Assertiveness and Mental Well-Being Among Adolescents Living in Institutional Care in Puducherry, India: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract Background : Assertiveness has been proposed as a resource supporting adolescent mental well-being, but this relationship remains unexamined among institutionalized adolescents in India. This study assessed the association between assertiveness and mental well-being among adolescents in institutional care in Puducherry, India, and examined correlates of each construct. Methods :A cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 adolescents (n = 150) aged 13–16 years residing in institutional homes in Puducherry. Assertiveness and mental well-being were assessed using the Rathus Assertiveness Scale and the modified Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale. Associations were examined using Pearson and Spearman correlations and linear regression, adjusted for age, gender, admission type, length of stay, reason for institutionalization, educational status, and school performance. Results : The mean assertiveness score was 92.80 (SD 15.00); 85.3% were moderately assertive. The mean mental well-being score was 32.03 (SD 9.54), with 59.3% classified as having inadequate well-being according to the study-defined descriptive cutoffs. Assertiveness was not significantly correlated with mental well-being (r = -0.110, p = 0.180), and the adjusted association remained non-significant (β = -0.074, 95% CI: -0.198 to 0.051; p = 0.245). No characteristic independently predicted assertiveness. The model for mental well-being was significant (R2 = 0.148, p = 0.0016): being an orphan, parental separation/divorce, and parental conflict as reasons for institutionalization were associated with lower well-being than poverty-related admission. Gender was significantly associated with well-being at the bivariate level. Conclusion : Institutionalized adolescents showed a substantial burden of inadequate mental well-being that was unrelated to assertiveness but strongly patterned by the circumstances of institutionalization, underscoring the need for interventions addressing relational and circumstantial adversity alongside individual skills-based approaches.