Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Pages: 12-18
Vinod Kumar Bhardwaj (Department of Psychology Maharshi Dayanand University Rohtak, Haryana)
Manju Rani (Department of Psychology Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra, Haryana)

In the new generation, the Internet has become an important tool for education, entertainment, communication, and information-sharing. In tandem with the indulge in access to the Internet globally, the risk of “internet addiction” is rising as a significant behavioural addiction pandemic. The use of the Internet on school campuses and in society has increased dramatically in recent years. Whereas the academic use of the Internet is primarily intended for learning and research, the Internet has also become an important part of student life. However, from time to time, cases of over involvement with the Internet have been observed on different campuses. The aim of this study was to explore the differences in Healthiness and well-being in rural and urban of school students. A mixed sample of 300 subjects was taken, out of which 150 was of rural and 150 of urban areas. Both group subjects belonged to an age group of 15 to 18 years. Friedman well-being scale, Leddy healthiness scale and internet addiction IAT Young (1998) were used to measure the above variables. The data was analyzed by using t-test. Results revealed that rural school student s are higher on healthiness and well-being than urban students, due to impact of internet addiction on urban students.

Pages: 25-28
Jaishree Jain and Shivang Shukla (Department of Psychology, SMS Medical College Jaipur, Rajasthan)
Religiosity, in its broadest sense is a comprehensive sociological term used to refer to the numerous aspects of religious activity, dedication, and belief (religious doctrine). In its narrowest sense, religiosity deals more with how religious a person is, and less with how a person is religious (in practicing certain rituals, revering certain symbols, or accepting certain doctrines about deities & afterlife). Aaptimism is a disposition or tendency to look on the more favourable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favourable outcome. The belief that good ultimately predominates over e vil in the world. The aim of the present investigation was to study the effect of religiosity on the optimism level. Accordingly a group of 60 people were selected as a sample, which includes both males and females above age of 20 from school, colleges and bank employees from Jaipur. They belong to both middle and high socioeconomic status. A life orientation test and a attitude towards religion scale were used as a tools. The findings shows that the religious and optimism level are highly positively correlated , which means the optimism level is high in those who score high in religiosity and there is considerable difference between the optimism level of religious and non-religious people.

Pages: 33-37
Praful Prabhuappa Kapse (RINPAS, Ranchi and Mental Health Specialist Tata Trusts, Mumbai, Maharashtra)
Manisha Kiran (Department of Psychiatric Social Work Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS), Ranchi, Jharkhand)

Caring for the persons with first episode psychosis is challenging and demanding. It may lead to the increased burden, expressed emotions among the caregivers. The numerous studies have shown that high burden and negative expressed emotions among caregivers can lead to early relapse in the patients with first episode psychosis. To evaluate the effects of the brief psychoeducation on the caregivers burden and expressed emotions. A quasi experimental - before and after with control group research design was adopted for the study. A total of 60 caregivers have participated in the study, of which 30 caregivers in experimental group and 30 caregivers in the control group. Family Burden Interview Schedule (Pai & Kapoor, 1981) and Attitude Questionnaire (Sethi et al., 1981) was used to assess caregiver's burden and expressed emotions. At end of the psychoeducation intervention, burden among caregivers and negative expressed emotions of the caregivers have significantly reduced. The positive expressed emotions have been increased. Study results demonstrates the importance of psychoeducation intervention in reducing the burden and negative expressed emotions.

Pages: 43-49
Kehksha and Deoshree Akhouri (Department of Psychiatry, Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh)

To examine the impact of parent-child relationship on educational aspiration and self-esteem of adolescence boys and girls and compare them on respective variables. Sample of the present study was 200 intermediate students (100 boys & 100 girls) from Aligarh that were selected randomly. Data was collected by administration of Educational Aspiration Scale, Parent Child Relationship Scale (PCRS) and Rosenberg Self-esteem scale. Data was analyzed by using SPSS 17.0. In present study significant difference was found between girls and boys on all the dimensions of PCR i.e., protecting, symbolic, punishment, rejecting, demanding, indifferent, symbolic reward, loving, object reward, and neglecting as well as self-esteem and educational aspiration. It was also found that smooth relationship with parents Influenced adolescents' educational aspiration and self-esteem positively and vice versa. It is concluded that smooth relationship between parents and children plays significant role in establishing high educational aspiration and high self-esteem. The majority of those adolescents (both boys & girls) who share a smooth relationship with their parents have higher educational aspiration and higher self-esteem than those adolescents who do not have such relationship.

