Psychological Well-Being:Spirituality and Successful Aging

Aging is a multidimensional change involving the physical, psychological as well as social aspects for an individual. India has earned the distinction of being a "greying nation" with about 7.7% of its population consisting of older adults. In the last few decades, however researchers have become increasingly interested in psychological well-being (PWB) of elderly persons. Spirituality has been found to be a major predictor of PWB and shapes individuals' perspectives on the world and is expressed in the way that they live life. This study examined the relationship between daily spiritual experiences and PWB among male and female elderly persons of above 65 years of age. Two hundred elderly persons were drawn randomly from various cities and old age homes situated in India. Of these, there were 100 female and 100 male. The daily spiritual experience scale (DSES), (Underwood&Teresi, 2002) and Ryff scale of PWB (Ryff, 1989) were administered on these subjects. Results showed significant positive relationship between DSES and PWB among male and female elderly persons.