S. Mahalakshmi
Salem Sowdeswari College, Salem, Tamil Nadu
S. Kadhiravan
Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu
Pages:333-346
Positive mental health is a key to leading successful and productive lives for every
individual. Nursing is an important career that requires sound mental health. Nursing
students frequently have mental health issues. Their state of mental health has an
immediate impact on their studies and everyday lives, as well as on their performance
as nurses in the future healthcare professionals. An imbalance in their mental health
may occur due to various factors such as academic difficulties pertaining to test anxiety,
and low cognitive styles. The current study was carried out to examine the influence of
cognitive styles and test anxiety on mental health among nursing students. 290 nursing
students from different colleges in Kozhikode district of Kerala were selected through
stratified random sampling. Data were collected with the help of Test Anxiety Inventory
by Komathi; Personal Style Inventory (PSI) by Taggart; and Positive Mental Health
Scale by Vaigankar et al. Results showed that test anxiety was negatively associated
with mental health, and cognitive styles were positively associated with mental health
among nursing students. Students were also significantly differed in their demographic
categories. Structural equation modelling depicted that mental health of the nursing
students was significantly predicted by their cognitive styles and test anxiety.