Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Musaddiq Jahan ¹, Sabira Khan ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Women’s College Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh, IN
2 Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University Uttar Pradesh, IN

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Aging, Daily Spiritual Experience, Psychological Well-Being, Spirituality.

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Musaddiq Jahan ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Women's College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, UP, IN

Abstract

The Reasons for Depression questionnaire (RFD) was originally developed by Add is and Carpenter (1999) to examine the explanations that people give for being depressed. They studied the samples of non depressed and depressed university students and other adults. They obtained an eight factor solution which was based on 48 items. Fitzgerald and Richardson (2002) evaluated the RFD data for New Zealand adolescents sample with addition of a ninth biological factor and confirmed the factor structure of original RFD. Fitzgerald and Richardson also prepared an abbreviated scale (RFD-A) using 35 items of the original 48 items with six factors which would be more appropriate for use with adolescents. The purpose of the present study was to determine the psychometric properties of RFD-A for Indian adolescents. The results of the study confirmed the appropriateness of six factors of RFD-A for Indian adolescents and found significant difference between depressed and non-depressed adolescents on different factors of the questionnaire.

Keywords

Psychometric Properties, Depression Questionnaire.

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Tabasum Farooq Khan ¹, Musaddiq Jahan ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, IN

Abstract

Orphans exist in all societies. The number of orphans is increasing day by day in India in general and in Kashmir in particular, due to the past 23 years of conflict. Besides, the trend of institutionalizing them is spreading in the society. This study aimed to compare the psychological wellbeing and achievement motivation of orphan and non-orphan adolescents (males and females) in Kashmir. Participants comprised of 80 adolescents, out of whom 20 were male orphans, 20 female orphans, 20 male non orphans and 20 female non -orphans. The sample was collected from three orphanages and different schools of Kashmir. Ryff's psychological well-being scale and Deo-Mohan Achievement Motivation scale were administered to collect data. Multivariate analysis of variance was performed to analyze data. A significant difference was obtained between orphans and non-orphans on psychological wellbeing. Non-orphans scored higher on psychological wellbeing than orphan adolescents. Certain dimensions of psychological well-being namely personal growth, positive relations, purpose in life and self-acceptance also differ significantly in orphans and non-orphans. Only one dimension on which males and females differ significantly was purpose in life. No significant difference was obtained between orphan and non-orphan& between male and female adolescents on achievement motivation. So, the concerned bodies, policy makers, schools, family, governmental and non-governmental organization should work together in order to increase the psychological well-being of orphans.

Keywords

Psychological Wellbeing, Achievement Motivation, Orphans, Non-orphans.

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