Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Pages: 176-181
Ashok Kumar Kalia and Mamta (Department of Education, MD University, Rohtak, Haryana, India)

The present study was conducted to examine empirically the main and interactive effect of Gender, Locality and Academic Stream of adolescents on attitude towards private tuition. A sample of 80 adolescents was selected randomly from Senior Secondary Schools of Rohtak City of Haryana. Students were administered a twenty item locally prepared questionnaire to assess attitude towards private tuition. Since all the three independent variables namely gender (male and female), locality (urban and rural) and academic stream (science and arts) are dichotomous in nature, 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design was employed to analyse the data. The findings suggested that the main effect of locality was found to be associated with attitude towards tuition. Two-Way and Three-Way interactions were found non significant indicating that all the independent variables operated independently.

Pages: 181-184
Zeenat Zahoor (Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India)

Teaching is perhaps the most important profession in the society. The well-being of today’s teachers affects the well-being of society tomorrow. Unless the well-being of individual teachers is improved, standards of education and that of the educational experience of young people will suffer with far-reaching financial, economic and social consequences for the nation. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between well-being and job satisfaction among government and private school teachers. The sample of this study comprised of N=100 teachers (50 from government and 50 from private school). Age ranged between 25 and 58 years. The sample was randomly chosen. Well-being of the respondents were measured with the help of a well-known psychological well-being scale developed by Bhogle and Prakash (1995). The differences in the obtained data were analyzed by using t test and the relationship was analyzed using Pearson’s correlation. Significant differences emerged in the well-being and job satisfaction among government and private school teachers.

Pages: 185-187
Mridula Sharma and Christina Davidson (Department of Psychology, ICG - The IIS University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India)

The present study is an attempt to explore the relationship of self-compassion with few positive attributes, viz., personal initiativeness and curiosity and exploration among young adults. Self-compassion stands for the quality of the human-being, which makes him kind and understanding towards oneself, even in the face of adverse situations. It suggests the perception of one’s experiences as a part of the broader human experience. Self- compassion has various implications in academic and professional life. As it provides an intrinsic motivation to an individual; it facilitates a self-initiated behavior and curiosity and exploratory behavior. The present study has been conducted on 100 college students using Neff’s (2003a) self-compassion scale, personal growth initiative scale (Robitschek, 1998), and curiosity and exploration inventory (Kashdan et al., 2004). In order to analyze the results product moment correlation method has been employed. The results reflect a positive correlation between self-compassion and personal initiativeness as well as with both dimensions of curiosity and exploratory behavior, i.e. self-exploration and absorption. This suggests that having an open and accepting stance toward oneself is related to being open to the world, in general.

Pages: 188-194
Vandana Gambhir nee Chopra (Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, Delhi)

The objective of present research was to study the relationship of Job Characteristics and Personality with Organizational Commitment at the level of managers and non managers. Using three components of Organizational Commitment (Affective, normative and Continuance) on a sample of employees (n= 70; 35 Managers and 35 non Managers), the relationships of Big Five Personality Traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness & Neuroticism), and Seven Job Characteristics (Skill Variety, Task Identity, Task Significance, Autonomy, Job Feedback, Agents Feedback & Dealing with others) to Commitment Components were examined. Results showed that (1) mangers and non-managers differed significantly on job characteristic variables of skill variety, task significance, autonomy, agents feedback and dealing with others & personality variable of openness to experience. (2) Corelational analysis of job characteristics and organizational commitment revealed that task identity was positively related to continuance and normative commitment and autonomy was positively correlated to affective commitment. Both findings were significant for manager group only. (3) On correlating personality dimensions with organi- zational commitment, it was found that extraversion was positively correlated with normative commitment (for managers) and conscientiousness was positively related to affective commitment (for non-managerial group). (4) Finally, extraversion was found to be positively correlated to overall organizational commitment for managers. The implications of these findings for our understanding of Job Characteristic-Organizational Commitment and Personality-Organizational Commitment linkages are discussed.

Pages: 196-199
Umakant Subhash Gaikwad (Department of Psychology, Art’s Science College, Chincholi, Kannad, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India)

The purpose of this study was to investigate, the relation between social adjustment (SA), emotional intelligence (EI) and personality. The total sample consisted of 147 college students from different academic terms, of which 58 were male and 89 were female. The students were selected from Art’s as well as science department from different college in Aurangabad (Maharashtra). For this purpose of investigation Palsane SA scale. Mayers -Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI- From G, 1975), Mayer-Salovey-Caruso EI scale (MSCEIT V.2) was used. The Pearson’s Product - Moment Correlation and t-test were applied as a Statistical technique. The finding of this study EI is not positively correlated with SA, extroverts show better SA as compared to introverts, feeling types do not show better SA as compared to thinking types, intuitive types are higher in EI than sensing types, Feeling types do not show higher EI than thinking types.

