Showing papers in "Indian journal of positive psychology in 2016"

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction for Reducing Anxiety, Enhancing Self-Control and Improving Academic Performance among Adolescent Students

Abstract: The objectives of this investigation was to determine the effectiveness of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention for reducing anxiety, enhancing self-control and improving academic performance among adolescent students. The present study consisted of 300 adolescent students in the age group of 15-18 years, selected through random sampling. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory by Spiel berger et al. and Self-control Scale by Tangney et al. were administered to 150 boys and 150 girls and their academic scores were collected from their performance in continuous assessment. Pre-test and post-test with randomized control group design was used for the present study. MBSR was given to the students in the experimental group for a period of 8 weeks while the control group did not receive the intervention, following which a post-test was carried out. Statistical analyses such as Independent sample't' test, Paired t test, Multi variate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Multi variate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) were used for this study. The results indicate that MBSR is effective for reducing anxiety, enhancing self-control and improving academic performance among adolescent students. This intervention ensured that students could use it for their well-being not only at the present, but also in the future circumstances. Therefore, MBSR may be included in the school curriculum in order to help adolescent students who cope with the expectations and challenges of educational demands.

Exploring Connections between Students' Psychological Sense of School Membership and Their Resilience, Self-Efficacy, and Leadership Skills

Abstract: Throughout the history of psychological research, scholars have investigated the fundamental human want to build and keep social bonds and ties with others and have thus generated a large pool of constructs with different names but essentially analogous meanings. This desire has been variously discussed as the need for belongingness (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Goodenow, 1993b; Maslow, 1954), the affiliative motive (McClelland, 1987), and the need for relatedness (Alderfer, 1969; Deci & Ryan, 1991). While terminology may differ, there are certain undeniable overlaps in the way different theorists have conceptualized this need. McClelland (1987) contended that individuals with a high need for affiliation seek harmonious relationships with people who make them feel accepted. Baumeister and Leary (1995) proposed the 'belongingness hypothesis' pointing out that "human beings have a pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of lasting, positive, and significant interpersonal relationships" (p. 497).Belongingness is relevant for almost all aspects of human existence. Taking Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems model (1979) into account, human experiences are embedded within a number of systems ranging from micro-systems (comprising of an individual's immediate environment) to the macro-systems (encompassing the overarching social fabric of a community).The need for social approval, acceptance, and connectedness within significant social circles is especially strong during adolescence. As it is a developmental phase characterized by a heightened need for the search of personal identity outside of familial boundaries, adolescents tend to engage more in the exploration of social contexts beyond family and family relations. It is a period when a young person's "sense of personal "place" is still largely malleable and susceptible to influence in both positive and negative directions" (Goodenow, 1993, p. 81). School forms part of a young person's 'microsystem' and is therefore a central social setting exerting influence on their psycho-social development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Students' experiences with and in school, including their relations and interactions with their peers, teachers, and school authorities, may thus serve as a vital link in understanding the development of their psycho-social capacities.Psychological sense of school membershipIn the past few decades, the idea of a 'community' has cropped up in the academic discourse concerning schools. The term community is often used to refer to the same concept that expressions like 'belongingness' or 'connectedness' describe. Belonging in a school community means that the student has friendly interactions with others, perceives being valued and accepted by them, and is engaged in the pursuit of shared institutional goals (Goodenow, 1991).Of the diverse experiences that children have in school, an encompassing sense of being attached to or being a part of the school is of prime importance. Studies have related the students' sense of belongingness or school membership to positive academic outcomes (Goodenow, 1993; Osterman, 2000; Sanchez, Colon, E Voelkl, 1995), increased student motivation (Goodenow, 1993), positive attitudes toward learning (Roeser, Midgley, & Urdan, 1996), decreased health-risk behaviors (Bond et al., 2007; McNeely & Falci, 2004), and low social rejection and school problems ( Anderman, 2002), among other variables.Finn ( 1989), based on his review of the literature on student dropout behavior from school, proposed the 'participation-identification model'. The model postulates that when students identify with their school, they develop a sense of attachment and belonging toward the school, which facilitates an increased commitment and participation in school activities and larger school goals. This identificationparticipation may be instrumental in decreased drop-out rates from school through a decrement in the at-risk students' sense of alienation. …

Hope, Organizational Commitment and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour among Employees of Private Sector Organizations

Abstract: The field of positive psychology is gaining prominence in the area of industrial and organizational psychology. The characteristics of hope and hopelessness appear to play a crucial role in the workplace. Research on hope implies important consequences for how employees are managed and their commitment to the organization. The relationship between hope and secondary appraisal may be an important intervening variable in the development of organizational commitment (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).Hopeful individuals are resilient, have the will to struggle, to achieve positive outcomes, and survive illnesses. Hopeless individuals, on the other hand, are observed to experience more obstacles and less success in goal achievement and, in extreme cases, exhibit loss of energy, enthusiasm, and self-concept, and potentially clinical depression (Farran, Herth, & Popovich, 1995; Snyder et al., 1996).Hope, in combination with adaptive coping strategies, can lead to expanded functioning in which the person feels more positive, his or her expressed thoughts and behaviours are more adaptive, and his or her relationships with others and the world culminate in a greater aliveness (Fromm, 1968). Hope has the ability to be fluid in its expectations, and in the event that the desired object or outcome does not occur, hope can still be present (Farran, Herth, & Popovich, 1995).Hope is a cognitive set of positive expectation for goal attainment that is based on a reciprocally derived sense of successful agency (goal directed determination) and pathways (planning of ways to meet goals) (Snyder, Irving & Anderson, 1991). A study on hope and satisfaction with among youth shows that, satisfaction with life is higher among hopeful youths (Thakre, 2013). However, organizational hope is a vital for studying and strengthening organizations. It affirms the best and most promising dimensions of social and organizational life and provides a moral image of the future to guide collective action (Ludema, Wilmont, & Srivastva, 1997).High levels of commitment are associated with essential work practices and health issues among employees (Thakre & Khubalkar, 2012). These practices include teamwork, psychological contracts, employee involvement, turnover intention, empowerment, and high quality of performance measured by research on organizational citizenship behaviours (Thakre, 2015; Organ, 1990; Katz & Kahn 1978; Smith, Qrgan & Near, 1983; Graham, 1991;Podsakoff et al., 1990).Becker (I960) conducted early studies of organizational commitment. He stated that commitment was a construct that explained the various types of behaviours considered by individuals to be an investment in organizations that ultimately constrain all their action and future. Mowday, Porter and Steers (1982) outlined the distinction between attitudinal commitment and behavioural commitment. Allen and Meyer (1990) state organizational commitment as a "psychological state that binds an individual with the mission of the organization". They contributed in defining the three components of organizational commitment i.e. affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment.Working environments where individuals generate hopeful working team relationships, the result is high energy, extra role performance of OCB. Studies have found workers continuing to exhibit extra role behaviours in spite of the uncertainty and constant change in their work places. Over time OCBs have become valued as critical to organizational success (Katz, 1964; Katz & Kahn, 1978) and important to organizational survival (Miles & Snow, 1994). According to Katz and Kahn (1978), OCBs are part of the spontaneous and innovative behaviours instrumental to organization effectiveness.Bateman and Organ (1983) proposed the concept of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) to denote organizationally beneficial behaviours that are neither enforced on the basis of formal role obligations nor elicited by contractual compensation. …

Mourning with Social Media:Rewiring Grief

Abstract: "We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us."- Marshall McLuhanGrief is most easily understood as the natural response to the loss of a loved one. This loss most commonly connotes loss due to death of a loved one , or separation from a loved one. According to Small (2001), grief is "the pain and suffering experienced after loss" (p. 20). It is a private emotional experience (Hockey, Katz, & Small, 2001). Grief logically transitions into mourning, which is defined as the "period of time during which signs of grief are made visible" (Small, 2001, p. 20). Mourning becomes an observable and public action often involving death rituals (Hockey et al., 2001).Grief comes to all at some point of time in their lives. Birth and death are universal concepts affecting all human beings - death of oneself and death of a loved one. The grief experience, while universal to all, may be unique in its expression from individual to individual. It is a known fact that grief is possibly the most painful human experiences that an individual faces during his lifetime. The abstractness of death leaves the family of the deceased extremely confused. Some common themes that emerge include anger, frustration, guilt for not having 'done enough' to save the life of the deceased, deep sorrow which at various times may seem absolutely endless, leadingto feelings of despair andhopelessness.Different cultures deal with the grieving process following the death of a loved one based on their own specific cultural rituals that may be dictated by their religious belief. However, the internal process of grief is a highly individualized and personal process, differing by expression, context, and length. How different people cope with their own grief is largely dependent on the coping mechanisms they employ for themselves. Grief has been explored and discussed by theorists within disciplines such as psychology and sociology.Within psychology, grief has been discussed and theorized by three main theorists - Sigmund Freud explored grief through his 'Model of bereavement"; Elisabeth-Kubler Ross, who is known for her pioneering work on death and dying discussed the stages of grief; and John Bowlby who explained the grief experience through linking it to his attachment theory, highlighting the causative factors of grief. Each theorization is discussed briefly to develop a comprehensive understanding of the grieving experience :Freud's model of bereavement: It is important clearly differentiate between the meanings of the word 'grief1 and bereavement before discussing Freud's conceptualisation. Bereavement maybe defined as the period of sadness and loss you feel after the loss of a loved one. The loss can be due to several things, including divorce, death, or moving away. Grief and mourning are both a part of the bereavement process (Parkes, & Prigerson, 2013)Hence, bereavement is the broader term used to refer to the internal process that an individual experiences following a loss of any kind, and grief, as explained earlier in the paper, is a part of the pain and suffering that constitute bereavement following a loss. Using the conceptualization of the ego from his theory of personality, Freud stressed that grief is the response to the loss of an attachment to the ego. The resultant mourning, according to Freud, happens because of a sense of detachment to the loved one.In case of death, this mourning has the potential to escalate into melancholia, which Freud described to be the representation of profound depression that the grieving individual may be working on. According to him, it is the process of mourning which forces the grieving individual to re-assess and re-examine his or her current circumstances with a goal to rebuild and reformulate their understanding of their present as well as the future which is now obviously changed as a result of the loss that they have experienced. …

