Indian Journal of Positive Psychology

Pages:311-314
Chandrani Sen and Himangini R Hooja (Department of Psychology, IIS University, Jaipur, Rajasthan)

In the 1980's and the 90's, it was not common for individuals to leave their current jobs and opt for a career change. They were dependent on their organisation to create new opportunities and guide them towards career goals. With globalization, the current scenario has seen a change in such attitudes and orientations. The individuals have come to realise that they have their own goals regarding their career and how they see their lives with a long term perspective and satisfaction. Such career orientation requires an intrinsic positive push for the individual with makes him/her reach the goals. This positive approach (psychological capital) may help them to orient themselves for the challenges that may come their way in order to achieve their career goals. Keeping this in mind, the research paper looks to build a relationship between protean career orientation and psychological capital. The paper will be focusing in the importance of these two variables in the Indian context, where the status and remuneration of the job still holds a lot of importance over the satisfaction of achieving one's career goals. The population of India is very young, with around 48% of the population between 15-45 years (Census, 2011). It is important that such individuals be guided and directed towards carving the path towards a fulfilling career.

Pages:318-320
Sana Akhter (Department of Psychology, Kolhan University, Chaibasa, Jharkhand) MD. Firoz Ibrahimi (Department of Psychology, Karim City College, Jamshedpur, Odisha)

Some people are more anxious than others. Is there any role of personality traits? Personality is a dynamic organization of different traits in a person. Anxiety is an emotional state arising in situations of impending danger and manifested in expectation of unfavorable events. Anxiety manifests itself as a feeling of helplessness, uncertainty of oneself, lack of sufficient strength in the face of external factors and exaggeration of their potency and strength. The aim of this study is to examine the traits of personality (Neuroticism and Extraversion) on anxiety whether personality is associated with anxiety among college students. The sample consisted of 40 college students of class 11 to graduate both males and females from different college in Jharkhand. Students from all streams (science, commerce and Arts) have considered for the study. NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), originally developed by Costa and McCrae (1992), and Sinha Anxiety Scale (Sinha’s Self-Analysis Form) is used to assess personality and anxiety. Statistical technique and the data are computed with correlation. Results have showed that neuroticism is significantly positively correlated with anxiety whereas Extraversion is significantly negatively correlated with anxiety and Neuroticism play an important role in anxiety and who have got Neuroticism Personality Traits there are more anxious.

Pages:323-325
Saumya Chandra (Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Faculty of Disability Management and Special Education, Coimbatore Campus, Coimbatore)

Although traditionally not an area of service delivered by special educators, the area of spirituality for persons with disabilities is receiving more attention as a quality-of-life outcome. With reference to Indian culture and education system, this particular component was existing in olden times but in a different way. The literature review examined the extent to which ancient educators were given the responsibility of the holistic development of children irrespective of their cast, creed and ability with equal attention. The results indicated that in tune of curriculum adaptation and modification along with bringing changes in the instructional strategies would bring the outcome expected. It has become a need of today to design a framework in which special education professionals may look beyond a sole focus on academic outcomes and they impart the knowledge which is really worthwhile and more global in nature for their students. Many authors have conceptualized spirituality as a personal experience of an individual searching for meaning, a higher quality of life that is accomplished through regular chanting of sacred mantras for their inner peace, harmony and connectedness to others.

Pages:331-339
John Jacob (Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas Espana, Manila, Philippines) Rosalito G. De Guzman (Department of Psychology, University of Santo Tomas Espana, Manila, Philippines)

Adolescent depression is a severe mental health problem. Depressed female adolescents habitually seek and retain negative experiences. Despite the flourishing national economy and the rapid increase in human development, the Philippines has the highest incidence of depression in South East Asia. The aim of this study is to describe the processes of development and implementation of 'Taking in the Good Based-Bibliotherapy Intervention Program” for female adolescents to reduce depression. As an innovative type of psychotherapy treatment, which utilizes the elements of positive neuroplasticity and the principles of bibliotherapy, the program aimed to help them to build up their inner strengths by experiencing, enriching and absorbing daily events with a positive attitude and installing them in the brain. The process involves two phases: 1) determining the components of the taking in the good based-bibliotherapy intervention through research and survey; 2) the use of multi-disciplinary team of school directress, guidance counselor, teaching staff; team of clinical experts of psychotherapy and psychiatry and literary expert to review, to discuss and to give suggestion to formulate the program. Qualitative (interview), quantitative (survey) and mixed method research was used to obtain an extensive perspective of the intervention program. Empirical findings, theoretical models, and existing facts (testing the effectiveness of the program by implementation to the student participants) were combined to develop this pioneering intervention program. A structured intervention program to reduce the level of depression was developed, consisted of eight modules that are explained in detail. Implementation took place and the evaluation was being carried out. The “Taking in the Good based-Bibliotherapy Intervention” program proved to be effective in reducing depression in female adolescents.

Pages:344-348
Mohd. Muzamil Kumar and Shawkat Ahmad Shah (Department of Psychology, University of Kashmir, Hazratbal, Srinagar, J&K)

There is exiguity of research studies that have accentuated the appositeness of the construct of psychological capital among white collar employees like doctors, higher education teachers and bank officers who deliver prodigious service to the society. In this backdrop the present study investigated the dimensionality of psychological capital using a sample of 350 white collar employees working at three major human service organizations operating in Kashmir (University of Kashmir, S.K.I.M.S Hospital Srinagar and J&K Bank).An exploratory factor analysis revealed a three factor structure of psychological capital and the same was substantiated by a confirmatory factor analysis procedure. The model fit indices were found to be well within the acceptable thresholds as indicated by value of CMIN/DF= 2.3 , GFI = .94 , CFI = .95 and RMSEA = .06.Besides this higher order confirmatory factor analysis was also carried out to portray psychological capital as a latent construct formed by hopeful confidence, optimism & resilience. The findings connote that the construct holds well in context of the present study, thereby buttressing the existence and importance of such construct.

