Examination of psychological immune system among 932 students in eight different secondary schools in Hungary

Sándor Kalmár, M.D., Ph.D.

Introduction
This study based on an International Survey. In the past years Professor Aurel Nirestean, Emese Lukács and our colleagues made an examination in eight secondary schools and seven Universities in three countries. In the current study we did not investigate the psychiatric disorders but only the presence of sixteen psychological antibodies (Kalmár, 2013a).

Methods
We have examined 932 students (421 boys, 511 girls) in eight different secondary schools with testing Psychological Immune System Inventory.Schools: (1) PG: Roman Catholic Piarist School, (2) KJG: Public Secondary School, (3) HUM: Human Secondary School, (4) INDS: Industrial School, (5) BJG: Public Secondary School, (6) CALV: Calvinist Lycée, (7) GDG: Public Secondary school, (8) GIRL: Juvenile Delinquent Girls’ School. – It is used 80 statements about how they evaluate themselves and the world surrounding them. The Psychological Immune System Inventory was developed for measuring the protective personality traits, “psychological antibodies”. (Created by Attila Oláh 1996, 2004) (Perczel Forintos, Kiss, Ajtay, 2007.)

Results
Table 1. Psychological Immune System Inventory in the different schools. Boys (%).
PG: Roman Catholic Piarist School, KJG: Public Secondary School, HUM: Human Secondary School, INDS: Industrial School, BJG: Public Secondary School, CALV: Calvinist Lycée, GDG: Public Secondary School.
1. positive thinking, 2. sense of control, 3. sense of coherence, 4. creative self-concept, 5. sense of self-growth, 6. challenge, openness, flexibility, 7. social monitoring capacity, empathy 8. inventiveness, problem solving capacity, 9. self-efficacy, 10. social mobilizing capacity, 11. social creating capacity, 12. synchronicity, 13. persistence, goal orientation, 14. impulse control, 15. emotional control, 16. irritability control.

school PG KJG HUM INDS BJG CALV GDS
number 50 28 27 89 74 51 102
1. 95.4 97.4 88.6 86.2 95.2 92.6 88.9
2. 95.6 97.8 89.6 91.4 99.3 92.2 90.5
3. 73.3 75.0 72.7 77.5 68.0 65.0 70.4
4. 106.1 110.3 100.7 98.1 109.1 100.7 98.4
5. 61.45 55.64 60.2 67.8 55.1 52.9 44.3
6. 95.3 91.9 86.0 84.5 87.0 87.1 84.6
7. 100.15 97.3 89.9 83.9 97.0 93.2 87.5
8. 103.4 105.8 93.9 96.7 106.0 98.8 92.0
9. 88.2 90.3 80.1 80.8 87.4 86.4 82.7
10. 98.5 100.4 91.0 89.4 99.2 93.9 93.9
11. 83.4 97.6 83.3 81.5 81.7 78.7 73.6
12. 99.8 85.2 93.5 92.9 89.9 89.2 87.6
13. 68.1 66.4 68.6 65.2 67.0 66.3 64.8
14. 84.5 75.0 83.2 78.9 74.9 71.7 75.2
15. 83.0 66.5 83.2 84.3 75.8 79.3 75.4
16. 82.9 82.4 81.5 80.5 83.9 82.8 76.5
average 87.8 85.64 84.3 83.0 85.0 82.2 80.4

Table 2. Psychological Immune System Inventory in the different schools. Girls (%).
PG: Roman Catholic Piarist School, KJG: Public Secondary School, HUM: Human Secondary School, INDS: Industrial School, BJG: Public Secondary School, CALV: Calvinist Lycée, GDG: Public Secondary School, GIRL: Juvenile Delinquent Girls’ School.
1. positive thinking, 2. sense of control, 3. sense of coherence, 4. creative self-concept, 5. sense of self-growth, 6. challenge, openness, flexibility, 7. social monitoring capacity, empathy 8. inventiveness, problem solving capacity, 9. self-efficacy, 10. social mobilizing capacity, 11. social creating capacity, 12. synchronicity, 13. persistence, goal orientation, 14. impulse control, 15. emotional control, 16. irritability control.

