Indian Journal of Positive Psychology

Pages:211-214
Bani Narula (Department of Psychology, Panjab University, Chandigarh)

This paper provides an analysis of different activities as a new-fangled way of enhancing happiness. From older times to the present age, it is believed that inculcation of good habits requires both conscious effort and practice. Deliberate interventions, programs and workshops can encourage lasting happiness. Activities incorporated in such interventions are proposed by Positive Psychologists and are based on behavioural, cognitive and volitional exercises. Further, many positive psychology studies have implemented and tested specific interventions. Thus, the present research seeks to address the question whether it is possible to teach youth to be happier through a combination of education and practice of multiple exercises and activities.

Pages:219-225
Inna Reddy Edara (Holistic Education Center, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan)

As there is dearth of empirical research studies investigating the ways that cultural and ethnic contexts play a role in the variations of aspects of positive psychology, this project investigated the ethnic and cultural variations in some selected aspects of positive psychology among three ethnic groups: European Americans, Chinese Americans, and Asian Indian Americans. The aspects of positive psychology assessed were forgiveness, positive affect, satisfaction with life, and religiosity and spirituality. The results indicated significant group differences on forgiveness, religiosity, spirituality, and positive affect. These significant differences are discussed from various perspectives and research and clinical implications of the findings are highlighted.

Pages:233-237
B. Surchandra Sharma (Department of Clinical Psychology, LGB Regional Institute of Mental Health, Tezpur, Assam) Ali Arif (Department of Psychiatric Social Work, LGB Regional Institute of Mental Health, Tezpur, Assam)

Spiritual intelligence can have positive impact on mental health and it can enhance the self esteem of the adolescent's. Further it can lead to better ability to solve problem, can attain goals and can improve overall quality of life of the adolescent's. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between spiritual intelligence, self esteem and adolescent's mental health. The present study was a cross sectional survey .The research was conducted in two English medium school of Imphal, Manipur .Forty male and forty female were selected from classes 8th to 12th standard .With the help of school authority and parental consent, school going adolescent were selected using random sampling technique. Socio-demographic details were filled and subsequently The Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory, Self Esteem Scale, and Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire were administered. Spiritual intelligence was positively correlated with self-esteem [r=.829, p≤ 0.01].Emotional symptoms [r =-.102], Hyperactivity [r =-.221], Peer problem [r =.109] and Conduct problems [r =-.046] were negatively correlated with spiritual intelligence. Pro social behavior [r =.492, p≤ 0.01) has a significant positive correlation with Spiritual intelligence. The present study suggested that spiritual intelligence has relationship with self esteem and mental health status of adolescents. So, enhancement of spiritual intelligence can be taken as a strategy for promotion and prevention of psychiatric problem among adolescents and for enhancement of quality of life.

Pages:245-248
Esha Chakraborty and Ishita Chatterjee (Department of Applied Psychology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal)

This study was designed to investigate the relation between Materialistic Value, Spiritual Oneness Belief and Physical Oneness Belief with Happiness. Positive psychology define happiness as nothing else than an emotion, a long-term sense of emotional well-being and contentment - a broad "feeling" that one is happy. The sample consisted of 100 (50 males and 50 females) young professionals (public and private sectors), selected randomly from various organizations of Kolkata and Howrah districts. 3 adapted scales namely- Materialistic Value Scale by Richin (2004), Oneness Belief Scale by Garfield, Drwecki, Moore, Kortenkamp and Gracz (2012) and Oxford Happiness Questionnaire by Michael Argyle and Peter Hills (1998) were administered to the selected respondents. The results revealed that Materialistic Value was negatively and significantly correlated with Happiness and Physical Oneness Belief was positively and significantly correlated with Happiness. Spiritual Oneness Belief showed a mild positive correlation with Happiness. Linear regression revealed Materialistic Value to be a negative predictor of Happiness and it could predict only 11.5% of the variance. The study has applications in the field of positive psychology.

Pages:255-259
Anjana Bhattacharjee and Sukriti Banda (Department of Psychology, Tripura University, Suryamaninagar, Tripura(W), Agartala, Tripura)

Life is full of challenges; either accept it or reject it. It is good to say, accept the life as it is and move on. But how far human beings can apply this mantra in real life situation is a question. In Psychology, coping is expending conscious effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to master, minimize or tolerate stress or conflict. The effectiveness of the coping efforts depends on the type of stress and/or conflict, the particular individual, and the circumstances. The objective of the present study was to determine the coping strategies of HIV infected persons and also to compare their coping mechanism with their non HIV counterparts. The study also intended to see the gender differences in the coping mechanism of HIV infected persons. Results of the present study found significant impact of HIV infection and gender on the different coping mechanisms of the individuals.

