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Sangeeta Trama ¹, Nitisha Aggarwal ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, IN

Abstract

Now-a-days, with the changing trends, particularly in the forces of urbanization, education and employment, women have begun to realize their capacities, and have taken a step forward in the industrialized world. Indian women particularly, are expected to be superwomen who, even while shouldering their responsibilities at homes as well as at the workplace, are supposed to live up to several people's expectation - be it their parents, in-laws, students, co-workers or the society at large. This takes a toll on their health due to role strain and role conflict. Thus, the burden on women due to multiple roles is a public health concern. Hence, there is a need to study health status of working women. According to OECD Health Data (2007), “Perceived health status refers to the percentage of the population, aged 15 or more years who report their health to be 'good' or 'better'." Reports of self-perceived health introduce a consumer's perspective and reveals aspects of health that may not become apparent with more traditional measures (EUPHIX, 2008). One variable which comes to limelight while considering the health status of working women is fatigue.Fatigue, is the state of feeling very tired, weary or sleepy resulting from insufficient sleep, prolonged mental or physical work, or extended periods of stress or anxiety. Fatigue has mainly been classified into mental fatigue and physical fatigue. Apart from fatigue, another variable which is crucial to health of working women is their level of psychological distress. Psychological distress is viewed as an emotional condition that involves negative views of the self, others and the environment, and is characterized by unpleasant subjective states, such as feeling tense, worried, and worthless. Fatigue and psychological distress share some relation with each other, and could have a deleterious effect on health. Therefore, the present investigation proposed to examine contribution of fatigue and psychological distress towards perceived health of working women. The sample for the present investigation comprised 75 married women aged 30-45 years (average age=37 years) coming from middle class families and working as school teachers in private/government schools of solan (H.P., India). The tools used were current perceived Heath Quastionnaire-42, Fatigue scale, and Psychological distress scale subscale of general well-being-20. Inter-correlations were computed, and stepwise multiple regression analyses were applied. Regression analysis revealed that mental fatigue explained 15% of the variance in perceived health, and an additional 11% of the variance was explained by psycological distress (over and above the contribution of mental fatigue). Hence, the results revealed that mental fatigue and psycological distress negatively predicted the health status of working women. The results also indicated that mental fatigue rather than physical fatigue is crusial to health. The results have been discussed in light of the collectivistic nature of the indian socio-cultural context, role strain hypothesis and role conflict in working women.

Keywords

Perceived Health, Fatigue, Psychological Distress, Working Women.

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Sonam Dullat ¹, Sangeeta Trama ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, IN

Abstract

Domestic violence is one of the biggest human rights violations that affect women all over the world regardless of their color, nationality or age. This problem has taken such a form that women appear to be as much at risk of facing violence inside of the home by a husband or partner, as they are outside by strangers. For that purpose, domestic violence is first not limited to acts of physical and sexual violence only, it also encompasses economic and emotional violence acts. Even women themselves often ignore the real meaning of domestic violence, believing that they are being subjected to "normal behavior". The issue of domestic violence is no more considered purely a private personal affair. It is being increasingly recognized as an aspect of human rights jurisprudence. The incidence of domestic violence is a widespread social phenomenon. It pervades across cultures and countries. Hence, violence against women and girls must not be interpreted merely "as an individual fate", but has to be recognized as systematic discrimination. Violence against women is the expression of a historical and traditional hierarchy of social values and unequal power relations between the sexes. Therefore, what is required is not only a strong legal support network but also opportunities for economic independence, essential education, awareness, alternative accommodation, a change in attitude and mindset of society, judiciary, legislature and the most important woman herself. Restructuring society, in terms of power and role relationship while emphasizing the egalitarian values, is the need of the hour. So, considering the inter-connections between the factors responsible for domestic violence a multi-layered strategies and interventions should be designed within a comprehensive and integrated framework

Keywords

Domestic Violence, Single Mother, Intervention.

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Sangeeta Trama ¹, Vandana Rana ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala , Punjab, IN

