Interpersonel Need of Management Student-Acilitor in The Choice of Electives

1
February, 2011
ISSN 0019-4247
Volume 37, Special Issue
Journal of the
Indian Academy of Applied Psychology
Copyright 2011 by the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology

Special Feature
9
Life Skills Education for Young Adolescents Indian Experience

M.N. Vranda and M.Chandrasekhar Rao
Emotional Intelligence and Mental Health
16
Emotional Intelligence or Nonverbal Intelligence: Which is a Better Predictor of

Athletes Positive Mental Health?
Santhosh Ayathupady Mohanan, Abdul Halim Mokhtar and Chellappan Jayan
25
Work-Family Interference and Well-being in Indian Women: Mediating Role of

Emotional Intelligence
Anju Rani and C. R. Darolia
34
Self-Efficacy and Mental Health of Women Teacher Students

Mohammad Sheikhiani and Bindu P Nair
Stress, Depression and Anxiety
40
Personal Influences in Depression among Female Adolescents

Sandeep Singh and Tanu
47
Effect of Mindfulness based Self Control Therapy on Perceived Stress, Self-efficacy

and Well being of Depressed Patients
R. Kannappan and Vimal Anand
54
Enhanced Right Hemispheric Performance in Depression: Role of Co-occurring

Anxiety and Task Variation
Garima Gupta and Rakesh Pandey
(Contents continued on next page)
This issue has been published with the grant-in-aid from

Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi
JIAAP is abstracted and indexed in Indian Science Abstracts (ISA), Indian Psychological Abstracts &
Reviews, IndMED, NCERT Educational Abstracts, Psychological Abstracts,
PsycINFO and PsycALERT Database, USA., Routledge Database, UK.
65
Influence of Premature Ejaculation on Depression

Ali Reza Ghaderi and B. Rangaiah
71
Correlates of Personality, Diversity, Decision-Making and Affective Well Being of

Management Students
Ambrien Ahmed and N. Hasnain
78
Stress and Work Life of College Teachers

Dhrub Kumar and J. M. Deo
Gender Difference
86
Interpersonal Needs of Management Students: Facilitator in the Choice of Electives

Ekta Sharma
92
Need Saliency and Students Involvement of Universitys Students

Kalpana Sahoo
100
Eve Teasing: Role of the Patriarchal System of the Society

Deepa Ghosh
108
Relationship between Spirituality and Anger among Women

Meena Sunderrajan and V.D. Swaminathan
Regular Articles
113
Does Caffeine-Induced Arousal Reduce Mental Workload during High-demanding

Vigilance Task?
Trayambak Tiwari, Anju L. Singh and Indramani L. Singh
119
Resilience, Behaviour Approach and Inhibition among Adolescents

Annalakshmi, N
128
134
140
Configurational Imagery Experience in Sighted and Visually Impaired Children

Gandhi, T.K., Khurana, A., Santhosh,J., and Anand,S.
Impact of CBT on Self Efficacy and Academic Achievement in Adolescent Students
Venkatesh Kumar, G. and Lissamma Sebastian
The Relationship between Birth Order Theory and Past Academic Performance of
Management Students
Vijendra Kumar, S.K.
(Contents continued on next page)
145
Astro-Psychotherapeutic Effect on Pathological Gamblers

M.G. Sharma and Vandana Sharma
151
Role of Perceived Organizational Support and Family Involvement in Organizational

Citizenship Behaviour among First Level Mangers
Akhilendra K. Singh and A. P. Singh
162
Predictors of Marital Adjustment: The Communication Skills and Sexual

Satisfaction
Yahya Kazemi and Zahra Nikmanesh
169
Prof. Anima Sen Award for Excellence in Research.
170
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4th February, 2011
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Journal of the Indian Academy of

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Welcome to the ISPA Conference 2011 at Chennai
Vanakkam
The Indian School Psychology Association (InSPA), the National Institute of Technical
Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR), Chennai and Indian Academy of Applied Psychology
(IAAP) welcome the International School Psychology Association (ISPA) fraternity to the 33rd
Annual Conference of ISPA to be held from 19 to 23 July, 2011 at Chennai, India.
The InSPA (www.inspa.info) is the brain child of Prof. B. Mukhopadhyay and gradually
stepping around the country to establish School Psychology in India to encourage the
psychologists to take part in the larger interest to provide better education to the children. Prof.
G.P. Thakur, President of the InSPA is developing and monitoring the effective role of the school
psychologists in the country. The founder members of the InSPA actively involved in the process
of developing school psychology throughout the nation.
In collaboration with NITTTR, Chennai the InSPA initiated international understating with
the ISPA to hold a International conference in India. Prof. S. Mohan, Director, NITTTR, Chennai
is internationally reputed professor of technical education and having clear vision to initiate major
projects. He is the man of dynamism and charismatic leader to lead the academic community
for helping the society. His mission to uplift the poorest of the poorer by inclusive education
comes true by organising the international event with ISPA.
The ISPA is known for its continuous academic contributions to the international community
by promoting school psychology in different countries. The ISPA family is unique and visionary
to visualise the issues at the international level to help nations by providing academic support to
the people.
The IAAP is a largest professional association in India academically supporting the
international conference. Since its inception in 1962, it has been serving the Indian society
through conduct of training programmes, seminars, workshops, conferences, etc. It is publishing
a reputed refereed journal, Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology (www.jiaap.in).
In this back ground the international conference is proposed in Chennai with the theme
Educational Psychology in the Context of Globalisation, Diversity and Societal Challenges
Local Organizing Committee
Prof. Dr. S. Mohan (Cheif Patron)

Prof. G.P. Thakur (Chair, LOC)
Dr. S. Renukadevi (Org. Secretary)
Dr. Panch. Ramalingam
(Org. Secretary)
Ms. M. Kala (Treasurer)
Scientific Committee
Prof. Habib Ahmed (Chair)

Dr. B. Mukhopadhyay (Co-Chair)
LOC Members
Dr. B. G. Barki
Dr. P. Sivakumar
Dr. G. Kulanthaivel
Shri. V. Veerasamy
Registration details are available at

www.ispaweb.org
The conference secretariat is at NITTTR,
Taramani, Chennai, India.
9
February 2011, Vol.37, Special Issue, 9-15.
Special Feature
Life Skills Education for Young Adolescents Indian Experience

NIMHANS, Bangalore
The study of adolescent development has been of great interest to researchers,

theorists, and practitioners for decades. Numerous publications have appeared
and have brought to the forefront various defining features of adolescents.
Certainly, one such defining element is the array of developmental changes that
occur and mark this period as unique.
Adolescence is a transition period that

bridges childhood and adulthood, during
which major physical, cognitive, and
psychological changes occur which need to
be addressed. It is also a period of storm
and stress for many adolescents. Though,
biological forces play a significant role in the
physical changes that takes place during the
transition period from a child to an adult, a
combination of biological, psychological and
social forces influence an adolescents
development. It is a time young people drift
away and distance from parents. Spending
more time with peers and conforming to the
ideas and judgments of their peers are
common during this period. This transition is
so crucial that adolescents face problems in
certain areas of life such as parent child
conflicts, substance abuse, violence, risky
behaviours and mood changes. If these
issues are not resolved the individual suffers
role diffusion or negative identity, which
results in mismatched abilities and desires,
directionless and are unprepared for the
psychological challenges of adulthood (Berk,
2007; Vranda & Chandrasekahar Rao,
2006).These internal stresses and social
expectations lead to moments of uncertainty,
self doubts and disappointment in the
adolescent. It is at these situations that the
young person takes risks and involves in risk
taking behaviours. Hence, enhancement of
psychosocial competencies or life skills is must
for adolescents for a healthy transition to
adulthood (Vranda & Chandrasekhar-Rao,

2007). Indian youth represent a significant
proportion of worldwide population. It was
estimated that young people below 20 years
of age account for 40% of the worlds
population, while 80% are living in the
developing countries (SEARO, 2000).
Life Skills: Meaning
Over the last decade there has been an
increased interest among mental health
professionals in the area of life skills. Hamburg
(1990) defined life skills training as the
teaching of requisite skills for surviving, living
with others, and succeeding in a complex
society. The generic skills are communication,
interpersonal negotiation, self-regulation and
decision making skills. Nelson-Jones (1993)
states life skills are personally responsible
sequences of self-helping choices in specific
psychological skills areas conducive to mental
wellness. People require a repertoire of life
skills according to their developmental tasks
and specific problems of living.
Powell (1995) defines life skills as the
life coping skills consonant with the
developmental tasks of the basic human
development processes, namely those skills
necessary to perform tasks for a given age
and gender in the following areas of human
development psychological, physical,
sexual, vocational, cognitive, moral, ego and
emotional.
10
There are taxonomies of generic life skills

for categorizing and arranging a wide range
of life skills. Hopson and Scally (1986)
categorized life skills under the four areas:
1. Learning/Academic Skills (i.e., study
skills, literacy, learning from experiences etc);
2. Relating Skills (i.e., communication,
making, keeping and ending relationships,
assertiveness, conflict management, etc);
3. Working and Playing Skills (i.e., time
management, money management, career
planning etc); and
4. Developing Self and Other Skills (i.e.,
creative problem solving, being positive about
oneself,
decision
making,
stress
management, transition management,
managing negative emotions, selfawareness, maintaining physical well-being,
etc).
Brooks (1984) used empirical approach
to classify life skills. Using the Delphi study,
in conjunction with developmental psychology
theorists (Erikson, 1963; Havighurst, 1972;
Kohlberg, 1973; 1976) classified 305 life skills
descriptors into four categories such as 1)
interpersonal communication and human
relations skills; 2) problem solving and
decision making skills; 3) physical fitness and
health maintenance skills; and 4) identify
development / purpose in life skills.
Although the exact nature and
descriptions of life skills are likely to differ
across social and cultural contexts, an
analysis was made and a core set of skills for
successful living was identified by WHO
(1993). Accordingly life skills are defined as
abilities for adaptive and positive behavior
that enables individuals to deal effectively
with the demands and challenges of every
day life. There are innumerable life skills.
Some are specific to certain situations while
others are of a generic in nature. Based on
various theoretical perspectives, as well as
intervention and training in this area across
cultures, a core set of ten generic life skills
Life Skills Education
are identified which are basic to every culture

and can be used for promotion of
psychosocial health in children and
adolescents. These skills include decisionmaking, problem solving, empathy, selfawareness, communication, interpersonal
relationship, coping with emotions, coping
with stress, creative thinking and critical
thinking. Across cultures life skills education
is similar in three important ways.
First the most important aspect is
learning of life skills which are essentially
those abilities which help promote mental well
being. This enables one to deal effectively
with every day challenges. Secondly to enable
adolescents to learn and practice skills, life
skills training is based on student centered
and activity oriented methodology. Thirdly, life
skill training is based on the philosophy that
young people should be empowered to take
more responsibility for their actions.
Life Skills programs are based on social
learning theory. In social learning theory,
learning is considered to be active acquisition,
processing and structuring of experiences.
In life skills education children and
adolescents are actively involved in a dynamic
teaching and learning process. The
pedagogy of life skills education is based on
co-operative learning, participative activities
and experimental learning. Teaching ten
generic skills is effective tool for promotion
of mental wellbeing. The acquisition of
knowledge from life skills training influences
the attitudes and values leading to positive
behavior and in turn helps in prevention high
risk behaviours. Life skills training which
enable in skills learning aim to influence
health and behavior in the social context.
Though a persons behavior may partly be
determined or influenced by environmental
and social factors it essentially stems from
the individual himself.
The following is a diagrammatic
representation of a model (Fig. 1) of how life
skills education equips individual in pro-social
Knowledge
acquisition
Life skills
acquisition
including
practice
11
Behavior
reinforcement or
change
Positive health
behavior
Prevention of
health problems
and pro-social
behavior
Figure 1. Model of Effect of Life Skills Education
ways, through the promotion of mental well

being and by promoting behavioral
preparedness. The behavioral preparedness
is based on two aspects: the individuals
psychosocial competence (based on
acquisition and practice of life skills), and
behavioral intensions.
The life skills education is designed to
facilitate the practice and reinforcement of
skills in a culturally and developmentally
appropriate way; it contributes to the
promotion of personal and social
development, the protection of human rights,
and the prevention high risk behavior and
social problems. Hence, life skills education
is based on the teaching of the generic core
skills for life and also includes the practice of
life skills relation to psycho-social needs and
issues. They are also taught in the context of
holistic health and social issues, such as
relationships, learning about social influences
on behavior and learning about rights and
responsibilities as well as being taught in the
context of health problems
comprising both interpersonal and

intrapersonal components of human nature.
Hager and Vaught (1995) defined social skills
as a complex set of skills that include
communication, problem solving and
decision-making, assertion, peer and group
interaction, and self-management. Quinn
Kavale, Mathur, Rutherford, and Forness
(1999) states social skills as competencies
necessary for students to initiate and maintain
positive social relationships with peers,
teachers, family, and other community
members. Elksnin (1996) defined social
skills as skills necessary for social interaction.
The common social skills are interpersonal
behaviors; self reflected social skills,
assertiveness skill and communication skills.
Emotional Intelligence:
Social skills:
Emotional intelligence is the capacity to

create positive outcomes in relationships with
others and with oneself. According to Mayer
and Salovey (1993) emotional intelligence is
the ability to monitor the feelings and
emotions of self and others to discriminate
among them, and to use this information to
guide the thinking process and actions. Thus,
emotional intelligence is broad term that
covers collection of interpersonal and
intrapersonal skills. Intrapersonal skills
consist of the ability to understand the
feelings of others, empathy, maintaining and
developing interpersonal relationships and
the sense of social responsibility. On the other
hand, intrapersonal skills comprise of the
ability to understand ones own motivation.
According to Goleman (1995) emotional
intelligence is not innate skills. They are
learned abilities, essential for success. These
are,
Social skills have been broadly used as

effective interpersonal functioning,
Self-awareness includes knowing

emotions, recognizing feelings as it occur, and
Life skills and related concept:

Divergent views
The research in the area of life skills
frequently utilized the concepts such as
emotional intelligence, social competence,
and social skills; these are synonymous
concepts reflective of life skills where there
is a great overlap among these constructs.
The purpose and meaning of all these
concepts directly or indirectly referred to the
concept of life skills. The description and
meaning of these terms are explained below
in relation to life skills.
12
discriminating between them.

Emotional management includes
handling feelings appropriately.
Self-motivation includes gathering
feelings and directing self towards a goal,
despite of self-doubt, inertia, and
impulsiveness.
Empathy includes recognizing
feelings in others and tuning into their verbal
and nonverbal cues.
Managing relationships includes
handling interpersonal interaction, conflict
resolution, and negotiations.
However, content of emotional
intelligence mentioned above are not
mutually exclusive. The review of the concept
of life skills and related terms revealed that
there is overlap in these concepts. However,
the definitions tap slightly similar constructs.
Social skills focuses more on interpersonal
skills where as social competence stress
more in terms of observable behaviors of
individuals in social context i.e., on situation
specific skills that individual need to possess
in order to have desired outcomes. From
literature review, it was found that under the
social competence programs, some focused
on specific social competence (i.e., selfassertion skills, helping skills etc.) others on
peer social competence (i.e., making
friendship skills, establishing relationship
skills, etc), and few on functional competence
(i.e., problem solving skills in specified
situation leading to desirable outcomes). In
case of emotional intelligence the skills focus
more on interpersonal skills (i.e., self
awareness in understanding feelings,
managing emotions, empathy, managing
relationships etc.) and intrapersonal skills
(i.e., self-motivation, taking responsibility).
The above concepts differ in focus and
specificity, but a common theme can be
derived. By comparison with various terms,
generic ten life skills categorized by WHO
(1993) reflects a more encompassing aspect
of effective human functioning. The varied

dimensions of skills identified are more
generic in nature and based on
developmental theories and can be applied
across the life span for successful living.
These skills are basic to every culture and
can be used for promotion of psychosocial
competencies among adolescents (Vranda,
2009). In India the health promotional and
skills enhancement programmes adopted life
skills model of World Health Organization
(1993). Some of the well recognized and
standardized life skills programmes for
adolescents are briefly highlighted below:
LIife skills programmes initiative in
india Different models
Student Enrichment Program
The inception of life skills program started
in Community Mental Health Unit of NIMHANS,
under the guidance of Parthasarathy who
developed a Student Enrichment Program
for the rural adolescents. In this program
students in a rural secondary school were
provided with guidance over 25 sessions on
various issues related to academic, health,
positive mental health, and healthy
relationships skills. The topic covered under
the program were effective study methods,
preparing for examinations, reasons for failing
in examinations, taking care of ones health,
principles of mental health understanding self
and others, interpersonal relations, studentteacher relationship and planning for the
future.
The Comprehensive Health Promotion
Program - Life Skills Education
Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS
Bangalore developed a Cascade Model of
Life Skills Education Model in collaboration
with World Health Organization South East
Asia Region Office (WHO-SEARO) after
extensive need assessments and focus group
discussions with adolescents in secondary
schools, secondary school teachers, parents,
NGOs, social scientists, bureaucrats and
policy makers working with adolescents

(Bharath, Kishore Kumar, & Vranda, 2003).
The modules were developed according the
developmental levels of adolescents
separately 8th, 9th and 10th standards
students using a teachers as a facilitators.
The module covers various developmental
themes of Nutrition, Hygiene, Academics,
Interpersonal Relationships, Substance Use,
Gender Issues, Career, Sexuality and Social
Responsibility (Bharath et al., 2002; 2003;
2005). It is a comprehensive program - All
developmental themes pertinent to
adolescent have been addressed in this
program.
Life Skills Education for Children in
Difficult Circumstances My Work Book
Department of Psychiatric Social Work,
NIMHANS, Bangalore developed Life Skills
Education Work Book for Children in Difficult
Circumstances. Under this program child
care community level workers implement the
program in child care centers run by NGOs
in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh.
The workbook contains the various activities
such as school dropout, healthy living,
migration, running away, child marriage,
sexuality, anti social behavior, HIV/AIDS,
sexual abuse, money management,
maintaining relationship and caste
discrimination. The issues identified are
relevant to the situations of the children in
difficult circumstances. Currently this program
has been successfully implemented in the
above mentioned 3 states and training
materials are available in Kannada, Tamil and
Telugu languages (Sekar, Roncalli, Manoj,
Raj, & Kumar, 2008).
Adolescence Education Programme
Adolescence Education Programme
(AEP) is a joint initiative by Ministry of Human
Resource Development (MHRD) and National
AIDS Control Organization (NACO),
Government of India, to equip every
adolescent (child between 10-19 years) with
scientific information, knowledge and life-skills
13
to protect themselves from HIV infection and

manage their concerns pertaining to
reproductive and sexual health. AEP is an
umbrella programme to cover all the
secondary and senior secondary schools of
the country. Presently it is being proposed
for transaction by nodal teachers in classes
9th and 11th for minimum of 16 hours in an
academic year. The methodology adapted for
AEP is interactive, participatory and based
on life-skills. Under the programme, teachers
and peer educators are trained, who, in turn,
conduct the programme amongst the student
community. In this program teachers have
provided reference material, which has been
developed by NACO in collaboration with
Ministry of HRD and vetted by NCERT. This
program has been implemented across
144,409 secondary and senior secondary
schools with the objective of reaching out to
about 33 million students within two years.
The program is still ongoing.
Evaluation of life skills programme:
In most of life skills training program the
assessment has been relied on various
methods like interviews, case vignettes,
behavioral rating scales or questionnaire and
direct behavioral observation (e.g. real life
or role play) and report of significant others
(e.g parents, teachers, or peers). One of the
main problems in the area of life skills training
is the lack of valid reliable instrument for
measuring life skills. Moreover in most of the
life skills training the evaluation was done by
means created by the researchers. These
means evaluate only training aspect as well
process outcomes but not measuring
acquisition of or change in life skills of
adolescents.
Furthermore, it is difficult to ascertain if
the adolescents had adequate life skills before
they had undergone life skills training.
However, there is growing interest in direct
measurement of life skills. In this background
and lacuna in measurement of life skills,
recently the author of the current article from
14
NIMHANS, Bangalore developed and

standardized instrument on Life Skills Scale
LSS for the Adolescents (Vranda, 2007;
2009). The LSS is designed to measure ten
generic life skills ascribed by WHO (1993)
which is universally adopted around the globe
to promote the psychosocial competencies
among the children and adolescents. A series
of trials and testing were carried out to
determine psychometric properties of the
instrument. The scale consisted of 115-items
with 5-point Likert Format. The scale
assesses the level of life skills in the ten areas
such as Decision Making, Problem Solving,
Empathy, Self-Awareness, Interpersonal
Relationship Skills, Communication Skills,
Coping with Stress, Coping with Emotions,
Creative Thinking and Critical Thinking. The
internal consistency co-efficient alpha for the
overall scale was 0.94. The test-retest
reliability co-efficient ranged from 0.70 to 0.95
and overall reliability co-efficient was 0.96
indicated high degree of temporal stability of
the scale. The Life Skills Scale has also
demonstrated strong construct aspect of
content validity discriminant validity and
concurrent validity and suitable to be
administer in urban and semi-urban across
the globe.
The efficacy and utility of the Life Skills
Scale (Vranda, 2009) with diverse group of
populations such as school children
(Ravindran, 2010), institutionalized children,
street children (Vranda, 2009) has already
been established by many researchers.
Currently the Life Skills Scale of Vranda
(2009) is the only research instrument
available to assess the life skills among
adolescents in India and West. The author
hope that the replication of similar studies and
continuous use of the scale in the area of life
skills education would establish further utility
of the scale with diverse groups. Additional
support for the uniqueness of the scale may
be obtained with other related but relatively
distinct constructs. Predictive validity may also
be established by examining the relationship
between the life skills with other measures

such as a behavioral problems, drinking,
substance use, academic achievement, peer
relationship, social adjustment, self-esteem
and psychological well-being.
Conclusion
In India todays adolescents are exposed
to more information and cultural alternatives
than in earlier periods. This provides the
adolescent with culturally diverse choices,
which cannot be easily exercised due to
economic dependence on parents and
significant others. The adolescent has to
prepare for a global successful adult life of
competition and independent functioning
which is possible only through enhancing
their psychosocial competencies through life
skills training.
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Approach for Adolescents in Schools (8th,
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students with emotional or behavioral

disorders. Journal of Emotional and
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education on coping with stress and
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Unpublished Dissertation, Department of
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Bangalore.
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& Kumar, S. (2008). Life Skills Education for
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Vranda, M.N. (2009). Development and
Standardization of Life Skills Scale. Indian
Journal of Social Psychiatry, 20, 17-28.
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Competencies and Self-Esteem among
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Parthasarthy, D. Muralidhar and M.
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Received: November 06, 2010

Revision received: January 05, 2011
Accepted: January 14, 2011
M.N. Vranda, PhD, Senior Research Officer, UNODC-NIMHANS Project, National

Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore - 560 029. Email:
vrandanimhans@ymail.com
M. Chandrasekhar Rao, PhD, Additional Professor, Department of Psychiatric
Social Work, NIMHANS, Bangalore 560 029.
16
Emotional Intelligence or Nonverbal Intelligence: Which is a

Better Predictor of Athletes Positive Mental Health?
Santhosh Ayathupady Mohanan, Abdul Halim Mokhtar
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
and
Chellappan Jayan
University of Calicut, Kerala.