Pages:266-275
Kakul Hai and Manju Agrawal (Amity Institute of Behavioral and Allied SciencesAmity University, Lucknow, Uttat Pardesh)

Thematic network analysis was conducted on the in-depth interview responses of a sample of 40 participants to explore and conceptualize the concept of domestic harmony. Following the growth model of positive psychology, the concept of domestic harmony tries to determine 'what works' in family functioning. A newly-coined term, domestic harmony can be explained as a measure of the experience of perceived harmony in family functioning and home environment. 20 indicators of domestic harmony were identified, which were further clubbed into 7 themes. A detailed explanation of each indicator of domestic harmony is provided.

Pages:279-282
Manaswini Dash and Puspita Patnaik (P.G. Department of Psychology, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha)

The present research studied the role of spiritual intelligence in emotional intelligence and mental health. A total of 150 adults within the age bracket of 30 to 40 years, with equal number of males and females were administered the Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (King 2008). On the basis of their performance on the inventory, persons scoring one standard deviation above the mean and those scoring one standard deviation below the mean constituted the high and low spiritual intelligence groups respectively. These two groups were then administered the Emotional Intelligence Scale (Hyde, Pathe & Dhar 1971) and the Mental Health Inventory (Jagdish & Srivastav). Data were statistically analyzed with the help of independent group t test. Findings revealed significant differences between the high and low spiritual intelligence groups in all the dimensions of emotion intelligence as well as mental health, suggesting that the person who are high in spiritual intelligence are emotionally more intelligent and have better mental health than those with low spiritual intelligence. Results are discussed in the context of Indian cultural values.

Pages:288-290
Arvind K Birdie (IIMT School of Management, (Now Vedatya), Gurgaon, Haryana) Madhu Jain (Department of Psychology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur) Sarita Kulhari (Research Scholar, Rajasthan University, Jaipur)

The present study aims to explore and compare the work stress, general well being and coping strategies in medico and non medico couples .For the purpose of study, a random sample of 50 couples out of which 25 medico and 25 non medicos were taken from the area of Jaipur city. Data were collected by using Cohen's Perceived work stress, PGI General Well Being by Santosh Verma and Anita Verma and Coping strategies Scale by Folkman and Lazarus. Mean, Standard deviation were employed for all variables and compared the different groups on the different variables. Results revealed that there was no significant relationship in medico and non medico couples , whereas medico couples were found to have poor general well being and non significant difference were found on coping strategies.

Pages:295-298
Poonam Singh (Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh)

In today's scenario, well being of employee is in the best interest of organizations. Since the workplace is a significant part of an employee's life that can affects his/ her life. Well being has implication to employees very deeply-at mind, body and soul. The aim of present study is to examine the role of positive psychological capital on well being of employees. The study is concerned to see the relationship between psychological capital (such as self efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience) and employee psychological well being. The sample consists of 60 employees working in public sector banks. Well being of employees is being measured by the scale of psychological well being (Ryffs, 1995) which consists of 18 items. The result of the study is showing that optimism and resilience (dimensions of psychological capital) emerged as significant predictor of employee well-being.

Pages:303-305
Mohd. Altaf Paul and Mudassir Hassan (Department of Psychiatry, Govt. Medical College, Srinagar) Waheeda Khan (Department of Psychology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi)

Happiness is a concept which means many things to many people. Sources of happiness again vary from person to person. So in order to understand the phenomena from the perspective of research scholars, the present study was conducted on a sample of 60 research scholars in a central University, equally divided in two groups of male (n=30) and females (n=30). The Subjective Happiness Scale developed (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) was administered along with few open ended questions on sources of happiness. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data revealed that mean happiness scores were not statistically significant between male and female scholars. Content analysis of open ended questions yielded main sources of happiness for females in terms of importance of friends, family support, achieving goals, positive thinking, success, money, peace of mind and entertainment. While males reported belief in almighty, religious activities, honest work, achieving goals, family support, positive thinking, money, good health, friends and less responsibility as main sources of happiness. Some unique sources of happiness for females were internet surfing, going out to restaurants, self confidence, on the other hand, sports, less family burden, and accepting change easily were reported by males. The findings of the present study highlight the importance of directing more systematic research, particularly in the context of cross cultural understanding of happiness in youth