Abstract

The population of the elderly is growing rapidly across the globe and is emerging as a serious area of concern for the government and policy makers. U.S. Census Bureau reported that India's older population is projected to quadruple by mid century, while that of the world is expected to triple. Due to increasing longevity and changing lifestyle factors, health of the elderly has become a matter of concern for every nation. Research suggests that the aged population suffer from a range of problems, among which health care demands are at the top. As a result, there is increasing focus on the psychological variables, viz., humor and emotion regulation that can promote health (mental as well as physical). The aim of the present study was to study the contribution of humor and emotion regulation towards health of the elderly. The sample comprised 150 elderly people (75 males and 75 females) in the age range of 55-70 years who had retired from government service and were residing with their families. They were administered Humor Styles Questionnaire, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Mental Health Inventory-18 and General Health Rating Index. Inter-correlations were computed and general regression model was applied. The results revealed that humor solely or alongwith reappraisal contributed towards health of the elderly. Both, humor and reappraisal were significantly contributing towards mental health outcomes of the elderly males, whereas, in case of their physical health, affiliative and self-enhancing humor were found to do so. Affiliative humor was found to be a positive predictor of physical health of elderly females, whereas, in case of their mental health, none of these variables were found to be potential predictors. It was further found that health was positively related with affiliative and self-enhancing humor, though its links with aggressive and self-defeating humor were relatively missing. Reappraisal was found to be with affiliative and self-enhancing humor particularly. The links of suppression with humour/health were, by and large, missing foerboth, elderly males as well as females. It was thought-provoking to find a positive relation between reappraisal and suppression.

Keywords

Humor, Emotion, Regulation, Reappraisal, Suppression

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Sonam Dullat ¹, Sangeeta Trama ²

Affiliations
1 SUS College of Research and Technology Tangori, Mohali, Punjab, IN
2 Department of Psychology Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, IN

Abstract

The productivity of the work force is the most decisive factor as far as the success of an organization is concerned. The productivity in turn is dependent on the psychosocial well-being of the employees. Stress can affect one's health, work performance, social life and the relationship with family members. The stress response is a complex emotion that produces physiological changes to prepare us for fight or flight. To defend ourselves from the threat or flee from it. The stressors and its consequences are to be understood at individual and organizational level. Stress in the workplace has emerged as a major issue for businesses and has reached alarming proportions. Organizations must develop stress prevention as well as stress reduction techniques. This research focuses on practices adopted by organizations to prevent, minimize and to overcome the stress. The study aims at understanding use of yoga, meditation and soothing humor by different organizations as an antidote to workplace stress. 

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Sangeeta Trama ¹, Venus ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, IN

Abstract

Meaning in life refers to the focus of the individual on the reason for one's existence, and the importance of goal-directed behavior and fulfillment in life. It is an important psychological motivation that is important to human welfare. Meaning in life is important to ascertain how people may become motivated to achieve all that they can achieve in day-to-day life experiences. It seems to be an indicator of a healthy and appreciated life and deserves greater attention in empirical investigations of human functioning. Feeling that one's life is meaningful is important to human functioning (Weinstein&Cleanthous, 1996; Zika&Chambertain, 1992). According to Frankl, meaning can be experienced in three ways, viz., through creative, attitudmal, and experiential values. While earlier work in this field has focused on psychological constructs such as creativity, Frankl's conceptualization brings one construct particularly to the forefront, viz., spiritual transcendence.The spiritual person emerges from the quest for meaning and purpose with confidence. He knows that life is meaningful and that one's own existence has purpose. The content of this meaning vanes from person to person, but the spiritually transcendent person fills the "existential vacuum" with the sense that life has meaning and purpose.These issues become particularly significant during late adulthood. As an individual moves into the middle years, the question of Ms existence becomes significant. According to Erikson, it is a crisis age in which either "generativity" or "stagnation" dominates. The individual who moves towards the attainment of meaning in life experiences generativity, while one who lacks meaning in life moves towards stagnation, i.e., perceiving their lives as coming to a standstill. Such individuals experience an existential vacuum and feel that their life is not meaningful. Hence, it was considered worthwhile to investigate the contribution of spiritual transcendence and generativity towards meaning in life in middle-aged people.The sample of the study comprised 100 adults in the age group of 35-45 years (middle-aged people). Participants were from different urban cities of Punjab in India, and were belonging to upper middle socio-economic status families. The participants were administered the Life Regard Index (LRI; Battista&Almond, 1973), Spiritual Transcendence scale - Short form (Piedmont, 1999a), and the Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS; McAdams&de St. Aubin, 1992). In order to examine the relations among self-actualization, psychosocial maturity, empathy, spiritual transcendence, and meaning in life, inter-correlations were computed, and stepwise multiple regression analyses were applied. The results indicated that the main (positive) predictor of meaning in life at this stage of development seems to be spiritual transcendence, although generativity too, was found to positively predict meaning in life, though marginally. The results also indicated the scope of other variables in predicting meaning in life in late adulthood. Thus, the tendency towards "growth motivation" is a basic "essence" of life. Having a spiritually transcendent orientation may help adults view life from a more objective and larger perspective, making them "see" their "true" meaning or purpose. Hence, the present investigation is a significant step in understanding existential issues empincally, and has very far-reaching implications in the realm of motivation and transpersonal psychology]

Keywords

Meaning in Life, Spiritual Transcendence, Generativity.