school PG KJG HUM INDS BJG CALV GDS GIRL
number 111 66 76 34 78 70 34 42
1. 96.4 103.5 99.9 88.0 94.0 98.3 89.6 87.3
2. 91.5 87.9 89.8 83.8 89.7 87.2 81.2 90.2
3. 73.1 70.1 70.0 70.1 70.2 71.6 69.9 72.6
4. 95.4 99.6 98.2 96.7 92.7 92.8 86.7 87.0
5. 59.7 55.4 54.5 58.8 54.3 82.5 52.6 66.5
6. 87.4 90.1 87.1 80.1 90.6 88.6 84.6 78.7
7. 95.4 95.9 91.7 80.8 98.5 93.5 92.9 85.6
8. 93.6 95.0 95.2 86.4 95.3 96.4 84.9 82.7
9. 87.4 91.1 85.9 78.4 82.2 84.3 85.6 82.9
10. 104.8 105.1 102.4 93.3 104.1 102.4 97.7 96.3
11. 79.5 80.5 78.0 69.7 79.3 82.0 74.3 72.2
12. 106.4 89.7 95.2 93.1 100.2 98.7 92.6 104.0
13. 69.5 66.0 64.6 67.0 67.5 67.7 67.5 61.4
14. 85.6 76.1 85.5 83.3 90.9 78.9 82.7 83.3
15. 96.0 83.9 83.6 100.1 89.3 96.8 88.0 96.3
16. 83.0 77.2 78.6 75.5 80.7 85.7 78.7 81.2
average 86.7 84.5 84.1 80.8 84.6 85.1 81.1 82.2

There was a high difference between the items among the schools. (Kalmár, 2013b)

Table 3. The average values of sixteen items of the Psychological Immune System Inventory, in eight Secondary Schools.

boys girls total
1 positive thinking 92.04 94.63 93.54
2 sense of control 93.77 87.67 90.61
3 sense of coherence 71.67 70.95 71.46
4 creative self-concept 103.3 93.64 97.19
5 sense of self-growth 56.77 60.54 58.31
6 challenge, openness, flexibility 88.06 73.4 86.34
7 social monitoring capacity, empathy 95.71 91.79 91.64
8 inventiveness, problem solving capacity 99.51 91.19 94.3
9 self-efficacy 85.14 84.75 85.23
10 social mobilizing capacity 95.19 100.76 98.51
11 social creating capacity 82.83 76.94 78.52
12 synchronicity 91.16 97.49 95.55
13 persistence, goal orientation 66.63 66.4 66.01
14 impulse control 77.63 82.04 79.2
15 emotional control 78.21 91.75 85.95
16 irritability control 81.2 80.08 80.64
1-16 total 84.06 83.64 83.42

Examining the psychological immune system we have found that the level of psychological immune system is low among the students. The average rate was among boys: 84.06%; among girls: 83.64%; all students: 83.42%; The best value among boys was in the Roman Catholic Piarist School, (87.8%) the worst value was in the GD Secondary School (80.4%). The best value among girls was in the Roman Catholic Piarist School, (86.7%) the worst value was in the Industrial School (80.8%). The best value among the different items was the (4) the creative self-concept among boys, (103.3%) and the (10) social creating capacity among girls (100.76%). The worst value among the different items was the (5) sense of self-growth among boys (56.77%) and girls (60.54%). Seven items were higher than 90%, four items were between 80% and 90%, three items were between 70% and 80%, and two items were under 70%.

Conclusion
The mental and spiritual education is insufficient in the schools. The paramount mental education of children is an indispensable condition of the development of a sound personality, the perfect psychological immune system and healthy behavior. These thought provoking results not only showed that there are a huge difference among the different schools in Hungary but also that the mental and spiritual education is insufficient. There is no health-, mental health education in schools, although the most effective setting of primordial and primer mental prevention, – beside the family, – is the school. It can’t be denied that the foundation of lifelong mental health begins in the early life years and about 75% of the first Mental Disorder manifests in adolescence and youth. (Németh, 2014) Those suffering from psychological, psychiatric and behavior disturbances among the youth can be estimated at 10-24%, but this figure may be higher in underprivileged groups. We must pay attention to these results because these are the basis of the future psychiatric illnesses which can be prevented in adolescence. (Kalmár, 2011)

References
Kalmár S (2011) The relationship between education and mental health in adolescents in Hungary. Psihiatru.Ro. Anul VI. Nr. 27. 4/2011. pp. 6-16.
Kalmár S. (2013a) A hit hiánya, a nem kell? hatékonyság, a motiváció hiány, a negatív önértékelés, alkalmazkodási zavarok és fáradékonyság vizsgálata magyarországi középiskolásoknál. In: Czékus Géza: Motiváció – Figyelem – Fegyelem. Motivation – Attention – Discipline. (ISBN 978 86 87095-38-0) Újvidéki Egyetem, Magyar Tannyelv? Tanítóképz? Kar, Szabadka. 666-682o .
Kalmár S. (2013b) Spirituality, psychological immune system, depression, anxiety, hopelessness, alcohol-consumption, smoking, psychoactive substance abuse and using of superstitious mascot-figures among students in seven secondary schools. Hungary. Conferentia Nationalá de Psihiatrie al XI-lea Simpozion National al asociatiei Románe de Studiu a Persoanlitátii. Marosvásárhely 26-29. Sept.
Németh A. (2014) Quo vadis gyermekpszichiátria? Psychiatric Times Magyar kiadás
Perczel Forintos D, Kiss Zs, Ajtay Gy. Kérd?ívek, becsl?skálák a klinikai pszichológiában. Országos Pszichiátriai és Neurológiai Intézet. Budapest. 2007. pp.130-137.

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