Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Pages: 1374-1380
Nabamita Chakraborty and Sanjukta Das (Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta, Calcutta)

Middle adulthood entails the height of social power and having access to a rich supply of social support (Dorner et al., 2005).Although the social networks are shrinking throughout adulthood, social satisfaction is steadily on the rise (e.g., Lansford, Sherman & Antonucci,1998). Naturally, self-esteem is quite at its peak around the age of 60 years (Robins, Trzesniewski, Tracy, Gosling, & Potter, 2002), the source of personal control and power is at its peak (Clarke-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999), and subjective well-being tends to be at least higher than in young adulthood (e.g., Cross & Markus, 1991;Heckhausen, 1999) without feeling overly grandiose or afraid (Dorner et al., 2005). Unlike many younger adults, most of them have made their peace with societal expectations and have found decent arrangements to meet both personal goals and environmental demands. Yet, in comparison to older adults, middle adults tend to be more egocentric and also more vital and vigorous in pursuing their concerns (Mc Adams, 2001; Stewart & Vandewater, 1998).

Pages: 1400-1403
G.B Manjula (PG Department of Psychology, Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnatak)
Rajeshwari. N. Kenchappanavar (Karnatak Arts College, Dharwad, Karnatak)

The present study investigates the Aggression, depression level and the extent of loneliness of Commercial female sex workers and gays. A sample of 100 female sex workers and 100 gays from Belgaum region of Karnataka state were chosen for the study. The Aggression scale developed by Mathur and Bhatnagar, Depression scale developed by Beck and perceived Loneliness scale developed by Praveen Kumar Jha were administered on the sample to collect the data. The results were analyzed using t-test. The findings reveal that Commercial female sex workers and Gays differ significantly on Aggression, depression and loneliness. Further, it was found that rural and urban Commercial female sex workers differ significantly on aggression, depression and loneliness. Similarly rural and urban gays differ significant on all the three variables.

Pages: 1411-1414
Mojtaba Aghili (Department of Psychology, Payame-Noor University, Iran)
Rostam Aliniya (Psychologist, M.A., Babol Rehabilitation Center )

The prime objective of the current research is to study the relationship between Internet addiction and psychological health of students. Selected by multi-step random sampling, samples of this research which is described as a correlative study, consist of 206 students (89 boys, 117 girls) studying at one of the universities in Babol. All subjects filled in questionnaires designed for Internet Addiction Test(Young, 1998), Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) (Lavybvnd & Lavybvnd, 1995).Independent Samples T-test and Pearson Correlation Coefficient were used for data analysis. Results of the research showed that Internet addiction has negative correlation with positive aspects of psychological health (self-esteem and satisfaction with life), and positive correlation with negative aspects of psychological health (depression, anxiety and stress). In other words, increase in the level of Internet addiction makes a reduction in positive aspects of psychological health (self esteem and satisfaction with life) and gives rise to negative ones (depression, anxiety and stress). In addition, Independent Samples T-test revealed that there is no significant difference between the two sexes in terms of the level of their addiction to the Internet. At the end, implications of the current findings were discussed.

Pages: 1418-1423
Pankaj Singh (Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh)

The influences of school success on diverse areas of development and the empirically suggested connections among adolescent Self-concept, School Satisfaction and educational problem the relationships among these constructs were investigated. A sample of 500 eighth, ninth and tenth graders, who are at risk for academic difficulties, participated in the study. Independent adolescent self-concept, school satisfaction and educational problem. Results suggest that Adolescents girls are more satisfaction than Adolescents boys, and Adolescents girls are less educational problem as compare to adolescents boys.

Pages: 1427-1429
Chandra Shekhar and Palak Malhotra (Department of Psychology, University of Jammu, Jammu)

Self-esteem is one of the strongest research topics in psychology. Research has documented the important role high self-esteem plays in academic achievement, social and personal responsibility. Self-esteem is the one key ingredient that affects the level of proficiency in all fields of endeavor. Self-esteem has been correlated to job success, school achievement, general happiness. The relationships between self-esteem and academic achievement motivation have received much attention. Gender is generally asserted to impact upon the growth, demonstration and manifestation of self-esteem. This study examined self esteem, gender and academic achievement motivation. 40 boys and 40 girls within the age of 18 to 21 yrs from 2 Govt. colleges of Jammu were selected as a sample. Data was collected by administering Rosenberg self esteem scale by Rosenberg while Academic Achievement Motivation test (AAMT) by Dr. T.R Sharma was used to measure academic motivation of college students. Random sampling technique was used in the present study. The data obtained was analysed statistically and the study revealed that there is a significant difference in the self esteem and academic achievement motivation of boys and girls.