Relationship between Mindfulness and Spiritual Intelligence among Bank Employees

Abstract: Although the components of mindfulness and spiritual intelligence may converge conceptually, few empirical researches have been conducted quantifying the relationship between these two constructs. This study aimed to find out the extent of association between mindfulness and spiritual intelligence among bank employees. It was hypothesized that the relationship between mindfulness and spiritual intelligence will be positive. The sample consisted of 120 bank employees working at a managerial position in various branches of State Bank of India, from the city of Lucknow and nearby districts (India). The minimum job experience of the participants was sixteen years,. Mindfulness was measured using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale developed by Brown and Ryan (2003). The level of spiritual intelligence was assessed using the Spiritual Intelligence Self Report Inventory developed by King and Disico (2009). The data thus collected was analyzed using the Pearson product moment correlation analysis. Results revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between mindfulness and spiritual intelligence (r=0.28) (p value 0.01). Correlation analysis between mindfulness and the four sub scales of spiritual intelligence namely critical existential thinking, personal meaning production, conscious state expansion and transcendental awareness all revealed a low to moderately positive statistically significant relation. Thus, as the level of mindfulness increased, the levels of spiritual intelligence also increased and as the levels of mindfulness decreased, the level of spiritual intelligence also decreased. Future researches in this domain can attempt to find out the effect of mindfulness based intervention in enhancing individual's level of spiritual intelligence.

Personal Growth as a Correlate of Gratitude, Hope and Curiosity Among College Students

Abstract: Positive psychology is a relatively contemporary field of psychology which was developed on the belief that by tapping on their strengths and virtues, individuals can lead a meaningful and fulfilling life. Instead of pondering over the question "What is wrong with me?" it diverts the attention of the individuals by asking them "What is Right with me?" It does not focus on positive thinking but on adapting a positive outlook on life for leading a more efficient lifestyle. When an individual intentionally engages in this process of positive outlook, it involves cognitive and behavioral elements such as believing that change within the self is possible, valuing this type of change, and knowing how to change. This intentional engagement process is known as Personal Growth.Personal Growth Initiative as defined by Christine Robitschek (1998, 1999) is an active, intentional involvement in changing and developing as a person. Not only must the growth or change be in the person's awareness; it also must be an intentional process. People who have high levels of PGI recognize and capitalize on opportunities for self growth. They also seek out and create situations that will facilitate their growth. In other words, Personal Growth entails continued self-improvement, achievement of self-knowledge, and actualization of potential in various life domains (Ryff, 1989). It involves physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and mental growth of an individual to carry out a well-rounded life. Negative thinking, emotional baggage, toxic environment and unhealthy habits all hinder the process of personal growth which can lead to limiting beliefs about the self, situations, others and the world causing to obstruct the visions to contemplate ones strengths and happiness causing to stuck up in a negative loop. Thus, personal growth is an imperative component of the field of positive psychology which is extensively studied in diverse populations with variety of constructs in its sphere.One such variable of study is Curiosity, Dictionaries commonly define it as a "disposition to inquire, investigate, or seek after knowledge; a desire to gratify the mind the new information or objects of interest; inquisitives. Curiosity therefore overlaps with positive psychological construct personal growth. Curiosity is an intentional character to seek knowledge which leads to expertise, whereas, Personal Growth is a deliberate process to observe and facilitate development by creating conditions complimenting the same. Hence, it can be safe to conclude that curiosity is a key element among the people with high Personal Growth Initiative. Curiosity is a trait of an inquisitive mind to seek knowledge and indulge in exploration. Curious people are attracted towards unfamiliar situations, new people and novel experiences. They are increasingly looking forward to explore and investigate new arenas of learning, notjust at the surface level but to the deeper meaning in the field of their interest. Curiosity enhances the happiness, quality of social relationships, and has seen to be highly correlated with the intelligence level and the health of one's individual. Curiosity is the entry level point to the sources of our meaning and satisfaction.As the level of curiosity increases the feeling of appreciation for everything that has our attention increases, leading to augmented sense of contentment, broader sense of thinking, happiness and meaning of life. It is one of the key components in the discipline of positive psychology. The study conducted by Todd D. Kashdan, Paul Rose, and Frank Fincham in 2001 concludes that the degree to which people are curious actively influences their personal growth opportunities and the level of intimacy that develops when they meet someone new.Another construct from the field of positive psychology which shares several important features with Personal Growth is Hope. They both involve (1) teachable goal-directed metacognitive processes,(2) setting clear future-oriented goals, (3) developing pathways to those goals, and (4) fostering the cognitive agency to implement those plans or pathways (Robitschek, 1998,1999; Snyder et al. …

Positive Psychology: Evolution, Philosophical Foundations, and Present Growth

Abstract: Positive Psychology (PP) is a developing subdomain of psychology that has emerged as an important field of inquiry in the past 18 years. Significant development in PP is primarily because of the overwhelming responses received from the scholarly community to the call of the president of American Psychological Association (APA), Martin Seligman in 1998, who after realizing that the postWorld War II psychology is mainly focused on "the diagnosis, treatment, and scientific study of mental illness" (Gantt & Thayne, 2014, p. 186), made a call to the scholarly community to focus its attention to the positive features of human existence that makes life worth living. Thus, the contemporary PP movement, even though is of relatively recent origin, has grown remarkably in less than over two decades. Numerous PP related publications including popular books, scholarly journals, and handbooks have come up and publication of PP related articles in thejoumals of other fields such as education, public health, social sciences, management, sport sciences, business is growing steadily (Rusk & Waters, 2013).The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the evolving subdomain of psychology the PP, trace its philosophical foundations, explore its linkages with other subdomains of psychology, especially, the existential psychology and humanistic psychology and map its growth in the recent past. This paper first attempts to give answer to a basic question "What is positive psychology?"and presents an overview of its historical development. Then it attempts to explore the philosophical foundations of PP as well as its linkages with two sub-domains of psychology the existential psychology and the humanistic psychology. Finally, it provides an overview of the emergence and growth of PP in the past 18 years.What is Positive Psychology?During the initial years of development, there was lack of understanding among scholarly community what exactly PP is and for many people it sounded like 'a panacea for many modem ills' (Linley et al., 2006, p. 5). In the broadest sense, as Sheldon and King (2001) suggest, PP is a call to psychologists to stretch their frame of references while looking psychological issues as a narrowly focused negative aspects of human lives to a"more open and appreciative perspective regarding human potentials, motives, and capacities" (p. 216).As PP drew wider attention of scholarly community, many definitions of PP appeared in literature. Seligman, Steen, Park and Peterson (2005) labeled PP as "an umbrella term for the study of positive emotions, positive character traits, and enabling institutions" (p. 410). Sheldon and King (2001) view PP as the scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues, whereas Sheldon (2011) states that it also aims at discovering and promoting the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive. Seligman and Cskiszentmihalyi (2001) in their one of the most cited articles on PP published in American Psychologist define PP in the following way:The field of positive psychology at the subjective level is about valued subjective experiences: well-being, contentment, and satisfaction (in the past), hope and optimism (for the future); and flow and happiness (in the present). At the individual level, it is about positive individual traits: the capacity for love and vocation, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, future mindedness, spirituality, high talent, and wisdom. At the group level, it is about the civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship: responsibility, nurturance, altruism, civility, moderation, tolerance, and work ethic (Seligman & Cskiszentmihalyi, 2000, p. 5).Another widely cited definition of PP is the definition put forward by Gable and Haidt (2005) which states that "positive psychology is the study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions" (p. …

The Relationship between Locus of Control and Depression among College Students of Gulbarga City

Abstract: The study of Depression and Locus of Control among college students is a promising area of inquiry. The age of college students is a critical context for studying youth mental health. Although young adulthood is often characterized by rapid intellectual and social development, college-aged individuals are also commonly exposed to circumstances that place them at risk for mental health and psychiatric disorders. The transition to adulthood is a complex process in which youth who have been dependent on parents throughout childhood start taking definitive steps to achieve measures of financial and emotional independence, and take on more adult roles as citizen, spouse and worker. Research within the area of developmental psychopathology has demonstrated that adolescence is a critical period for understanding etiology and course of emotional disorders (Price & Lento, 2001). Mental health disorders appear to be common among 18 to 24 year-olds, college students (Blanco et al., 2008). The most common disorder is depression. There are different types of depression with different symptoms intensity and prevalence.DepressionDepression, according to the WHO (2012), is a common mental disorder, characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness, and poor concentration. There is a reduced ability to enjoy life. People with depression may experience a lack of interest and pleasure in daily activities, significant weight loss or gain, insomnia or excessive sleeping, lack of energy, inability to concentrate, feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. A person who is depressed usually experiences several of the following symptoms: feelings of sadness, hopelessness, or pessimism; lowered self-esteem and heightened self-depreciation; a decrease or loss of ability to take pleasure in ordinary activities; reduced energy and vitality; slowness of thought or action; loss of appetite; and disturbed sleep or insomnia.Depression is a common illness worldwide, troubling 350 million people. The report on Global Burden of Disease estimates the point prevalence of unipolar depressive episodes to be 1.9% for men and 3.2% for women, and the one-year prevalence has been estimated to be 5.8% for men and 9.5% for women (Grover, Dutt, & Avasthi, 2010). Depression is different from usual mood fluctuations and short-lived emotional responses to challenges in everyday life. Especially when long-lasting and with moderate or severe intensity, depression may become a serious health condition. It can cause the affected person to suffer greatly and function poorly at work, at school and in the family, at its worst can lead to suicide. Suicide results in an estimated 1 million deaths every year. DSM-IV-TR has parsed depression into various additional categories, each with similar and overlapping characteristics, and there are an increasing number of diagnostic categories of depressive disorders or problems involving sad or irritable affect.While depression is the leading cause of disability for both males and females, the burden of depression is 50% higher for females than males (WHO, 2008). In fact, depression is the leading cause of disease burden for women in both high-income and low- and middle-income countries (WHO, 2008)Locus of controlThe concept "Locus of Control" was first developed by Julian B. Rotter. Locus of Control according to Rotter, refers to a personality dimension that helps explain one's behaviour. It refers to the perception the extent to which people believe that they can control the events that affect them, thus causing them to believe that they are the source of what happens in their life. Locus of control is defined as a person's tendency to see events as being controlled internally or externally (Rotter, 1966; Lloyd & Hastinhs, 2009; Shojaee & French, 2014). …

How Does Positive Visualization Affect People's Level of Happiness and Perception of their Physical Body Image?