Even though it is well established that the involvement in physical activities will
positively influence the psychological functioning of the individuals, little is known
about the positive mental health aspects of competitive athletes-a group actively
involved in physical activities. The present study aimed to examine four person
factors namely gender, age, nonverbal intelligence and emotional intelligence
as the potential predictors of athletes mental health. The participants were 304
Indian athletes (161 male and 143 female) participating in different competitive
sporting events. Positive mental health was assessed by Mental Health Status
Scale while emotional intelligence and nonverbal intelligence were assessed by
Emotional Intelligence Scale for sport persons and Advanced Progressive
Matrices respectively. The results showed that age, gender and emotional
intelligence were the significant predictors of athletes positive mental health.
Emotional intelligence explained 29% variance in positive mental health when
age, gender and nonverbal intelligence were statistically controlled. The
significance of the results is discussed along with study limitations.
Keywords: Positive mental health, emotional intelligence, nonverbal intelligence,
athletes
Historically, two trends in psychology and

psychiatry have contributed to the concept
of mental health. One trend is more
pragmatic and consonant with current
psychiatric practice, which has made the
control and treatment of mental disorders its
primary objectives. This approach
characterizes mental health as the absence
of mental disease (Troisi & McGuire,1998).
The other attempts to understand and define
mental health in a positive sense that includes
the optimum of growth and happiness
combined with the capacity to participate in
the reproduction of society, a balance
between inner life and adaptations to reality,
and a successful welding into a whole of the
different parts of the personality leading to
an integrated self-concept. These definitions

emphasize a harmonious view of mental life.
This approach is more consistent with the
definition of health adopted by the World
Health Organization: Health is a state of
complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease
and infirmity (WHO, 2010). The concept of
mental health adopted in the present
investigation is congruent with the second
trend. Jahoda (1958) elaborated on this by
separating mental health into six domains
such as (a) attitudes toward ones own selfvarious distinctions in the manner of
perceiving oneself are regarded as
demonstrating higher or lower degrees of
health; (b) self-actualisation is concerned
17
with what a person does with his/her self over

a period of time; (c) autonomy singles out
the individuals degree of independence from
social influences as most revealing of he state
of his/her mental health; (d) perception of
reality denotes adequacy of an individuals
perception of reality; and (e) environmental
mastery includes adequacy in interpersonal
requirements, efficacy in meeting situational
requirements and problem solving. Over the
past30 years, research has contributed to an
understanding of what is meant by the term
mental health. Mental health has been
variously conceptualized as positive affect;
as a personality trait inclusive of
psychological resources of self-esteem and
mastery; and as resilience. These concepts
of positive mental health are considered to
be closely related to quality of life (KovessMasfety, Murray & Gureje, 2005).
Numerous studies have been conducted
in tune with the above mentioned
approaches. On one hand majority of
research reveals that involvement in physical
activity reduces symptoms of anxiety
(Gorman, 2002), depression (Morgan,
Roberts, Brand, & Feinerman, 1970), and
other serious mental health difficulties
including schizophrenia (e.g., Beebe, Tian,
Morris, Goodwin, Allen, & Kuldau, 2005;
Carless & Sparkes, 2008; Faulkner &
Sparkes, 1999; Fogarty & Happell, 2005;);
evidences for enhancing positive mental
health and well-being (Frank & Jason, 2005;
Gallagher & Brodrick, 2008; Thayer, Newman,
& McClain,1994) through physical activities
and exercise are in increase on the other
hand. However, little is known about factors
associated with positive mental health status
of individuals involved in competitive sporting
events. The mental health aspects of athletes
have been downplayed by the overemphasis
on sport achievements. The present study
attempted to figure out some of the potential
predictors of athletes positive mental health.
Predictors of athletes mental health.
Conceptually a plethora of person and
environmental factors supposed to influence

mental health of individuals. However, the
present study tried to examine four potentially
influential person factors namely, gender,
nonverbal intelligence and emotional
intelligence. Gender as a major source for
individual difference has been examined in
relation with mental health. There are myriad
of explanations for such a difference that
includes womens biological vulnerability to
certain psychological disorders, exposure to
specific stressors, and conceptual bias
favouring men (Greenglass, 1998).Thus one
of the correlates of mental health
investigated in the present was gender.
Mental health in accordance with
chronological age/ developmental stages
(E.g., Argyle, 2001; Diener & Lucas, 1999;
Hatch, Harvey, & Maughan, 2010) has been
another important area of mental health
research. This supports the common sense
notion of a possible relation between age and
mental health. Therefore another explanatory
variable selected for the present study was
chronological age. Notwithstanding the
theoretical reformation being happened on
the construct of intelligence, the role of
intelligence behaviour in successful sport
performance is not arguable. It is well
accepted that intelligence is a critical variable
associated with behavior across the majority
of everyday life (Barrett & Depinet, 1991;
Gordon, 1997; Gottfredson, 1997) including
scholastic achievement (Jensen, 1993) and
job performance (Ree & Earles, 1992;
Schmidt & Hunter, 1998).With the introduction
of emotional intelligence as a better predictor
of life success (Goleman, 1995, 1998) over
intelligence, sport performance has also been
examined for its relation with emotional
intelligence. However there is scarcity of
studies that investigate the role of intelligence
and emotional intelligence in relation with
positive mental health of athletes. Hence two
other variables studied in relation to mental
health were intelligence and emotional
intelligence.
18
Intellectual capabilities required for

successful athletic activity embrace aspects
such as attention, vision, sensorimotor
processing, timing, anticipation, time and
space perception, reaction time, cognitive
styles, decision making, information
processing, memory and recall, knowledge,
and experience (Tenenbaum & Bar-Eli, 1995).
These all appear to be related to nonverbal
intelligence in sport (Kontera,2010).
Ravens Progressive Matrices (RPM;
Raven, 1939) has become one of the leading
and most frequently used tests of nonverbal,
abstract reasoning ability (Mackintosh, 1996).
It is also widely regarded as the best tests of
Spearmans g, the general factor underlying
all cognitive abilities. Therefore we decided
to use Advanced Progressive Matrices
(Raven, 1989), an advanced version of the
RPM as the measure of nonverbal intelligence
for this research.
Different psychologists tried to evolve
models of emotional intelligence. Presently,
the most popular models of emotional
intelligence are the ability model (Eg., Mayer
& Salovey, 1997) competency model (Eg.,
Goleman, 1995, 1998) and personality model
(Eg., Bar-On, 2004). Competency models and
personality models are sometimes referred
to as mixed models because they describe a
compound conception of intelligence which
includes mental abilities and other
dispositions and traits while ability models
focus on the interplay of emotions and
intelligence. For the present purpose,
Golemans popular model of emotional
intelligence has been employed. He defined
intelligence as the ability to perceive
accurately, appraise, and express emotions;
the ability to access and/or generated feelings
when they facilitate thought; the ability to
understand emotion and emotional
knowledge; and the ability to regulate
emotions to promote emotional and
intellectual growth (Goleman, 1995).
Objectives:
The present study aimed to examine
some of the potential predictors of athletes
mental health. It was hypothesized that the
athletes age, gender, intelligence and
emotional intelligence scores could
significantly explain the variance in their
mental health scores. It was also hypothesized
that emotional intelligence could uniquely
explain variance in mental health when the
effects of age, gender and intelligence are
statistically controlled. The second hypothesis
was framed in accordance with the existing
knowledge that age, gender and nonverbal
intelligence are rather stable variables
accounted for individual difference while
emotional intelligence is subject to
manipulation.
Method
Participants:
The participants were 304 athletes (161
male and 143 female) from various parts of
India, participating in different competitive
sporting events (eg. athletics, basketball,
football, gymnastics, kayaking, rowing,
swimming and volleyball). Participation was
voluntary and all participants provided
consent to participate. The age of the
participants ranged from 15 to 31 years old
(M = 21.78, SD = 2.55).
Measures:
Mental Health Status Scale (Gireesan
& Sanandraj, 1988). This 72-item scale has
been developed for measuring the positive
mental health status of individuals. This refers
to behaviour, attitudes and feelings that
represent an individuals level of personal
effectiveness, success and satisfaction. This
test includes six sub scales such as attitudes
toward the self, self-actualization, integration,
autonomy, perception of reality and
environmental mastery. However, for the
present study only the aggregate score was
considered for assessing the participants
global mental health. Responses were made

on a 5-point scale ranging from strongly
agree (5) through strongly disagree (1). The
authors have reported acceptable
concurrent validity and test retest reliability.
Alpha coefficient estimated for the scale was
.94.
Emotional Intelligence Scale for sport
persons (EISS; Rajitha & Acharya, 2005).
EISS was developed for assessing emotional
intelligence of athletes. This 30-item measure
consists of five domains based on Golemans
(1995) theory of emotional intelligence such
as
self-awareness,
self-regulation,
motivation, empathy and social skills.
Responses were made on a 5-point scale
ranging from strongly agree (5) to strongly
disagree (1). The authors have established
validity and reliability of the scale including
Cronbach alpha, .87 and test-retest reliability
.82. For the present study only the aggregate
score of emotional intelligence was
considered.
Advanced progressive matrices (APM;
Raven,1989). The Ravens Progressive
Matrices (RPM) has been widely accepted as
the best available measure of Spearmans g.
The APM, one version of RPM, is appropriate
for adolescents and adults of above average
intelligence. The APM is a test of
observations, capacity for clear thinking and
accurate intellectual work. It involves two sets
set I and set II. Set I can be considered as a
preliminary test for the set II, which consists
of 36 problems while set I consists of 12
problems. Numerous reliability coefficients
have been reported by Raven that vary from
the low 0.80s to the high 0.90s. It has high
test retest reliability of 0.91.Validity of the

test has been studied in various ways. The
progressive matrices correlated against
verbal and other non-verbal group scales.
Results
The distributions of all variables were
examined through histograms, q-q plots,
values of skewness and kurtosis for
assumptions of normality. These analyses
showed no major deviation from normality. No
missing values were found. To check the
assumptions of the regression analysis, P-P
plots of the regression standardised residuals
and scatter plots of the standard residuals
were examined and ensured that there was
no violation of normality, linearity,
homoscedasticity, multicollearity. Multivariate
outliers were checked by inspecting the
Mahalanobis distances and Cooks distances
(Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007) and one case was
avoided from further analysis. The final set
of data comprised of 303 cases. The analysis
revealed significant correlations between
mental health and age (r = .15, p < .01), and
emotional intelligence (r = .53, p < .01). Age
was also correlated with emotional intelligence
(r = .16, p < .01). It was interesting to note
that the correlation between mental health
and nonverbal intelligence was not significant
(see Table 1).
Regression analysis:
The explanatory variables were
substantially correlated with the criterion
variable. Significant correlations were also
observed between predictor variables. The
tolerance values (>.1) and VIF (> 10) values
found to be within the limits (Pallant, 2007)
Table 1. Means, SD, and correlation matrix among the variables (N = 303)
Variable
M
SD
1
2
3
4
1 Age
16.78
2.55
.08
.16** .15**
2 Nonverbal intelligence 110.96 10.36
.05
.10
3 Emotional intelligence 106.76 11.95
53**
4 Mental health
266.01 18.62
**p< .01
19
20
and was estimated not to be a statistically

significant predictor ( =.07, R2 = .004), after
2
The analysis revealed a significant controlling for age and gender. The R
contribution of age ( =.12, p<.001) and change also was not significant. After entry
emotional intelligence ( =.50, p < .001,
gender ( =.19, p < .001) to the prediction of of the
2
R
=.236)
at step3, the total variance
mental health of athletes in the first step.
explained
by
the
model was 29%, F (2, 298)
These two variables explained 5% variance
in mental health scores. The model was = 31.53, p < .001. The emotional intelligence
significant, F(2, 300) = 9.02, p<.001. The score explained and additional 23.6% of the
entry of nonverbal intelligence at step2, the variance in mental health, after controlling for
total variance explained by the model as a age, gender and nonverbal intelligence, F
p < .001 (see Table
whole was 5.2 %, F (3, 299) = 6.49, p<.001. change (1,298) = 100.40,
2
2).
The
effect
size
(
f)
of
the R2 change was
Nonverbal intelligence explained an
additional .4% of the variance in mental health .34. Using Cohens (1988) conventions this
is a large effect.
Table 2. Prediction of mental health scores by emotional intelligence, with age and gender
controlled
that ruled out the possibility of multicollinearity
among the predictor variables.
Step
Step1
Step2
Step3
Independent Variables Adjusted R2 R2 change F

0.05
F ratio for
R2 change
9.02***
2.05*
3.27***
1.19
10.01***
Age
Gender
Nonverbal intelligence
0.052
0.004 6.49***
1.413
0.12
0.19
0.07
Emotional intelligence
0.29
0.236 31.53***
100.40***
0.5
* p<.05, ** p<.001, *** p<.001
Discussion
The present study aimed to examine
some of the potential predictors of athletes
mental health. Based on existing research
evidence, age, gender, intelligence and
emotional intelligence were identified and
investigated as potential explanatory
variables of mental health. Our first
hypothesis was partially supported by the
analysis. Age, gender, and emotional
intelligence could explain the variance in
mental health while nonverbal intelligence
failed to be a statistically significant predictor
of mental health. Age as a positive predictor
of athletes mental health warrants a few
reservations. Firstly, participants age range
was 15 to 31 years that covers only
adolescents, and young adults. This makes
generalization impossible across all age
groups other than adolescents and young
adults. Secondly, the study was on a sample

of athletes whose life style is thought to be
more active compared to a general
population. There is evidence that physically
fit individuals tend to be mentally healthy
(Stephens, 1988). Therefore it can be
asserted that age is a significant and positive
predictor of mental health as far as
adolescent and young athletes concerned.
Gender difference on mental health has
been frequently reported (Greenglass,
1998). In this present investigation, gender
has been estimated to be a significant
predictor of mental health of athletes. Dilalla
(1998) explained intellectual ability as one of
the genetic factors influencing mental health
and there are studies which supported this
claim (eg.,Asha, 2003). Some researchers
(eg. Saklofske, Mathews,& Zeinder, 1998)
emphasised a general framework for relating
intelligence to mental health provided by

cognitive models of well-being and
maladjustment. For them, well-being tends
to reflect peoples cognition about themselves
and the social and physical worlds they
inhabit. Depressed individuals tend to have
low self-esteem, to retrieve predominantly
negative memories of past events, and to
commit errors in reasoning that exaggerate
the negative side of life. However nonverbal
intelligence did not emerge as a significant
predictor of athletes mental health. On the
contrary emotional intelligence has come out
as a major predictor of the athletes mental
health. This finding suggest that cognitive
ability, in this case nonverbal intelligence, may
be a prerequisite for mental health but this
ability alone does not guarantee a happy and
contented life.
The present study results light upon a
rather complex realm of multiple intelligence
in the context of a controversy over Ravens
Progressive Matrices (RPM). Some
researchers have contented that RPM
measures spatial ability (Schweizer,
Goldhammer, & Rauch, 2007) and
theoretically, spatial ability has a close
correspondence with notions of spatial
intelligence in Gardners (Gardner, 1993,
2000) multiple intelligence. If these premises
are taken for granted, it can be derived that
the spatial intelligence scores do not have
much role in predicting mental health of
individuals with high kinesthetic intelligenceathletes.
The second hypothesis was supported
by the results of the present study. Emotional
intelligence could uniquely explain variance
in mental health when the effects of age,
gender and intelligence were statistically
controlled. The most important result of the
present study is the identification of emotional
intelligence as the most potent predictor of
mental health. It is not surprising that
emotional intelligence alone could account for
the majority of explained variance in mental
21
health even after controlling the effects of

age, gender and nonverbal intelligence. As
far as the theoretical notion presented by
Goleman (1995) is concerned there are all
the possibilities that emotional intelligence
can be positively related to mental health. The
conceptual similarities between some aspects
of positive mental health and emotional
intelligence may be attributed for such a
relation. Self-awareness and Social skills for
instance, are critical for emotional intelligence
that is mirrored in positive mental health as
part of attitude toward ones own self and
environmental mastery respectively. Studies
have revealed a positive correlation between
emotional intelligence and social skills as well
as with empathic perspective taking and selfmonitoring in social situations (Schutte,
Malouf, & Wendorf, 2001). Eventhough
emotional intelligence dominated in
prediction of sport performance (Samuel;
Heather; & Douglas 2003), the combination
of emotional intelligence and intelligence is a
more powerful predictor of success than either
measure alone (Victor, & Higgs, 2000). Future
studies may test the combined effect of
intelligence and emotional intelligence on
athletes mental health. Interestingly, the
bivariate correlation between emotional
intelligence and intelligence show that there
was no significant correlation between these
two variables as hypothesized by Goleman
(1995).
Contributions to the literature
notwithstanding, the current study has several
limitations that should be considered when
interpreting the results. First, the crosssectional nature of the research ruled out
drawing casual inferences regarding the
relationships between the predictor variables
and mental health. Second, a mixed model
of emotional intelligence was employed in the
study which presupposes a positive
relationship between mental health and
emotional intelligence. Prediction of mental
health using an ability-based emotional
22
intelligence test scores is warranted. Similarly,

effect of nonverbal intelligence may be
extended by incorporating verbal and
performance oriented intelligence test in
future research. Third, the present model may
be tested in groups differing age, sport type,
years of sport participation and expertise.
Fourth, the effects of environmental factors
like social support, and coaching climate may
also be included in the model. Finally, a
mediating role of athletic performance in the
relationship between emotional intelligence
and mental health is open for further enquiry.
As a whole, the present investigation
revealed some of the inner dynamics of
athletes positive mental health which will guide
the promotion of athletes mental health and
future research on the same topic.
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25
Work-Family Interference and Well-being in Indian Women:

Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (India)

The study aimed at examining the role of work interference with family (WIF)
and family interference with work (FIW) in well-being of Indian women. Further,
the study aimed to examine the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the
impact of work-family interference on well-being. The study was conducted on
124 married working women participants. The sample was drawn from Bank
organizations with a minimum five year working tenure in the same organization.
The age of the participants ranged between 30 and 45 years. For the purpose of
data collection, the participants received the work-family interference scale,
subjective well-being inventory, and multidimensional measure of emotional
intelligence. Both the measures of work-family interference, that is work
interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW), yielded
substantial negative correlations with general well being, the correlations being
-0.55 (p<.0001) and -0.535 (p<.0001), respectively. Whereas, emotional
intelligence has shown positive relationship with general well-being. The results
of regression analyses have indicated strong negative impact of WIF and FIW
on general well-being of Indian women (R = 0.62, R2 = 0.39, p<.0001). Emotional
intelligence mediated the impact of work-family interference on well-being
significantly; controlling emotional intelligence reduced the multiple R to 0.18,
which is non-significant. The findings of the study clearly suggest mediating
role of emotional intelligence in reducing the negative impact of work-family
interference on well-being of working Indian women. People high on emotional
intelligence experience lesser distress and maintain better well-being. Therefore,
it seems plausible that strategies enhancing the understanding and management
of emotions may play great role in handling distress at both levels that is work
and family.
Keywords: Work-family interference, Well-being, emotional Intelligence.
Health is regarded as a state of complete

physical, mental, and social well-being and
not just the absence of disease. It is
recognized that the experience of well-being
contributes to the effective functioning of
multiple biological systems, which may help
keep the individual from succumbing to
diseases, or when illness or harsh conditions
occur, may help promote rapid recovery.
Since well-being is a subjective experience,
it refers to peoples evaluations of their own
lives including both positive and negative.
Such evaluations can be both cognitive
judgments, e.g., life satisfaction, and

emotional responses to events, e.g., feeling
positive emotions (Diener & Fujita, 1995).
Subjective feelings of well-being, one of the
hallmarks of health, are characterized not
only by low levels of negative affect but also
higher levels of life satisfaction.
Ryff and Singer (1998) have
successfully established a model of
psychological well-being, or positive mental
health, that consists of six dimensions - selfacceptance, purpose in life, personal growth,
26
positive relations with others, environmental

mastery, and autonomy. However, DeNeve
and Cooper (1998) have suggested that
SWB has four conceptualisations: happiness,
positive affect, negative affect, and life
satisfaction. Ryan and Deci (2001), proposed
Self determination theory that views wellbeing in two main ways hedonic and
eudaimonic. The hedonic approach defines
well-being in terms of what brings us
happiness, satisfaction and pleasure, as well
as sadness, dissatisfaction and pain. The
eudaimonic approach considers well being in
terms of the extent to which the individual is
functioning at their full capacity. Ryan and
Deci (2001) argue that well-being requires
the individual to be fully functioning, but for
this, three basic needs must be met:
autonomy; competence and relatedness.
Fulfillment of these needs provides ideal
conditions for psychological growth, integrity,
well being, and vitality.
Although work and family are two
detached spheres of life, but they are
integrally linked and the two spheres overlap
and influence one another. Work-family
interference occurs when the demands of
work and non-work life are incompatible in
some respect so that participation in either
role is made more difficult by participation in
the other role (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985).
They recognized three types of incompatibility
between the home and work dimensions.
First, time spent in one role domain may leave
little time in the other domain. Second, strain
experienced in one area may affect the other
domain (i.e., so-called spillover effects).
Third, behavior that is permissible in one
domain is not possible in a second area.
There may even be a state of conflict between
these two broader domains of life. Conflict
theory claims that the work and family
environments are incompatible because they
have distinct norms and requirements.
According to role theory, work-family conflict
occurs when individuals engage in multiple
roles that are incompatible. It indicates that
managing multiple roles (e.g., spouse, parent,

employee) is seen as difficult, and inevitably
creates strain and conflicts between the
demands of work and family (Greenhaus &
Beutell, 1985). Small and Riley (1990) view
work-family conflict and negative spillover
along with the scarcity approach to multiple
roles. The argument is that because people
have fixed amounts of resources, the
fulfillment of multiple roles is likely to result in
depletion of these scarce resources and
ultimately in strain (Rothbard, 2001). Since
individuals have limited time and energy,
occupying multiple roles creates inter-role
conflict and role overload, which in turn
causes psychological distress and physical
exhaustion.
Work-family interference can have an
important effect on the quality of both work
and family life. Frone, Barnes and Farrell
(1994) suggested that work-family conflict
reflects the overall goodness-of-fit between
an employees job and family life, and this
conflict is an important source of stress that
can influence an employees well-being.
Antecedent conditions in work and family
domains may or may not be highly stressful
when considered alone, but their joint
occurrence is apt to produce distress
(Bedeian, Burke & Moffett, 1988), suggesting
an additive effect (Frone, Russell & Cooper,
1992). Consistent with this expectation, workfamily conflict has been linked to heightened
psychological distress (e.g., Barling &
MacEwen, 1992; Burke, 1989; Durup, 1993;
Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1991;
Parasuraman, Greenhaus, & Granrose,
1992), lowered life satisfaction (e.g., Aryee,
1992; Bedeian et al., 1988; Rice, Frone, &
McFarlin, 1992), increases in physical
symptomatology (e.g., Guelzow, Bird, &
Koball, 1991; Klitzman, House, Israel, & Maro,
1990), and elevated levels of heavy alcohol
use (e.g., Bromet et al., 1990; Frone, Russell,
& Cooper, 1994). Despite the fact that prior
research supports a relationship between
work-family interference and employee
health, the studies reviewed above generally