Pages: 1434-1437
Naorem Binita Devi (Department of Psychology, Mizoram University, Aizawl)

This paper is about the study of personality traits, anxiety, depression, aggression, stress, dominance, warmth of Meitei community in Manipur. The main objective of this study is “to find out the correlation of personality traits i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness of Meitei community; to find the correlation of personality and measures of the personality assessment inventory, i.e., Anxiety, depression, aggression, stress, dominance and warmth; to find out the correlation of anxiety, depression, aggression, stress, dominance and warmth of the Meitei community; to find out the factor structure of all the variables, neuroticism, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, anxiety, depression, aggression, stress, dominance, warmth of Meitei community. Trying to fullfill these objectives, the investigator randomly selected 140 participants from the normal population in Meitei community ranging age level of 20-60 yrs. Results are evaluated by mean, median, and factor analysis to find out the factor structure for the participants. For 140 subjects the correlation coefficients of .15 and .20 are significant at .05 and .01 levels of significance respectively. From the result, In general, the intercorrelations among five measures of personality are low ranging between -0.6 to.60. out of 10 intercorrelation, 9 correlations are significant at or beyond .05 level. In general the correlations between five measures of personality and 6 measures of personality assessment inventory i.e., anxiety, depression, aggression, stress, dominance,and warmth are low ranging from -.37 to .39. Out of the 30 correlations, only 19 correlations are significant at or above .05 level of significance. In general, the intercorrelations among 6 measures of anxiety, depression, aggression, stress, dominance and warmth variables are low ranging between -.22 to .68. out of 15 intercorrelations, 8 correlations are significant at or above .05 level. In this study, the investigator found 4 factors; namely general factor of personality (factor-I); neurotic factor (factor-II); well-organized factor ( factor-III); and autonomous factor (Factor-IV).

Pages: 1441-1444
Anju Manocha (Associate Professor, GCG-14, Panchkula, Haryana)
Ruby Siwach Sangwan (Research Scholar, NDRI, Karnal, Haryana)

Adolescent girls, constituting nearly one tenth of Indian population, form a crucial segment of the society. Their nutritional status will decide the well being of the present as well as future generation. The study assessed the diet quality and nutritional status of 240 rural girls between 12-18 years of age from rural areas of Panchkula and Karnal district of Haryana State. Dietary intake data were collected by three days recall method. As a result of questionnaires and interviews, food intakes for three consecutive days were collected. Intakes of cereals, pulses, roots and tubers, and sugar and jaggery as reported by respondents were significantly lower than the prescribed Indian recommended dietary intakes (RDI). The consumption of milk and milk products and fats and oils was adequate whereas green leafy vegetables and fruits were the most limited food items. The respondents followed a two meal pattern and their diets were monotonous and cereal based. The mean daily intake of milk and milk products, pulses, green leafy vegetables, other vegetables and fruits was grossly inadequate meeting only 46%, 37%, 28%, 36% and 5% of the suggested allowances. The intake of fats and oil seeds and roots and tubers was somewhat adequate meeting 63% and 75% of the allowances while the intake of cereals and sugar was almost adequate revealing a deficit of less than 10%. The study further revealed not only a high incidence of under nutrition but also an inadequate energy or micronutrient intake. Therefore, sustained efforts are needed to educate rural masses regarding their increased nutritional requirements during adolescence and the need of hour is to plan and implement innovative developmental programmes to address the nutrition and health needs of rural adolescent girls in a comprehensive manner.

Pages: 1448-1451
Gurminder Sokhey and Ravijot Kaur (Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala)

The present investigation attempted to assess the role of adherence in Quality of life (QOL) amongst coronary heart disease (CHD) patients. The sample comprised 300 subjects: 150 patients (both males & females suffering from CHD, i.e., MI or Angina), and 150 normal healthy controls (both males & females) in the age range of 30 to 55 years and from middle & upper middle class families. The subjects were administered the Medical Outcome Study (MOS) Measure of Patient Adherence (Hays, 1993) and The RAND Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire: SF-36 (Ware,1993) to assess general and specific adherence to medical regimen of patients and their Quality of life (i.e., Physical and Mental health-related QOL) respectively. Correlational Analysis of the data revealed positive correlation of general adherence & specific adherence recommendations with both physical & mental health-related QOL for CHD patients. Whereas for normal controls, specific adherence recommendations (e.g,. regular exercise, cut down stress, etc.) were negatively correlated with both physical & mental health-related QOL. Further, specific adherence behaviours were positively correlated with only mental health-related QOL of CHD patients whereas for normal controls these were positively correlated with only physical health-related QOL.