Abstract: Positive visualizations"A picture is worth a thousand words.''This phrase is certainly true in the case of visualization. Visualization, a form of self-hypnosis, is a tool anyone can use to help foster healing. By providing positive pictures (creative imagery) and self-suggestion, visualization can change emotions that subsequently have a physical effect on the body.Our belief system is based upon the accumulation of verbal and non-verbal suggestions that have been gathered throughout our life experience. Through patterns of repetition and its associated rewards and punishment we learn to create our own perception of reality. In essence, we therefore become what we think. In healing, repetitive use of positive visualization allows access to the mind-body connection. This lets the mind and body work together to foster the healing process of the body on a physical level. The mind and body connection works in the following manner: When we have an emotion it generates a feeling that turns into a physical sensation.For example: You are watching a horror movie, you feel frightened and then get a chill up your spine. In this case you were getting a negative suggestion through your sensory perception (sight & sound), that produced an emotion of fear which turned into the physical sensation of chills up your spine. Visualization uses positive images to produce positive emotions that manifest into positive physical sensations in the body.Effect of thoughts on healingBodies react to the thoughts made. Psychological/emotional state affects the endocrine system. For example, the emotion of fear is related to adrenaline. If no feeling of fear exists there is no adrenaline and the same applies in reverse- no adrenaline, no fear. They work in relationship to each other. Wherever a thought goes there is a body chemical reaction.The hypothalamus, the emotional center of the brain, transforms emotions into physical response. The receptor of neuro peptides, the hypothalamus also controls the body's appetite, blood sugar levels, body temperature, adrenal and pituitary glands, heart, lung, digestive and circulatory systems.Neuropeptides, the chemical messenger hormones, carry emotions back and forth between the mind and body. They link perception in the brain to the body via organs, hormones and cellular activity. Neuropeptides influence every major section of the immune system, so the body and mind do work together as one unit.The brain is a highly efficient system that is connected to every cell in the body by billions of connections. It is divided into two sides a the left, logical side (words, logic, rational thought) and b right creative side (imagination & intuition). Day-to-day circumstances usually are met in a logical, left brain mode; however by yielding to the right, creative side of the brain the balance of the brain is restored. This allows access to the mind-body connection to achieve what is required. The right side of the brain automatically steers the individual to his/her goal. It totally accepts what the person wants to accomplish without giving an opinion and acts upon it without judgment. That is why visualization targets the right, creative side of the brain and not the left, logical side.Positive thought is essential to producing positive results. Negative thoughts and emotions lower the immune system, while positive thought and emotions actually boost the immune system.Visualization techniquesThe techniques of symbolic visualization fall on a continuum from controlled visualization of specific symbol to spontaneous visualization of an unstructured type, such as reverie.Controlled symbolic visualizationIn controlled visualization, the basic pictorial content is specified in advance, although some of the details may be spontaneous. A preparatory stage before visualization includes sitting in a comfortable chair, closing the eyes, and achieving as relaxed a state as possible. …

The Process of Meaning Making from Trauma Generated out of Sexual Abuse in Childhood

Abstract: The study tries to explore the process of constructing meaning from the experience of being sexually abused in childhood. The focus of this study is to explore the dispositional characteristics to identify what helped them sustain the integrity of their sense of 'self' and 'existence' subsequent to intense sexual abuse that they had faced during their childhood. This study is part of a larger study in which the participants were selected through the use of a specially designed 'screening questionnaire' which sought information about the participants' life experiences and demographics in a subtle, non-invasive and non-threatening manner. The purpose of this study was to tap the unique and personal process of coping with a trauma of this stature. Three individuals participated in the present research and they shared their tribulations and unique process of coping with the researcher in an intensive interview that lasted for two hours and thirty minutes. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach was used to interpret the data. Significant themes that emerged after analysis were- the ability to focus one's psychic energy on alternative pursuits like career and academics, the capacity to obtain sustenance from relationships, the inner strength to free oneself from the vicious cycle of anger and vengeance and to look beyond; practising forgiveness and the ability to consider each experience as learning. Thus the common point in the process of meaning making is the ability of all these persons to make use of the positive repertoire of personality.

Educational Aspiration of Secondary School Students in Relation to Parental Encouragement

Abstract: Educational aspirationEducation is a continuous attempt to develop all capacities of the students to control their neighboring environment and to fulfill their needs. Aspiration means a longing for and striving for some goal higher than oneself or one's present status, which differs from ambition, which is the eagerness or an ardent desire to achieve a particular honor or power. Goel (2004) explored the impact of environment in home and gender on educational aspirations. Results revealed that girls have high educational aspiration than boys. Boys feel more rejected with the atmosphere at home in comparison to girls who experienced more nurturance than boys. Hektner et al. (2000) and Dai (1996) examined that there were insignificant gender differences in educational aspirations between senior level high school students. However, Wilson and Wilson (1992) investigated educational aspirations reported by male high school students were significantly higher than by female classmates. Conversely, Mau et al. ( 1998) found that male students had significantly less educational aspirations than female students at both the 10th and 12th grades. Also, Mau and Bikos (2000) found that although educational and occupational aspirations increased among the high school students throughout high school and two years beyond high school, female students reported higher educational and occupational aspirations than their male classmates. Rothon (2011) investigated the relationship between achievement and education aspiration of secondary education and found that girls were more expected than boys to express a wish to remain in education beyond the age of 16 and also socio psychological variables, ethnic differences, particularly psychological distress and self-esteem associated with high educational aspirations.Parental EncouragementParental encouragement is a support and appreciation of their wards activity when they were satisfied with him in relation to his attainment of education. Involvements of parents and encouragement have impact on educational attainment and success. Encouragement of younger children also adds to the probability of a specified outcome of their eventually graduating from high school. There are three most important ways parents can get involved in supporting their children's learning: Learning at home, school /home partnership, parental representation. Arun et al (2012) examined that guidance need of adolescents in relation to their parental encouragement. Findings of this study indicate that there is no significant difference in the parental encouragement between girls and boys and also no significant difference in guidance needs of girls and boys Further no significant relationship was found between guidance needs and parental encouragement. Kotnala et al. (2014) investigates the influence of parental encouragement on self-confidence of adolescents. Results revealed that rural adolescents, whether male or female, perceive less parental encouragement which leads to lesser self-confidence. On the contrary urban adolescents, whether male or female, perceive high parental encouragement which leads to higher self-confidence.Bindu and Aruna (2014) explored the relationship among process skills and parental encouragement of secondary school students and showed that parental encouragement is positively related to process skills of adolescent students. Gupta (2014) revealed that there is a significant relationship among mental health and parental encouragement among secondary students. There are three most important ways parents can get involved in supporting their children's learning:Learning at homeParents are the foremost and ongoing educators of their own children; they should obtain information and support their child's learning at home, school and in the community.School/homepartnershipSchools must be open to the involvement of parents for every time in the work they do and they should consider ways of providing information that assists parents engage their children's education and with school. …

Resilience in the Perspective of Adolescents

Abstract: Resilience refers to the process of overcoming the negative effects of risk exposure, coping successfully with traumatic experiences, and avoiding the negative trajectories associated with risks. The process of resilience may also vary for different groups of adolescents. Resilience for urban and suburban youth, for example, may differ from resilience for rural youth. Similarly, resilience may differ for high- and low-socioeconomic-status youth, for males and females.According to Alvord and Grados (2005), numerous definitions of resilience require conditions of an identified risk or challenge followed by some defined measure of positive outcome. However, debate remains concerning what constitutes resilient behavior and how to best measure successful adaptation to hardship. Resilience is not an one-dimensional, dichotomous attribute that an individual has or does not have. It has been suggested that a resilient individual must show positive outcomes across multiple aspects of life over a period of time (Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1997). Moreover, resilience indicates the possession of several skills, in varying degrees, that help a person cope (Alvord & Grados, 2005).Resilience refers to a class of phenomena characterized by good outcomes in spite of serious threats to adaptation or development. Resilience has been characterized as the ability to:* "bounce back" and cope effectively in the face of difficulties"* "bend, but not break under extreme stress"* "rebound from adversities"* "handle setbacks, persevere and adapt even when things go awry"* "maintain equilibrium following highly aversive events"Historically, the origins of resilience have deep roots in the field of medicine; however, research on resilience in the behavioral sciences began to emerge around 1970 (Cicchetti, 2006; Cicchetti & Curtis, 2006; Masten, 2007, 2011; Masten & Obradovic, 2006). According to Masten (2011), pioneering scientists contended that critical aspects of human function and development, crucial for understanding and promoting prevention of, resistance to, or recovery from psychopathology, had been profoundly neglected. Four decades of resilience research followed as scientists took to the challenge of this phenomenon (Masten, 2007). There have been three waves of research on resilience in development. The first wave of research came from scientists wanting to understand and prevent the development of psychopathology (Masten, 2011; Masten & Obradovic, 2006). These pioneer researchers acknowledged the importance of children who seemed to progress well under risky conditions (Masten & Obradovic, 2006). The second wave of resilience research concentrated on detecting the processes and regulatory systems that accounted for protective factors associated with resilience (Masten & Obradovic, 2006). The third wave arose due to a sense of urgency for the welfare of children growing up with adversities focusing on promoting resilience through prevention, intervention, and policy.Over a relatively short time span, research in resilience has expanded significantly and has led to fascinating analyses and conclusions. Bonnie Benard, an important contributor to recent summaries of this body of knowledge, suggests that there are four key messages that have come out of resilience research:* Resilience is a capacity all youth have for healthy development and successful learning.* Certain personal strengths are associated with healthy development and successful learning.* Certain characteristics of families, schools and communities are associated with the development of personal strengths and, in turn, healthy development and successful learning.* Changing the life trajectories of children and youth from risk to resilience starts with changing the beliefs of the adults in their families, schools and communities.Adolescence (from Latin adolescence, meaning "to grow up") is a transitional stage of physical and psychological human development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to legal adulthood (age of majority). …