Pages: 53-59
Manoj Kumar Pandey and Pankaj Tripathi (Department of Psychology, University of Allahabad, A Central University, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh)

The purpose of this study was to (a) to see the role of aspiration in relations to the employee's psychological well-being and quality of work-life, (b) to see the relationships between beliefs in just world with employee's psychological well-being and quality of work-life, (c) to see the inter-relationships between beliefs in just world, quality of work-life and psychological well-being according to the police personnel's level of aspiration, and (d) to find out the best predictor of the relationships between level of aspiration and beliefs in just world to quality of work-life and psychological well-being. The study was conducted on 276 (179 male & 97 female) police personnel working in U.P. Police Organization within the age range of 24 to 59 years with mean score 40.16 years and varies in designations from Constable to Dy. SP. Following scales were used in this study: Scale of Level of Aspiration: was a single item scale comprises of four ranks (1. Sub-Inspector, 2. Inspector 3. Dy. SP. 4. S.P.). Believes in just world was measured by a scale consists of eight items, assessing the belief in just world for the domain of self. Psychological well-being was a ten items scale used to assess employee's psychological well-being, which addresses depression, anxiety, and disturbance in social functioning and Quality of work-life scale was a single item scale assessing the overall evaluation of police personnel quality of their work life. All these scales were based on Likert 5-point rating scale. The results of the study revealed that: (a) Police personnel whose aspiration level is to become SP rank officers, have more believes in just world, better psychological well-being and quality of work life than police personnel whose aspirational level is lower. (b) Believes in just world is positively related with psychological well-being and quality of work life (c) One of the most important contribution of this study is that the study revealed a positive relationship between believes in just word and quality of work life that was missing in review of existing literatures on these two variables.

Pages: 66-69
Sucharita Maji (Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh)

Domestic violence, being one of the most bitter realities of Indian society, have affected the health and well-being of women. But, the health of children is not unaffected and isolated from the psychological environment of the family. The present work aimed at critically look at the previous literature in order to find out how witnessing domestic violence in a regular manner, too, can affect the physical and psychological health status of children. The study revealed that experiencing physical, sexual, or emotional abuse during pregnancy leads to certain direct health hazards among neonates and results in problems like low birth weight and premature delivery. Besides that, psychological consequences like post traumatic symptoms and conduct problems among children are also discussed. The study also draws attention to future research endeavours in this context.

Pages: 73-75
Deepika Bali and Anita Sharma (Department of Psychology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh)

The purpose of the present investigation is to highlight the essential factors which foster resilience in adolescents. Why resilience is important for adolescents and what are the sources of resilience for adolescents are the main domains of the present study. What activities help adolescents in developing resilience is also centre of discussion in the undertaken research paper.

Pages: 83-85
Renuka Joshi, Jyoti Joshi and Kanchan Yadav (Department of Psychology, D.A.V. (PG) College, Dehradun, Uttarakhand)

The present study attempts to explore psychosocial adjustment pattern of hearing impaired children in reference to speech therapy. The target population were deaf students of age range 9-16 years with severe to profound hearing loss, out of which 40 students were selected by random sampling technique. A 2x2 factorial design was used where before and after speech therapy was matched with level of sex. Pre and post therapy assessment was conducted with the help of selected tools - An audiometer was used to measure the type and degree of hearing loss. Psychosocial adjustment inventory developed by Pal (1995) was used to assess the social and emotional adjustment pattern of children. A hearing aid which provides amplification of distant sound to hearing impaired children was also used. After individual scoring, cumulative scores of all the respondents on each assessment tools before and after speech therapy were compiled and calculated. Results indicated that pre and post therapy group differ significantly on social, and emotional adjustment.

