A Psychosocial Exploration of Quality of Life among Individuals Experiencing Abandonment

Pages:236-241
Nilanjana Mitra and Anindita Chaudhuri (Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal)

The study is a quest to introspect into the lives of those persons who get easily discriminated or marginalized and consequently abandoned by the mainstream society. So, the obvious question that arises here is how these persons react to such discrimination and still maintain quality of life. From this perspective, the study aims to address the pitiful condition of such individuals who have been in sex-trade and also addresses the difficulties faced by Gender and sexual minority individuals. Thus it is interesting to see, in spite of heightened stigma faced by both the groups how they retain well-being and what factors add to their quality of life. To facilitate the study, 40 participants from each of the following groups were purposively selected: sex-workers and individuals belonging to gender and sexual minority groups, thus making a total sample size of 80 participants. The scales used for the present study were: PGI Quality of Life Scale, Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, Life Regard Index, Bharathiar University Resilience Scale and Life Orientation Test- revised. Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis had been done to find out the effect of the predictor variables viz. Happiness, Meaning in Life, Resilience and Life-orientation on Quality of Life, the Outcome variable. The results indicate that Happiness contributes largely to Quality of Life for the female sex-workers. This may be caused due to the fact that material prosperity and social rise often outweighs their prostitution stigma and adds to their well-being. In case of gender and sexual minority individuals the fulfillment part of meaning in life enhances their Quality of Life. This may be attributed to the fact that engaging in meaningful activities for the betterment of sexual and gender minority people add a sense of accomplishment and enhances their well-being.