Pages: 1455-1457
Reetinder Kaur (Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh)

Palliative care is the total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment. The control of pain, other distressing symptoms and improving quality of life are important goals of palliative care. The present study aims to analyze the role of palliative care in improving quality of life among advanced cancer patients. The data is collected by using QLQ-C30 questionnaire from 30 advanced cancer patients at their first and second visit to a palliative care unit in a tertiary care centre. The physical functioning among advanced cancer patients was found to be lowest and cognitive functioning was found to be highest at the first baseline assessment. The emotional, social and role functioning showed improvement with palliative care. In symptom scale, constipation, dyspnoea, insomnia, nausea, appetite loss and pain improved expect for fatigue. Findings of the study shows that advanced cancer patients benefited from the palliative care. Thus, it can be concluded that palliative care plays a very crucial role in improving QOL among advanced cancer patients.

Pages: 1461-1462
P. S. N. Tiwari and M. Singh (Department of Psychology, DDU Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh)

Environment is the utmost important part of our lives. Protection of environment is everyone's duty. The teachers themselves need a good awareness about environmental concepts, so that they can educate the future citizens to protect our environment from pollution. In this context, the present study is an attempt to examine the environmental awareness among teachers. The sample consists of 72 male and female subjects belonging to intermediate (Class VIth to Class XII) and primary (Nursery to Class Vth) schools of Gorakhpur city. A measure of environmental awareness with five dimensions was used. Results revealed that teachers belonging to intermediate level were significantly high aware about their environmental problems than primary level teachers. Findings also showed difference between intermediate and primary level teachers on various dimensions of environmental awareness. It was found that only one dimension as awareness regarding environmental problems was found significant. The implications of the present study have been discussed.

Pages: 1467-1469
Bhanwar Singh, B. M. Vashisht, Pardeep Khanna, Meely Panda, Meenakshi Kalhan and Ramesh Verma (Department of Community Medicine, PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana)

Poor hygiene practices and inadequate sanitary conditions play major roles in the increased burden of communicable diseases within developing countries. In India, the concept of personal hygiene is intermixed with several ritual ideas and traditions. However, it needs to be practiced properly by individuals alone who assume personal responsibility. There should be a motto to guide every one to follow and practice that 'cleanliness is next to godliness', which is taught to a child even from primary school days. Good personal hygiene usually means those measures a person takes to keep his skin and its appendages such as his hair, finger nails and toe nails and his teeth and mouth clean and in good condition This study was undertaken among 269 students of 5th to 12th classes. This study evaluated the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of hygiene among rural school children in Chiri block of Haryana and assessed the extent to which proper knowledge of hygiene was associated with personal hygiene characteristics. Approximately 52% of students were found as having adequate knowledge of proper hygiene. Most students reported hand washing before meals (89.0%), but only 36.2% reported using soap. Although 76.7% of students reported that washing hands after defecation was important, only 14.8% reported actually following this practice. Study findings underscore the need for more hand washing and hygiene education in schools; and provide objective evidence that may guide the development of comprehensive health and hygiene intervention programs in rural schools. Successful implementation of these programs is likely to substantially attenuate the transmissible disease burden borne by school children in rural settings.

Pages: 1474-1478
Anitha D. S. (Department of Psychology, Jain University, Bangalore)
K. Jayashankar Reddy (Department of Psychology, CMRIMS, Bangalore)

The variations and consequences of care giving are distributed through the population equally, that is, adult-child, spousal, child-parent and so forth with far reaching implications. The caregiver of a member of the family with a chronic or terminal illness is in a perpetually stressful situation. The patients illness, combined with the disabilities or increased dependency caused by illness, in many cases constitute a major stressor for the entire family generally and for the caregiver in particular. The stress is intensified by such patients attributes as behavior problems and psychological distress. In case of cancer the stressor is more likely to be the patient's physical dependency arising from the side effects of medical treatment. The caregiver like the patient is in a stressful situation because of the threat to the life of the loved one, loss of the previous relationship, decrease of independence, the prospect of a decline in income and alterations in family roles. The primary caregiver plays an important in the well-being of the care receiver by providing social, emotional and physical support. The psychological distress created by stress begins at the time that the patient has difficulty in functioning and on the discharge of the patient from the hospital. Increased stress is experienced when the patient health condition moves from curative to palliative care. The patient is completely dependent on the caregiver for physical and psychological support. The caregiver is the companion throughout the illness period and provides emotional support. During palliative care the caregiver experience greater physical and psychological stress, greater burden and poor quality of life which in turn affect their role as caregiver. The need of the caregiver goes unnoticed by family members and their health suffers leading to psychological distress. The need for intervention to caregivers is a necessity which is ignored or not given importance in rural and semi urban areas. It is time the government provide hospice care to patients so that the burden of caring has less impact on the health of the caregiver thus reducing their psychological distress