Brand Positioning Constructs and Indicators for Measurement of Consumer's Positive Psychology toward Brands

Abstract: The beginning of term positioning was initially came into limelight in 1972, when Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote "The positioning era cometh" and "Positioning cuts through chaos in market place". The full - fledged concept of positioning came in year the 1981 in a book of Al Ries and Jack Trout "Positioning the battle of mind How to be seen and heard in the crowded market place". "Positioning starts with product.. .a service.. .a company, institution or even a person" (Ries & Trout, 1981). Moreover, it is contended that positioning concept has its origin or background in the packaged goods, where it was product positioning. Furthermore, pointed by (Ries & Trout, 1981, 1986) that, in 1950s there was product era which shifted to image era and now finally it has transformed into positioning era. For every brand to succeed at the market place positioning is only the way to break the advertisement clutter, which has now become so high. But in actual practice, marketer are going wrong way, as they are running more advertisement (Sengupta, 2005). That's why there are so many irrelevant company's promotional messages comes in e-mail box. We can see the ads on parking, hospitals, hotels etc. which sometimes creates negativity of certain brands, because of annoying ads (Goldstein et. al, 2013). Now, what could be done? How to come out of the ambiguous situation of the market? What strategy to follow? Answering these questions, in the marketing terms, there is no such kind ofthing prevail as a product or service at the market place for long time until finds a space in the consumer's mind (Sengupta, 2005) with strong positioning of the brand (Schultz et al., 1981) rather answering the more clutter with more clutter of ads (Rotfeld, 2006). The positioning decision in terms of brand is the crucial decision, as it is instrumental to customers' perception and choice decisions (Aaker & Shansby, 1982). Positioning has become important for the brands in advertisement as it serves in measurement of purchaser's awareness (Amott, 1994). Fundamentally, the essence of the concept of positioning is to put the brand in the mental space of the consumer (Sengupta, 2005; Sagar et ah, 2006; Malik & Sudhakar, 2014). The unique market position of brand can translates it into sales, because "positioning is the psyche of customers" (Murthy, 2010), under which only well positioned brand comes as top of the mind.Purpose and method adoptedThe aim of the study is to explore the latent variables and indicators to measure the positioning of the brand in different situations. For this, the content analysis on previous literature in popular journals and websites were adopted as the methodological framework and placed forward for theoretical base.Relevant literatureIn the study of (Sagar et al., 2006) five fundamental dimensions were found as the elements or constructs of brand positioning. Further, one additional dimension brand salience stated by (Miller & Berry, 1998; Dawes, Mundt, & Sharp, 2009) cited in (Malik and Sudhakar, 2014) who contended that brand salience involves improving the effectiveness of advertising and improving a brand's position in the consideration set. Further stated by (Daye, 2010) that 'it is the memory of brand and its linkage to other memory structure of consumer in a buying situation'. Hence, the theoretical dimension comes to six, which can be used for measurement of the psychological aspect of the brand, as whether the brand is positioning positively or not.Latent variables of brand positioning and indicatorsBrand Identity: Brand identity is the way, which the company wants to project itself to the customers (Sagar, 2009). The indicators of brand identity provided by (Kapferer, 1992) for measurement of brand identity are (physique, personality, culture, relationship, reflection, self-image) of the brand. The identity of the brand can be measured according to the six prism of (Kapferer, 1992) -* What are the physical attributes of brand? …

Emotional Intelligence and Anxiety at Workplace: Study on Security Personnel Employed in Educational Institution

Abstract: Stress and anxiety is inevitable in human life. It affects both personal and professional life, if not managed properly. Workplace is a common site to trigger anxiety. According to Mental Health Foundation's survey report (2014), approximately 1 in every 5 respondents have disclosed that they feel anxious 'nearly all of the time' or 'a lot of the time'. The report also highlighted the fact that people are more anxious in the present time than they were five years ago. The change in work patterns due to use of information technology/specialized software packages, increase in self-regulated and team work, and changes in employment patterns: downsizing, outsourcing, subcontracting and globalization are creating new challenges for both physical and mental health (WHO, 2002). Anxiousness related to 'finance, money and debt' are on rise most probably due to recession and austerity taking a heavy toll on public mental health and well-being. This leads to various types of psychological problems with many complexities like fatigue, irritability and poor communication. High stress levels also affect the morale and motivation of the employees. Prolonged exposure to stress without effective coping mechanisms can lead to a host of physical and mental problems. Anxiety being one of the most common mental health problems in contemporary times has remained under-reported, under-diagnosed and under-treated. Industrial psychologists have made several attempts to promote well-being in the workplace. Research has demonstrated that occupational stress or the amount of stress experienced at work varies with the level of emotional intelligence (El) of the individuals. Studies demonstrate how emotions play an integral part in managing stress and anxiety at workplace. According to Salovey and Mayer (1990), emotional intelligence broadly connotes an innate ability of an individual to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, discriminating among them and using this information to guide one's thinking and actions.In India, many private agencies arrange security guards for offices, schools, academic institutes, banks and many other places. It is known that security guards as a distinct professional group are exposed to unique and powerful stressors. The nature of job responsibilities that security personnel are assigned to them requires continuous vigilance which is very strenuous both physically as well as mentally. Some situations of human nuisance like conflicting encounters put so much of physical strain that it triggers manifestation of stress. In top management institutes and corporate interventions to manage stress at workplace through use of El is prevalent that is backed-up by scientific research. In comparison, less affluent working sectors have limited scope and capacity to arrange stress management techniques. For security guards, such provisions are all the more is non-existent. This warrants for an investigation to understand the role of emotional intelligence for arresting anxiety at workplace among security personnel. The study also proposes to investigate various coping mechanisms adopted by the security guards to manage their anxiety through face to face interview.Anxiety and occupational stressExperience of anxiety is an inseparable part of human life. It is a biological response mechanism to tackle dangerous situations through "fight or flight" mode. It can even work as an aid for motivating an individual to overcome challenging situations. Anxiety in adequate 'quantity' can help individuals in enhancing performance and stimulate for appropriate action and creativity. On the other hand, persistent anxiety interferes with the physical, psychological and behavioral aspects of a person's life equilibrium and lead to symptomatic burden. Anxiety disorders such as panic attacks, phobias and obsessive behavioral patterns can develop over a period of time due to continuous exposure to anxiety and stress. It has a debilitating and distressing impact over an individual's physical and mental health. …

"Dear Diary.": Exploring the Experience of Gratitude among Oncology Patients

Abstract: "Throughout history philosophers considered happiness to be the highest good and ultimate motivation for human action.Yet fordecades psychologists largely ignored positive subjective well-being, although human unhappiness was explored in depth" (Diener, 1984)Traditionally, human behaviour was studied by the social and health sciences from a pathological paradigm, which, according to Stumpfer (2005) focuses on human functioning within a "problem-oriented framework". He described the purpose of this paradigm as "finding out why people fall ill and, in the specific, why they develop particular disease entities". A science that has largely devoted its focus on healing, for many years neglected the possibility of focussing on identifying and enhancing the strengths of individuals. This would later prove to be an important aspect of major therapeutic schools (Seligman, 2002).With the emergence of Positive Psychology as an independent branch of psychology in 1979, attempts were made to study positive emotions, traits, and abilities(Seligman, Steen, Park & Peterson, 2005). According to Keyes and Haidt (2003), the aim of positive psychology is to "better understand how individuals can negotiate, resolve, and grow in the face of life's stressors and challenges". This also helped change focus from a preoccupation with repairing the worst things in life to a more positive approach of building the best qualities in life (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).At the subjective level, positive psychology is all about positive subjective experience: well-being and satisfaction of the past and flow, joy, the sensual pleasures, and happiness (present), and constructive cognitions about the future-optimism, hope, and faith. At the individual level, it is about positive individual traits such as the capacity for love, to have courage, good interpersonal skills, the ability to forgive another, be original, posessing wisdom etc.(Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Gillham & Seligman, 1999; Peseschkian & Tritt, 1998).Therapy often encourages focus on negative events and emotions rather than on the positive experiences. A few therapies have incorporated positive psychology techniques into their framework, where techniques are used to pay more attention to positive aspects of life. Well-being therapy for example, is a modern approach that involves the patient maintaining a daily journal of positive events, the ultimate goal being to identify and change negative ways of thinking, eventually enabling positive events to have more of an impact on the patient's life (Moeenizadeh & Salagame,2010).Positive Psychotherapy is rooted in the philosophy of a "build what's strong" approach and Positive Psychology if recognized and honed will become an effective approach to psychotherapy and augment the "fix what's wrong" approach of more traditional forms of therapy) Duckworth, Steen & Seligman, 2004). Building on the tenets of humanistic psychology, it encompasses a number of techniques that helps people identify and further develop their own positive experiences and emotions. If incorporated, Positive Psychology can come to understand and build those factors that allow individuals, communities, and societies not to just endure and survive, but also flourish. This perspective is also supported by the Broaden-and-Build theory of positive emotion (Fredrickson,2004).Gratitude is one positive psychological characteristic that is connected to well-being. Literature shows that it is integral to well-being (Sansone & Sansone, 2010; Wood & Maltby, 2009; Toussaint & Friedman, 2009; Emmons & Crumpler, 2000). It is an others-directed emotion ( Emmons & Stern,2013) an attitude, a coping response that is not necessarily deserved or earned, but is due to the actions of others (Emmons, 2003). Research has been quite extensive in the area pertaining to gratitude and well-being and has yielded mixed results. …