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Baldeep Kaur ¹, Sangeeta Trama ¹, Saurabh Yakhmi ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, IN
2 Department of Psychiatry, Govt. Medical College, Patiala, IN

Abstract

Eating problems are usually formed during childhood and teenage years when one learns that food and eating brings comfort to us when one is upset. As a result, instead of learning healthy ways to resolve and deal with feelings,many people learn to turn to food for emotional comfort to help reduce negative feelings. The present investigation is aimed to perceived stress, anger and coping between emotional eaters and normal eaters among adolescents. The sample of the present study comprised 376 adolescent participants (196 males and 180 females) from various government and private schools and colleges of Patiala District. Incidental sampling was done. The selected age range was 17 to 20 years. The two extreme groups on emotional eating were formed by taking transformed raw scores of emotional eating and taking the cutoff point of mean + ¹/₂ c. There were 100 adolescent emotional eaters and 100 normal eaters, t-test (for independent samples) was applied to draw comparisons between emotional eaters and non-emotional eaters and gender differences in emotional eaters on diverse measures, such as anger, ways of coping and perceived stress. The results of present investigation revealed that adolescent emotional eaters were high on perceived stress in comparison to normal eaters. Moreover, emotional eaters had ineffective ways of copmg to deal with the situation, while normal eaters showed more self-controlling and accepting responsibility, aspects of coping. Emotional eaters showed more trait anger than normal eaters, while the latter expressed anger more in comparison to the former. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is significant difference between normal eaters and emotional eaters in adolescents.

Keywords

Emotional Eating, Anger, Coping, Perceived Stress, Adolescent.

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Sangeeta Trama ¹, Shilpa Modi ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, IN

Abstract

[Spirituality is an awareness of life which enables us to think about life, who we are and where we come from (Mc Ewan, 2004). Spirituality is the feeling individuals have about the fundamental meaning of who they are, what they are doing, and the contributions they are making (Vaill, 1996). Spiritual beliefs, commitments, and practices appear to be related to such positive outcomes such as physical, emotional, and psychological well-being, positive interpersonal functioning, and enhanced quality of life (Emmons, 2000). No matter how life is right now, there is a part of the self who has all the knowledge and resources to change it.Self-enhancement is thought to be the foremost motive in the perpetual search for self-knowledge (Sedikides, 1993). To clear all the blockages which stop one from experiencing one's true self, to explore the inner being, to access one's highest potential, to learn more about oneself, and to know practical tools and techniques to change one's life,is self-enhancement. While higher education focuses with new intensity on test scores, grades, persistence, and degrees, it has increasingly come to neglect students' "inner" development the need of values and beliefs, moral development, spirituality, and self-understanding. The present study attempted to develop spiritual orientation in young adults with the help of self-enhancement teaming. In this study, 70 participants were identified out of a group of 200 participants who scored less on spiritual orientation. These young adults were female students studying in various colleges/universities in and around Patiala. Thereafter, self-enhancement training was rendered to the participants. An attempt was made to explore differences in young adults in areas of inner self-enhancement (viz., self-acceptance, positive emotions, emotion regulation, and mindfumess).t-test (for related samples) was applied to analyze the results. The paper highlights the role of adequate spiritual orientation right from an early age so that they can make the best use of their potential, and can be an asset for themselves, their families as well as the society.]

Keywords

Self-Enhancement, Spirituality, Positive Emotions, Emotional Regulation.

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Sangeeta Trama ¹, Navreet Cheema ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, IN

Abstract

Transcendental meditation refers to a specific form of mantra meditation called the transcendental technique and an organization called mediation movement. The transcendental meditation technique and its movement were introduced in India in the mid 1960 by Mahanshi Mahesh Yogi (1918-2008). Transcendental meditation is a systematic technique that allows mental activity to settle down to a silent state of awareness where the mind is calm, collected, yet fully awake. This state is the simplest form of human awareness. It is pure consciousness, a state of "self-referral" awareness open only to its own full potential. The transcendental meditation technique involves the use of a sound or mantra, and is practiced for l5-20 minutes twice per day sitting comfortably with the closed eyes. lt is said to be a means of relaxation and stress reduction. A surface definition of transcendental meditation pictures it as natural practice of relaxation of 20 minutes period twice each day. During the process, one repeats the words, known as mantra, m such a way that its rhythmic repetitions aid the relaxation effort. Transcendental meditation has its ischolar_mains Hinduism. All of its teachings about reality, God, Man, salvation are from the Vedas. The inclusion of the ritualistic initiation ceremony and the use of the secret mantra in transcendental meditation are in beeping with the mystical practices of the cults of the East. Mahanshi explains the benefits of the technique in religious rather than scientific language. It is man lifestyle evident that transcend dental meditation is religious nature because of the ideas upon which the technique is built. Its theological pre-suppositions are those of Hinduism. Clinical studies have suggested that transcendental meditation helps reducing blood pressure (Brook et al., 2013); anxiety (Paradies, 2006); and promotes cognitive performance (Shapiro & Walsh, 2003); self-actualization (Walsh, 2007); positive personality growth (Shapiro & Walsh, 2009).Thus, it is evident from above that transcendental meditation may have far-reaching beneficial effects on well being-related outcomes of individuals, groups, and institutions. Hence, spiritual practices such as transcendental meditation must be promoted right from childhood to facilitate the development of a healthy, mature personality.

