Virtuous behaviors as barometer of well-being among elderly

Pages: 1136-1141
Shikha and Punam Midha (Department of Psychology, M.D.U, Rohtak, Haryana)

Life is a journey, mainly comprises of different stages of psychosocial development. During each stage the person experiences a psychosocial crisis, which revolves with the fostering of basic virtues. Virtues are the characteristic strengths which enhance one’s well-being. Such strengths embedded in one’s behavior are intended to benefit others with and without any selfish motive (e.g., helping behavior, altruism, gratitude & forgiveness) ultimately promoting well-being of the person being virtuous. In the contemporary era, the generation of elderly is blooming at a first pace, so their well-being is a matter of great concern for psychologists. Thus the present study is an attempt to explore the certain patterns of virtuous behaviors such as altruism and gratitude as markers of subjective well-being among geriatrics. A purposive sample of elderly from both male and female, aged 60-80 years was drawn from the urban areas of Rohtak city (Haryana, India). Descriptive, Correlational and Step-wise multiple regression analyses were computed. The findings indicated the high level of altruism and subjective well-being among geriatrics, followed by an average level of a sense of gratitude. Correlational analysis indicates the significant positive correlation of gratitude with subjective well-being and further gratitude emerged as a predictors of well-being.