Positive Peer Pressure and Behavioral Support

Abstract: Peer influence can be observed from a very young age to adults as well. With the difference in age group, the influences also seems to differ and individual differences of also affects how and which individual will be more susceptible to good or bad peer pressure. However, peer influence at adolescent period is optimum. The reason for this can be varied, it can be because, at that age adolescents are at a school set up most of the time surrounded by peers, need for acceptance, as they are growing and maturing. Classmates as peers can serve as a powerful source of reinforcement in increasing or maintaining both the positive and negative behaviors of their classmates. Becoming a member of a peer group is one of the immediate effects of adolescence. Peer groups influence adolescent society and identity by allowing young people to explore individual interests and uncertainties while retaining a sense of belonging and rank within a group of friends.Jean Piaget (1932), in his earliest writings, portrayed children's relationships with peers as being relatively balanced and egalitarian. Within this egalitarian context Piaget believed children could have experiences to examine different ideas, to negotiate and discuss multiple opinions, and to decide to compromise with or to reject the opinions held by peers. From such interactions, Piaget argued that children come to develop the capacity for sensitive perspective-taking or the ability to understand the thoughts, feelings and viewpoints of others was thought to lay the foundation for socially competent behavior and meaningful social relationships. Jean Piaget (1958) added a cognitive perspective on how friendships promoted young people's capacity for social perspective taking. Researchers conducted on peers have revealed ambivalent results as to peer pressure in adolescents are positive or negative. Peer influences exist in groups as well as dyadic relationships. Apart from this, the groups that individuals form can be both social and in institutional environments. One important factor about institutional groups is that, the group will have a positive impact on its members pertaining to academics as well. The peer influence in an institutional environment can be dyadic mostly. Adolescents have 'best friends' and this one best friend can heavily influence one another. The best friend's advice at this stage is at times more important than parent's advice, and therefore, has the supreme power to influence the other.Positive peer pressure is an encouragement by peers to do something good. It may consist of joining an athletic team, helping out someone, influence of better grades, convincing someone to stop smoking, drinking, or doing drugs. Students who influence other students bring out positive peer pressure. This may work better than parental involvement because students listen to what their friends say during adolescents. Peer pressure can work both ways but the trick is to find out which pressures are healthyDifferent psychological factors like self- esteem, confidence plays a defining role in which members will influence whom. It is not restrained to groups but it is also applicable to dyadic relationships too. The one who is confident, have leadership skills will tend to influence the ones will low self esteem. We as social beings have the need for acceptance and this need for acceptance can be fulfilled by peers, especially for adolescents. Friends are a great source of support givers for adolescents. As adolescents grow physically and psychologically, they learn new things every day, some of them may not be able to share their experiences with adults and therefore their peers are the best people that they can confide on. Thus a natural inclination for their peers is formed.Some of the techniques that can be usedfor behavioral support are:* Peer influence can be used as a reinforcement in various set ups.* For academic improvement, in a school set up, pairing up can be done of a high achiever and academically poor students. …

A Study of Empathy and Self-Confidence and Their Effect on Job Satisfaction of Teachers

Abstract: In the education process, teacher is the main pillar. Teachers are the most important group of professionals for our nation's future. His place in the society is of vital importance. The personality of a teacher also influences the students too much basically good teacher should have same basic personality qualities i.e. he must be visionary, catalyst, troubleshooter, realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, independent & a good trainer. The emotional establishment of teachers hence carves an everlasting effect on pupil's personality. Therefore it is essential to understand the personality characteristics of a teacher which are related to his or her job satisfaction. A fixed way of teaching fails to achieve a variety of instructional objectives, moreover the students have a multi dimensional personality and for meeting this two ends a teacher should use different style, strategy of teaching to match and fulfill the objectives of teaching. Hence keeping this view in mind researcher selects the problem and delineates the concepts accordingly.Significance of the studyThough a teacher has certain teaching skills vise the skills of introducing a lesson probing questions, illustrating with examples, using black board and achieving closure in real classroom situations and luck of personality traits he cannot satisfied with his or her job hence, researcher tried to search particular personality characteristics i.e. Empathy self concept which arc closely related to job satisfaction. Personality traits of primary teachers especially in view of the enlarged role they would have to play and the new responsibilities, they would have to assume when elementary education became universal for children in the age group 6-14. The personality of a teacher influences the students too much. Many personality traits play an important role in the acquisition of teaching skills. And the skilled teacher would be more satisfied about his job. Hence a personality test may prove to be helpful for the prediction of job satisfaction of primary teachers. The association between job satisfaction and personality characteristics is strong and significant. Keeping these views in mind, a research attracts this situation and selects the same problem for study.Statement of the problem"A study of Empathy and self-confidence and their effect on job satisfaction of teachers."Objectives of the study* To analyze and evaluate selected personality characteristics i.e. empathy and self- confidence which were common in the primary teachers.* To examine the functioning of empathy and self-confidence and job satisfaction of primary teachers.* To examine the gender differences in job satisfactionHypotheses of the study* Teachers who posses more Empathy trait, have more job satisfaction.* Teachers, who have more self-confidence trait, have more job satisfaction.* A Job satisfaction is more in female primary teachers than male primary teachers.VariablesIn this study characteristics of personality are independent variable and job satisfaction is dependent variable.Independent variablesEmpathy and self-confidence.Dependent variableJob satisfaction.Operational dejinitions of variableEmpathy: this variable known as interpersonal sensitivity, has been considered important for people in leadership positions. This involves the realization and understanding of another person's feelings, needs and suffering. It is a self conscious effort to share and comprehended accurately the presumed consciousness of another person.Self-confidence: To be a leader in any situation an individual must appear to make positive contribution to the group. According to same self-confidence has a positive relationship with leadership.* Job satisfaction: Job satisfaction has been defined as pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job; an affective reaction to one's job and an attitude towards one's job. …

Life Skills as Predictors of Risk-Taking Behaviour among Prospective Teachers

Abstract: Life skills are understood as efficacious tools for empowering the youth to act responsibly, take initiative and take control. It is based on the assumption that when young people are able to rise above emotional impasses arising from daily conflicts, entangled relationships and peer pressure; and develop behaviour such as acquiring the ability to reduce specific risk behavior; then they are less likely to resort to anti-social or high risk behaviors and adopt healthy behaviour that improve their lives in general (World Health Organization, 1997; Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, 2013). Whether the emerging adults are coping with negative emotional states or facing the challenge of regulating the desire to gain new, albeit risky experiences, an overarching concern is how this population understands and addresses emotions of high and low arousal and valence during this developmental period (Rivers, Brackett, Omori, & Sickler, 2013). Defining risk is a controversial issue (Yates, 1992; Trimpop, 1994), as people define risk in different ways. Some people view risk as the probability of losing money, other people view risk as possible loss of crop, damage to buildings and infrastructure, not keeping to a budget or a time constraint. Still, others view risk as potential loss of safety, health and life (Yates, 1992).It has also been studied in terms of health-risk behaviors which included alcohol and drug abuse often leading to serious health risks such as death, cancers, brain damage, liver damage and health problems (Hodgson, 2000; Aloise-Young, & Chavez, 2002; Brooks, Harris, Thrall, & Woods, 2002; Ogel Corapcioglu, Sir, Tamar, Tot, Dogan, Uguz, Yenilmez, Bilici, Tamar, & Liman, 2004; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008; Johnson, Eisenberg, Bearinger, Fulkerson, & Sieving, 2014). Therefore, the development of effective interventions to reduce risky behaviors among college students is imperative, and also contingent in part upon identifying the factors that promote and prevent these behaviours (Rivers et al., 2013). Life skills approach is one such intervention which assists young individuals to gain control over their behaviours and take informed decision that can lead to positive values (Sreehari & Nair, 2015).Individuals with low levels of life skills are known to develop high risk behaviours which lead to long lasting health and social consequences. Many countries across the world have introduced life skills education in the curriculum in special situations (Sharma, 2003). Life skills approach is an interactive educational methodology that focuses on acquiring like communication, negotiation, stress management etc (Sreehari & Nair, 2015). Life skills education is a holistic approach to the development of values, skills and knowledge in the learner, which assists young people to protect themselves and others in a range of risk situations. A life skills approach can be integrated into a variety of settings, including schools. The surrounding social, cultural, political, economic and public health issues need to be reflected, as well as the local environment. It can be delivered as a specific subject or carefully placed within other subjects of the school curriculum, and needs to be sequentially developed and age appropriate. Life skills education needs to provide the opportunity to practice and reinforce psychosocial skills (UNICEF, 2001).Objectives of the Study* To study life skills among prospective teachers among prospective teachers.* To study gender differences in life skills among prospective teachers.* To study life skills in relation to risk-taking behaviour among prospective teachers.* To study life skills as predictors of risk-taking behaviour among prospective teachers.MethodThe study was conducted through descriptive method of research.ParticipantsA stratified random sample of 200 prospective teachers was selected from four private B. …

Positive Impacts of Peer Pressure: A Systematic Review

Abstract: This paper is a view to understand how positive peer pressure can be instrumental towards promoting healthy social and emotional developments in adolescents, define the extent to which positive peer pressure is associated with healthy behaviour and emotional well-being and identifying different ways by which positive behaviour is encouraged by peer pressure. Peers play a very important role in the overall social and emotional development of children and adolescents. Peer pressure is a very common phenomenon that most of us are familiar with. Peer pressure often appears to be negative, but not necessarily. When one's peer influences an individual to think and act in ways that changes an individual's thoughts, actions and lifestyle for better, it is called positive peer pressure. There is a huge pool of research on the negative influences of peer pressure; however, the extent of literature on positive peer pressure is quite limited even though it has potential for positive development. Research paper published between January 2000 to December 2015 has been taken from Jstor & Google scholar and 12 relevant articles were selected for review. The present study throws light at the fact that peer pressure can exert positive influences in the development of individuals, especially during adolescence when peer acceptance becomes an integral goal of their lives Hence, by paying equal attention to the positive aspects of peer pressure in addition to the negative aspects we will able to explain how positive peer pressure can be influential in their overall social and emotional development.