Pages:356-360
Reese Hui and Rhett Diessner (Department of Psychology, Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston)

The Engagement with Beauty Scale 2.0 (EBS2), designed from the philosophical works of Kant, Hegel, and Aquinas, and the psychological work of Jonathan Haidt was translated into Cantonese and administered, by snowball method, to 106 Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong. Results showed strong internal consistency for the measure, and typical of samples from around the world, women scored slightly higher than men in their engagement with beauty. Contrary to non-Asian samples, but similar to a sample from India, no developmental pattern was found (i.e., there was no significant positive correlations between age and levels of engagement with beauty). Also, contrary to most international samples, the factor structure of the EBS2 was monolithic for this Chinese sample, with most of the variance loading on one factor, rather than the emergence of the anticipated four factors (natural beauty, artistic beauty, moral beauty, and beautiful ideas). This implies that, at least for this sample of Chinese people, their view beauty is considerably different than non-Chinese, and more holistic.

Pages:367-370
Zarina Ahmed (Department of Psychology, Womens Christian College, Chennai) Sheela Hemalatha Julius (Department of Psychology, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur)

It is a growing concern among educators about the low academic performance of college students and its influence on their mental health. Many university students continue to have low grades, while many manage to turn around their academic fortunes (Martin & Marsh, 2006). Programs aimed at teaching academic resilience have proven highly effective in improving academic performance. The present study aims at finding the relationship between academic performance, resilience, depression, anxiety and stress and also the predictors of academic performance and resilience, namely, depression, anxiety and stress among women college students. Expost facto research design was used for the study. The sample consisted of 446 college going women, currently pursuing their second year of under graduation in city colleges. The tools used were the Connor Davidson Resilience scale (2003), the DASS scale by Lovibond & Lovibond (1995), measuring depression, anxiety and stress and the academic performance, using the marks obtained in the continuous assessment cycle. Correlation was found using the Pearson's Product moment method. Regression analysis was done to study the predictors .Results indicates that academic performance, resilience depression, anxiety and stress were positively correlated among women college students. Regression analysis revealed that academic performance significantly predict depression, anxiety and stress women college students, while depression alone is significantly predicted by resilience.

Pages:376-379
Sujit R. Tripathi, Pragyendu, Arshiya Kochar and Prakhar Dara (Department of Applied Psychology, Sri Aurobindo College (Eve), University of Delhi, Delhi)

Procrastination appears to be a major problem in the Indian society. Several scientific researches on procrastination have demonstrated it as a personality characteristic far more than time management. It has affected our personal, social and national growth. Thus the present study aims to explore academic procrastinating behaviour among college going students. Researchers suggest that variables like fear of failure, task aversiveness, self-regulation and self-efficacy are related to academic procrastination. This study tries to understand the role of self-efficacy and hope in academic procrastination in the Indian scenario. To fulfil this purpose, a sample of 150 undergraduate students was drawn from Delhi University and academic procrastination, hope and self-efficacy for self-regulation were measured. The findings suggested that there is a predicable relationship between self-efficacy for self-regulation and academic procrastination; and higher the level of hope, lesser is the procrastination.

Pages:385-388
Namita Mohanty, Priyanka Dalal and Prabhudarsan Sahoo (P.G. Department of Psychology, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha)

The present study examined the Ethical values and Attitude towards women of students pursuing Intermediate and Post graduate classes. It also exploredgender differencewith regard to these two variables.A 2(Gender) x 2(Class) factorial design was adopted for the research. The study was conducted on a sample of 200 subjects, 100 students (50 males and 50 females) each from Intermediate and Post graduate classes. Results revealed that compared to males, females weremore ethical and hadmore favorable attitude towards women. The other important finding was that the students of Intermediate class were having more positive attitude towards women thantheir Post graduate counterparts. Moreover, a positive significant correlation was found between Ethical values and Attitude towards women revealing that students with high ethical values also had more positive attitude towards women.The research findings were discussed in the light of socio-cultural practices and changes in perspectives that influenced the ethical values and attitudes of the younger generation towards women.

Pages:393-396
Varsha Rani, Shilpa Kamboj, Anjali Malik and Sarvdeep Kohli (Department of Psychology, M.D.University, Rohtak, Haryana)

Adolescents have to face many difficulties and to deal with these, adolescents should be emotionally matured. The present study focuses on the impact of emotional maturity on self confidence and insecurity of adolescents. Both males and females were included in the study. A 2x2 factorial design was used for the present study. All the four groups i.e. high emotionally mature males, high emotionally mature females, low emotionally mature males and low emotionally mature females, comprised of 25 subjects with a total of 100 subjects in the age range of 15-17 years. Tools utilized were Emotional Maturity Scale, Agnihotri's Self -Confidence Inventory and Security-Insecurity (S-I) Inventory. Results indicate that adolescents who are high emotionally mature have more self confidence and higher sense of security in comparison to low emotionally mature adolescents. Gender of the adolescents has no impact on these variables.