suffer from a major conceptual limitation
regarding the assessment of work-family
conflict. Most studies have either assessed
work-to-family or family-to-work conflict only
or have used global measures that confound
the two types of work-family conflict.
Nonetheless, few studies have examined
simultaneously the relations between both
types of work-family conflict and general
health outcomes (Frone et al., 1992; Hughes
& Galinsky, 1994; Klitzman et al., 1990;
MacEwen & Barling, 1994; ODriscoll, Ilgen,
& Hildreth, 1992). This study also examines
both types of work-family conflict in order to
understand fully the impact of the work-family
interference on employee well-being.
Recent work under individual differences
approach to stress has paid attention toward
the effectiveness of emotional intelligence (EI)
in dealing with stress related situation. A
notion central to emotional intelligence is that
individuals differ in their abilities to perceive,
understand and use emotional information,
and that these abilities contribute significantly
to various forms of life success (Bar-On,
2000; Goleman, 1995; Mayer & Salovey,
1997). Besides general and academic
interest in EI, the concept has drawn the
attention of management in its efforts to
enhance workers and managers skills in
terms of mood control, happiness, optimism,
teamwork, cooperation, and the like. Some
recent empirical studies have found EI as an
important construct related to positive
outcomes such as prosocial behavior,
parental warmth, and positive family and peer
relations (Mayer et al., 1999; Salovey, Mayer,
Caruso, & Lopes, 2001). In addition, studies
have shown that lower EI is related to negative
outcomes, including deviant behavior and
poor relations with peers (Brackette, Mayer,
& Warner, 2004). Efforts have been devoted
toward understanding the role of emotional
intelligence in daily behaviour and particularly
in stress (BarOn & Parker, 2000; Slaski &
Susan, 2003). Salovey and his colleagues
27
(1991) claim that individuals high on

emotional intelligence cope with stress more
successfully, because they accurately
perceive and appraise their emotional states,
know how and when to express their feelings,
and can effectively regulate their mood
states. Adaptive coping might be
conceptualized as emotional intelligence in
action, supporting mastery of emotions and
emotional growth. EI has also been found to
be associated with a range of outcomes which
in a broad sense can be regarded as relating
to quality of life. Findings show positive
association of EI with life satisfaction, size and
quality of social network, and negative
associations with loneliness (Palmer,
Donaldson & Stough, 2002; Saklofske, Austin,
& Minski, 2003). The possibility of association
between EI and health status and health
behaviors is an interesting one which has not
been widely studied.
The present day availability of better
educational opportunities and the nuclear
family system have led to increase in women
participation in work outside home in large
numbers, resulting in the emergence of dual
earner families. Bharat (2000) noted that
working women and their spouses continue
to regard breadwinning as essentially a
mans job and home management as a
womans job. Hence, even if employed, Indian
women continue to bear the burden of family
responsibilities over and above work
responsibilities, it becomes an additional
source of stress and strain for working
women. A systematic review of prior stream
of research make obvious that studies
applying the bi-directional nature of negative
work-family interaction and simultaneously
including well-being indicators from several
life domains are, however, scarce. W-F
conflict construct is seldom studied in the
collectivistic societies. Moreover, studies on
W-F issues in the Indian settings are
characterized by a clear and distinct lack of
focus (Rajadhyaksha, & Smitha, 2004). The
present study mainly seeks to examine W-F
28
interference as a bi-directional construct and

effect of W-F interference on general wellbeing and seeks to extend the role of
emotional intelligence in understanding this
construct in the Indian setting.
Method
Participants:
The participants in the study were 124
married working women in the age range of
30 to 45 years. The participants were drawn
through purposive sampling with the criteria
for inclusion being that the respondents are
married for at least five years, spouse living
together, having one or two children, and
working in the same organization for not less
than five years. This was done to ensure that
the respondents would have a perceptible
experience of WFC and FWC.
Measures:
1. Work-family Interference Scale: The
14-item work-family interference scale,
measuring two dimensions of work-family
interference that is Work interference with
Family (WIF) and Family interference with
Work (FIW), was constructed by the authors
based on different existing measures in the
area developed by Frone and his colleagues,
1992 (Carlson, Kacmar & Williams, 2000). The
coefficient alpha for WIF and FIW subscales
was estimated as .83 and .82, respectively
with an overall scale coefficient alpha of .89
(N=245).
2. Subjective Well-being Inventory (Sell
& Nagpal, 1985): The 40-item inventory is
meant to measure feelings of well-being or
ill-being as experienced by an individual in
various day-to-day life concerns. The
inventory covers eleven components of
general well-being but the present study
utilized 35 items tapping nine components.
Sell and Nagpal (1985) provide strong
evidence for factorial validity of the inventory.
3. Multidimensional Measure of
Emotional Intelligence (MMEI; Darolia, 2003):
The MMEI is based on Golemans (1995)
model of emotional intelligence and taps five

broad dimensions self-awareness,
managing emotions, motivating oneself,
empathy, and handling relationships. The
measure comprises 70 items, 14 items for
each dimension. The coefficient alpha for
MMEI ranged between .76 and .81 and the
test-retest coefficients between .79 and .84
with a time gap of 40 days (N=415). The
construct validities of the five scales range
from .68 to .76.
The obtained data were analyzed for
zero-order correlation and regression
analyses. Zero-order correlations among all
the pairs of variables were computed through
Pearson product moment method. Series of
regression analyses were run to examine the
direct and indirect impact of work-family
conflict on well-being and mediating role of
emotional intelligence.
Results
The results of correlational analysis
(table-1) indicate that work interference with
family (WIF) and family interference with work
(FIW) both correlate negatively with general
well-being. Correlations are of substantial
degree, i.e., -.552 (p<.001) and -.535 (.001),
respectively, suggesting thereby detrimental
impact of WIF and FIW on well-being of Indian
working women. WIF (r= -.232, p<.01) and
FIW (r= -.428, p<.001) also correlate
negatively with emotional intelligence.
However, emotional intelligence correlates
positively with well-being (r=.405, p<.001)
indicating that emotional intelligence
facilitates the subjective well-being.
The mediating role of emotional
intelligence in the relationship between workfamily interference and general well-being, if
any, was examined through Causal Steps
Strategy proposed by Baron and Kenny
(1986). This strategy estimates the three
paths of the basic ordinary mediation model
using OLS regression and assesses the
extent to which several criteria are met. The
first criterion for mediating effect, that
29
independent variables significantly account

for variability in the dependent variable has
clearly been met. Family interference with
Work (FIW) and Work interference with
Family (WIF) jointly account for 39% of the

variance (R=.62) in general wellbeing (see
Table 2). It shows that FIW and WIF exert
considerable degree of impact on general
well-being of working women.
Table 1. Means, SDs, and Correlations

Variables
WIF
FIW
GWB
Means
SDs
WIF
0.485
-0.415
18.2
5.04
FIW
0.526
-0.338
16.27
5.33
GWB
-0.552
-0.535
82.33
8.44
EI
-0.232
-0.428
0.405
236.92
15.19
Table 2. Summary of Regression Analysis
i.
M u ltip le R
IV : W IF an d FIW ; D V : W el l-b ei ng
2
F
df
R
.6 23
.39
38 .29 2
2/12 1
.0 00 1
Va ri ab le
SE of B
W IF
-.62 7
.1 40
-4 .47 7
.0 00 1
F IW
-.53 6
.1 33
-4 .04 4
.0 00 1
ii.
M u ltip le R
.4 28
Va ri ab le
W IF
F IW
iii.
M u ltip le R
.4 05
Va ri ab le
EI
iv .
M u ltip le R
.4 43
Va ri ab le
W IF
F IW
IV: W IF a nd FIW ; D V: Em o ti on al In te lli ge nc e

F
df
p
R2
.1 83
13 .56 6
2/12 1
.0 00 1
B
SE of B
t
p
-.03 2
.3 06
-.10 3
.91 8 n .s .
-1 .26 9
.2 90
-4 .37 7
.0 00 1
IV: E m o tion al In tell ige nc e (E I); D V: W ell- be in g
R2
F
df
p
Second step in meditational model is to highly significant. It is pertinent to mention that
.1 64
23 .87 6
2/12 2
.0 00 1
ascertain
that predictor
among
FIW and WIF, FIW contributes highest
B
S E o f B variables significantly
t
p
account
for
the
variability
in
mediator
to
the
emotional intelligence with a
.2 14
.0 44
4.88 6
.0 01
variable.
The
ofd) ;regression
analysis
standardized regression coefficient of -.42 as
IV : W
IF an d F IW
( EIresults
C on tro lle
D V : W e ll-b ei
ng
2
F
df
p
R
in which emotional intelligence (EI, a mediator) compared
to WIF (b= -.01). Therefore, the
.1
97
14
.81
1
2/12
1
.0
00
1
was predicted through WIF and FIW (main second
criterion towards potential mediation
B
SE of B
t
p
predictors)
show.0 that
FIW and
WIF have .0
by01emotional intelligence is also met.
-.32 8
93
-3 .52 3
yielded
R of .43 with
emotional
-.17 9 a Multiple
.0 93
-1 .91
8
.05 7 n .s It
. is also necessary for the mediation
intelligence (p<.001). It means 18 percent of
the variance in emotional intelligence is
accounted for by the FIW and WIF which is
effect that mediator variable directly affects

the dependent or outcome variable. On this
account, general well-being was regressed
30
upon emotional intelligence. Results indicate

that EI accounts 16.4 percent of the variance
in general well-being (R=.405, p<.001).
Since, the meditational model has met all the
three criteria of potential mediation by the
mediator, controlling of emotional intelligence
should significantly lower the FIW and WIF
relationship with GWB than their direct effect.
Therefore, in order to establish that
emotional intelligence mediates the impact of
work-family interference on general wellbeing, dependent variable general well-being
was regressed upon the main predictor
variable, i.e., work-family interference
controlling for emotional intelligence.
The impact of WIF and FIW on general
well-being while controlling for emotional
intelligence, has been shown by their multiple
correlation (R=.44, p<.001). It indicates that
about 19.67 percent of variance in general
well-being is accounted for by WIF and FIW
controlling emotional intelligence. It clearly
shows that control of EI has substantially
reduced the impact of FIW and WIF on
general well-being. When emotional
intelligence was not controlled as mediating
variable the percentage of variance
accounted for by WIF and FIW was 39 as
compared to 19.7 while controlling emotional
intelligence. It is not only that partialling out
the impact of emotional intelligence has
reduced the overall contribution of WIF and
FIW rather the contribution of each individual
trait has also been reduced. It is clearly
apparent from the values of standardized
regression coefficients. The standardized
regression coefficient of WIF, in particular, has
reduced to .28 as compared to its original
regression coefficient of .34. These results
show that EI mediates substantially the impact
of work interference with family on well-being
of Indian working women.
Discussion
The reciprocal effects of work
interference with family (WIF) and family
interference with work (FIW) and their

impairing impact on general well-being have
been central to several researches in recent
past (Frone, 2003; Geurts & Demerouti,
2003). Although previous research has
emphasized one or the other form of
interference, few empirical studies have
examined the joint antecedents and outcomes
of these two forms of interference. Within this
context the present study was aimed to shed
light on work-family interference in a specific
population of a collectivistic society, to
evaluate the relationship of the quality of this
interference to individuals well-being, and to
evaluate the shaping influence of emotional
intelligence on the work-family interference
experience.
The results showed that the work-family
conflict had significant negative influence on
Indian womens general well-being. This
finding is in tune with some other earlier
studies (Durup, 1993; Frone et al., 1992;
Hughes & Galinsky, 1994; Klitzman et al.,
1990; MacEwen & Barling, 1994). It could be
attributed to joint occurrence of FIW and WIF
since, suggesting an additive effect; joint
occurrence of these two is more apt to
produce distress as suggested by Bedeian
and his colleagues (1988). The study has
further highlighted considerable impact of
emotional intelligence on the feelings of wellbeing among Indian women. This finding
empirically favours earlier researches that
have theorized that high emotional
intelligence leads to greater feelings of wellbeing (Saklofske et al., 2003, Palmer et al.,
2002, Salovey et al., 1991; Goleman, 1995).
The ability to be aware of ones and others
emotions, and capable of managing them
successfully enhances ones well-being when
facing work-family conflict. It is suggestible that
emotional intelligence can be thought of as
something one can develop which serves as
buffer against the stress arising from
conflicting inter-domain demands and helps
maintaining a healthy well-being.
The findings of a significant impact of

work-family conflict and interactive effect of
emotional intelligence on well-being provide
an empirical support to the views of Lenaghan
and his colleagues (2007). The present data
suggest that emotional intelligence acts as a
protector variable against negative impact of
work-family conflict on ones well-being
suggesting thereby that individuals with high
emotional intelligence and low work-family
conflict will have high well-being and
individuals with low emotional intelligence and
high work-family conflict will have low wellbeing. Thus, in situations where one
experiences a significant amount of workfamily conflict, the possession of high
emotional intelligence will protect and
maintain their well-being.
The study offers several implications in
the organizational set up. The present data
provide inputs to benefit organizations as well
as working individuals. Despite employers
having numerous positive initiatives, many
employees face debilitating stress from the
conflict that arises on account of maintaining
balance between work and family domains.
Given the long reach of job, this study
highlights the need for employers to create
workplace conditions that are family and work
friendly. In particular, the central role of
emotional intelligence in predicting impact of
work-family conflict on general well-being
suggests that employers need to ensure that
employees have the skills that are necessary
to maintain effective working relationships.
The finding that emotionally intelligent
individuals have higher well-being when
facing work-family conflict aptly suggests that
organizations can target resources to help
individuals develop and improve their
emotional intelligence in order to better
handle the conflicting demands. By helping
employees effectively deal with the inherent
emotions of handling the family and work
domains, employers will also benefit as
Cappelli (2003) noted, when employees
31
believe that their employer is supportive of

their well-being, they are more committed.
Therefore, organizations that can effectively
offer training in the abilities underlying the
construct of emotional intelligence will
ultimately enjoy more committed employees.
Furthermore, organizations that assist
employees in improving their emotional
intelligence will also benefit by reducing the
dysfunctional behavior that results when
employees become overwhelmed by stress.
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Received: December 12, 2010

Revision received: December 29, 2010
Anju Rani, SRF, Department of Psychology, Kurukshetra University,

Kurukshetra 136119. E-mail: anzurani@gmail.com.
C. R. Darolia, PhD, Professor of Psycholgoy, Department of Psychology,
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34
Self-efficacy and Mental Health of

Women Teacher Students
Mohammad Sheikhiani and Bindu P. Nair
University of Kerala, Trivandrum
The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between selfefficacy and mental health among Teacher students of the Boushehr University,
Iran. The sample (N=170) was randomly selected from the teacher students
and stratified on the basis of their training fields into five groups: Mathematics
Teaching, Primary School Teaching, Experimental Sciences, Religion and Arabic
Teaching, and Social Studies Teaching. The age range of the participants was
between 19 and 21years. Two validated instruments General Self-efficacy and
General Health Questionnaire were used in collecting data. Pearson product
moment correlation coefficient was utilized to analyze data.Correlation analyses
showed a significant reverse relationship between General Self-efficacy and
Mental Health suggesting that increased self-efficacy is associated with decrease
in symptoms threatening mental health and vice versa. The moderate relationship
between General Self-efficacy and Mental Health indicates that General Selfefficacy might be a resource for increasing the mental health of the teacher
student.
Keywords : Self efficacy , Mental health.
Theoreticians have professed that

development is the result of four factors,
namely natural resources, capital, technology
and human resources. Amongst these factors,
human resources play the most basic role in
the growth and development of societies. The
educational system of a country constitutes
an important human resource, and a mental
and spiritual asset. The Ministry of Education
of Iran admits a number of candidates every
year who are trained to become school
teachers. These teacher students enjoy
privileges, but some, due to studying at
round-the-clock centers, being away from the
family, adapting to a new social life, etc suffer
from psychological disorders as depression,
physical complaints, reduced social
performance, and the like. They may even
suffer from severe anxieties, resulting in drop
out, individual and social tensions,
communication problems, and eventually
dismissal from the field of education.
Health-related quality of life is a

multidimensional construct that consists of
physiological, psychological, and functional
aspects of well-being as seen from the
individuals own perspective (RavensSieberer & Bullinger, 1998). The concept of
health promotion comprises active support of
the physical, social and mental well-being of
individuals (Ravens-Sieberer & et al., 2001;
Helseth & Lund, 2005).
Mental health is a construct whose
contribution to personal growth is
investigated in the pre-sent work. The term
mental health, according to Microsoft Encarta
(2004) refers to ones ca-pability to love and
relate to others and the willingness to behave
in a way that brings per-sonal satisfaction
without encroaching upon the rights of others
in other words, it is the capacity to be well
adapted and emo-tionally well adjusted. It is
the condition of the individual, relative to the
capacities and social environment of that

person. Mental health or lack of it is one of
the most important issues in any population
and student population is no exception.
Therefore, more research on health and
psychosocial factors that may enhance the
well-being of teacher students is needed.
Thus, the concept of self-efficacy has been
suggested as a focus in teachers training.
Self-efficacy refers to an individuals
belief about his/her ability to effectively
produce a behavior (Bandura, 1977, 1986,
1997). It refers to beliefs in ones capabilities
to organize and execute the courses of action
required producing given attainments
(Bandura, 1997). The theory of self-efficacy
was first published by Bandura in 1977. Since
then self-efficacy has been researched in
many fields and found to be related to clinical
problems such as phobias, addiction,
depression, social skills and assertiveness;
to stress in a variety of contexts; to smoking
behaviour; to pain control; to health; and to
athletic performance (Pajares, 1997). Selfefficacy has been positively associated with
better health status outcomes in a range of
conditions relevant to rehabilitation (Scholz,
Dona, Sud, & Schwarzer, 2002; Carlsson,
Bjorvatn, Engebretsen, Berglund, & Natvig,
2004; Kereitler, Peleg, & Ehrenfeld, 2007).
Motl and Snook (2008) showed that greater
self-efficacy beliefs in function and control
were associated with being more physically
active, and were positively associated with
greater physiological and psychological
components of quality of life. In a related
report, lower levels of depression were found
to be associated with higher levels of selfefficacy and higher levels of social support
(Motl, McAuley, Snook, & Gliottoni, 2009).
Wright et al. (1996) found that low self-efficacy
for managing pain and distress contributed
to predictions of depression in patients.
Similarly, Beckham, Rice, Talton, and Helms
(1994) also report associations between low
self-efficacy, psychological distress and poor
physical functioning.
35
Self-efficacy affects variety of health

behaviors among older adults. Research
typically finds a strong relationship between
perceptions of self-efficacy and both initial
health behavior change and long-term
maintenance of that behavior change
(Bandura, 1977, 1986). Self-efficacy
indicates ones perception of competence
and control over the events of their life
(Bandura, 1977, 1986; Nastasi & DeZolt,
1994). An individuals perceptions of
competence are therefore assumed to
directly influence his/her initial attempts at
coping or adopting with new life situations,
the amount of effort expended, and the
degree of persistence in the face of difficulty
(Bandura, 1977, 1986; Harter, 1990; Nastasi
& DeZolt, 1994; Scholz at al., 2002; Natvig
Albrektsen, & Qvarnstrom, 2003). So,
individuals who perceive themselves as
competent are more likely to meet stress with
the confidence, effort, and persistence that
are necessary for successful coping. Personal
success and social reinforcements from
others are likely to promote self-efficacy and
motivation and facilitate coping endeavors
(Nastasi & DeZolt, 1994).
Over more than two decades, there has
been a large amount of general research
identifying self efficacy as a crucial variable
in predicting behavior and in understanding
psychological well-being. In terms of mental
health, positive self-efficacy is associated with
psychological well-being and less
psychological distress. (Coleman & Karraker,
1998).
Banduras (1977, 1986, 1989)
theoretical writings identify self-efficacy in
terms of perceptions of ones skills in a given
domain. A crucial point to consider is that selfefficacy is likely to vary for different behaviors
in different contexts. That is, self-efficacy is
some-thing that is domain-specific. In the
present study we have focused on a
particular dimension of students
psychological problems, namely mental health
problems.
36
Self-efficacy and Mental Health
An individuals overall sense of selfworth is referred to as self-esteem, which is

believed to influence that persons mental
health and social and behavioral adjustment
capabilities (Harter, 1990; Scholz at al.,
2002). Self-esteem is partly influenced by the
discrepancy
between
perceived
competencies and culturally or sociallyvalued competencies (Nastasi & DeZolt,
1994).
Research Question:
The present study examines the
relationship between self-efficacy and mental
health among teacher students. The main
question is: is there any relationship between
the self-efficacy and mental health of teacher
students?
Method
Participants:
The population for the study comprised
of teacher students of the Boushehr
University, in Iran of which 170 participants
were ran-domly selected through a stratified
random sampling technique from the 5
training fields: Mathematics Teaching, Primary
School Teaching, Experimental Sciences,
Religion and Arabic Teaching, and Social
Studies Teaching. The age range of
participants was between 19 and 21years.
Measures:
Self-efficacy: This was measured by the
General Self-efficacy Scale (GSS) developed
by Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995). It is a
10-item scale that assesses self-efficacy
based on personality disposition. Participants
responded by indicating their extent of
agree-ment with each of the 10 statements
using a four-point Likert scale of 1 (not at all
true) to 4 (exactly true). The GSS has
demonstrated high internal consistencies with
Cronbach alphas ranging from .75 and .90
(Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995). The scale is
parsimonious, reliable and culturally fair. It has
also proven valid in terms of convergent and
discriminate va-lidity. For example, it
correlates positively with self-esteem and

optimism and negatively with anxiety,
depression and physical symptoms. Examples
of items in the scale include It is easy for me
to stick to my aims and accomplish my goals
and If I am in trouble, I can usually think of a
solution. Higher scores indicate high selfefficacy. Reliability of the General SelfEfficacy Scale was estimated using two
methods viz., the Spear-Brown split-half
method and coefficient of Cronbach alpha.
The split-half reliability of the GSS was 0.86
(N=100) and the Cronbach alpha reliability
of the GSS was 0.90 (N=100). To find the
validity of the scale, it was correlated with two
external criteria, Beck Depression Inventory
(BDI) (Beck, 1961) and StateTrait Anxiety
Inventory (STAI) (Spielberger, 1983). The
correlation using the Pearson product
moment formula was found to be - 0.53
(N=100) with BDI and - 0.71 (N=100) with
STAI which are significant at 0.00 level.
Mental Health :This was measured using
the adapted and modified version of the
General Health Questionnaire (GHQ28) by
Goldberg (1981). It is a 28-item scale with 4
subscales that assesses somatic symptoms,
anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunctions,
and severe depression. Participants
responded by indicating the extent of their
agree-ment with each of the 28 statements
using a four-point Likert scale, the choices
typicallybeing not at all, no more than usual,
rather more than usual and much more than
usual, scoring from 0 to 3, respectively. The
total possible score on the GHQ 28 ranges
from 0 to 84, whit higher scores indicating
poor mental health. The scale also allows the
means and deviations to be calculated, both
for the global total, as well as for the four subscales. Reliability coefficients have ranged
from 0.78 to 0.95 in various studies. Examples
of some of the items in use include Have you
found everything getting on top of you?;
Have you been getting scared or panicky for
no good reason? and Have you been getting
edgy and bad tempered? Reliability of the
general health scale estimated using two

methods viz., the Spear-Brown split-half
ranged from .55 to .80. and coefficient of
Cronbachs alpha ranged from .74 to .81. To
find the validity of the scale, it was correlated
with two external criteria, Beck Depression
Inventory(BDI) (Beck,1961) and State Trait
Anxiety Inventory(STAI)(Spielberger,1983).
The correlation using the Pearson product
moment formula was found to be 0.82
(N=100) with BDI and 0.68 (N=100) with STAI,
which are significant at 0.00 level. This shows
the test has concurrent validity.
Results
Initial analysis of data included mean and
standard deviation descriptive for self efficacy
and mental health (subscales and total scale)
(Table 1).
Table 1. Mean and SD for self efficacy and
mental health
Variables
Mean
SD
37
variables under study. The mean score of the

self-efficacy was 29.88 (SD = 6.14). The
mean scores of the physical symptoms was
5.25 (SD = 3.94), anxiety and insomnia was
6.4(SD = 4.73), Social dysfunction was
10.9(SD = 4.71), and depression was 2.69
(SD = 4.03). Also the mean score of mental
health was 23.99 (SD = 2.88).
The results of the correlation coefficient
among the independent variables (selfefficacy) and the criterion variable (physical
symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social
dysfunction, depression, and mental health)
are given in Table 2. It was found that teacher
students self-efficacy and their scores on
mental health and all its sub-scales were
significantly negatively correlated. Selfefficacy correlated negatively with physical
symptoms (r=-.19; p<.01), anxiety and
insomnia (r=-.23; p<.01), social dysfunction
(r =-.30; p<.01), depression (r=-.27; p<.01)
and also with mental health (r=-.33; p<.01).
Here it should be borne in mind that MHQ is
scored in such a manner that higher scores
of it indicates poorer mental health. Thus, the
significant inverse relationship between selfefficacy and mental health suggests that as
self-efficacy increases, psychological distress
decreases, thereby enhancing the mental
health of the individual.
Self-efficacy
88.29 14.6
physical symptoms
25.5
94.3
anxiety and insomnia 4.6
73.4
Social dysfunction
9.10
71.4
depression
69.2
03.4
mental health
99.23 88.2
Table 1 displays the mean and standard
deviation obtained by the subjects in
Table 2. Correlation Matrix for the relationship between self-efficacy and
Variable
Physical Anxiety
Social
Depression Mental health
symptoms and insomnia dysfunction
Self-efficacy
-0.19**
-0.23**
-0.30**
-0.27**
-0.33**
*p < .05.
**p < .01.
Discussion
Results from this study showed a
moderate negative but significant association
between general self-efficacy (GSE) and
mental health (MH) (r= -.33; p <.01) (vide
tables 1 and 2).It has been noted that a
strong sense of personal self-efficacy is
related to better health )Bandura,1997). A
review of the literature also shows positive
associations between GSE and MH (Scholz

at al,.2002; Carlsson at al.,2004; Kreitler at
al.,2007). A person who believes in being able
to produce a desired effect can lead a more
active and self-determined life. Previous
studies have found that a high degree of GSE
is related to high self-belief (Bandura,1997).
GSE is a characteristic that can be
altered through educational programming
38
Self-efficacy and Mental Health
(Cross at al.,2006; Holloway & Watson ,2002).