Character Strengths and Academic Achievement in Undergraduate College Students

Abstract: Character Strengths: The topic of character has been of longstanding interest to philosophers, educators, political leaders, religious leaders, and the general public. The word "character" conjures up a number of meanings for people such as one's reputation ("his character is being attacked), one's level of morality ("she's a woman of good character"), or pigeonholing character into one construct such as honesty or integrity ("he very honest so is a person of strong character"). People tend to think of character as something permanent and unchanging in people. This is further complicated by traditional views of character that widely manifest today as championed by many character education programs found in schools, religious groups, athletic programs, etc. that identify a small number of positive traits (e.g. usually four to seven) and claim that this grouping of qualities represents "good character." What is often missing from these views of character is akin to the actual meaning of the word. The word "character" refers to those qualities that are distinctive to the individual. Research is continuing to accumulate each year around the benefits of character strengths use. In general, character strengths seem to assist in reducing the likelihood of distress and dysfunction while encouraging tangible outcomes like: Greater happiness, Acceptance of oneself, Reverence for life, Competence, mastery, efficacy, Mental and physical health, Positive and supportive social networks, Satisfying, engaging, and meaningful work, Accomplishment of goals, Greater engagement and life meaning, Higher work productivity, Increased likelihood of work being a life calling, Less stress and improved coping, Greater academic achievement, Improved close relationships.Linley and Harrington (2006) defined STRENGTH as a capacity for feeling, thinking, and behaving in a way that allows optimal functioning in the pursuit of valued outcomes. In this regard it can be said that the work on classification of illnesses had a 2000 year or more long history of beginning, but the efforts to classify strengths and positive outcomes is comparatively much recent. Therefore, it is easy to understand why we have a better understanding of human weaknesses than we do of strengths. (Snyder, p . 32). Virtue can be defined as "any psychological process that enables a person to think and act so as to benefit him- or her- self and society" (McCullough & Snyder, 2000, p. 1). As such, virtue- related concepts historically have been of considerable interest to psychological researchers and practitioners, as exemplified in the humanistic psychology tradition (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) and in family social science research on family strengths and resilience (Sandage & Hill, 2001 ).Therefore Character Strengths are the psychological ingredients, processes or mechanisms that define the virtues. That is, character strengths are the distinguishable routes to displaying one or another of the virtues. For example, the virtue of wisdom can be achieved through strengths such as curiosity and love of learning, open-mindedness, creativity.. These strengths are similar in the sense that they all involve the acquisition and use of knowledge, but they are also distinct. These strengths can be regarded as ubiquitously recognized and valued, although a given individual will rarely, if ever, display all of them (Walker & Pitts, 1998). Character traits can be regarded as dimensional traits that exist in degress across individuals (Linley & Joseph,p.435)Peterson and Seligman (2004) define character strengths as a ubiquitously recognised subset of personality traits that are morally valued. According to Linley and Harrington (2006), strengths are ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that come naturally and easily to a person and that enable high functioning and performance. It has been observed that the most systematic approach to studying virtue and character strengths from a psychological perspective has come from the field of positive psychology. …

Factors Affecting Employee Motivation for Organizational Effectiveness Health Care Employees

Abstract: Motivation has been one of the areas of interests from organizational psychologists and scholars since 1930s. In this competitive environment, the organization should focus on maximizing the human resource at hand. Alert leadership can surely impact the group's dynamics needed for peak performance. This can be best accomplished by motivating everyone to work together. Motivation is the art of creating conditions that allows everyone to get their work done at their own peak level of efficiency (Gellerman, 1992). Through motivation, leaders can make each person feel involved, leading to a greater degree of job satisfaction and making them more successful as individuals.Identifying the factors responsible for employees' work performance is an important aspect for any organization. Motivated employees are more efficient, productive, and help their organizations grow. Research indicates that performance is also assumed to be affected by structural and task characteristics such as whether employees are able to exercise autonomy and discretion in their work, the extent to which their tasks are clearly defined, and whether they are rewarded for hard work (Cheng, et al., 1996).Motivation is one of the highly complex but misunderstood concept. Mills and Forshaw (2006) supported this statement as though there are an abundance of motivational theories; the organizations are unable to apply the best theory of motivation due to human beings complexity and various factors influencing their behaviors. Organizations use different motivation theories for motivating employees. In Hertzberg's theory, management should begin by focusing on hygiene factors such as pay and job security, before focusing on motivator factors which include interesting work and full appreciation of work done. On the other hand, in Adams' equity theory, management should begin by focusing on areas where there may be perceived inequities, such as pay and full appreciation of work done, before focusing on interesting work andjob security. Another theory by Vroom's suggests that management should begin by focusing on rewarding, employee effort in achieving organizational goals and objectives.Of all the complexities, motivating employees holds a prime place for any organization. Some of the ways organizations use to motivate their employees are selectivity in hiring, generous pay and benefit programs, encouragement of long-term employment, flexible implementation of policies, and cooperative unions. A research by Lindner (1998) identified top motivating factors as interesting work, good wages, and full appreciation of work done followed by job security, good working conditions, promotions and growth in the organization. Feeling of being in on things, personal loyalty to employees, tactful discipline, and sympathetic help with personal problems ranked low on the results. Moreover, effective communication, acknowledging efforts of employees, involving them in decision making processes, restructuring jobs, and giving employees diversity of experience are some of the other motivational techniques. Job security is also very important for employees. If internal and external rewards provide the individual with what he or she wants or values or considers appropriate or beneficial, the individual experiences satisfaction with the job (Kleinbeck et al., 1990).Moreover there are individual differences and the same thing is perceived differently by two individuals. Individuals have different needs and expectation which they strive to fulfill in different ways. If these needs and expectations are not fulfilled, it will make them dissatisfied and the consequences are turnover, absenteeism, etc. so motivating employees has been a tough task for managers provided that employees react in different ways in the jobs assigned (Beardwell & Claydon, 2007). Employees become dissatisfied and less motivated when management fails to make employees identify their driving forces. …

The Essential Aspects of Building a Therapeutic Relationship

Abstract: What makes a patient and their therapist click? Since its advent, clinical psychology has been faced with one key question- what is it that makes therapy successful? What elements can one encourage, promote and learn in order to be as helpful to a patient as a therapist can be? Clinicians from all schools of thought continue to contest new, novel and improved ways to help those in need and these techniques vary in theory, assumptions and even in their execution. However, even though the techniques and underlying assumptions vary depending on the school of thought, one aspect remains constant to therapy - the contact between a therapist and a patient. The relationship, better known as the therapeutic relationship or working alliance between a patient and therapist, defined by Clara Hill, are the feelings and attitudes that the people in session have towards one another and how those sentiments are expressed. The therapeutic relationship is extremely important for two reasons. One, the therapeutic relationship acts as a microcosm that enables a therapist to peek into the patients' outside world. The microcosm acts as a meeting point of different perspectives, and ideas. The strength of the relationship will then determine how well a course of action is take.And second, the therapeutic relationship is one aspect of therapy that transcends all different forms of therapy. It is therefore logical to assume that one would come across a range of data that provides specific guidelines for building a therapeutic relationship. However, this does not seem to be the case. During my research for this paper, I came across Carl Rogers, The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Therapeutic Personality Change and found that many scientists have drawn from his work. Carl Rogers most celebrated aspect from that paper is his postulation of unconditional positive regard and empathy. He postulates that a therapist must always maintain unconditional positive regard for their patients. In looking further, I found that it is not merely empathy and unconditional positive regard that sustains a relationship, in fact many other aspects contribute to and play a key role in building a therapeutic relationship.Providing a holistic overview of all the key aspects of the therapeutic relationship is beyond the scope of this paper and hence I have limited myself to a few concerns. In order to uncover the essential aspects ofbuilding a relationships, it was vital to look into whether the therapeutic relationship was a function of the individual therapist or whether there seemed to be some underlying patterns within experts. Next, I contested how much the relationship contributed to the outcomes versus the techniques used within therapy. I then, gauged the extent of the effect of the variables and finally, the client's role in the various aspects of the therapeutic relationship.One point of contention when talking about the therapeutic relationship is the idea of whether the model of therapy dictates the therapeutic relationship or whether an 'ideal therapeutic relationship' exists and whether experts try to attain that idea. To test the rationale to see if the therapeutic relationship was be a function of the model of therapy or the therapist's expertness in the field, Fiedler (1950) compared the therapeutic relationship of therapists who believe in different forms of therapy-psychoanalytic, nondirective and Adlerian therapy. In this experiment he tested for three hypothesis. First, was that expert therapists would be more likely to achieve an ideal therapeutic relationship than a non-expert therapist. The second hypothesis was that the relationship between the therapist and patient was more a result of the therapists themselves and not the school of thought that they believed in. And the third, was that experts would be better at communication and at understanding their patients than non-experts. To do so, Fiedler used ten electronically recorded sessions in the early therapeutic relationship. …

Evaluate the Effectiveness of Training Imago-Therapy on Willingness to Forgive in Betrayed Couples

