Exploring wisdom in relationship with coping styles, social desirability, subjective wellbeing, age and gender

Pages:227-234
Mitika Kanwar (Department of Psychology, Panjab University, Chandigarh)

This study explored coping styles, social desirability and subjective well being in a specific relationship to Wisdom as the main variable. Self report inventories measuring Wisdom, Coping, Satisfaction with life and Positive-Negative Affect were administered to three age groups (N = 105). Correlational analysis revealed significant positive correlation between Wisdom scores and Active coping (p<.01), Positive reframing (p<.01), Planning (p<.05), Humor (p<.05), and Acceptance (p<.05); a negative correlation with Behavioral Disengagement (p<.05), and close to zero correlations with Venting, Substance use, Self distraction and Denial. From the subscales of SAWS Emotional regulation, Reminiscence and Openness to new experiences correlated well with healthy coping strategies. Simple linear regression of age as a predictor of wisdom turned out to be nonsignificant, thus, supporting the viewpoint that the older are not necessarily the wiser and that wisdom can be achieved at any age with age being an advantage rather than a necessity for attaining wisdom. Subjective well being, wisdom correlated well with Positive Affect (p<.01). Satisfaction with life correlated well with wisdom for the elderly group only. Further, wisdom had a positive correlation with social desirability (p<.01). The t-tests revealed significant age group differences between Emotional Regulation, Reflection and Satisfaction with life favoring the elderly sample in all three. No gender differences were found.