental health of secondary school students. The findings of the study suggest that increased social networking addiction affects the mental health of students, highlighting the need for awareness, guidance, proper counselling, and effective and restricted use of social media among secondary school students.


JEL Classification Codes: I300, I120, I12, I120.

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Article Details

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 3 (2026): Continuous Publication

Section

Research Paper/Theoretical Paper/Review Paper/Short Communication Paper
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biographies

Murathoti Rajendra Nath Babu , Associate Professor, Department of Education, Nagaland University (A Central University), Kohima Campus, Meriema, Nagaland, India

Rajendra Nath Babu Murathoti holds a Postgraduate degree in Mathematics, Sociology, Psychology, English, and Education (M.Ed., University 1st Rank), an M.Phil., and a PhD in Education from Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Education at Nagaland University (a Central University), Nagaland, India. He has 16 years of research and teaching experience at the B.Ed., M.Ed., M.A. (Education), and PhD levels. To his credit, since 2015, he has published 30 articles in various national and international journals (including UGC Care Listed, Scopus & Web of Science), 9 books, 11 book chapters, and 5 Psychological Tests with Manuals.  He has completed 3 Research Projects funded by PMMMNMTT (MHRD) Scheme, Ministry of Education, New Delhi, & Samagra Shiksha, Nagaland Education Mission Society, Government of Nagaland. His areas of interest include Pedagogy, Teaching Mathematics, ICT in Education, Teacher Education, Higher Education, Special Education, Educational Psychology, and Environmental Education.

Ankita Lahon , Research Scholar, Department of Education, Nagaland University (A Central University), Kohima Campus, Meriema, Nagaland, India

Ankita Lahon is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Education from Nagaland University, Nagaland, India. She holds a Masters of Arts degree in Education from Tezpur University, Assam, India. She worked as an Assistant Professor in Nazir Ajmal Memorial College of Education from April, 2022 to August, 2023. Her areas of research interest include Educational Psychology and Educational Management.

Radhakrishnan Vasanthan , Associate Professor, Department of English, Nagaland University (A Central University), Kohima Campus, Meriema, Nagaland, India

Radhakrishnan Vasanthan is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, Nagaland University, India. He is an academic, researcher, and educator with a strong commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship, innovative pedagogy, and contemporary research in the humanities and education. His research interests include literary studies, pedagogy, gender studies, cultural studies, educational innovation, AI-assisted learning, curriculum design, and interdisciplinary humanities research.

Raj Balamurugan , Assistant Professor, Department of Education, National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Karaikal, Puducherry, India

Balamurugan Raj is a faculty member in Psychology, Department of Education, National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Karaikal, U.T. of Puducherry, India. He completed both his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Computer Science from Bharathidasan University, B.Ed. from Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University, M.Ed. from PRIST University, and M.Phil., and Ph.D. in Education, and M.Sc. in Psychology from Tamil University. He has 10 years of experience in the field of Teacher Education, including ICSSR-funded PDF research experience. He has published 11 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 2 articles in Scopus-indexed journals, and 10 books. His research interests include digital literacy in pedagogy, educational technology, educational psychology, psychology in IKS, and maker space education.

Ravi Vanguri , Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Studies, Central University of Jammu, Bagla (Rahya-Suchani), District Samba, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Ravi Vanguri, Sr. Assistant Professor, at Central University of Jammu, India. His area of Research is teaching of English, Language Education, Teacher Education, School Education, and Research Methodology. Dr. Ravi Vanguri is currently working as a Senior Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the Central University of Jammu (CUJ). He has more than 10 years of teaching experience, guiding Ph.D. degrees in his specialized areas, and also has supervised more than 33 M.Ed. dissertations. Having sound knowledge in his specialization, “Attitude towards Learning English Secondary level” scale has been constructed and standardized. In his credits, he served as a resource person at various academic platforms and published more than 40 research papers in SCOPUS, Web of Science, Refereed, Peer Reviewed and UGC CARE-listed Journals. He also presented 32 papers at International and National Conferences in his specialized areas.

How to Cite

Babu , M. R. N., Lahon , A., Vasanthan , R. ., Balamurugan , R. ., & Vanguri , R. . (2026). MENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL NETWORKING ADDICTION AMONG HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN NAGALAND: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY. Bangladesh Journal of Multidisciplinary Scientific Research, 11(3), 12-18. https://doi.org/10.46281/bjmsr.v11i3.2896
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