Abstract: Communication is the foundation of human identity and the primary basis of individual bonds with others. Is to communicate a variety of reasons. According to Maslow's pyramid of needs (1968) can be linked due to physical needs, need for safety and security, the need to belong, the need for self-esteem, self-actualization needs to be searched. (Hoveydafar, 2004) Relationship with his wife is done in the form of family structure among other important relationships particular, the relationship of each of the spouses of the opposite side of the primary relationships they are influenced by their parents. Patterns of parent-child relationship healthy and stable role models of healthy and stable mate there. (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2000, the translation of the Shahi Barvati, Naqshbandi, & Arjmand, 2010), But for whatever reason, the family may lose your balance. Iranian family has been subjected to many structural and functional changes that the same applies to relations among family members is threatened. (Ameri et ah, 2003), Forgiveness is an internal miles unpleasant people to the inhibition of responses to positive communication and behavior Negative toward someone who has dealt with them, willing them. So forgiveness from one or both of the couple, the cycle of revenge and retaliation can terminate the offending person and the continuation of marriage, marital satisfaction, and increase mental health of couples (Phenol, 1993; quoted in Porrosta, 2011), In short, the past giving way to save the bad and focus on more productive life of the past and accept the fact that their injuries heal others should not punish his. Forgiveness is freeing up energy that would otherwise be spent nursing the wounds heal, and in fact distended, their punishment, because of the mistakes of others. (Simon, 1991; quoted in Khomi, 2011), Power Imago relationship theory is that the first to teach couples about how and why conflict and the tools and techniques to resolve this conflict puts at their disposal (Esperang, 2004). According to the Nilofari (2009), this approach to solving marital problems than anything requires a proper relationship, couples mature and self-aware. Establishing such a relationship also requires increased training and recognition of couples, wife, relationship, unconscious motivations and expectations that the couple's relationship and it leads overshadowed, imago therapy approach is that with increased communication skills and knowledge of the spouses, they will help to create a conscious relationship (Weigel, 2006; quoted in Bayat, 2007), Marital infidelity is an issue that couples therapists are frequently encountered in clinical practice However, despite the prevalence of this problem in the context of marital infidelity or knowledge of how to create plan the perfect solution to this problem is still not reached (Weiss Man, Dixon, & Janson, 1997), Clinical observations and scientific studies show that the effect of marital infidelity uncovered devastating, shocking and dramatic affect on the couples. Clinicians report that a person affected by severe emotional Marital infidelity is often the feel anger towards the wrongdoer and the inner feelings of shame, depression, severe period but in case overwhelming feeling of victimization and abandonment are varied (Gordon, Hughes, Tomic, Dixon, & Litzinger, 2009), In the last decade tend to infidelity in our community has increased. Psychologists and experts, the loss of love, lack of attractive wife, negligence wife, sensuality, sexual obsession, behavior intolerable wife, safe advantage of infidelity, excess and diversity of the main reasons for infidelity and betrayed wives to know each other. To mitigate the effects of treasons in society and to treat it in the family which forms the core community and to avoid the damaging consequences of this study was to evaluate the effect of A therapy (imago therapy) anger among couples has been affected by the wife.MethodParticipantsThe population consisted of all women and men betrayed referred to, Justice of counseling centers for divorce agreement in January and February 2014 the number of 1,000 people. …

Gender Differences in Spirituality among College Students

Abstract: The relation between gender and spirituality is of great interest hence our study aimed to examine the gender differences in college students through the lens of spirituality. 60 students (30 males & 30 females) were chosen from arts faculty with age range of (18 & older). They were requested to fill Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (Mac Donald 2009) which consist of 30 items with five dimensions i.e. cognitive, experiential, existential, paranormal, and religiousness. Independent sample t test was administered for obtaining mean difference between both the genders on spirituality. Significant difference was found on two domains of spirituality i.e. Cognitive and Experiential dimension. In cognitive domain males scores higher (M=18.30, SD=2.91) as compared to females (M=13.60, SD=4.23) with t value as 5.01 which was significant at 0.05 level. Other domain in which significant difference was found was Experiential domain, here females scored higher (M=17.40, SD=5.21) as compared to males (M=13.23, SD=4.43) with t value as 3.33 which was significant at 0.05 level. No significant difference was found in the remaining three dimensions i.e. Existential, Paranormal and Religious domains, having t value as 1.02, .861 and 1.55 respectively at 0.05 levels. This study contributes a great understanding of spirituality and the effects of gender on spirituality.

A Study of Spirituality and Social Support in Relation to Depression among Adolescents

Abstract: Depression is a common mental health problem among general population and it is more common specially for school and college students, because modem era is the age of advanced science and technology which vastly effect individual's everyday life. As a result individual's needs and expectations are also changed, they generally prefer to live more comfortable and luxurious life, do best from others, achieve more success in their life, for which they work hard for gaining standard of excellence in their field. No doubt, this highly developed technology not only made everything easy rather it also effect on individuals physical lives, as well as it significantly influence on individuals thought, emotion and behaviors. For students population, in one side they have many opportunities for growth and personality development from their schools, colleges and home environment, while on the other hand they are facing a large number of potentially stressful circumstances, such as academic demands, parental pressure, financial difficulties, and a variety of social stressors. As aresult, up to one third of all adolescents population are suffering from anxiety and depression (Allgower, Wardle, & Steptoe, 2001; Bishop, Bauer & Becker,1998). Lewinsohn, Rohde, Seeley, and Fischer (1993) found that depression is one of the most frequently diagnosed psychiatric disorders in youth with as many as 9% of children having experienced at least one episode of DSM-IV major depression by the age of 14 Prevalence rates for subsyndromal depressive symptoms are even greater with between 10% and 30% of youth exceeding cutoff scores on self-report measures of depressive symptoms (Hammen & Rudolph, 2003). Similarly, a study conducted by Mohanraj, Subbaiah (2010) in which they examined the prevalence of depressive symptoms among 964 (509 males, 455, females) adolescents studying in classes X, XI and XII in different schools in Chennai. Their results showed that based on the cut-off scores, 378 adolescents (39.2%) were found to be non-depressed, 358 (37.1%) were mildly depressed, 187 (19.4%) were moderately depressed and 41 (4.3%) severely depressed. They also found that in their study that adolescents experienced emotional manifestations of depression like sadness, irritability, self-accusations and crying spells dominated over cognitive, behavioral and physical manifestations of depression. They also found no any significant gender differences but a higher proportion of girls (27%) reported moderate to severe depression thanboys (21%).DepressionThe World Health Organization graded depression as the fourth most significant cause of suffering and disability worldwide, behind only heart disease, cancer, and traffic accidents. The organization also predicts that by the year 2020, depression willjump up to the second leading cause of suffering in the world. Depression is a disorder of major public health importance, in terms of its prevalence and the suffering, dysfunction, morbidity, and economic burden.It is also observed that depression is more common in women than men. The report on Global Burden of Disease estimates the point prevalence of unipolar depressive episodes to be 1.9% for men and 3.2% for women, and the one-year prevalence has been estimated to be 5.8% for men and 9.5% for women. In view of the morbidity, depression as a disorder has always been a focus of attention of researchers in India.Depression is a mental disorder that is defined by certain problems in emotional, behavioral and thought patterns. Petersen and colleagues (1999) defined adolescent depression at three levels: (1) depressed mood, (2) depressive syndrome, and (3) clinical depression. Depressed mood is sadness at various times in response to an unhappy situation. Depressive syndrome is experiencing anxiety with other symptoms such as feeling sad, lonely, unloved and worthless. Clinical depression is manifestation of five or more depressive symptoms lasting continuously for two weeks and impairing current functioning. …

Passion Types and Subjective Well-Being for Saudi Women:Exploratory Study

Abstract: The type of the engagement in performed activity might play an important role in subjective well-being (SWB). For example, with old adults, the engagement in favorite activities was related positively to SWB, while practicing a non-favorite activities was unrelatedto SWB (Reich, Zautra, & Hill, 1987). Numerous studies have given experimental support which proved the positive relationship between engagement in activity and SWB with aging persons (Leventhal, Rabin, Leventhal, & Bums, 2001; Rousseau & Vallerand, 2008). However, the relationship between engagement in activity and SWB is complex and numerous factors might influence the degree to which engagement is beneficial for aging persons (McAuley, Blissmer, Katula, Duncan, & Mihalko, 2000; Netz, Wu, Becker, & Tenenbaum, 2005). On the basis of these, it is possible to conclude that high levels of engagement in activity eventually lead to greater levels of SWB (Kozma, Stone, & Stones, 2000). To sum up, results are probably needed to identify more variables that may increase the likelihood that adult persons will benefit from an active lifestyle.The Dualistic Model of Passion (DMP): In the line with the Self-Determination Theory (DMP), individuals engage in a variety of activities to explore their environment and grow as individuals (Genevieve A Mageau & Vallerand, 2007; Vallerand et al., 2003; Vallerand et al., 2006). Of these, few will be perceived as agreeable, enjoyable and having resonance with how persons see themselves. From these few activities, one or more favorite activity will eventually be preferred and will develop to be come a passion. Furthermore, the Self-Determination Theory and literature have shown that elements from the environments can be internalized in an independent or controlled variable (Grolnick, Deci, & Ryan, 1997). Passion can be composed of two types: Obsesseive Passion (OP) and Harmonious Passion (HP).Obsesseive Passion (OP) is a result of controlled internalization of the desired activity into the individual's identity. Due to Vallerand et al. (2007), controlled internalization results from intra and/or interpersonal pressure, mostly because certain contingencies are attached to feelings of social acceptance as a needed and desired activity and/ or even because of the sense of excitement that is derived from engagement in activity which is uncontrollable. On the contrary, Harmonious Passion (HP) results from autonomous internalization of the activity representative of the person's identity. Autonomous internalization happens when an individual has openly accepted the activity as important to him/her with no or little contingencies. This type of internalization emanates from the intrinsic and integrative tendencies of the self (Ryan & Deci, 2003). It makes a motivational force to take part in the action energetically and induces a feeling of volition and personal endorsement about pursuing the activity. When HP is at play, the individual does not experience an uncontrollable urge to engage in the passionate activity, but rather freely chooses to do so. With this sort of passion, the activity occupies a significant, yet not overpowering space in the individual's identity and is in harmony with different aspects of the individual's life.Accordingly, passion is described as having a harmonious passion. Yet, there is another sort of passion which is obsessive passion. Those who are obsessively passionate feel an uncontrollable urge to engage in their activity and experience a conflict between their passion and other aspects of their lives (Vallerand, 2012a). The literature review supports the concept of harmonious and obsessive passion. More than one hundred studies have supported the concept of passion and focused on a host of cognitive, affective, behavioral, relational, and performance outcomes experienced through hundreds of desired activities. Previous research reveals that HP predicts more adaptive outcomes than OP. …

Personality and Resilience:A Critical Analysis

Abstract: Resilience is something, in which people do better than expected given chronic and/or acute conditions that put them at risk. Both sociologists and social psychologists are striving very hard to dive deep into the dynamics of the subject. The paper makes an attempt to understand the concepts of personality and resilience. It analyses the theories and approaches to personality and resilience in a systematic manner. It also links these two concepts functionally and operationally.