Pages: 89-92
Manpreet Ola (AIBAS Amity University , Gurgaon, Haryana)
Roopa Mathur (Department of Psychology, The IIS University, Jaipur, Rajasthan)

The aim of the study was to see the relationship of environmental factors with overall subjective well being and its components. Participants were in the age range of 65-85 years. The participants who did not have a history of any psychiatric and any physical handicap were included in the study. While those who were not fluent in English or Hindi and who were widowed and unmarried were excluded from the study. The data was collected from parts of Rajasthan and Delhi, India. There was a significant difference between males and females with regard to social support and negative life events and its impact on various dimensions of subjective well being. It can be clearly concluded that the environmental influences have a very huge impact on the subjective well being of the elderly. Though the research was conducted on a very small group of the older adults, hence we cannot generalize our results; but despite of small sample size, we should not forget the relevance of these findings and its significance in our lives.

Pages: 97-100
Mohd Amin Wani (Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh)

“A free man thinks of nothing less than of death: and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life” (Baruch Spinoza). Death is a natural phenomenon just as life. It is not to be afraid of and not to lose the Psychological balance. The fundamental objective of this paper was to ascertain the Psychological Well-being among Thanatophobic people. For this purpose, the sample was selected from the district Baramulla of Jammu and Kashmir (India) with the help of simple random sampling. In the initial, 300 participants (Adolescents: n=100), (Adults: n=100), and (Elderly: n=100) took part in the study, upon which the Templer Death Anxiety Scale (1986) was administered. In this way the highly death anxious people were identified and the sample was contracted to a total of 90 participants with an equal number of Adolescents (12-19 years, n= 30), Adults (25-35 years, n= 30), and Elderly (50-60 years, n= 30) upon which the PGI Well-being Scale designed by Verma, Moudgil, Kaur, Pal, Dubey, and Gupta (1986) was administered. The obtained scores were analyzed with the help of t-test. The results of the study revealed that there were significant differences between Adolescents and Elderly, between Adults and Elderly, and finally between Adolescents and Adults with regard to their Psychological Well-being. The t-values were found to be 47.851, 18.197, and 24.779 respectively. To conclude we may say that old age people maintained better Psychological Well-being despite their fear of death followed by Adults and the Adolescents showed poor Psychological Well-being in comparison to their Adult and Elderly counterpart.

Pages: 106-109
Supreet Kaur (Department of Psychology, Panjab University, Chandigarh)

Numerous studies have been conducted on Internet Addiction and Self Efficacy. However, there is limited evidence on the relationship between Internet Addiction and Perceived Social Self Efficacy. Thus, in the present study, the focus is on gender differences and relationship between Internet Addiction and Perceived Social Self Efficacy among adolescents. For this purpose, Internet Addiction Test (IAT) by Young (1998) and scale of Perceived Social Self Efficacy by Smith and Betz (2000) were administered on a sample of 80 adolescents (40=males, 40=females) in the age range of 15-19 years, respectively .The data was analyzed using t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation method. The results showed significant gender differences on Internet Addiction and Perceived Social Self Efficacy. It was also found that Internet Addiction and Perceived Social Self Efficacy were negatively related. These results may help educational institutions for designing suitable internet addiction prevention programs geared towards the adolescents.

Pages: 115-117
Veni R.K. and Roseline Florence Gomes (Department of B. Voc. Psychology, Jyoti Nivas College, Bangalore, Karnataka)
Ayesha Pereira Aurora (Department of Psychology, Jyoti Nivas College, Bangalore, Karnataka)

Happiness across the life span shows different thoughts across ages. Most college students recalled college life as compared to work life to be the best as it denoted less responsibility, more freedom and fun (Baumgardner, 1989-2001). Happy and unhappy people may differ considerably on their use of particular emotion regulation strategies. The present study which aimed at finding out the “Differences in Happiness and Emotional Intelligence among Adolescents and Adults” was conducted on a sample of 150 which was divided into college students belonging to the first group, adolescents (n=75) and working individuals belonging to the second group, adults (n=75) from Bangalore. Two tools were used for the study namely, Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) and Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS). The findings of the study indicate that statistically no significant difference was found between Adolescence and Adults with regard to their level of Happiness but a significant difference was found in their Emotional intelligence between the two groups, where adults are found to be more emotionally intelligent than the adolescence.