An optimistic belief in oneself helps in setting
goals, initiating actions and maintaining
motivation (Schwarzer,1994). People with a
high level of self-efficacy choose to perform
more challenging tasks. They set themselves
higher goals and stick to them . Self-efficacy
and the feeling of being able to achieve
certain goals using ones capacities play
fundamental roles in the health and wellbeing of school children (Bandura,1997;
Natvig,2003).
The main finding of the present study is
that general self-efficacy was significantly
negatively associated with mental health in
women teacher students. An increasing
degree of general self-efficacy (GSE) is
related to a decreasing degree of somatic
symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social
dysfunction and severe depression as well
as better mental health. In a rehabilitation
context, self-efficacy is important for
understanding the psychological, cognitive
and physical functioning of the client. Greater
levels of self-efficacy are typically associated
with less psychological distress (e.g. anxiety
and depression), greater tolerance of pain
and other symptoms, increased ability to
cope, greater use of self-care activities and
better physical health. This suggests that
improving self-efficacy may be one way of
positively influencing psychological, cognitive
and physical functioning among people
attending rehabilitation.
The authors conclude that self-efficacy
is an important domain to be assessed and
included in the rehabilitation and patient
education. Thus, intervention strategies that
are aimed at improving self-efficacy and
mental health are needed in teacher students
programs. More research is needed to
determine the kind of intervention programs
to be implemented this regard.
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Care and Research.

Accepted: December 31, 2010
Mohammad Sheikhiani, PhD Research Scholar, Department of Psychology,

University of Kerala, Trivandrum - 695 581.
Bindu P Nair, PhD. Senior Lecturer, Dept of Psychology, University of Kerala
Trivandrum - 695 581.
40
Personal Influences in Depression among Female Adolescents

Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar,

Mental Health issues among female adolescents are an area of concern for
medical and behavioral sciences. The present study was conducted on a sample
of 170 female adolescents. BDI - II was administered to assess the depression
level, for assessing the personal variables of self-acceptance, relationships,
achievement orientation, and fair treatment personal meaning questionnaire was
used. After analyzing the data statistically, it has been observed in the findings
that relationships and self acceptance have potential relationship with the
depression level and reveals the correlation of (-.19*), (-26*) respectively.
Achievement orientation and fair treatment also affect the level of depression in
female adolescents revealing the correlations of (.19*), (-.31**) respectively.
Keywords: Depression, Self Acceptance, Achievement orientation.
Depression is one of the most prevalent of

the psychiatric disorders and is common
among individuals. Depression often begins
in adolescence. Adolescent depression is
one of the most common and over-looked
problems today leading to serious difficulties
in school, work and personal adjustment,
which also continue into adulthood (Brage,
1995). Depressive symptoms are often
viewed as normal adolescent behavior or
moodiness. Adolescents with depressive
symptoms have difficulty in expressing how
they feel and may use other means of
expression such as acting out, which often is
interpreted as misbehavior (NIMH, 2000).
According to the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMIV-TR),depressive symptoms include feeling
sad or empty, markedly diminished interest
or pleasure in activities, weight gain or loss,
insomnia or hyper-somnia, psychomotor
agitation, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness,
diminished ability to think or concentrate, and
recurrent thoughts of death (APA, 2000).
There is consensus across studies of
clinical and community samples that
adolescent girls report and exhibit more
symptoms of depression than boys and that

these symptoms persist into adulthood with
the prevalence of depression in community
studies of adults being about twice as high
for women as men. This increased differential
risk emerges during adolescence and is
thought to begin at puberty (Freud, 1953).
Researchers have deemed the increase in
prevalence rates at puberty the most
significant developmental trend in the
phenomenon of depression (Wenar & Kerig,
2000). In contrast to early models of
adolescent development (Freud, 1953),
recent work in adolescence has been
characterized by an increasing interest in
gender-specific developmental issues
experienced by girls (Gilligan, Lyons &
Hanmer, 1990). The majority of recent studies
confirm that, relative to boys, the period of
adolescence represents especially significant
challenge for the psychological adjustment
of girls (Mc Grath, Keita, Strickland & Russo,
1990).
There are many reasons why
adolescent females may become depressed.
Some research has led to the conclusion that
self-defeating beliefs feed the cycle of
41
depression. Self defeating thoughts come

from learned helplessness from society.
Women are more likely to be abused, made
to feel helpless, and feel vulnerable. Females
also respond much stronger to stress (Myers,
2004). Some of the major established risk
factors for depression include stressful life
events (Chang, 2001) internalizing or
ruminative coping styles (Cramer, 1997), and
low self-esteem (Hirsch & Dubots, 1991).
The focus of the present research work
was to see the influences of personal
attributes like self acceptance, relationships,
and achievement orientation in depression
among female adolescents.
Self-Acceptance and Depression
Self-acceptance is being loving and
happy with who you are now. Some call it selfesteem, others self-love, but whatever you
call it, youll know when your accepting
yourself cause it feels great. Its an agreement
with yourself to appreciate, validate, accept
and support who you are at this very moment.
Female adolescents are more preoccupied
with physique and appearance than are those
in other age groups (Bruch, 1981) and they
are more likely to identify themselves as
overweight than are males. Research has
indicated that female adolescents tend to be
dissatisfied with their body weight, size, and
shape (Huon, 1994). For example, Moore
(1998) reported that dissatisfaction with body
weight and shape was highest among females
aged 12 through 23 years.
A distorted perception of ones body is
among the determinants of disturbances in
self-esteem (Gardner, Friedman, & Jackson,
1999). A more negative body image is related
to lower self-esteem. Low self-esteem is
usually considered unhealthy, but according
to rational-emotive behavior therapy, any
level of self-esteem reflects a dysfunctional
habit of globally evaluating ones worth; it
would be preferable to accept oneself
unconditionally. A depressed individual can

impact their social settings by exhibiting a lack
of self-esteem, becoming more sensitive to
the opinions of others, and more importantly
(and interestingly), become less physically
active (Lewinsohn, Gotlib & Seeley,1997).
The connections between self-esteem
and depression have also been shown in their
relation to body image in samples of eating
disordered
patients
(Hsu,
1990),
experimental studies of female college
students (Irvung, 1990), adult women
(Streigel-Moore, Silberstein, & Rodin, 1993),
and longitudinal studies of adolescent girls
(Button, Loan & Sonuga-Barke, 1997).
Correlations between social pressure for
thinness, body dysphoria, self-esteem, and
depression have even been documented in
studies of young girls (ages 8 through 13)
(Guidry, Williamson, & Netemeyer, 1997).
Relationships and Depression
People find great satisfaction and
personal meaning in supporting and being
supported by others. Relations and the
people around us tend to impact our lives in
the ways, more than you can even think of.
The relation we share with our nearest and
dearest can affect the way our thinking and
our lives. A good relationship, where those
involved, accept one another as they are and
are supportive when required, can help
prevent depression. A bad relationship, on
the other hand, can cause it.
People whose hopes, aspiration and
expectations in relationship are constantly
unfulfilled are greatly at risk. Relationships
in which one person is far more dominant
than the other, and leads their partner to
believe he or she must behave in a certain
way can be very damaging. This may in turn
lead to complicated relationship depression.
The person which is dominant can cause the
other person feel worse and depressed.
In a perfect relationship each person
starts as he or she means to go on, truthfully.
Personal Influences in Depression
42
In vast majority of relationships, we start with

untruths and care on like that. If you are keen
on someone, you may hide those aspects of
yourself which you may think might put him
or her off - you are on your best behavior.
However the other person tends to assume
that this is the real you, and expects the
behaviour to continue. In some, however, one
person is afraid to reveal their true self, or
the other person refuses to accept it, and life
becomes a lie. This is the breeding ground
for depression in relationship. Generally, it
would seem that relationships difficulties of
various kinds contribute to the development
of depressive illness. We all ought to be far
more aware of what we expect of one another
and of what we to expect. A healthy
relationship is supportive but allows each
partner to be the person they want to be and
accepts them as such.
Achievement orientation and depression
The ability to pursue and achieve ones
own goals, both large life goals and even
smaller projects, has been found to greatly
link with well-being. Performance orientation
creates a vulnerability to depression through
repeated failure. A performance-approach
goal orientation was associated positively with
achievement, effort, and persistence and
negatively with anxiety and depression
(Sideridis & Georgios, 2005).
The high-achieving students do have
distinct motivations for this achievement that
are impacted by their perspectives on issues
of race, racism, and negative stereotypes
(Gayles, 2006). Socially withdrawn students
lose the support, stimulation, and help from
others who could assist their academic efforts.
In some cases, lonely students come to feel
that the whole academic situation is unfriendly,
indifferent, and unfair and they react by
rejecting the total academic environment.
Such a reaction can obviously work against
academic achievement and mental health.
Fair treatment and depression

Being able to live and function in a place
or nation where fairness and respect is valued
and practiced is certainly helpful in the
process of finding meaning. Although
adolescent boys and girls share some similar
experiences, society, peers, and parents tend
to place expectations on youth, based in large
part on the adolescents gender. The process
of gender socialization has been implicated
in the risk for female depression during the
adolescent period (Pavlidis & McCauley,
2001). For example, parents tend to
encourage their adolescent sons to become
increasingly independent from their families
and to pursue high status careers and goals;
where as parents of girls encourage them to
remain close to their families, to defer to
others needs and desires and, often times,
to narrow their aspirations and activities to
those prescribed by the feminine sex role.
Objectives:
1.To study the depression level among
female adolescents.
2.To study the relationship between self
acceptance and depression.
3.To explore the relation between
achievement orientation of female
adolescents and depression.
4.To study the relationship between fair
treatment with depression.
Hypotheses:
1.The positive self acceptance shall be
negatively related with the depression among
female adolescents.
2.Cordial relationship shall be inversely
related to depression among female
adolescents.
3.Positive achievement orientation shall be
inversely related to depression among female
adolescents
4.Fair treatment shall have negative
relationship to the depression among female
adolescents
Method
Sample:
The present study was conducted on a
sample of 170 female adolescents. The
sample was comprised only females having
age range of 15 to 19. The sample was
collected from the state of Haryana.
Tools:
Beck Depression Inventory-II, (Beck
1996): It is a 21-item self-report instrument
for measuring the severity of depression in
adults and adolescents aged 13 years and
older. This version of the inventory BDI-II) was
developed for the assessment of symptoms
corresponding to criteria for diagnosing
depressive disorders listed in the American
Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders- Fourth
Edition DSM-IV; 1994). The Test-Retest
Reliability of the test is .93 and the construct
validity of BDI-II is .93.
The Personal Meaning Profile (PMP)
(Wong, 1998): It consists of 57 items. This
test measures the seven dimensions namely;
Achievement (16 items), Relationship (9
items), Religion (9 items), SelfTranscendence (8 items), Self-Acceptance (6
items), Intimacy (5 items), and Fair Treatment
(4 items). The test-retest reliability coefficient
is .75. In support of the criterion-related
validity of the Personal Meaning Profile, Wong
(1998) found that the PMP Total scores
correlated significantly and positively with the
Physical and Psychological subscales of
Reker and Wongs (1984) Perceived WellBeing scale.
Results and Discussion
The Descriptive Statistics has been used
to interpret the data. Mean of the depression
is 14.05 and mean of the relationship and
Self-acceptance is 5.64 and 5.48
respectively. The Pearson correlation
between depression with self-acceptance .26* which proves the hypothesis no. I that
the positive self acceptance shall be
43
negatively related with the female depression.

Individuals are more likely to discover
meaning if they are able to accept themselves
for who they are. Self-acceptance comes from
developing the ability to learn from past
mistakes, to identify strengths and limitations,
acknowledging areas of personal growth, and
to working toward being the best we can be.
It is much more difficult to find meaning in life
when people focus on their perceived
personal inadequacies. The females who are
less on self-acceptance for their own self are
more prone to depression. It is usually seen
that females are more conscious about their
body structure (body weight, height, shape
of the body). The females who love
themselves and happy with who they are now
are not much prone to depression. Females
may display more depressive symptoms than
males because they have more internalized
negative thoughts about the self (Liro &
Sigelman, 1998). Researchers (2001)
proposed that during early adolescence, a
range of body-image and eating-disturbancerelated factors pose an additional risk for
depression in girls, over and above gender
non-specific risk factors shared with boys.
They posited that higher body mass,
perceived pressure to bethink, thin-ideal
internalization, body dissatisfaction, dieting,
and bulimic symptoms work together in a
mediational fashion to promote mood
problems in adolescent girls.
Low self-esteem is usually considered
unhealthy, but according to Rational Emotive
Therapy, any level of self-esteem reflects a
dysfunctional habit of globally evaluating
ones worth; it would be preferable to accept
oneself unconditionally.
The correlation of the depression with
relationships is -.19* which is in accordance
with the hypothesis no. II that female
depression shall be inversely related to better
relationships. Females rely on their
interpersonal relationships. When conflicts
arise within these relationships, females are
44
more likely to develop depressive symptoms

because they can no longer outwardly
express their emotions. When problems arise
within the social relationships, perhaps
college females become depressed. This
could be why there is a correlation between
negative self-understanding and depression
among females (Hoeksema, 2001). Relations
with peers and family members are very
important in this regard. Cohesiveness in the
family, sharing within the parents and family
members are very important in shaping the
mental health of adolescents. Peer influences
are very important, both in positive and
negative way, in a positive manner it helps in
identity formation and providing autonomy.
Peer rejection is linked with adolescent
depression. The poor relations with peers and
parents may cause depression in female
adolescents and make the vicious circle of
social functioning. The cohesiveness in family
members regardless of structure of family
determines the depression among
adolescents. Further the cohesiveness in the
relationships matter much for girls than boys
(Wentzel & Feldman, 1996). Similarly peer
relations are also very important for autonomy,
sharing and identity formation and linked with
the depressive symptoms. Depressive outlook
of parents also affect the mental health of
adolescents.
The correlation of achievement and
depression comes out to be -.19* which shows
that achievement orientation is negatively
correlated with depression. The higher level
of achievement orientation in any aspect of
life leads to low depression level. This
negative correlation depicts that the female
adolescents who are high for achievement in
any aspect of life or even for small tasks are
less prone to the depression and have better
sense of meaning in their life. High
achievement orientation is responsible for
managing the individuals abilities and
activities in the desired direction. They are
more focused, having expectancy of better
results. The present findings are in
accordance with the hypothesis that

depression among female adolescents shall
be inversely related to positive achievement
orientation.
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics
Relationships
Self-acceptance
Achievement
Religion
Self-Transcendence
Intimacy
Fair Treatment
Depression
Mean
5.63
5.48
5.39
5.60
5.27
5.46
5.14
14.09
SD
.79
.97
.80
.91
.83
1.30
.97
8.92
Table 2. Correlation matrix
Depression
Relationships
Self-acceptance
Achievement
Religion
Self-Transcendence
Intimacy
Fair Treatment
r
-.18*
-.25**
-.19*
-.17*
-.28**
-.041
-.31**
The correlation of Depression with Fair

treatment/Respect comes out to be negative
i.e. -.31**. It clearly states that the female
adolescents who are being able to live and
function in a place or nation where fairness
and respect is valued are less prone to
depression as they are being valued and
respected in the place where they are living.
The respect and fairness one is getting from
the environment helps to make the meaning
in his life and when one is able to develop
meaning in his life he is obviously less prone
to depression. The result supports the
hypothesis that depression among female
adolescents shall be inversely related to the
fair treatment.
Conclusion
The present research highlights the role
of personal meaning in determining the level
of depression among female adolescents. It
has been observed that adolescents who

value themselves are less prone to
depression. Those who perceive better at
relationship front, having a sense of
achieving something tend to be poor at
depression level. The study also reveals
that a feeling of fairness, respect is very
important as for as the mental health of
female adolescents is concerned
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Received: March 05, 2010

Sandeep Singh, PhD, Assistant Prof. and Coordinator, Centre for Behavioural
Research and Intervention, Department of Applied Psychology, Guru
Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, Haryana-125001.
e-mail-sandeephisar@gmail.com
Tanu, Research Scholar, Department of Applied Psychology, Guru Jambheshwar
University of Science and Technology, Hisar. Email: tanukukreja1986@gmail.com
47
Effect of Mindfulness based Self Control Therapy on Perceived

Stress, Self-efficacy and Well being of Depressed Patients
R. Kannappan
and
Vinayaka Mission Medical Colleges Hospital,

Salem
Vimal Anand
TAI Vizhuthugal Federation, Adayar,

Chennai.
Depressive disorder produces substantial and lasting decrements in many

domains of functioning, especially, perceived stress, self efficacy and well being.
60 patients (28 males and 32 females) who came to the hospital for treatment
were selected for the administration of Mindfulness based self control therapy
(MBSCT). Perceived stress, selfefficacy and well being scales were used in
the before, after, and follow-up assessments repeatedly. The intervention program
was used for 14-17 sessions, each consisting of 45 minutes for the improvement
in depression, perceived stress, self-efficacy and well being state. Besides,
coping with their specific problems was done through phone. The results showed
that they had significant changes in all areas of functioning after the intervention
and improvement in the mood disorder, perceived stress, self efficacy and well
being. The male and female patients maintained the improvement well at the
follow up except the general self efficacy. The therapy might be useful to make
them have self management effectively and to prevent relapse of depressive
disorder of the patients.
Keywords: Depression, Perceived stress, Self efficacy, Mental well being
Depression is among the most painful and

difficult experience which might affect all
human beings at any point of time. The mood
disorder of depression robs ones energy,
interest, and the will to make things better. S/
he can have a profoundly negative view of
the self, the world, and the future. It seems
as though nothing can change during
depression and s/he will never get better. The
disorder is a significant cause of personal
distress, social disability and economic
consequences for patients and families
[World Health Organization, 2001]. It is often
triggered by distressing life situations in which
a person finds very stressful or even
devastating. He can begin to feel hopeless if
his attempts to cope with these situations by
improving or accepting them have not been
successful and then he develops the risk of
a depressive episode. Stress has been
debated either to measure objective

conditions, such as major life events and
minor stressors e.g. hassles, or to
concentrate on the persons stress reaction
such as stress appraisal or emotional
response. Many researchers used
instruments for assessment of stress focusing
primarily on subjective perception of the
individual. He has to react to different life
situations such as loss, isolation, conflict,
stress; thoughts such as negative thinking,
habits, harsh self-criticism, unfair and
unrealistic emotion, discouragement,
sadness, such as despair, numbness, anxiety,
physiology such as altered sleep, low energy,
changes in brain, chemistry, and action such
as social withdrawal, reduced activity level,
and poor self-care, and cope with negative
thinking habits, and solving problems when
they arise in his life (Paterson, & Bilsker,
48
2002).
Mindfulness is a technique for
profoundly changing ones relationship to his
thoughts and feelings and the perspective
one gains from practicing that technique. It is
a temporary state that is potentially
accessible to any human being and a set of
permanent traits that may grow in a person
who practices the mindfulness technique.
The action of mindfulness is the
endeavor to observe what occurs with
especial focus on the contents of inner
experience without evaluating, judging, or
participating. The practice allows any one who
enters into it to discover the sheer untruth of
these ideas. Rather than being depressed,
one can see the experience of depression
rather than continuous and inescapable grief.
S/he can objectively note the moments in
which he is, in fact, free of grief or any thought
or cognition. In the mindfulness practice, this
insight can be immediately, directly
experienced. Self-Management/Self-Control
Therapy characterizes depression as
involving selective attention to negative
events and immediate consequences of
events, stringent self-evaluative standards,
negative, inaccurate attributions of
responsibility for events, insufficient selfreinforcement, and excessive selfpunishment. The instructional exercises are
to teach concepts and skills, and the
application of these skills to the day-to-day
lives of participants through homework
assignments.
Stress, coping/ efficacy and well being
are the key concepts in health research and
often emphasis on two components of stress
which are stressors from environmental
conditions and ones reaction to stress. The
stress reactions might be perceptual
processing and emotional response.
Structural equation modeling technique also
represents the two factorial constructs of
stress experience which are environmental
conditions, and stress appraisal and
Stress, Self-efficacy and Well being
emotional response. The present study