Pages: 203-206
Himmat J. Narke (Department of Psychology, V.P.S.P.M.S. Arts, Commerce and Science College, Kannad, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India)
Anita M. Daryanani (Psychologist, Central Public Sr. Sec. School, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India)

In contemporary Indian society, the working women’s role is perceived just as an added role taken up by women necessitating accommodation and adjustment. The Indian social step up provides an important context for understanding the outcomes of employment for the adjustment level of married women. In the present study, an attempt was made to see the effect of work status and socio-economic status (SES), on adjustment problems of married women. Total 240 married women with equal number of working, non-working, low and high SES were selected as per requirements from Marathwada. The age level, educational status and nativity of the subjects were controlled to a certain extent i.e. age ranges between 25 and 45 years, educational status 10+ (school education) and all women belongs to urban population. The SES determined by their family income was assessed using socio- economic scale (SES scale, Urban) and adjustment problems were measured using Bell adjustment inventory. 2×2 factorial design was employed to reach out the objectives of this study. Obtained data were analyzed using two- way ANOVA. Statistical analysis revealed that work status and SES are a significant factor to determine women’s level of adjustment.

Pages: 212-215
M. Trishala and Shilpa Kiran (Department of Psychology, BMS College for Women, Bangalore, Karnataka, India)

The aim of this study was to determine the emotional maturity (EM) and perceived parenting styles among adolescents. To investigate the same, a sample of 30 boys and 30 girls (aged from 14 years to 19 years) were selected, and were administered with EM scale and perceived parenting styles inventory-2. To analyze these data Statistical tool of t-test, Pearson correlation were used. The findings indicated that there is no gender difference in EM , adolescence differs in the perceive parenting styles and adolescents with perceived parenting styles of autonomy styles and responsive styles had high EM compared to demanding perceived parenting styles.

Pages: 219-221
Pankaj Singh (Department of Pediatrics, NKP Salve Institute of Medical Science and Research Center and Lata Mangeshkar Hospital, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India)

Headache is a continuous pain in the area of the head not confined to the area of distribution of any nerve. Headaches are getting common among children especially school going children, and it becomes frequent as a child grows older. The results revealed that all patients were having intermittent headache (2-3 months) for the duration of up to 2 years. Headache was not affecting the sleep activity or appetite of the child. The factors initiating the headache included disturbed family patterns, family phobia, differential parenting styles including over expectations or ignoring. The heavy school work lead to fear of studies that in turn affected the attendance and the scholastic performance. To some extent, the surrounding environmental factors also lead to difficulty in social adjustment. These certain issues lead to stress headaches for most of the children almost every day. In no case, any family history of any psychiatric illness, traumas or any such kind of headaches as those of migraine, sinusitis, etc. was understood. It was also seen that in most cases girls were more affected than boys.

Pages: 226-230
Pragya Sahare and Vikas Kumar Sharma (Department of Clinical Psychology, Dev Sanskriti University, Haridwar, Uttrakhand, India)

Cancer is often a life-threatening disease. In women, breast cancer is the most leading cause of death. The incidence of breast cancer is rising in India and is now the second most common cancer diagnosed in women after cervical cancer. Diagnosis of breast cancer results a variety of cognitive impairments in patients as well as her family. The increasing use of aggressive treatment method works as a catalyst to promote the mal adjustment and reduce the quality of life in cancer patients. Like all chronic illnesses breast cancer also involves series of threats and difficulties, which further lead to the development of mental problems in the patients. To effectively control these mental troubles during conventional cancer treatment without any side effects, a novel non-pharmacological intervention, Spiritually Augmented Cognitive Restructuring (SACR), labeled as SACR has been introduced in this research. SACR, as clear by the name, is a cognitive model to restructure or modify the negative core beliefs of a patient through spiritual teachings or activities. The objective of this research is to theoretically explore the possible efficiency of SACR in the control of mental disturbances with special reference to breast cancer patients. For execution of this purpose some concerned books, published researches and obtained literature after internet search on PubMed, Medline etc. were reviewed. A theoretical foundation explained in such researches or scientific texts was presented in this article. This research article suggests that spirituality in clinical setting may influence the efficacy of cognitive therapy model. Cognitive model with spirituality may be more effective in management of mood disturbances in life threatening disease, at least in breast cancer patients, by improving their spiritual understanding about life. With this study, we are able to introduce a new form of psychological treatment in the field of psycho-oncology.