Keywords

Transcendental Meditation, Mental Activity, Relaxation, Stress Reduction.

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Sangeeta Trama ¹, Omna ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, IN

Abstract

Alcohol use continues to be a major problem from pre-adolescence through young adulthood in India. Results of recent neuroscience research have substantiated the deleterious effects of alcohol on adolescent brain development, and added even more evidence to support the call to prevent and reduce underaged drinking. More of the focus is being laid upon the adolescent alcohol abuse prevention program is because of the reason is that the habits that are inculcated in the adolescent period lasts for a long period of time. The integration of alcohol use prevention programs in the community and our educational system from elementary school through college should be promoted by expert psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, and the health care community. Counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and parents play a vital role in screening substance abuse. It is not always the questionnaires that assess the use of substance abuse of the youngsters, but there are many behavioral and physiological changes that youngsters go through, when substance abuse really occurs. School officials and parents should be knowledgeable enough about substance abuse to be able to recognize risk factors for alcohol and other substance abuse among youth, screen for use, provide appropriate brief interventions, and refer to treatment.

Keywords

Alcohol Abuse, Prevention, Positive Schooling.

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Sangeeta Trama ¹, Omna ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, IN
2 Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, IN

Abstract

Drinking by college-aged students remains a major issue. Results of recent research that have demonstrated that brain development continues well into early adulthood and that alcohol consumption can interfere with such development (Room, Babor, & Rehm 2005; Murray & Lopez 1997) indicate that alcohol use by youth is an even greater pediatric health concern. Studies done in the late 1970s and early 1980s found that 12.7% of high school students, 32.6% of university students, and 31.6% of young non-students consumed alcohol. In India, with special reference to Punjab, girls are into alcoholism. Going to clubs, discs etc. have become a trend among young girls. Drinking and partying provides a false sense of liberation and empowerment. In addition, research shows that having male friends increases the risk of alcohol use; spending time with boys makes girls feel more comfortable with sensation seeking and contributes to more adult-like precocious behavior. Girls find that alcohol has a disinhibiting effect that enhances their perception of being more confident, increases social comfort, and offers feelings of being sexually alluring. Moreover, for many college age girls, living on campus is often their first time away from home without constant supervision. Many girls take on drinking because they are separated from previous support systems and have new peers they are trying to impress. Young adult girls are facing forceful drinking due to their relationship partner demands to be like this. Thus present paper reflects upon the issue of alcoholism in girls and the factors that may lead to alcoholism.

Keywords

Alcohol Consumption, Social Comfort, Confidence, Girls.

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Sangeeta Trama ¹, Omna ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, IN

Abstract

Drinking by college-aged students remains a major issue. Results of recent research that have demonstrated that brain development continues well into early adulthood and that alcohol consumption can interfere with such development(Room, Babor, & Rehm, 2005; Murray & Lopez, 1997) indicate that alcohol use by youth is an even greater pediatric health concern. Studies done in the late 1970s and early 1980s found that 12.7% of high school students, 32.6% of university students, and 31.6% of young non-students consumed alcohol. In India, with special reference to Punjab, girls are into alcoholism. Going to clubs, discs etc. have become a trend among young girls. Drinking and partying provides a false sense of liberation and empowerment. In addition, research shows that having male friends increases the risk of alcohol use;spending time with boys makes girls feel more comfortable with sensation seeking and contributes to more adult-like precocious behavior. Girls find that alcohol has a disinhibiting effect that enhances their perception of being more confident, increases social comfort, and offers feelings of being sexually alluring. Moreover, for many college age girls, living on campus is often their first time away from home without constant supervision. Many girls take on drinking because they are separated from previous support systems and have new peers they are trying to impress. Young adult girls are facing forceful drinking due to their relationship partner demands to be like this. Thus present paper reflects upon the issue of alcoholism in girls and the factors that may lead to alcoholism.

Keywords

Alcoholism, Sensation Seeking, Girls.

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