evaluates the effects of Mindfulness based
self control therapy on depressed patients
and their changes.
Objectives:
They were i) to measure the level of
perceived stress, self efficacy and well being
of depressed patients. ii) to use appropriate
intervention strategies for the management
of the depressed patients and, iii) to assess
the qualitative changes in the depressed
patients after the intervention and at followup.
Method
Design:
Pre and post research design was used
for the study. The consecutive patients who
came to the hospital with the features of
depression patients were selected. Drugs
were given to the patients during admission
in the psychiatric ward. The duration of the
mindfulness based self control therapy was
17 sessions, each for 45 minutes session.
Data were collected at the before, after, and
follow-up assessments by using depression,
scales
Sample:
28 male and 32 female patients, who
came for treatment to the illness of
depression, were willingly participated in the
intervention program. The group of male and
females received drugs initially and after
discharge, they practiced mindfulness based
self control therapy/technique. The duration
of the therapy was 14-17 sessions, each
comprising 45 minutes. The follow-up was
done after one and a half months by using
the scales.
Measures:
1. Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale
(Zung 1965; 1972): It was developed by Zung
consisted of 20 items tapping the affective,
cognitive, behavioral, and physiological
49
aspects of depression and based on the

diagnostic criteria to depressive disorder. For
each item, the participant rated whether the
item occurred 1 = a little of the time, 2 = some
of the time, 3 = a good part of the time, or 4 =
most of the time. Zung SDS scores were
interpreted as follows: <50, within normal
range; 5059, minimal to mild depression; 60
69, moderate to severe depression; >70,
severe depression. The score ranged from
20 to 80.
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (Cohen,
Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) was a
measure of the degree to which situations in
ones life were appraised as stressful. The
items were designed to tap how
unpredictable,
uncontrollable,
and
overloaded respondents might find their lives.
The items were easy to understand, and the
response alternatives were simple to grasp.
Responses were made on a 5-point scale (0
= Never 1 = Almost Never 2 = Sometimes 3 =
Fairly Often 4 = Very Often)
General self-efficacy: The construct of
Perceived Self-Efficacy reflected an optimistic
self-belief (Jerusalem & Schwarzer (1995).
This was the belief that one could perform a
novel or difficult tasks, or cope with adversity
in various domains of human functioning.
Perceived self-efficacy facilitated goal-setting,
effort investment, persistence in face of
barriers and recovery from setbacks. It could
be regarded as a positive resistance
resource factor. Ten items were designed to
tap this construct. Each item referred to
successful coping and implied an internalstable attribution of success. Responses were
made on a 4-point scale. Sum up the
responses to all 10 items yielded the final
composite score with a range from 10 to 40.
The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS): it was developed by
the researchers at the Universities of Warwick
and Edinburgh, to enable the measurement
of mental well-being of adults. WEMWBS was
a 14 item scale of mental well-being covering
subjective well-being and psychological

functioning, in which all items were worded
positively and address aspects of positive
mental health. The scale was scored by
summing responses to each item answered
on a 1 to 5 Likert scale. The minimum scale
score was 14 and the maximum was 70. All
these scales were tested reliability and found
highly reliable..
Intervention and Procedure:
At baseline, all participants completed
all questionnaires before the intervention. for
the Mindfulness based self control therapy
(MBSCT) was administered. The most basic
form of mindfulness practice was observing
the breath.
The patients performed the following Sit
for three minutes, doing nothing but
breathing, focusing your attention on what it
feels like to breathe, (Kabat-Zinn, 1990).You
have just experienced two things: (1) the
difficulty of not doing; (2) the fact that your
attention, which you may have thought of as
under your control, is not, and that likewise
your mind, which you may have thought of
as yours, is quite capable of lying to you.
One simply sat and breathed naturally,
maintaining attention on the experience of
breathing. Anyone who tried this would almost
immediately realize that it was extraordinarily
difficult to do, because the mind wanders,
calling attentions focus to almost anything
other than the breath. This tensionthat
between intent and distractionwas the
problem that mindfulness practice sought to
solve by honing the ability to attend and
choose.
Patient was encouraged to learn to
control their own behavior and feeling. Self
control therapy increased the patients ability
to make common sense efforts to altering
their behavior. The goal of the treatment was
obvious to them. The therapy focused on
teaching patient self-management skills
including self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and
50
Step 1: Identify your problems, Step 2:

self-reinforcement of behavior. Selfmonitoring referred to the keeping of daily Pick a problem, Step 3: Choose one, Step 4:
records of the problem behavior and the Make an action plan- M.A.S.T. In other words,
circumstance in which it appeared, for e.g. Manageable: they had to accomplish a goal
crying, stressful events and mood. Self that was too small than to fail at an ambitious
evaluation referred to making daily records one. Action-oriented: Made a plan for what
of the behavior to assess their progress. This you would do, not how you would think or feel
procedure also helped to bring about change while you were doing it. Specific: It should
and it provided information for self reward be very clear what you needed to do. Timewhen behavior had been controlled to reach limited: Your plan should take only a short
a planned target. Self-reinforcement time to carry out. Step 5: Evaluate and Move
indicated strengthening of their behavior On: Used this experience to plan your next
towards the planned target. Keeping such step. You had three main options: Kept going,
records could itself act as a powerful stimulus revised your goal and tried again and, took a
to control, because the patients had often new approach.
avoided facing the true extent of their problem
At the end of the training, both male and
and the factor that made worse. They had to female participants in the MBSCT group were
monitor the symptoms and managed the asked again to complete the scales.
effects of depression on relationship and the Improving the frequency and continuity of
ability to function in work and family roles. The follow up care might require innovative
patients were helped create increment, alternative to traditional in person visits.
realistic action plan for self care tasks, Systematic telephone follow-up was as an
anticipated plan for obstacles and provided alternative and supplement to traditional in
on going appropriate follow-up. The patients person visits (Simon, Vonkorff et al, 2002).
were helped self care by correcting patients Incremental cost of telephone was also
with their families. Systematic efforts were relatively low compared to traditional in person
made to increase patients involvement in assessment.
decision making (Clark, Becker, Janz, et al,
Results
1991)
Table 1. Mean, SD and t-value of the depressed patients.
Scale Assessment
Depressed males
Depressed females
n
Before
28
After
28
Follow-up 28
PSS Before
28
After
28
Follow-up 28
GSE Before
28
After
28
Follow-up 28
MWB Before
28
After
28
Follow-up 28
* p> 0.01; ** p> 0.05
Dep
Mean
68.03
37.04
35.03
32.43
16.29
15.71
15.93
32.89
33.03
15.25
30.07
30.53
SD
5.36
4.14
3.68
2.59
2.68
2.34
2.91
2.47
2.54
3.15
4.83
4.72
t-value n
32
30.96* 32
3.85* 32
32
42.43* 32
3.03* 32
32
24.15* 32
0.94
32
32
12.56 32
2.04** 32
Mean
69.43
37.87
35.88
32.25
16.31
15.56
16.25
32.75
32.91
15.59
29.59
30.25
SD
4.42
4.40
3.73
2.48
2.61
2.37
2.94
2.38
2.20
3.29
4.71
3.86
t-value
31.92*
3.98*
44.05
3.83*
24.98*
0.93
12.33*
2.48
Dep-depression scale, PSS- perceived stress scale, GSE general self efficacy scale and MWBWarwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale
Mean and standard deviation were

calculated for the group which practiced
mindfulness based self control therapy
(MBSCT) to facilitate the comparison of
repeated assessments of depression,
of depressed patients. The main analysis of
the data was to determine the significance of
Mean difference between before and after,
after and follow-up assessments of the group
of male and female patients. t- test was
applied in the scores of the patients to
determine the significant difference. On
comparison of the male and female patients
showed significant differences between
before and after assessments (t =30.96, p<
0.01) and (t =31.92, p< 0.01) and between
after and follow-up assessments in
depression (t =3.85, p< 0.05) and (t =2.48,
p< 0.05) respectively. the male and female
patents showed significant differences
between before and after assessments (t
=42.43, p< 0.01) and (t =44.05, p< 0.01) and
between after and follow-up assessments in
perceived stress (t =3.03, p< 0.01) and (t
=3.83, p< 0.01) respectively. These showed
that the patients had maintenance of
improvement even after two months. The
male and female patients showed significant
differences between before and after
assessments (t =24.15, p< 0.01) and (t
=24.98, p< 0.01) and between after and
follow-up assessments in general self efficacy
(t =0.94, p< ns) and (t =0.93, p< ns)
respectively. Both male and female patients
had not improved much after two months.
These patients showed significant differences
between before and after assessments (t
=12.56, p< 0.01) and (t =12.33, p< 0.01) and
between after and follow-up assessments in
mental well being (t =2.04, p< 0.05) and (t
=3.98, p< 0.01) respectively. These showed
that the patients had maintenance of
improvement in mental well being.
Discussion
The personal impact of life events can
not be predicted before the events have
51
actually occurred. Some approaches focus

on specific objective stressors to the
subjective stress experience. The adoption
of a stepped care and or intervention has to
be used to overcome problems of access
[Bower & Gilbody, 2005]. Mindfulness-based
interventions aimed at reduction of
psychological symptoms of distress and
depression (Kabat-Zinn, 1990)
are
increasingly applied and popular in various
kinds of settings in both mental health care.
Beneficial effects have been reported in
diverse samples of patients and general
population regarding a variety of
psychological states, including symptoms of
general distress (Astin, 1997; Speca,
Carlson, et al, 2000) depressive symptoms
(Shapiro, Schwartz & Bonner, 1998) and
quality of life (Brown, & Ryan, 2003). A metaanalysis on the available randomized
controlled trials has shown an effect on a
composite score of psychological well-being
(Grossman, & Niemann, 2004). Coping with
daily hassles as well as adaptation after
experiencing all kinds of stressful life events
may be assessed objectively and required a
scale, like a general sense of perceived selfefficacy and mental well-being. Perceived
self-efficacy is an operative construct related
to subsequent behavior and, therefore, is
relevant for clinical practice and behavior
change. Mental well-being is now largely
accepted as covering two perspectives: (1)
the subjective experience of happiness
(affect) and life satisfaction (the hedonic
perspective); and (2) positive psychological
functioning, good relationships with others
and self-realization (the eudaimonic
perspective). The latter includes the capacity
for self development, positive relations with
others, autonomy, self acceptance and
competence.
Mental well-being relates to a persons
psychological functioning, life-satisfaction and
ability to develop and maintain mutually
benefiting relationships. Psychological
wellbeing includes the ability to maintain a
52
sense of autonomy, self acceptance, personal

growth, purpose in life and self esteem.
Hedonic perspective of well-being focuses on
the subjective experience of happiness
(affect) and life satisfaction. Eudaimonic
perspective of well-being focuses on
psychological functioning, good relationships
with others and self realization. This is the
development of human potential which when
realized results in positive functioning in life,
and covers a wide range of cognitive aspects
of mental health.
The self efficacy scale is designed for
the general adult and clinical population.
Positive coefficients were found with
favorable emotions, dispositional optimism,
and work satisfaction, and negative
coefficients were found with depression,
anxiety, stress, burnout, and health
complaints in this scale. It can be taken to
predict adaptation after life changes, but it is
also suitable as an indicator of quality of life
at any point in time.
Happiness is natural and restores itself
given the right conditions. Meditation does
not produce an artificial state of mind and
emotion; it allows a natural state to reassert
itself.
The results support the earlier findings
of Rehm (1984), Fuchs, & Rehm (1977),
Kabat-Zinn (1990), Kabat-Zinn, Lipworth, et
al 1986, Ma, & Teasdale (2004). Teasdale,
Moore, et al (2002), Toneatto & Nguyen
(2007), Ostafin, Chawla, et al (2006),
Edwards (2003), Nyklek, & Kuijpers (2008),
Tang, Ma, et al (2007), Van den Hout, Arntz,
& Kunkels, (1995), Chang, Palesh, et al
(2004).
The findings showed that both the male
and the female patients had significant
changes in all areas of functioning after the
intervention and improvement in the mood
disorder, perceived stress, self efficacy and
well being. The male and female patients
maintained the improvement well at the follow
up except the general self efficacy. The
therapy might be useful to make them have

self management effectively and to prevent
relapse of depressive disorder of the
patients.
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Received: October 20, 2010

R. Kannappan, PhD, Associate Professor, Vinayaka Mission Medical Colleges

Hospital, Salem
Vimal
Anand,
Chennai - 600 020.
TAI
Vizhuthugal
Federation,
Adayar,
54
Enhanced Right Hemispheric Performance in Depression:

Role of Co-occurring Anxiety and Task Variation
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
The present study hypothesizes that the observed inconsistency in findings

may be because of the influence of comorbid presence of anxiety with depression
and/or variations in the task/information processing requirement of the measures
of hemispheric asymmetry. In view of this the present study examines the role
of co-occurring anxiety and task requirement on the relationship of depression
and hemispheric asymmetry. Fifty right-handed undergraduate students were
assessed for their level of anxiety and depression using self-report measures.
The pattern of hemispheric asymmetry in processing emotional and non-emotional
information was also assessed using free viewing measures analogous to splitfield technique. The findings revealed that depression and some forms of anxiety
(trait and free-floating anxiety) were associated with enhanced right hemispheric
performance on emotion processing task but not on task requiring processing
of non-emotional information. Further, the co-occurring anxiety was not found to
significantly alter the relationship of depression and hemispheric asymmetry.
However, the anxiety-hemispheric asymmetry relationship was significantly
influenced by the coexisting level of depression. The findings imply that the
enhanced right hemispheric asymmetry, particularly in processing of emotional
information, is associated with increased likelihood of having anxiety and
depression. However, it is likely that the mechanism linking hemispheric
asymmetry with depression and anxiety may differ. Further, the observed nature
of hemispheric asymmetry in anxiety and depression may differ depending on
the nature of the task or information processing requirements. The emotion
processing tasks are more likely to bring out the anomalous pattern of
hemispheric asymmetry in these psychopathological conditions as compared
to non-emotional tasks.
Keywords: Anxiety, Chimeric face test, Depression, Hemispheric asymmetry,
Perceptual asymmetry.
It is now well documented that the two cerebral

hemispheres of the human brain do not
perform equally well on all types of tasks and
activities. This asymmetry in the performance
of the two cerebral hemispheres has been
labelled as cerebral laterality or hemispheric
asymmetry (Bryden, 1982). For instances, it
has been found that in right handed
individuals, left hemisphere (LH) dominates
for processing of linguistic information
whereas the right hemisphere (RH) for
processing of non-verbal visuo-spatial
configuration and emotional information

(Bryden, 1982, 1965; Mandal, Asthana,
Tandon, & Asthana, 1992). However,
researches indicate that under certain
psychopathological conditions such pattern
of hemispheric asymmetry may alter in terms
of either magnitude or direction (Rubin et al.,
1995; Weisbord, Keifer, Marzinzik, & Spitzer,
2000). The present study deals with
anomalous hemispheric asymmetry in
depression and aims to empirically address
some of the issues related with the nature of
hemispheric functioning in depression.

Early empirical evidences for anomalous
asymmetry in depression came from
behavioural studies of unilateral brain
damaged patients. In such studies left
hemispheric lesion was found to be
associated with a high incidence of
catastrophic reactions and depressed state
(Gainotti, 1972; Goldstein, 1939) whereas the
right hemispheric lesion indifferent mood or
euphoric state (Denny-Brown, Meyer, &
Horenstein, 1952; Heilman, Bowers, &
Valenstein, 1993). Based on these
observations a right hemispheric dysfunction
hypothesis was proposed that received
empirical support using other methodologies
for assessing hemispheric asymmetry
(Davidson, Schaffer, & Saron, 1985; Flynn &
Rudolph, 2007; Jaeger, Borod, & Peselow,
1987; Rabe, Debener, Brocke, & Beauducel,
2005). This hypothesis was extended on the
assumption that the depressed state
observed in the left brain damaged patient
was reflection of the effect of the intact right
hemisphere. However, this interpretation was
challenged by some researchers who
attributed depression to the left hemisphere.
In addition to the inconsistency in
interpretation, the clinical studies of brain
damaged patients also suffer from some
methodological problems that limit the
generalization of the findings. For instance,
researchers have argued that an intact
hemisphere in a damaged brain may not
process information in the same way as an
intact hemisphere does in an intact brain
(Sergent, 1988) and hence it is difficult to
generalize the hemispheric model of
depression based on the study of brain
damaged patients to intact brain individuals
suffering from depression.
Taking cognizance of the inconsistency
in interpretation and methodological
limitations of the findings of brain damaged
patients, attempts were made to uncover the
nature of hemispheric asymmetry in intact
55
brain
depressive
patients
using
electrophysiological and functional brain
imaging techniques. Most of the studies using
electroencephalographic (EEG) procedures
demonstrated that right hemispheric hyperactivation is linked with depression (Henriques
& Davidson, 1991; Schaffer, Davidson, &
Saron, 1983). The right hemispheric hyperactivation hypothesis of depression also
received some preliminary support from
experimental-behavioural measures of
hemispheric asymmetry such as split-field
technique and dichotic listening (for a review,
see Bruder, 1995). For example, several
researchers (Bruder et al., 2002) have
observed an enhanced right hemispheric
performance in patients with atypical
depression using chimeric face test (a free
viewing analogue of the visual split-field
technique).
Contrary to the aforesaid observations,
numerous positron emission tomography
(PET) studies reported reduced left anterior
activity among depressed patients (Ebert,
Feistel, & Barocka, 1991; George et al., 1994)
suggestive of left hemispheric hypo-activation
hypothesis of depression. This hypothesis
received ample empirical support from
studies using behavioural measures. For
example, dichotic listening studies have
demonstrated left-ear disadvantage or
absence of left-ear advantage (reduced or
absent right hemisphere advantage) in
depression using nonverbal tasks (e.g.,
Bruder et al., 1989). Similarly, left visual field
(right hemisphere) performance deficits in
accuracy and speed of perception of
nonverbal stimuli have also been observed
in depressed people (Bruder et al., 1989;
Liotti, Sava, Rizzolatti, & Caffarra, 1991).
Stewart and colleagues (Stewart, Fava,
Rosenbaum, & Quitkin, 1996) found
fluoxetine responders showed greater right
ear (LH) advantage for dichotic words and
less left ear (RH) advantage for complex
tones.
56
It is evident from the foregoing review

that the findings related to the nature of
hemispheric asymmetry in depression are
non-conclusive and equivocal. However, the
observed inconsistency in findings is less
likely to be associated with the variations in
the methodological approach used for
assessing hemispheric asymmetry inasmuch
as discrepancy in the findings has been
noted with clinical, electrophysiological and
experimental-behavioural approaches of
gauging hemispheric asymmetry. The
reasons for the observed inconsistency, thus,
may be related to some other factors. For
example, some researchers have argued that
the observed inconsistency in the findings
may be attributed to wide heterogeneity in
symptomatic picture of depression (Bruder et
al., 2002; Kucharska-Pietura & David, 2003)
and comorbid presence of anxiety with
depression (Keller et al., 2000). It is a well
documented observation that anxiety
disorders are often found to be present with
depression as a comorbid condition (Alloy,
Kelly, Mineka, & Clements, 1990; Heller,
Etienne, & Miller, 1995) and the pattern of
hemispheric asymmetry in depression with
and without comorbid presence of depression
has been found to be different (Keller et al.,
2000). For example, Pine et al. (2000)
observed that adults with major depression
demonstrated an increased right ear (LH)
advantage for fused words whereas adults
with comorbid major depressive and anxiety
disorders showed a reduced right ear (LH)
advantage for fused words. Similarly, Bruder,
Wexler, Stewart, Price, & Quitkin (1999) using
dichotic listening task demonstrated that the
anxious groups exhibited larger left ear (RH)
advantage for words when compared with the
non-anxious group. They also observed that
patients having an anxious depression
appear to have a greater propensity to
activate right than left hemisphere (right ear)
regions during auditory tasks, whereas those
having a non-anxious depression have the
opposite hemispheric asymmetry. Thus, the
Hemispheric Performance in Depression
comorbid presence of anxiety with depression

is a crucial issue to be considered in exploring
the nature of hemispheric asymmetry in both
depression and anxiety (Heller, Etienne, &
Miller, 1995). The forgoing observations,
thus, extend the hypothesis that the
enhanced right hemispheric asymmetry
reported in depression may not be the
reflection of the depression per se rather it
may reflect the confounding effect of the
comorbid presence of anxiety for which an
enhanced right hemispheric activity has been
noted by several researchers (Heller, 1993;
Heller, Etienne, & Miller, 1995)
In addition, the review of specific
techniques/procedures used for assessing
hemispheric asymmetry, points towards
another potential source of variations in the
reported pattern of hemispheric asymmetry
in depression. In the electrophysiological
and/or behavioural approach based specific
techniques different types of stimuli or tasks
are
used
while
recording
the
electrophysiological/behavioural asymmetry
in depression. We speculate that this
difference in the task or information
processing requirement may potentially
contribute to the noted discrepancy in
patterns of hemispheric asymmetry in
depression. For example, a study revealed
that the observed hemispheric asymmetry in
depression may differ depending on the
nature of stimuli used to assess the
asymmetry (Crews & Harrison, 1994). These
researchers found that women with
depressed mood displayed significantly faster
reaction time to sad faces presented in the
right visual field and happy faces presented
in the left visual field. Similarly, another study
(Moretti, Charlton, & Taylor, 1996) showed
that
the
non-depressed
patients
demonstrated a RH advantage for
processing open and closed mouth in sad
expression whereas depressed showed RH
advantage for processing open mouth sad
expression. No visual field differences were
found in processing happy faces.
57
The aforesaid observations extends the

hypothesis that the reported pattern of
hemispheric asymmetry in depression is likely
to be influenced by factors other than the
depressive state such as variations in the
symptomatic manifestation of depression,
comorbid presence of anxiety, and variation
in the task/information processing
requirement. However, attempts to explore the
nature of hemispheric asymmetry in
depression while controlling for the said
potential confounding variables are scant.
Taking this research need into account the
present study aims to explore the influence
of two potential variables, co-occurring
anxiety and nature of task, on the nature of
hemispheric asymmetry in depression while
controlling the heterogeneity in the
symptomatology of depression. Such attempt
would help to explain the observed
inconsistency in the findings related to the
nature of hemispheric asymmetry in
depression.
To control the potential effect of wide
heterogeneity in the symptomatology of
depression, rather than using clinical group
of depression we conducted the study on a
sub-clinical sample of students differing in the
self-reported symptoms of depression on
Beck Depression Inventory. Further, we
preferred to use behavioral measure of
hemispheric asymmetry because of its
reported advantage in studying affect and
affective disorders as compared to
electrophysiological and functional brain
imaging techniques.
For instance,
researchers have often noted that the
preparation procedure of EEG studies are
perceived as emotionally arousing and
aversive by the participants and thus socalled baseline recording condition in such
studies may in fact gives the recording of
stressful condition (Blackhart, Kline,
Donohue, LaRowe, & Joiner, 2002).
Furthermore, it has also been argued that
the traditional and well established
behavioural or performance measures of
hemispheric asymmetry may prove to be

more suitable for depressive and affective
states (Papousek & Schulter, 2006). To
examine the confounding role of co-occurring
anxiety we included it in the present study as
a covariate and tried to statistically control
its effect across two types of task/information
processing requirements- facial emotion
processing and processing of non-emotional
visuo-spatial configuration.
Method
Sample:
The study was conducted on 50
undergraduate students found to be right
handed on a handedness inventory (Mandal,
Pandey, Singh, & Asthana, 1992) and having
normal or corrected to normal vision. The
participants were selected incidentally and
age of the participants ranged between 19
to 26 years and all of them volunteered
themselves for the present study. Those
participants who reported any history of
psychiatric illness, neurological disorders,
and/or medical illness were excluded from the
present study.
Measures:
Symptoms and severity of depression
was measured by Beck Depression Inventory
(BDI; Beck & Steer, 1987). The BDI consists
of 21 Symptoms-attitude categories. The
testee rates the presence of such symptoms
using a series of four-point ordinal scales
(ranging from 0 to 3). Individual score is
summed to produce a total BDI scores. It
assesses the cognitive, affective, and
vegetative symptoms of depression. Higher
score indicates as greater severity of
depression.
The Self Evaluation Scale (Tripathi &
Rastogi, 1986) was used to assess the level
of anxiety of the participants. It provides index
of three types of anxiety- the state, trait, and
free-floating anxiety. The items on each of
the subscales are rated on a five-point rating
scale. Higher score on each subscale
58
indicates higher level of each type of anxiety.