Pages: 236-242
Prerona Ghosh, Deepshikha Ray and Sudeshna Das (Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India)

The development of successful friendship is one of the important developmental milestones and is crucial for healthy adaptation. In the context of increasing social alienation in today's globalized world there is an emergent need to construct a reliable tool for assessing Quality of Friendship. Same-sex friendship is highly prevalent in the Indian society and is a significant contributor to an enhanced quality of life. Since, there is a dearth of a reliable tool for exploring friendship, the present study purported to construct a scale for assessing the Quality of Friendship. 370 healthy adult participants, of either sex, aged between 18-25 years were included in the study. The total sample was split into 3 sections - sample A(N = 100), on which the Quality of Friendship Questionnaire (QFQ) was constructed; sample B (N = 200), the data of which was utilized for reliability assessment and factor analysis; sample C (N = 70) on which The Relationship Profile Test (Bornstein and Languirand, 2001) and The UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, 1996) was administered for the computation of convergent validity. Preliminary norms were developed based on the scores of Sample B and Sample C. Five factors emerged from Factor Analysis, namely - 'Intimacy', 'Distress reaction', 'Negative behavior', 'Doubt' and 'Telling a lie' and the final scale comprised of 87 items with a high reliability (Cronbach α =0.96). Further, a significant negative correlation between 'Quality of Friendship' and loneliness was obtained, along with a significant positive correlation between 'Quality of Friendship' and healthy dependence. Continued evaluation is needed to assess the utility of the QFQ for exploring 'Friendship' in the paradigm of positive psychology.

Pages: 249-253
Asha Rani (STI Counselor, General Hospital Rohtak, Haryana)
Promila Batra (Department of Psychology, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana)

Each disease brings with it lot of additionally associated problems that the patient requires to cope with this additional burden and stress. Therefore, every patient has to cope with both the disease and the accompanying stresses in the form of biological, psychological and social problems. HIV/AIDS is also a disorder with high incidence and prevalence. It is a viral disease, which reduces the ability of immune system to defend the body against the introduction of foreign substances (antigens). Its negative impact on the individual and society itself is in alarming stage, as the disease is highly associated with a variety of loss, grief and stress. Each individual suffering from HIV/AIDS adopts a different style and strategy to cope with the disease. However, these patients can be enabled to cope with the disease related stress and worries by training them on appropriate ways of coping. The existing literature indicating about various methods categorized as better ways of coping with specific diseases but it is important to know what type of ways are being adopted by the patients and need to be changed for the success of interventions to teach appropriate ways of coping. Therefore, study aimed at assessing the patterns of emotion focused and problem focused ways of coping among HIV and AIDS patients. The present study was carried out in Haryana on 500 patients with HIV/AIDS having the age from 25 to 50 years (mean age 37.5 years). To assess and compare the coping styles adopted by HIV/AIDS patients, the selected subjects were tested with the ways of coping questionnaire by Folkman and Lazarus (1988). Frequencies of individual high on one type of coping (quartile based) and the mean of coping scores were calculated and analyzed. The Chi-square and 't' values reveal that most of the HIV/AIDS patients were going more with emotion focused coping than with problem focused coping.

Pages: 260-266
Damanjit Sandhu, Manjot Kaur and Kirandeep Kaur (Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab)

The problem of school bullying is on the rise worldwide. Bullying has proven to be damaging and destructive for the pupils as well as for the society at large. In most situations, victims do survive but carry scars for a lifetime. Bullying tends to have negative affect on the physical, psychological, emotional, academic and social well being of a child. The present study was conducted to understand the relationship between school bullying and pupil well-being. This study highlighted the impact of bully-victimization on pupil well-being and it also explored the links between bully- victimization and problem behaviour in Indian adolescent pupils. 200 school going adolescent boys and girls (age range 15-17 years) served as subjects in this study. Multidimensional Peer-Victimization Scale (Mynard & Joseph, 2000), Youth Self Report (YSR) (Achenbach,1991) and Friedman Well-Being Scale ( Friedman, 1992) were used. Reliability coefficients and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients were computed. The results of the study showed that Bully-Victimization is linked with internalizing problem behaviour and it is negatively associated with happiness, joviality, sociability, self esteem/self confidence and emotional stability. Another very interesting finding which emerged from the present study is that pupils face physical victimization and attacks on property together.