Psychological Costs of Rapid Development for Youth in India: Sikkim, a Case Study

Globalization and development was thought to promise economic prosperity as well as solving other societal problems and promoting social wellbeing. However research has shown the impact of economic development on social relations, family structure and growing social inequality, and global increases in stress related mental health (MH) problems, depression and suicide have been documented by the WHO. Little attention has been focused on the latter’s connection to globalization and development, so to explore the psychological costs of development a pilot study was conducted in 2016 in Sikkim, India.

Sikkim as a state opened up to economic development in recent years with investment in infrastructure and communications technology, but the resultant rapid social change may be having a destabilizing effect. It was a fairly harmonious agricultural Buddhist society. However development is bringing about social and cultural changes through increasing media exposure to the global consumer economy. There has been a rise in MH problems, with the state ranked as having the second highest rate of suicide in India with a growing problem of youth suicide in particular. Forces of cultural globalization and modernization have their biggest impact on youth through exposure to the global media, cell phones, the internet and social media, and the consumer culture values, norms and lifestyle changes that that exposure brings in its wake. Pressures of acculturation and assimilation to these forces of modernization may be contributing to increasing stress levels and MH problems in youth.

The pilot study was conducted with university and high school students in Sikkim, and explored the connection between culture change, internet usage and MH problems, using an acculturation stress model. Results showed that acculturation stress was present and significantly related to internet exposure and MH problems.