Hemispheric asymmetry in processing of
emotional and non-emotional visuo-spatial
configuration was assessed using the Gray
Scale (Nicholls, Bradshaw, & Mattingley, 1999)
and Chimeric Face Test (Pandey, 2002). The
grey scale requires the participant to make
two-forced choice discrimination of the
relative brightness of two simultaneously
presented horizontal gray bars on an A4 size
white sheet. The bar changes incrementally
from white on one side and black on the other
and its mirror reversed image is paired with
the original. The pairs are arranged in top
bottom fashion with the only difference that
in one the black side is on the right of the
respondent whereas in the other to the left
side. The scale consists of 40 pairs of such
horizontal bars. The respondents are asked
to judge which of the two bars in a given pair
appears to be darker. Since both bars are
equally dark, judging a specific bar as darker
reveals the effect of visual hemi-field. The
responses are coded leftward or rightward
response according to the side of the black
shade (with reference to the viewer). The
responses are converted to laterality score
as per the suggestions of the authors
(Nicholls et al., 1999). Laterality score can
range from -100 to +100 with negative scores
representing a left-visual field (right
hemispheric) advantage and the positive
score indicating a right visual field (left
hemispheric) advantage. In other words,
lower score on grey scale is suggestive of a
tendency towards the right hemispheric bias.
Scores approaching to zero indicates
absence of asymmetry.
Chimeric Face Test (CFT; Pandey, 2002)
similar to that proposed by (Campbell, 1978)
was used in the present study to assess
hemispheric asymmetry in processing of facial
expressions of emotions. In this test half
happy and half neutral face composites
(chimeras) of the same poser is developed
and its mirror reversed image is paired with
it. The pairs are presented in top-bottom

fashion. The emotional expression and its
intensity remain same in each pair except that
the happy hemi-face appears to the left of
the respondent in one chimeric face and to
the right in the other. Since both chimera are
of same expresser and of same emotional
intensity, judging a specific chimeric face as
more expressive reveals the effect of visual
hemifield (Campbell, 1978, 1982). There are
28 pairs of chimeric faces in this test. The
respondents are asked to indicate which of
the two faces in a given pair appears to be
happier to them. The responses are coded
leftward or rightward response according to
the side of the happy hemi-face (with
reference to the viewer). The response of
each participant was converted to laterality
scores similar to the Gray Scale with possible
range of -100 to + 100. The interpretation of
the score is also similar to that of the Gray
Scale.
Results
Before testing the proposed relationship
of hemispheric asymmetry with depression
and anxiety, the validity of the measures of
hemispheric (perceptual) asymmetry was
assessed by examining the mean scores. The
mean scores on the two perceptual
asymmetry tasks (CFT and grey scale) were
found to be negative (-7.71 and -25.2
respectively) suggestive of a leftward
response tendency or right hemispheric
advantage on both tasks. Since, earlier
studies have established that a left visualfield (or right hemispheric) bias is generally
observed such tasks that involve processing
of visuo-spatial configuration, particularly
facial expressions of emotions (Banich,
Elledge, & Stolar, 1992; Christman &
Hackworth, 1993; Ferber & Murray, 2005), the
present findings provide support to the
validity of the tasks used in measuring
hemispheric asymmetry.
59
Table 1. The correlation of the measures of

hemispheric asymmetry with depression and
various forms of anxiety (N= 50)
Chimeric Grey
Face Test Scale
Depression
-.327* -.144
State anxiety
-.088 -.229
Trait anxiety
-.351* -.026
Free-floating anxiety
-.323* -.258
* p <0.05
Table 2. Partial correlation between the
measures of hemispheric asymmetry and
various forms of anxiety while controlling for
depression (N = 50)
Chimeric Face Test
Before controlling After controlling

for depression
for depression
State Anxiety
-.088
-.117
Trait Anxiety
-.351*
-.247
Free-floating Anxiety -.323*
-.234
* p < ,05
The correlations of the two measures of
anxiety have been presented in Table-1.
Examination of Table-1 reveals that CFT
scores correlated negatively and significantly
with depression (r=-.327, p<.05), trait
anxiety(r=-.351, p<.05), and free-floating
anxiety(r=-.323,p<.05), its correlation state
anxiety was statistically non-significant (r=.088, p>.05). A similar trend of relationship
was observed with Grey Scale. The Grey
Scale scores correlated negatively with
depression as well as various types of anxiety.
However, none of the relationship were found
to be statistically significant (p>.05).
This pattern of relationship suggests
that enhanced leftward response tendency
(right hemispheric performance) in
processing of emotional information is
associated with greater depression as well
as trait and free-floating (neurotic) anxiety.
However, the right hemispheric asymmetry
(greater leftward response bias) in

processing of non-emotional visuo-spatial
information was neither correlated with
depression nor with any form of anxiety. This
finding suggests that the pattern of
hemispheric asymmetry in depression may be
dependent on the task or information
processing requirement.
To test the possibility that the pattern of
hemispheric asymmetry in depression may be
affected (or altered) by the level of coexisting
anxiety, we computed a partial correlation of
CFT (a measure of hemispheric asymmetry
in processing of emotional information) with
depression while controlling the effect of
various forms of anxiety. Since the correlation
between Grey Scale and depression was
non-significant (r = -.144, p>.05), we did not
attempt to re-examine this relationship after
controlling the contribution of anxiety. The
findings revealed that correlation between
the CFT scores and depression reduced
slightly but remained significant even after
partialling out the effect of various forms of
anxiety (r = -310, p<.05). This observation
suggests that the coexisting anxiety did not
affect the pattern of hemispheric asymmetry
(at least in processing of facial emotions)
observed in depression.
Since, anxiety (trait and free-floating)
was also found to be significantly related with
enhanced right hemispheric asymmetry in
processing of facial expression of emotions
(in the present study), an attempt was also
made to examine how and to what extent this
relationship is mediated by the co-presence
of depression. To address this objective, a
partial correlation between anxiety and
hemispheric asymmetry as assessed by CFT
was computed the findings have been
presented in Table-2.
It is evident from Table-2 that the
correlations between CFT and various
dimensions of anxiety that were significant
without controlling the contribution of
depression became non-significant after
60
partialling out the covariance attributable to

depression. This pattern of findings suggests
that the relationship between hemispheric
asymmetry and depression is largely
explained by the coexisting level of
depression. In other words, the observed
relationship between anxiety and hemispheric
asymmetry was found, to a larger extent,
because of the strong effect of latent or
uncontrolled depression.
Taken together, the findings of the
correlation analysis suggest that enhanced
hemispheric asymmetry is associated with
both depression and some forms of anxiety.
Further, the findings indicate that the
relationship between depression and
hemispheric asymmetry is not mediated by
coexisting level of anxiety but the reverse is
not true. The relationship between some
forms of anxiety (trait and free floating) and
hemispheric asymmetry was found to be
explained (mediated) by the coexisting level
of depression as indicated by a nonsignificant partial correlation after controlling
the contribution of depression from this
relationship.
Discussion
The findings of the present study clearly
demonstrate that the enhanced right
hemispheric asymmetry in depression is likely
to vary with variations in the task used to
measure hemispheric asymmetry. However,
unlike the previous observations, the present
study revealed that nature of hemispheric
asymmetry in depression is less likely to be
influenced by the level of the co-occurring
anxiety but the reverse was not observed in
the present study. The statistical control of
the depression altered the nature of the
relationship between anxiety and hemispheric
asymmetry. These observations are
significant addition to the existing literature.
The findings of the present study
corroborate the earlier observations and
provide preliminary empirical support to the
right hemispheric hypothesis (enhanced right
hemispheric activity) of depression

(Henriques & Davidson, 1991; Myslobodsky
& Horesh, 1978; Schaffer, Davidson, & Saron,
1983) and anxiety (Heller et al., 1995; Heller,
1993; Nitschke, Heller, & Miller, 2000)
inasmuch as the greater tendency for leftward
response on CFT was found to be associated
with higher levels of depression as well as
anxiety. Findings of some of the earlier studies
using EEG (Blackhart, Minnix, & Kline, 2006)
and CFT (Bruder et al., 2002) also provide
support to the present observation that
depression is associated with enhanced
leftward perceptual (right hemispheric)
asymmetry.
The observed findings may be explained
on the basis of the valence hypothesis of
hemispheric processing of emotions.
According to this hypothesis the right
hemisphere is responsible for experience of
negative emotions (Davidson, 2000; Lee et
al., 2004; Schaffer, Davidson, & Saron, 1983;
Sutton & Davidson, 2000). Since, both
depression and anxiety has been found to
be associated with a disposition to experience
negative emotional states (Clark, Watson, &
Mineka, 1994; Klein, Durbin, Shankman, &
Santiago, 2002), the observation that
enhanced right hemispheric functioning is
associated with depression and anxiety is
consistent with the right hemispheric
hypothesis of emotions.
In addition, the findings of the present
study add to the existing literature on
hemispheric asymmetry in depression and
anxiety by demonstrating that the pattern of
the observed hemispheric asymmetry in
these two psychopathological conditions
depends upon, to some extent, on the nature
of task used for assessing hemispheric
asymmetry. It was noted in the present study
that depression and some forms of anxiety
were found to be associated with enhanced
right hemispheric performance on emotion
procession task (CFT) but not on task
requiring processing of non-emotional visuospatial configuration (the Grey Scale). Such
observations suggest that the anomaly in

hemispheric functioning in anxiety and
depression may not be considered a general
phenomenon rather it may be specific to
some aspects of information processing,
particularly involving emotions. Our
speculation that the task (or information
processing requirement) specific differences
in the pattern of hemispheric asymmetry may
be a potential reason for the observed
inconsistencies in the findings related to
pattern of hemispheric asymmetry in
depression is supported by this finding.
The most important finding of the present
study, however, is the observation that the
coexisting anxiety does not alter the nature
of hemispheric asymmetry in depression.
However, on the other hand, the relationship
of hemispheric asymmetry and anxiety was
found to be mediated by the level of coexisting
depression. The observation that the nature
of hemispheric asymmetry in depression is
not influenced by the co-occurring anxiety is
in stark contrast with the earlier observations
that demonstrate a significant difference in
the pattern of hemispheric asymmetry in
patients of depression with and without
anxiety (Bruder et al., 1999). This difference
in findings may be because of the difference
in the nature of the sample studied. In the
present study subclinical depression and
anxiety was studied whereas in most of the
earlier studies clinical depression and anxiety
were examined that are associated with host
of other symptomatic manifestations that may
confound with the findings. Thus, future
research is needed to explore whether it is
the comorbid presence of anxiety that alters
the pattern of hemispheric asymmetry
associated with depression or it is the
symptomatic correlates of anxiety that
influences the pattern of hemispheric
asymmetry. As far as the role of coexisting
depression on the observed relationship of
hemispheric asymmetry and anxiety is
concerned, the findings of the present study
reveals that after controlling the effect of
61
depression the relationship between anxiety

and enhanced hemispheric asymmetry
becomes non-significant. This finding implies
that the observed enhancement of right
hemispheric performance in the present study
was largely because of the effect of
depression and less due to anxiety.
This observation puts a question that
merits further explanation. If the negative
emotional experience common to both anxiety
and depression (Clark, Watson, & Mineka,
1994; Klein et al., 2002) is assumed to be
resulting from the over activation of the right
hemisphere that regulates negative emotional
experiences (Davidson, 2000; Lee et al.,
2004; Schaffer et al., 1983; Sutton &
Davidson, 2000) then each of should have
a significant meditational effect on the
relationship of the other with hemispheric
asymmetry. However, the present findings
reveal that depression mediates the
relationship of anxiety with hemispheric
asymmetry but anxiety does not have such
meditational effect on the relationship of
depression with hemispheric asymmetry. This
observation suggests the possibility that the
observed enhanced hemispheric asymmetry
in depression cannot be explained only on
the basis of the relationship of negative
affectivity with right hemispheric activation.
There must be some other factors operating
with depression but not with anxiety that might
have resulted in the observed differential
mediation effect of anxiety and depression in
relation to hemispheric asymmetry. For
example, researchers have argued that
though, depression and anxiety both are
characterized by negative emotional
experiences, depression is associated with
reduced capacity for positive emotional
experiences which is not present in anxiety
(Clark & Watson, 1991). Thus, the reduced
hedonic capacity and enhanced negativity
found in depression might result in greater
intensity of negative affect in depressive state
as compared to anxiety, and this may be a
reason for the stronger association of
62
depression with enhanced right hemispheric

activation. However, such speculations need
to be tested in future research by empirically
verifying the potential role of positive and
negative affect in explaining the observed
relationship of anxiety and depression with
enhanced right hemispheric asymmetry.
To sum up, the findings of the present
study provides some preliminary evidence
that enhanced right hemispheric asymmetry
especially in processing of emotional
information is associated with greater
likelihood of both depression and anxiety.
However, it is likely that the mechanism linking
anxiety may differ. Further, the observed
nature of hemispheric asymmetry in anxiety
and depression may differ depending on the
nature of the task or information processing
requirements. The emotion processing tasks
are more likely to bring out the anomalous
pattern of hemispheric asymmetry in these
psychopathological conditions as compared
to non-emotional tasks. This information of
the present study has significant implications
for the use of hemispheric asymmetry
measures in clinical practice. The findings of
the present study are, though, encouraging,
it would be premature to draw any firm
conclusion on the basis of present
observations inasmuch as a relatively small
sample size limits the generalization of
correlation findings. Further, the current
study used only free-viewing behavioural
measures of hemispheric asymmetry and
therefore, there is a need to revalidate the
present findings using other behavioural
techniques/procedures of assessing
hemispheric asymmetry such as split-field and
dichotic listening procedures.
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Garima Gupta, Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

- 221 005
Rakesh Pandey, PhD, Associate Professor in Psychology, Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi - 221 005
65
Influence of Premature Ejaculation on Depression

Ali Reza Ghaderi
University of Mysore, Mysore
and
B. Rangaiah
Pondicherry University, Puducherry.
The majority of researchers and therapists in the area of sexual dysfunction

believe that premature ejaculation (PE) is the most common male sexual
dys-function, regardless of concurrence about what constitutes PE and almost
unclearness of the available diagnostic criteria. In spite of several researchers
well established on incidence of PE, there are no massive data to estimate the
relationship between premature ejaculation and depression and negative effects
of PE on both the man and his partner. Therefore, the ejaculatory behavior of
110 men was explored for assessing relationship between premature ejaculation
and depression among Iranian adult. Participants of this study composed men
with premature ejaculation and without premature ejaculation age ranged from
20 to 40 by visiting Hospitals and official clinics in Mashhad city of Iran. Results
revealed that premature ejaculation and depression was positively related.
Secondary variables like education, age and area did not influence depression;
however, disease status had positively influenced depression of PE participants.
Keywords: Premature Ejaculation, Depression
Male sexual dysfunctions in general and

premature ejaculation in particular are
condition that affects a large number of men
worldwide, and likely to have an impact on
couple which may lead to the low level of
individual well-being and mental health.
Consequently Sexual dysfunctions are
cognitive, affective, and behavioral problems
that prevent an individual or couple from
engaging in or enjoying satisfactory
intercourse (Hogan, 1978). In a survey with
small sample in Iran found that the sexual
dysfunctions remain one of the important
reasons for marital and relationship difficulties
(YekehFalah & Goudarzi, 2009; Ghadiri,
Hadiri, & Forotan, 2009). As with all sexual
disorders, premature ejaculation (PE) known
as problem of the orgasm phase of the male
sexual response cycle and widely believed
to be the most common male sexual
dysfunction that estimated prevalence range
from 21 to 32.5% in men aged 18-59
(Laumann, Paik & Rosen, 1999; Rosen, Porst,
Montorsi, 2004; Rowland, Perelman, Althof,
Barada, McCullogh, Bull, Jamieson, & Ho.

2004; Althof, 2007). Recently, relatively little
hope of relief (Marcel, & Waldinger, 2008) has
been discovered. YekehFalah (2009)
revealed that premature ejaculation was the
most common type of sexual dysfunction in
men with 43.4% in the clinical sample study.
PE may result from biological factors,
psychological factors, social factors, or some
combination thereof, which could interact in
a variety of ways. However, the fact that there
are several potential causes for PE does not
altogether eliminate the possibility of various
simple explanations for the disorder. Yet, sex
therapists have cautioned against the
assumption of a single cause for PE
(Polonsky, 2000).
Requiring controlling ejaculation time for
majority of men is a key aspect of his and his
partner s sexual satisfaction in sexual
intercourse. Therefore latency is only a single
component of the personal diagnosis that
may strongly correlate with patient
66
assessments of their sexual satisfaction. In a

consensus process PE diagnose with at least
four dimensions: Latency, Control,
Satisfaction and distress. These four
dimensions reflect the content of the
American Psychiatric Association (2000)
definition for PE disorder. As a result men with
PE report experiencing frustration, anger,
disappointment,
failure,
insecurity,
inade-quacy,
guilt,
humiliation,
embarrassment, fear, and denial (Patrick et
al, 2005). Ejaculation that occurs early than
desired is often disappointing, and can lead
to other sexual dysfunctions inducing erectile
difficulties female anorgasmia, low sexual
desire and sexual aversion (Grenier & Byers,
2001, Rust, Golombok, & Collier, 1988).
Premature ejaculation has been shown
to have a significant negative psy-chological
impact on men with the dysfunction, which
typically results in increased anxiety and loss
of sexual confidence, and leads to distress
and reduced satisfaction with the sexual
experience. Men with PE report poor
perceived control over ejaculation and low
satisfaction with sexual intercourse relative
to men without PE (Patrick et al., 2005).
Premature ejaculation affects the individual,
his partner, the relationship, and overall
quality of life (QOL). The relationship
between sexual satisfaction, life satisfaction,
and overall well-being has been recognized
for many years (Bell, 1972; Masters &
Johnson, 1970). Still there is little
understanding of whether the man with the
PE experience depression or not?
Researchers have neglected exploration into
the specific connections between depression
and PE. Specifically, research related to PE
and its connection to depression is scant.
A few studies have examined the
association between sexual dysfunction and
depression. In particular, depression has
been shown to be strongly associated with
low levels of sexual desire. In a discussion of
the association between depression and
Premature Ejaculation on Depression
sexual desire, Phillips and Slaughter (2000),

reported that people with depression have a
higher prevalence of sexual dysfunction,
including lowered libido, than people from the
general population. They further noted that
for some people, although their depression
improves after treatment with medication, their
sexual dysfunction remains.Therefore
reductions in desire could result directly from
the underlying depression, or it may be a
complication of the medication itself.
Hirschfeld (1999) noted that it is difficult to
determine the level of sexual dysfunction
among people with depression, but in men, it
is most likely to have a negative impact on
sexual interest, erectile functioning, and
ejaculation. In a discussion of the association
between premature ejaculation and
depression, it is very difficult to specify
whether the depression is a causative factor
or the result of PE. Therfore, the aim of
peresent study was to find out the relationship
between the premature ejaculation and
depression.
Method
Sample:
it consists of the adult clients age range
from 20 to 40 with and without premature
ejaculation by visiting Hospitals and official
clinics in Iran. Participants had different
educational backgrounds where 15 of them
were post-graduates, 22 were bachelors, and
34 were diploma, 21 were high school and
remaining (18) were studied up to sixth
standard. Out of 110 participants 89 of them
were stay in urban area where as 21 of them
were stay in rural area. Disease statuse of
respondents indicates that 43 of them
suffered from at least one disease at some
of points in their life and remaining were
healthy.
Instruments:
Premature Ejaculation Questionnaire
(PEQ): It was developed by Rosa, Thor &
Rosen, in (1999) is a self-report instrument
67
designed as a sexual quality of life

questionnaire to assess the effects of
premature ejaculation on an individual. PEQ
has been created specifically for use in
ongoing research in the treatment of PE and
as a diagnostic assessment to use in clinical
trials for premature ejaculation. It consists of
23 items, in which -one open-ended items
inquiring about ejaculatory latency and 22
items with Likert-type scale responses. The
reliability of the PEQ was found 0.688 through
Cronbach Alpha. Further, correlation
coefficient of 0.883 was found in a cross
validation with Index of Premature Ejaculation
(Althof et al., 2006), therefore, the PEQ was
found to be significantly valid.
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21): The short version was developed by
Lovibond and Lovibond and colleagues,
(1995) was used. It consists of 21-item selfreport measure used to assess depression,
anxiety and stress. Items on the DASS are
rated on 4- point Likert-type, ranging from 0
(Did not apply to me at all) to 3 (Applied to
me very much, or most of the time).
Responses to each scale item were summed
to produce a total score for that scale.The
higher the scores on each subscale indicate
more depression, anxiety and stress. DASS
has undergone extensive evaluation by the
authors and other research groups (Antony
Bieling, COX, Enns, & Swinson, 1998,
Crawford et al., 2003; Duffy et al., 2005,
Brown, 1998). The DASS has been found to
be a reliable and valid method for assessing
client changes in depressive mood and
anxiety (Antony et al., 1998; Brown,
Schulberg. 1997; Clara, Cox, & Enns, 2001).
Sahebi, Asghari, and Salari (2005) have
translated the DASS scale to Persian
language and found to be reliable and valid
scale for assessing client changes in
depressive mood, anxiety and stress.
Procedure:
The instruments, both Premature
Ejaculation Questionnaire and Depression
Anxiety Stress Scale have been distributed