A Study of Meaningful Work, Hope and Meaning in Life in Young Professional Artists

Abstract: Meaningful work is an existential concept which got acceptance in positive psychology. Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001) defined meaningful work as "An individual understands purpose of their work or what they believe is achieved in the work." Meaningful work is a part of self-identity proved to be very effective in pleasant and meaningful life. Hope has been the word for positive anticipation in layperson's language and understanding. Snyder (2005) have specifically defined hope as a "positive motivational state that is based on an interactively derived sense of successful (1) agency (goal directed energy) and (2) pathways (planning to meet goals)" (Snyder et al., 1996). Hope is nowapartofthe Psychological Capital and proved to be quite instrumental in maintaining mental health and effective performance at workplace and other facets of life. Meaning in life has been the topic of research enquiry in existential psychology. With the emergence of positive psychology and applied research this variable gained a lot of popularity in different fields of psychology. Meaning in life can be defined as "coherence in one's life" (Battista & Almond, 1973; Reker & Wong, 1988). It is also perceived as goal directedness and having purpose in life. An absence of these three positive states has shown very grave effects on mental health and longevity. The current study investigated the correlation of these three variables and predictive capacity of meaningful work and hopes in meaning in life amongst young and unmarried profes sional artists.Review ofliteratureTwo studies done by Sieger and Dik (2009) assessed whether finding meaning on one level satisfies people's search for meaning at another level. After doing the analysis of study 1, they found that there was a significant interaction - such that people seeking global-level meaning in life reported greater well-being and self-efficacy in choosing a career if they experienced domain level meaning in their respective careers. Study number 2 used both calling-focused and traditional career workshops in an effort to experimentally induce a sense of domain-level meaning in careers. After analyzing the results of these two studies it can be inferred that people who seek global-level meaning in life are, indeed, satisfied by experiencing meaning in their careers. In a study conducted by Zika and Chamberlain (1992) on the relation between psychological well-being and meaning in life, a strong association was found between the two. The findings have been the same in two different samples. Meaning in life is found to have a stronger association with positive well-being than with negative well-being. Feldman and Snyder (2005) conducted a study, offering evidence that hope is a component common to all theories of meaning. Tests of meaning, hope, anxiety, depression were administered and factor analysis revealed that hope is a component of meaning. In regression analysis, when hope is controlled statistically, then it is found to weaken the relationship between meaning and both depression and anxiety. When meaning is controlled in a similar fashion the correlation between hope with the other two variables is weakened. Halama and Dedova (2007), conducted a study questioning whether meaning in life and hope can explain unique variance of positive mental health which is not predicted by personality traits. The correlation analysis showed that personality traits, meaning in life and hope have significant correlations with positive mental health variables. The regression analysis showed that meaning in life is a predictor of both life satisfaction and self -esteem. It was also found that hope is an independent predictor of self esteem.Aims and objective ofthe studyThe aim of the study was to investigate the correlation amongst meaningful work, hope, and meaning in life and meaningful work and hope as predictors of presence of meaning in life among young professional artists. …

Promoting Resiliency in the Youth of Kashmir

Abstract: Youth are most important assets of any nation, therefore, their personal growth and development should be without any hindrance. In this modern competitive society, it is common to identify children who are at risk because of the hardships in their young lives (Rak & Patterson, 1996). Poverty, substance abuse, violence, family conflicts, and illness are a few potential vulnerabilities. According to various researches, the major concerns are that at risk children stand only slight chances of attaining their full potential as adults. Furthermore, there are worries that at risk individuals will become dysfunctional to the point of being incapable of supporting themselves or establishing rewarding relationships with others. However, despite all these problems, there are children who encounter stress and adversity in life and yet they fare well in the face of such challenges (Brooks, 2006; Masten & Coatsworth, 1998; Rak & Patterson, 1996). Children who succeed in spite of adversity have been identified as resilient; possessing certain strengths and benefiting from protective factors that help them overcome adverse conditions and thrive.Youths of Kashmir, IndiaFor over last three decades, Kashmir Valley has been the place of conflict between militants / terrorists and the Government forces. Bomb attacks, shoot-outs, pressure from both sides have affected the daily lives of the youth living in the valley. There are numerous cases of human rights abuse from both the militants and government forces in the form of arrests, house to house searches, abductions and torture. The ongoing violence, the continuous threat and poor future perspective put a heavy strain on the natural coping mechanisms of the youth in Kashmir. A lot of people suffer from stress related to traumatic events, high amounts of psychosocial problems (substance abuse, distrust), develop anxiety, mood and post-traumatic disorders at an alarming rate. Most of the mental pain is presented as physical disorders (somatoform disorders). Mental health experts have also stated that there has been a surprising increase in the number of stress and trauma related cases in the Kashmir valley and these psychological problems have also given rise to general health problems like diabetes, cardiac problems and hypertension (The News, August 18,2005).Due to ongoing violence and conflicts in the state of Kashmir, the University students face serious psychological and social difficulties andthey have the feelings of helplessness and alienation (Calhoun, 2006). The youth are continuously concerned with the issues of security and safety (Amin, 2009) and they experience frustration due to the inability to express their point in the ongoing armed conflict. The suicide rates are also increasing amongst the youth due to all these problems (Sofiya, 2012). Despite of all these problems, there are individuals who are able to overcome all these situations and are surviving and living their life to the full potential. They know as how to fight back to live effectively. It is their resilience.ResilienceDespite the vast body of research on resilience, there is little agreement on a single definition of resilience among scholars. In fact, scholars define the construct of resilience in different ways (Carle & Chassin, 2004).Resilience is broadly understood as positive adaptation in situations where difficulties-personal, familial or environmental are so extreme that we would expect a person's cognitive or functional abilities to be impaired (Masten C Rutter 1985). Resiliency, or resilience, is commonly explained and studied in context of a two-dimensional construct concerning the exposure of adversity and the positive adjustment outcomes of that adversity (Luther & Cicchetti, 2000). Masten (2011) contended that resilience refers to (1) people form high-risk groups who have had better outcomes than expected; (2) good adaptations despite stressful (common) experiences (when resilience is extreme, resilience refers to patterns in recovery); and (3) recovery from trauma. …

School Adjustment: A Comparative Study of Gender Differences among Adolescents

Abstract: Adjustment is a process in which the individuals attempts to deal with stress, tension, conflicts and meet their needs to maintain harmonious relationships with the environment around them (Anakwe, 2012). School adjustment is the degree of school acculturation required to bring in optimal educational fit between unique personality traits of the students and the unique nature and requirement of learning environments. Agbakwuru and Agbakwuru (2012) described school adjustment as the process that brings a person's behavior to conform to the norms of the school setting. Overall it is a continuous process that moves towards the adaptation of an individual to school life and culture. It comprises of academic, social and emotional adjustment and is also viewed as the process that students adopt to maintain a balance between their academic, social and emotional needs with the school environment. It depends on the competence and needs of the students and the demands of the school environment. Adeyemo (2005) viewed students' adjustment as the ability to cope and handle their emotions and also anatomy to behave in socially appropriate and accountable way to meet the school challenges and responsibilities. This results that adjustment involves coping ability of physiological and emotional components to meet up the social demands of the environment. Adjustment potentials enable students to deal better with peer pressures, school life and academic challenges. Various student variables that are involved in school adjustment include the individual competencies e.g social behavior, emotional, cultural and academic competence. Peer acceptance, motivation and school interest also contribute to their adjustment. Social and emotional competencies emerged as predictors of successful school adjustment. Adjustment helps to keep balance between one's need and capacity to meet the needs. Though adjustment is a major concern at all life stages, it becomes especially critical at the stage of adolescence. Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by physical, cognitive, socio-emotional and contextual changes. (Stienberg & Morris, 2001). It is a time of risk taking and experimentation (Dowdell & Santucci, 2003) and a critical period of life in which abilities to express and understand emotions, to assign meaning to emotional experience, and to regulate feelings which are helpful for psychological and social adjustment (Mavroveli Petrides, Rieffe, & Bakker, 2007). Most adolescents experience adjustment difficulties in emotional, social and educational aspects of their lives. The genetic make-up, time and rate of maturity vary in adolescent boys and girls. Societal norms and perceptions also differ for boys and girls thus resulting in significant differences in levels of adjustment of both. This maladjustment may lead to absenteeism, truancy and low achievement of children (Subramanyam, 1986).Objectives of the study* To study the socio- demographic profile of the adolescent girls and boys of Secondary School.* To examine the social adjustment of adolescent girls and boys of Secondary School.* To study the emotional adjustment of adolescent girls and boys of Secondary School.* To study the educational adjustment of adolescent girls and boys of Secondary School.Hypotheses of the studyKeeping in view the objectives of the present study following hypotheses was framed for the present research.* There is likely to be significant difference in social adjustment between girls and boys of Secondary School.* There is likely to be significant difference in emotional adjustment between girls and boys of Secondary School.* There is likely to be significant difference in educational adjustment between girls and boys of Secondary School.MethodParticipantsIn the present study purposive sampling technique was followed to select the adolescent girls and boys from the two secondary schools of Patiala. …