individually to the participants after obtaining
the informed consent. The participants were
informed that the filling of questionnaire was
voluntary and the given information would be
kept confidential. It was important for the
purpose of the research to have objective
criteria for premature ejaculation. The most
commonly used objective criteria are intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (IELT) and
number of thrusts, based on first and second
questions of premature ejaculation.
Participants have instructed to use the
stopwatches to measure objective criteria
according to DSM-IV-TR to record their IELTs
over a period of 4 weeks and answer the first
and second questions of questionnaire.
Results
Levels of PE, educational level and
depression scores: Levels of pre mature
ejaculation directly influenced depression
scores as the obtained F value of 65.858 was
found to be significant at .000 level. The mean
depression scores for patients with extreme,
moderate, mild and none categories of PE
were 21.08, 12.73, 11.89 and 8.40
respectively. We find that as the levels of PE
increased, depression scores also increased
linearly and significantly. PE participants with
different Education levels differed significantly
in their depression scores (F=4.353; p=.918).
From the mean values, it is clear that those
participants studied up to six standards and
bachelor had maximum depression scores
compared to others. Even the interaction
effect between levels of PE and education
level (F=3.12; p=.001), was found to be
significant, where participants with extreme
level of PE had highest depression scores
compared to others.
Levels of PE, age groups and
depression scores: PE Participants with less
than and more than 30 years of age had
differed significantly in their depression
scores (F=4.539; p=.036), where as those
participants with lower age groups had higher
68
depression scores and the interaction effect

between levels of PE and age groups was
found to be non-significant (F=2.465;
p=.067).
Levels of PE, disease status and
depression scores: Disease status of the
patients did not have significant influence over
the depression scores (F=0.647; p=.423)
where obtained F value failed to reach the
significance level criterion. The interaction
between levels of PE and disease status was
also found to be non-significant (F=1.368;
p=.257).
Levels of PE, area and depression
scores: Participants residing in urban and
rural areas did not differ significantly
(F=2.732; P=.127) as their mean depression
scores were found to be statistically equal and
the interaction between levels of PE and area
was found to be non-significant (F=2.537;
p=.061).
Discussion
Premature ejaculation has detrimental
effects on men and it can be an important
source of distress. In the present study, it was
found that participants who are experiencing
high levels of PE significantly experienced
high levels of depression. Consequently
Premature ejaculation and depression are
directly interrelated which premature
ejaculation can lead to depression and
depression can cause premature ejaculation.
Furtheremore, dual problem of PE and
depression are the most daunting challenges
in the field of psychosexual therapy.
Psychological factors may also include
anxiety, depression, and fear of intimacy,
negative views about sex, performance
anxiety, and personality traits (Assalian, 1994;
Safir & Almagore, 1991; Strassberg,
Mahoney, Schaugaard, & Hale, 1990;
Symonds, Roblin, Hart, & Althof, 2003; Tondo,
antone, Carta, Laddomada, Mosticoni,
Rudas, 1991) that can causes PE. It should
be noted that in discussion of the relationship
between premature ejaculation and
depression, it is very difficult to specify

whether the depression is a causative factor
or the result of PE. In addition, men with PE
report experiencing frustration, anger,
disappointment,
failure,
insecurity,
inade-quacy,
guilt,
humiliation,
embarrassment, fear, and denial (Patrick, et
al 2005) which they are the symptoms of
depression that can exert both emotional and
health burden on participants. Determining
the cause and effect relationship between the
two is of great clinical importance for adequate
treatment because quality of life will get
disturb in PE in the same manner as in
depression.
It has always been assumed that rapid
ejaculation is a dysfunction of the young, with
diminishing prevalence with age. This notion
presumes that with age men habituate to the
exciting sexual sensations or that there is a
slowing of the ejaculatory reflex.As far the
influence of age is concerned, participants
of this study in younger age groups
experienced higher depression scores. The
reasons could be at younger age the
experience of premature ejaculation, where
they are not able to satisfy the partner or
themselves, as well as fear of rejection by
the partner may evoke more depression
among younger age groups than older age
groups. Even the diploma holders showed
maximum depression, where the authors
could not find any literature regarding this
issue.
Implications
This research brings to light to a better
understanding of the relationship between
premature ejaculation and depression this
may help to improve the level of depression
by treatment of PE. The finding of the study
might be useful for effective treatment
program for the treatment of clients with
premature ejaculation. The finding of the
study would facilitate the development of
treatment of the clients with premature
ejaculation. These therapies are seldom used
in Iran. The application of the study will

change the attitude of the people particularly
in Iran who are ignorant and negative attitude
towards therapy. This research will add to
premature ejaculation literature in Iran and
other countries to guide therapists.
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Ali Reza Ghaderi, PhD scholar in Psychology, University of Mysore; granted

Fellowship from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in Iran.
Email:arghaderi44@yahoo.com
B. Rangaiah, PhD, Reader, Department of Applied Psychology, Pondicherry
University, Puducherry - 605 014
71
Correlates of Personality, Diversity, Decision-Making and

Affective Well Being of Management Students
Ambrien Ahmed
and
N. Hasnain
Asia Pacific Institute of Management, New Delhi Jamia Millia islamia, New Delhi
The present study aimed to examine the relationship of personality traits and
decision making styles with stress, anxiety and depression of the management
students. For this purpose a sample of 400 postgraduate students of management
were selected on incidental basis from Delhi based management institutes.
Their age ranged from 20 to 24 years. Results showed that adjustment,
sociability, agreeableness, and conscientiousness-personality traits had an
inverse relationship with stress, anxiety and depression. Behavioral-decision
making style was found positively correlated with stress, whereas, relationship
of other styles of decision making with stress and other variables emerged as
non-significant.
Keywords: Personality traits, Decision making styles, Stress, Anxiety,
Depression
Stress and depression are the most

vulnerable states emerging from various life
threatening events in an individuals life, such
as hardship, adversity, trauma, etc. It is seen
that management students are affected by
various stressors during the process of their
studies. They often get anxious and stressed
by academic stress. According to Carveth,
Gesse, and Moss (1996), academic stressors
include the students perception of the
extensive knowledge base required and the
perception of an inadequate time to develop
it. Studies show that students experience
academic stress in each semester resulting
from taking notes, studying for exams, grade
competition and covering the large syllabus
in lesser amount of time (Abouserie, 1994;
Britton & Tesser, 1991; Kohn & Frazer, 1986;
Archer & Lamnin, 1985). Person
environmental model is quite helpful in
understanding stress among students.
According to this model, stressful events can
be appraised by an individual as
challenging or threatening (Lazarus,
1966). When students appraise their
education as a challenge, stress can bring
them a sense of competence and an

increased capacity to learn. When education
is seen as a threat by them then stress can
elicit feelings of helplessness and a sense of
loss. Besides academic stress, most of the
students at this stage struggle with their
identity crisis too. That itself is a syndrome of
problems that includes a divided self image,
a sense of time urgency and a lack of
concentration on required tasks. According
to Erickson (1968), its a turning point, a
crucial period of increased vulnerability and
heightened potential. Chickering (1969) has
also worked on the model of college student
development. In his model, he mentioned
seven vectors, each of which can be viewed
as a sequence of developmental tasks, a
cause of anxiety and a collection of end
results (Widick, Parker, & Knefelkamp, 1978).
These vectors include: developing
competence, managing emotions, developing
autonomy, establishing identity, freeing
interpersonal relationships, developing
purpose and developing integrity. Another
factor that can lead to stress and anxiety in
students is career crisis. It adds more
72
Personality Traits and Decision Making Styles
pressure on management students as they

generally face a bewildering array of options
and choices that help them to start their
career instantly in one specific field or guide
them away from another. Students ability to
cope up with these situations varies not only
with the accumulative effect of the stressors,
but also with such factors as personality and
cognitive ability.
and personality disorder traits have been

found as the marker for certain anxiety
disorders. Subsequently, extremes of
personality traits showed greater dysfunction
in patients with anxiety disorders (Brandes &
Bienvenu, 2006; Gershuny & Sher, 1998) and
Francis (2007) revealed that low extraversion
group had more stress as compared to high
extroversion group.
Studies have shown that personality

plays a significant role in influencing
psychological health of an individual (Hooker,
Frazier, & Monahan, 1998; Tennen, Affleck,
Armeli, & Carney, 1991; Parkes, 1986).
Personality has been linked to the likelihood
of experiencing stressful situations (Bolger &
Schilling, 1991; Bolger & Zuckerman, 1995)
and the appraisal of an event as stressful
(Gunthert, Cohen, & Armeli, 1999). Blatt
(1974), Blatt, DAffitti, & Quinlan (1976), Blatt,
Quinlan, & Chevron (1990), Blatt, Quinlan,
Chevron, McDonald, & Zuroff (1982), Blatt &
Zuroff (1992), Beck (1983) and Arieti &
Bemporad (1980) have suggested that
certain personality attributes increase an
individuals vulnerability to stress. They found
that individuals with a self-critical or
autonomous personality style are thought to
be particularly vulnerable to stress involving
failure. Self-critical or autonomous individuals
are thought to derive their sense of self-worth
from accomplishments in the achievement
domain, have excessively high standards for
themselves. Thus, they are particularly
vulnerable to anxiety and depression when
exposed to stress.
Researches in the area of depression

have suggested that personality traits may
be associated with greater severity of
symptoms, more frequent relapse and overall
worse outcome. For example, among patients
diagnosed with major depression,
obsessionism, neuroticism and impaired
social adjustment appear consistently
(Duggan, Lee, & Murray, 1990; Scott,
Williams, Brittlebank, & Ferrier, 1995).
Numerous descriptive studies attempted to
identify personality traits that are distinctly
associated with bipolar disorder. Using the five
factor model of personality, Bagby, Young,
Schuller, Bindseil, Cooke, Dickens, Levin, and
Joffe (1996) found that euthymic bipolar
patients differed most significantly from
unipolar patients on the feeling facet of the
openness to experience domain.
Furthermore, even after controlling
depressive symptoms, the positive emotions
facets of extroversion domain discriminated
bipolar from unipolar individuals.
The Big Five personality taxonomy is

one of the most frequently used typologies
in measuring personality and stress. Among
big five traits the most commonly studied traits
are neuroticism and extraversion. It has been
found that people high in neuroticism
experience different life events as negative
and they also had the propensity to be more
negatively affected by chronic stress than
people low in neuroticism (Hooker et al. 1998).
Similarly, high neuroticism, low extraversion
Fundamental to deal with stress, anxiety

and depression of any individual is his/her
competence in decision making by having a
balanced approach towards each decision
making style. There is a growing recognition
that in stress or anxiety an individual is often
required to adapt his decision style to suit
situational demands. Phillips, Pazienza, and
Ferrin (1984) define decision-making style as
a situation which includes the approach,
reaction and action of the individual who is
about to make a decision. Decision-making
strategy includes the individuals approach
to the decision-making problem and methods
that are followed during the decision-making
73
process (Kuzgun, 2000). Kneeland (2001)

emphasized the necessity of correct
application of the decision making process
and timing to achieve a useful and effective
decision to avoid any stressful condition.
Thunholm (2008) studied relationship
between decision-making styles and
physiological correlates of negative stress on
military officers. Five independent decision
making styles were selected i.e. rational,
intuitive, dependent, avoidant and
spontaneous. The results showed that the
avoidant style was related to negative stress
when they are more worried and tensed.
When faced with urgent and dynamic
demands, a person must be capable of
adopting an appropriate decision making
style. Indeed, the complexity of a decision
taken by an individual can cause a negative
choice (Shiloh, Koren, & Zakay, 2001).
Studies reported that adopters of quality
decision-making behaviour (vigilance) were
found to plan for their actions, had less risky
behaviours (Hollen, 1994) and led healthy
lives (Larric, Nisbett, & Morgan, 1993). The
relationship of decision making to stress is
an aspect of human behaviour that remains
inadequately explored. The literature in this
area is extremely complex and not conclusive.
From the aforesaid literature it is learnt
that personality and decision making process
play a significant role in influencing individuals
stress and anxiety level. Studies on this aspect
are scarcely found on Indian management
professionals. Since India is emerging as one
of the biggest economy of the world, the
managerial profession is becoming more and
more competitive and demanding. In this
transitional era, it has become mandatory to
equip the future managers with decision
making styles suitable to their personality
traits for the maintenance and enhancement
of their psychological well being, so that they
can prove themselves as efficient mangers.
Hence, in the present study efforts have been
made to investigate the relationship of
personality and decision making styles with
stress, anxiety and

management students.
depression
of
Method
Participants:
A total number of 400 postgraduate
students pursuing course in business
management from Delhi based management
institutes were taken on incidental basis for
the present study. Their age ranged from 20
to 25.
Tools:
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS):
It was developed by Lovibond and Lovibond
in 1995. It is a set of three self-report scales
designed to measure the negative emotional
states of depression, anxiety and stress. It
contains total 42 items in which each scale
contains 14 items, divided into subscales of
2-5 items with similar content. Participants
were asked to use 4-point severity/frequency
scales to rate the extent to which they had
experienced each state over the past week.
Reliability of the three scales is considered
adequate and test-retest reliability is likewise
considered adequate with .71 for depression,
.79 for anxiety and .81 for stress.
Big Five Locator Questionnaire: It was
developed by Howard, Medina, and Howard
in 1996. It measures five personality traits.
They are adjustment, sociability, openness,
agreeableness and conscientiousness. None
of the traits is in themselves positive or
negative; they are simply characteristics that
individuals exhibit to a greater or lesser
extent. Each of these personality traits
describes, relative to other people, the
frequency or intensity of a persons feelings,
thoughts, or behaviors. It includes 25 sets of
descriptive words on opposite ends of a
continuum. Participants were asked to select
from a scale of 1 to 5, the score that best
describes them. By selecting scale 1 or 2,
participants see themselves as being better
described by the statement on the left. By
selecting scale 4 or 5, participants see
74
themselves as being better described by the

statement on the right. Selecting a scale of 3
would mean that participants are neutral and
that neither extremes best describe them.
Decision Style Inventory: It was
developed by Rowe and Mason in 1987. It
measures an individuals preferences when
approaching various decision situations. It
measures four styles of decision making:
directive style, analytical style, conceptual
style and behavioral style. Inventory consists
of 20 questions regarding typical situations
that individual faces at a managerial level.
Participants were asked to grade each
answer items by giving a rank of 8, 4, 2 or 1.
Ranking of 8 indicates the most prefer, 4
indicates consider often, 2 indicates consider
occasionally and 1 indicate least prefer. DSI
has a 90% face validity and 70% test- retest
reliability.
Pearson product moment coefficients of
correlation were worked out between
personality traits, decision making styles, and
stress, anxiety and depression. Results are
presented in table 1. Findings indicate that
stress, anxiety and depression had negative
coefficients of correlation with personality
traits of adjustment (r= -.262, -.279, -.223;

p<.01, respectively), sociability (r=-.322,
-.312, -.262; p<0.01, respectively) and
agreeableness (r=-.155, -.175, -.209; p<0.01,
respectively). However, conscientiousnesspersonality trait has shown negative
correlation with anxiety and depression
(r=-.134, -.144; p <0.01, respectively).
Though, it had negative but non-significant
correlation with stress (r=-.007; p>0.05).
From the above findings, it can be
interpreted that adjustment-personality trait
helps students to tackle their stress and
anxiety effectively. Individuals high in
adjustment are better able to control their
impulses, can cope up easily with daily life
stressors and are less vulnerable to
depression. This trait helps in establishing
and maintaining satisfactory relations with the
world. It is also considered as a continuous
process that tends to bring out more or less
changing attitudes throughout the individuals
life. Further, sociability-personality trait also
helps in reducing the stress level. Students
who are sociable are inclined to seek out the
opportunity of social contact with others. They
are expressive and can get the opportunity
to discuss their trivial issues with others which
helps them to get some insight about their
Table 1. Correlation of Stress, Anxiety, Depression with Personality Traits and

Decision Making Styles
1
1. Stress
2. Anxiety
.728** 1
3. Depression
.721** .721** 1
4. Directive-DMS
5. Analytical-DMS
-.028 .013 -.028

-.073 -.064 -.084
1
-.038 1
6. Conceptual-DMS
.005
-.309**-.355** 1
7. Behavioral-DMS
8. Adjustment-PT
.107* .038 .092 -.434**-.419** -.243**

1
-.262**-.279** -.223** .014 .044
-.002 -.063 1
.045
.005
9. Sociability-PT
-.322**-.312** -.262** -.004 .037
.066 -.102*.426** 1
10. Openness-PT
.059
.049 .036 .020
11. Agree-PT
12. Consci-PT
-.155**-.175** -.209** -.023 -.012

-.087 -.134** -.144** .025 .103*
** p<0.01 * p<0.05
.097
.065
-.134**.000
10
11
12
.021 1
-.028 .042 -.012 .179**

-.003 1
-.044 -.104*.046 .125* -.070 .467**1
problems and in turn helps them to cope up

with stress. A sense of belonging is extremely
important for emotional health and well-being;
students who are sociable but dont feel a
sense of belonging are much more likely to
suffer from depression. It thus seems sensible
that more sociable people would be
psychologically healthier and that
development of sociability should be
encouraged. Agreeableness-personality trait
indicates that students have a tendency to
subordinate personal needs to those of the
group and they like to accept groups norms
rather than insisting on their personal
norms. Moreover, they prefer harmony in
relations and possess characteristics of being
tolerant, calm, less self centered, which in
turn make them less vulnerable to stress,
anxiety and depression. Furthermore,
conscientiousness-personality trait also helps
in dealing with anxiety and depression.
Students with conscientiousness trait are able
to control, regulate and direct their impulses
more effectively. They can achieve high
levels of success through purposeful
planning and persistence which in turn helps
them to get rid of anxiety and depression.
The findings of the study are consistent
with some findings. Avi and Todd (2007) found
that higher conscientiousness was related to
lower negative mood, higher confirmation of
positive affective expectations and lower
perceived stress. Brandes and Bienvenu
(2006) found that personality traits such as
high neuroticism, low extraversion, and
personality disorder traits (particularly those
from Cluster C) are at least markers of risk
for certain anxiety disorders. And extremes
of personality traits indicate greater
dysfunction in patients with anxiety disorders.
Francis (2007) examined the relationship
between personality and stress. He found that
stress was higher in low extroversion group
as compared to high extroversion group and
stress was higher in high anxiety group as
compared to low anxiety group. Similar
findings hold true for Adjustment. Vearing and
75
Mak (2007) investigated the joint effects of

the big five personality factors and an
extended model of work stress based on
Siegrists (1996) work on effortreward
imbalance (ERI), on employees depressive
symptoms. They found that depressive
symptoms revealed a medium effect of
neuroticism, followed by small effects of
workplace
social
support
and
conscientiousness accounting for 44% of the
variance in depressive symptoms and
providing support to the utility of considering
both big five and work stress factors. Further,
Ingledew and Brunning (1999) also found that
conscientiousness is associated with healthy
behaviors.
Further, findings of the study indicate
that among four styles of decision making,
only behavior-decision making style (r = .107,
p< 0.05) has shown a positive correlation with
stress. It can be interpreted that students who
adopt behavioral-decision making style are
characterized by low tolerance for ambiguity
and low cognitive complexity. Moreover, these
individuals are criticized for their focus on
short-term problem solving and difficulty in
making
tough
decisions.
These
characteristics of behavioral-decision making
style in some respect make students stressful,
which is not healthy for their proper
functioning.
Thus, it can be concluded that the
success of an organization depends on its
effective management by efficacious and
dynamic professional managers. It requires
enormous amount of patience, agility, decision
making ability and business acumen on the
part of managers to deal with business
competitors and interacting with the
stakeholders. So these future managers need
to have a stable personality and dynamism
which can help them to take sound decisions
at the time of need and to cope up with any
challenging and stressful situation effectively.
The findings of the study provide strength to
the information that personality traits such as
adjustment, sociability, agreeableness and
76
conscientiousness had negative relations

with stress, anxiety and depression of an
individual, which indicates positive aspect of
the future managers. It has also been
revealed that among decision making styles
only behavioral-decision making style has
shown positive relation with stress. Other
decision making styles which did not show any
relation with stress, anxiety and depression
seem to be intriguing finding which suggests
that additional research is needed to clarify
the nature of this relationship.
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Received: January 20, 2010

Accepted:January 08, 2011
Ambrien Ahmed, Lecturer of OB and HR, Asia Pacific Institute of Management,

New Delhi
N. Hasnain, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Jamia Millia islamia, New Delhi 110 025
78
Stress and Work Life of College Teachers

Dhrub Kumar
M K College, Darbhanga
and
J M Deo
College of Commerce, Patna
The purpose of the present study was to measure different aspects of work life
of college teachers in general and to find out differences in perception of male
and female as well as junior and senior teachers with regard to their responses
in particular. Data were collected from 100 teachers of different universities in
Bihar and Jharkhand with the help of an interview schedule covering questions
related to time management, values, spiritual orientation, stress and overall life
and job satisfaction. Findings revealed that junior college teachers experienced
significantly more stress on most of the dimensions of stress in comparison to
senior teachers. However, female teachers experienced more role overload and
inter-role distance stress as compared to their male counterparts.
Keywords: Stress, Work Life, College Teachers
Teaching is becoming an increasingly

demanding and stressful occupation on
account of several factors, such as,
budgetary resource inadequacy (Tilak, 2006),
decline in number of teachers (Kumar, 2007),
poor condition of laboratory, library and
equipments (Ganguly, 2008), crass
commercialism, on-campus rowdyism,
nepotism, corruption and favouritism in
university administration (Singh, 2008) etc.
According to Sinha (2004), from command
of respect to demand for respect, from
profession to occupation, from unquestioned
authority and status to searching questions
of role performance and social relevance,
teaching in higher educational institutions in
India today is rambling in quagmire of
uncertainty of purpose, lack of
professionalism and crisis of status (p. 101).
The stressfulness of teaching as an
occupation is widely recognized but the
prevalence of occupational stress within the
institutions of higher learning is not as well
understood and documented as in the case
of school teachers (Bridges, 1992; Galloway,
Panckhurst, Boswell, & Green, 1982;
Laughlin, 1984; Manthei, Gilmore, Tuck &

Adair, 1996; Manthei & Solman, 1988; Sud &
Malik, 1999; Klusmann, Kunter, Trautwein,
Ludtke,
&
Baumert,
2008;
and
Mohammadyfar, Khan & Tamini, 2009).
Not enough work has been done on
stress of teaching in general (cf. Pestonjee,
1992) and occupational stress in particular
amongst college/university teachers in
India. Vadra and Akhtar (1989) found that
university male teachers experienced more
social and family role stress as compared to
female teachers and the married experienced
more stress than the unmarried
teachers. Dang and Gupta (1994) explored
the effect of work set-up, behaviour pattern
and gender on various role stressors of
lecturers. It was found that only work set-up
accounted for significant difference in stress
level of the subjects. Sultana (1995)
investigated the level of organizational role
stress among male and female teachers of
professional and non professional courses.
Results revealed that there were significant
differences, albeit along different dimensions,
79
Dhrub Kumar and J M Deo
between professional male and female

teachers as well as non-professional male
and female teachers In a comparative study
of the levels of occupational stress and job
satisfaction among male and female teachers
of higher educational institutions, Mishra
(1996) found significant differences between
male and female teachers in the areas of
private life, work overload, under load, role
conflict, and interpersonal stress. Female
teachers experienced more stress in these
areas as compared to male teachers. Further,
significant differences were also observed
between male and female teachers on overall
stress and overall job satisfaction scores.
Mishra (1995) found a highly significant
and positive relationship of over-all jobrelated stress and its four dimensions, i.e.
role based stress, task based stress,
boundary mediating stress and conflict
mediating stress with depressed mood at
work. Pandey and Tripathi (2001), too,
reported a moderate level of occupational
stress of engineering college teachers.
Anurani (2006) reported that both male and
female college teachers perceived lack of
infrastructural
facilities,
callous
administration, and apathetic students as
major stressors.
It would thus appear that the literature
relating to stress research in India is quite
scanty with regard to teaching in higher
educational institutions in particular whereas
the growing demand for innovation as also
autonomy as well as accountability in the
wake of globalization, privatization and
accreditation etc. has altogether changed the
very character of higher education in India
(Deo, 2007; 2008). Hence, the present study
to measure the different aspects of work life
of college teachers in general and their work
stress vis-a-vis time distribution in different
work / non work roles, personal values,
spiritual orientation, and overall job and life
satisfaction in particular.
Method
Sample:
100 college teachers of different
Universities of Bihar and Jharkhand were
personally contacted through an interview
schedule. 76 Lecturers, 22 Readers, and 2
Professors recorded their responses. The
mean age was 43. 12 years ranging from 26
to 59 years and average teaching experience
was 15. 84 years ranging from 2 to 35 years.
Measures:
Time Distribution Measures: To
measure the participation in work and nonwork role in 24 hours, a modified version of
Sinha (1990) time distribution measure was
used. Teachers were asked to write down
actual hours spent in teaching and studying,
family and home, spiritual, social affairs, and
in leisure.
Values Measure: A modified version of
Sinha (1990) was used to measure 10
dimensions of personal values. The values
measured were ability utilization,
achievement, advancement, altruism,
economic gain, prestige, social relation,
peace of mind and physical comfort. The
items were rated on a 4-point scale with
regard to degree of importance ranging from
not at all (1) to a great extent (4).
Stress Measure: Kumars (2000) stress
scale was used to measure the experience
of stress amongst teachers with some
modification in dimensions. This is a 15 item
scale measuring seven dimensions, namely
family concern, work overload, interpersonal
relationship, role stagnation, physical
environment, organizational climate, and
inter-role distance, each rated on a 4-point
scale ranging from not at all (1) to a great
extent (4).
Job and Life satisfaction Measure: Sinha
(1990) job and life satisfaction scale was used
to measure job and life satisfaction of college
80
Stress and Work Life
teachers. It is a single item scale for

measuring job satisfaction and life satisfaction
on a 4-point scale ranging from quite
dissatisfied (1) to quite satisfied (4).
Studies on work life prove that what
happened in the workplace have significant
impact on individuals and their families
(Kossek & Ozeki, 1998). The combination of
a fluctuating work environment with competing
job and family commitments negatively affects
employees / professionals in the form of
lowered morale and motivation, reduced
productivity, and increased burnout and
turnover (Galinsky & Stein, 1990; Benedict &
Taylor, 1995). Moreover, the inability of
employees to balance the equally challenging
demands of their work and personal life is
also found to contribute to the escalating
stress and conflict of todays workforce
(Edwards & Rothbard, 2000). According to
Saad, Samah and Juhdi(2008) three things
necessary to obtain a balance between work
and life are understanding time,
understanding choice, and understanding
purpose. Life is the result of all actions taken
by choice over the course of time while fulfilling
ones purpose in life. Time is the most
important resource in life. There is an
allotment of 24 hours given to every human
being. The use of this allotment of time in a
wise manner has created wealth for some and
poverty for others. The time distribution of
24 hours reflects extent of participation in
work role compared to other life. It also reflects
the importance attached to work. In studies
by Super and Nevelli (1970) and Sinha
(1990) time distribution was taken for
measuring centrality of work.
The role of choice in the definition of work
life balance is in the filtering of information
that allows individuals to use time in a manner
facilitating a balance in the pursuit of a
career. Conrad (1990) defined balancing
work and life as the successful orchestration
of career, family, recreation, studies, hobbies

and other commitments that promote a sense
of self actualization. Understanding purpose
is the third element in defining the work life
balance. According to Clawson (2006)
commitment to purpose is the determinant
factor in being effective in achieving a balance
in life. When individuals understand their
purpose they become physically, emotionally,
socially, and organizationally balanced in life
(Clawson, 2006). Source of stress amongst
teachers and their level of satisfaction
regarding several aspects of work are also
measured to get a better understanding of
the overall work life in the institution and
perception of quality of work life is often
assessed using job satisfaction and
organizational climate surveys (Krueger,
Brazil, Lohfeld, Edward, Lewis, Tjam, 2002).
Findings presented in Table-1 clearly
indicated that junior college teachers
experienced significantly higher level of stress
on role overload, role stagnation, and
interpersonal relation and on overall stress
in comparison to senior teachers. The senior
teachers were more satisfied with their job
and life in comparison to junior colleagues.
The reason is red tapism and unnecessary
delay in promotion avenue as well as shifting
workload to junior colleagues However, no
significant difference was found with regard
to their spiritual orientation.
Some interesting findings were obtained
in the experiences of stress in male and
female teachers. The female teachers
experienced high role overload stress and
inter role distance stress in comparison to
male teachers. The reason may be
engagement and involvement in household
affair at one end and workload at college in
female teachers. The female teachers
responded significantly high on spiritual
orientation and job life atisfaction measures
(See Table-2).
81
Table 1. Differences in stress level, spiritual orientation and job and life satisfaction in
junior and senior College Teachers
Grade
Dimensions
N
Mean
SD
t-ratio
Junior Teacher
Family concern
75
6.592
1.507
1.578
Senior Teacher
25
6.00
1.66
Junior Teacher
Role Overload
75
4.473
1.509
2.148*
Senior Teacher
25
3.91
.993
Junior Teacher
Interpersonal relation 75
6.157
1.875
2.38*
Senior Teacher
25
7.00
1.416
Junior Teacher
Role stagnation
75
4.973
1.818
3.058**
Senior Teacher
25
4.083
1.034
Junior Teacher
Physical environment 75
4.644
1.382
.065
Senior Teacher
25
4.625
.979
Junior Teacher
Org. climate
75
4.432
1.238
.12
Senior Teacher
25
4.375
1.187
Junior Teacher
Inter-role Distance
75
4.25
1.452
4.20**
Senior Teacher
25
3.833
1.347
Junior Teacher
Overall stress
75
36.657 6.624
2.54*
Senior Teacher
25
32.916 3.854
Junior Teacher
SpiritualOrientation
75
3.223
.826
.68
Senior Teacher
25
3.330
.666
Junior Teacher
Job & life Satisfaction 75
3.270
.644
2.51*
Senior Teacher
25
3.583
.520
* p<.05 **p<.01
Table 2. Differences in responses of male and female teachers on different
dimensions of stress, spiritual orientation and job and life satisfaction
Sex
Dimensions
N
Mean
SD
t-ratio
Male Teacher
Family concern
84
6.380
1.223
1.213
Female Teacher
16
6.812
1.699
Male Teacher
Role Overload
84
3.928
1.632
2.44*
Female Teacher
16
5.000
1.519
Male Teacher
Interpersonal Relation
84
6.404
1.500
6.47
Female Teacher
16
6.125
1.970
Male Teacher
Role Stagnation
84
4.607
1.860
.1.11
Female Teacher
16
5.562
1.707
Male Teacher
Physical environment
84
4.690
1.108
1.019
Female Teacher
16
4.375
1.307
Male Teacher
Organisational climate
84
4.380
1.108
.624
Female Teacher
16
4.187
1.307
Male Teacher
Inter-role Distance
84
4.035
1.341
1.945*
Female Teacher
16
4.750
1.508
Male Teacher
Overall stress
84
34.202
5.153
1.898
Female Teacher
16
37.687
4.447
Male Teacher
Spiritual Orientation
84
3.178
.500
2.92
Female Teacher
16
3.297
.852
Male Teacher
Job & life Satisfaction
84
3.297
.500
2.326*
Female Teacher
16
3.625
.654
*p<.05
82
Table 3. Inter-correlation among different dimensions of values, spiritual orientation and

life and job satisfaction scores with different dimensions of stress (N = 100)
Family Work Interpersonal Role
Physical
Org. Interpersonal Overal
concern overload relation stagnation environment climate distance
stress
physical comfort
economic gain
social relation
ability utilization
peace of mind
prestige
Status & power
achievement
altruism
advancement
Overall values
SP
J&L
-.235
.08
.03
.01
-.13
-.01
-.09
.03
-.06
.09
.10
.10
-.06
-.15
-.08
.12
.04
-.21
-.21
-.12
-.03
-.07
.25
-.06
-.06
-.17
-.19
.09
-.01
-.17
.04
-.05
-.06
-.11
-.17
.06
.09
.09
-.17
Table 3 showed that scores on the most

of the dimensions of values were negatively
correlated with various dimensions of stress
scores. However, positive and significant
correlations were also obtained between life
comfort values and physical environment
stressor (r = .21), social relation values and
role stagnation (r = .22), ability utilization
values and organizational climate stressor (r
= .29) and achievement values and role over
load (r = .25). These findings showed that
some of the values of the respondents are
not congruent with situations perceived as
stressful.
Spirituality involves integration of three
dimensionsknowledge base and belief
systems; interior life and inner self; and
exterior life and institutional activity. Spiritual
activities like yoga, meditation etc. help
professionals and workers to rise above
hedonistic and selfish desires, refrain from
thinking of material gain and view their work
as duty (Chakraborty, 1993). They form the
individuals own life experiences and influence
the world at large. The importance of
spirituality or oneness, which is the final goal
of all existence according to the Upanishads,
is being increasingly realized by
-.05
-.12
.22
.11
.21
-.05
-.07
.06
-.04
.05
-.05
-.05
-.12
.21
.10
-.01
-.09
.15
-.02
-.12
-.01
-.16
-.12
.06
.06
-.02
-.07
-.006
-.03
.04
.08
-.01
-.35
-.09
.02
-.08
.01
.01
.01
.04
-.04
.16
.29
-.04
.14
.13
.18
.01
.18
-.05
-.05
-.19
-.12
.01
.11
.04
.03
-.05
-.16
-.01
-.12
.10
.03
.03
-.18
organizations. The complex environments that

business organizations face today and the
rapid change that has become a part of life
for many organizations highlight the
importance of transformational leadership for
effective management of organizations
(Krishnan, 2007). To test the effects of
values, spiritual orientation scores and job
and life satisfaction scores on stress scores,
Pearsons coefficient of correlation were
computed. Table-3 shows inter-correlation
among different dimensions of values, stress,
spiritual orientation, job satisfaction. The
correlations between spiritual orientation and
some of the dimensions of stress scores were
found insignificant. The spiritual orientation
scores were negatively correlated with role
overload, role stagnation and organizational
climate which revealed that spiritual
orientation transform individual mind to think
work as duty rather to work as burden.
Job satisfaction is one of the central
variables in work and is seen as an important
indicator of work life ( Aryee, Fields & Luk
,1999). Job satisfaction is defined as a
positive feeling about ones job resulting from
an evaluation of its characteristics (Robins
&Timothy, 2007). The dimensions of job
83
satisfaction identified by the researchers are

nature of the work, pay, promotion
opportunities, supervision and co-workers.
Life satisfaction is a subjective assessment
of the quality of ones life .It is a cognitively
oriented subjective judgment of ones current
life situation in relation to ones own
expectations. There is evidence of a positive
relationship between job satisfaction and life
satisfaction. Dyrbye et al. (2006) studied the
burnout, quality of life and depression in
minority and non minority US medical
students. They found that minority students
were more likely to have a low sense of
personal accomplishment and quality of life
in number of domains. Anand and Arora
(2009) found emotional exhaustion and
depersonalization were related with
Table 4. Regression Analysis
Predictor
Constant
Time spent in social activities
Social relation values
Ability utilization
achievement
altruism
S=1.689
R-sq=44.3%
In some studies it has been observed

that employees source of stress and level of
satisfaction regarding several aspect of work
are also measured to get a better
understanding of the overall quality of work
life in the institution and although these
aspects are not work life on their own,
perception of quality of work life is often
assessed using job satisfaction and
organizational climate surveys (Krueger et al,
2002). The negative consequences of
occupational stress are recognized as major
problems for both employees and
organizations. For employees, stress
frequently contributes to the risk of accidents,
burn-out and illnesses like coronary heart
disease, hyper-tension and severe
depression (Sutherland & Cooper, 1988) For
organizations, stress-related problems result
psychological quality of life only . Saad, et al

(2008) found that three quality of work life
variables, meaningfulness of job, optimism on
organizational change and autonomy are
significantly related to Job Satisfaction.
However, they only explained 28.8% of the
variance in Job Satisfaction. The table 1
also showed negative correlations were
obtained between different dimensions of
stress scores and job and life satisfaction
scores. However, the obtained correlations
are statistically insignificant. The reason may
be the effect of other variables i.e. spiritual
orientations and values on job and life
satisfaction scores. The multiple regression
analysis also supports these views (See Table
4 below).
Co-ef
4.43
.207
1.51
.998
.702
-.094
SD
3.88
.090
.645
.331
.296
.0286
T
1.14
2.29
2.34
3.01
2.37
-3.32
P
.257
.025
.022
.004
.020
.001
R-sq (adj) =27.5%
in low job satisfaction, poor quality of

performance, increased absence from work
and high turn over (Motowidlo, Packard, &
Manning, 1986).
To sum up, it may be said that some of
the inculcated values like social relation, ability
utilization, and achievement help us to
minimize the experience of stress. While
altruism, on the other hand, has catalytic
influence on perception of stressful situation.
A recent study of relationship between job
stress, work-family conflict and organizational
citizenship behavior reports that when
employees participates in extra-role behavior
above and beyond what is expected of them,
this will lead to more stress (Bolino & Turnley,
2005). The junior teachers experienced more
stress because of low exposure and
experience. The female teachers, on the
84
other hand, experienced significantly high

role overload and inter role distance stress
in comparison to their male counterparts as
household activities is traditionally the part
of female members.
References
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Satisfaction and Quality of Life among
Executives of Multi National Companies,
Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied
Anurani (2006). A study of work stressors
amongst college teachers. Unpublished M.
A. Dissertation, Magadh University, Bodh
Gaya.
Aryee, S., Fields, D. & Luk, V. (1999). A crosscultural test of model of the work-family
interface, Journal of Management, 25, 491511
Benedict, R., & Taylor, C. A. (1995) Managing
the overlap of work and family: A shared
responsibility, CUPA Journal, 1-9.
Bolino, M.C., & Turnley, W.H.(2005). The
personal costs of citizenship behavior: The
relationship between individual initiative and
role overload, job stress, and work-family
conflict, Journal of Applied Psychology, 90,
740-748.
Bridges, S. J. (1992). Working in Tomorrows
schools: effects on primary teachers a
Christchurch study. Report no. 92-93,
educational Department, University of
Canterbury, Chritchurch, New Zealand
Clawson, J. G. (2006). Level three leadership:
Getting below the surface (3rd ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Chakraborty, S. K.(1993). Managerial
Transformation by Values: A Corporate
Pilgrimage. New Delhi: Sage.
Conrad, P. J. (1990). Balancing home and career:
Skills for successful life management.
California: Crisp Publications, Inc.
Dang, R. & Gupta, R. (1994). A study of role
stress, behaviour patterns and gender among
teachers. Journal of the Indian Academy of
Applied Psychology, 20, 183-188.
Deo, J. M. (2007). Teachers perception of
innovation issues in higher education in
Bihar. Paper presented at UGC national

Seminar at J D Womens College, Patna,
April 4-5.
Deo, J. M. (2008). Uchcha Shiksha: Vikas evam
Unnayan ke liye Samsthagat Badlav Jaroori.
Chetanshi, 4, 60-65.
Dyrbye, L.N.,Thomas, M.R., Huschka, M.M.,
Lawson, K.L., Novotny, P.J., Sloan, J.A. &
Shanafelt, T.D. (2006). A Multicentre Study
of burnout, depression and quality of life in
minority and non minority. US medical
students. Mayo Clinical Proc., 81, 1435- 1442.
Galinsky, E., & Stein, P.J. 1990, The impact of
human resource policies on employees:
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Issues, 11, 36883.
Galloway, D., Panckhurst, F. Boswell, C., &
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teachers, National Education, 64, 164-169.
Ganguly, S. K. (2008). Crisis in education.
PURTA Souvenir, 19-21
Klusmann, U., Kunter, M., Trautwein, U. Ludtke,
O. & Baumert, J. (2008). Engagement and
Emotional Exhaustion in Teachers: Does the
School Context Make a Difference? Applied
Psychology: International Review, 57, 127151.
Kossek, E.E., & Ozeki, C. (1998). work-family
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relationship: A review and direction for
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Krishnan, Venkat R. (2007). Effect of trans
formational leadership and leaders power on
followers duty-orientation and spirituality
Great Lakes Herald ,1.
Krueger P, Brazil K, Lohfeld L, Edward HG, Lewis
D, & Tjam E.(2002). Organization specific
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Laughlin, A. (1984). Teacher stress in Australian

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V. (1996). Teacher stress in intermediate
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stress and negative outcomes in Canterburry
state schools, New Zealand Journal of
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to depressed mood at work of male and
female teachers of higher educational
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international symposium on Cognition and
Education, BHU, Varanasi.
Mohaammdyfar, M. A., Khan, M. S., & Tamini,
B. K. ( 2009). The effect of emotional
intelligence and job burnout on mental and
physical health, Journal of the Indian
Academy of Applied Psychology, 35, 219226..
Motowidlo, S.J., Packard, J.S., & Manning, M.R.
(1986). Occupational stress: its causes and
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of Applied Psychology, 71, 618-29.
Saad, H. S., Samah, A. J. A., & Juhdi N. (2008).

Employees Perception on Quality Work Life
and Job Satisfaction in a Private Higher
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Business Research Papers, 4, 23-34
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stress and burnout in engineering college
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organizational stress. Paper presented at the
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Indian Experiences. New Delhi: Sage.
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context. New Delhi: Sage.
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today.Journal of Social and Economic
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social support and trait anxiety among
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Sauter, C. Cooper (Eds.). Occupational
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University Press.
Received: January 02, 2011

Revision received: January 09, 2011
Accepted:January 19, 2011
Dhrub Kumar, PhD, Faculty, Department of Psychology, M. K. College,

Darbhanga, e-mail: profdhrubkumar@gmail.com
J M Deo, PhD, Faculty, M U P G Centre of Psychology, College of Commerce,
Patna, e-mail: drjmdeo@gmail.com
86
Interpersonal Needs of Management Students:

Facilitator in the Choice of Electives
Ekta Sharma
Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Interpersonal needs of the individual are the facilitator in the choice of his career.
Individual make such choices which gratifies his need. This paper focuses upon
the management students and their choice of electives. The sample size for the
study is 396 management students who are sub-grouped on the basis of gender,
category and the choice of electives. The research proves that the interpersonal
needs have impact on the choice of electives.
Keywords: FIRO-B, inclusion, control, affection, express, wanted, choice of
electives
Human beings are highly social. People seek

company to avoid being alone, to
confabulate, to ask for as well as to offer help,
to accomplish common goals, to share joys
and sorrows, to listen and to be listened to,
to show or to be shown the way, to show off,
compete or fight with one another, etc. These
interactions are referred to as interpersonal
(between persons) behavior. Due to this
interpersonal behavior arise the interpersonal
needs i.e. what does one expects from others
or from oneself? The choice of career also
depends upon these interpersonal needs, as
people choose the career which can gratify
their interpersonal needs.
Hill (1972) examined interpersonal
needs as measured by the FIRO-B instrument
in relation to choice of functional specialty
among a sample of female business students.
The results indicate a significant relationship
between total need for interpersonal
interaction and choice of specialty, with
personnel majors preferring more active
interpersonal relations and finance majors
preferring less active, more distant personal
relations.He also examined interpersonal
needs as measured by the FIRO-B instrument
in relation to choice of functional specialty

among a sample of first year MBA students.
The research shows that the most influential
dimensions are the needs related to affection
& inclusion. The need for control is not related
to preference for functional areas.
Furnham investigated the relationship
between the six Fundamental Interpersonal
Relations Orientation (FIRO)-B scales, the
Big Five Personality traits assessed by the
NEO PI-R, the Hogan Development Survey
(HDS) and two measures of cognitive ability
(Watson Glaser; Graduate and Managerial
Assessment). It examined the concurrent and
construct validity of the measure in various
adult groups attending assessment centres
in order to locate the FIRO-B dimensions in
established personality factor space. The
FIRO-B was consistently correlated with
Extraversion, though analysis at the primary
factor (facet) level showed many traits from
all five factors were strongly correlated with
the six FIRO-B scores. Regressing the six
FIRO-B facets onto each of the Big Five in
turn showed all were significant particularly
for Expressed Inclusion and Wanted Control.
The second study also showed considerable
Ekta Sharma
and logical overlap between the six FIRO-B

scales and the 11 dysfunctional personality
strategies as measured by the HDS.
Measurement of interpersonal behavior
requires that the person be viewed as
interacting in a number of different situations.
Insight into this perspective was provided by
early analyses of group behavior (Lewin,
1945), in which it was argued that there are
dimensions of interpersonal behavior that
cannot be predicted by personality measures
alone. This argument was further supported
by Cattell (1948), who asserted that there
was an interpersonal component of syntality
that arose from interpersonal interaction.
Syntality could not be predicted directly from
measured personality traits. Instead, it was a
distinct
and
relationship-specific
phenomenon.
While researchers such as Leary (1957)
and Kiesler (1996) have tended to focus on
two-dimensional interpersonal models, there
remains the issue of the minimum number of
dimensions that actually exist. There is
general agreement that the dimension of
Dominance-Submissiveness is well
established. However, there is considerable
disagreement as to the components of
positive and negative emotional aspects of
interaction, since it is possible to interpret the
dimension of positive and negative
interactions as reflecting the existence of an
additional component.
Schutz (1958) posited the existence of
three basic dimensions of behavior. Control
reflects the persons dominance in the
interactionan individual elevated in Control
tends to direct, lead, or manipulates the
relationship; those persons low in Control
tend to emit patterns of behavior that facilitate
others to initiate dominance. Schutz made a
critical distinction between two components
of interaction involving the definition of an
individuals role in a relationship. Inclusion
addresses the issue of personal significance
87
in an interaction. A person elevated in

inclusion is recognized as positively or
negatively significant in an interaction. The
third dimension is Affection, a measure of
the positive or negative emotional aspects of
a relationship. Individuals elevated in
Affection are emotionally bound to the
relationship; those low in affection have little
emotional investment in the relationship.
Schutz (1958) defined each of these
three relational components as having two
distinct tactical operations. Each aspect has
an Expressed component and a Wanted
component. Inclusion Expressed (IE)
behaviors signify a desire to be a member of
a relationship. Inclusion Wanted (IW)
behaviors are internal desires to be included
by another. If the person is socially competent,
he or she will manifest appropriate matches
in Expressed and Wanted aspects. Problems
arise, however, for the individual who lacks
the interpersonal skills to match Wanted and
Expressed
needs.
Interpersonal
incompetence arises from a disjunction in the
level of expression versus wanting of a
component.
The three-dimensional model was
developed by a careful analysis of selfreports. However, other researchers have
failed to support a distinction between
Inclusion and Affection (Gough & Bradley,
1996). This issue is further complicated by
the subtleties inherent in assessment; indeed,
a major paper argues that the failure to crossvalidate personality or interpersonal
measures founders on the actual structure
of the language itself (Hofstead, DeRaad &
Goldberg, 1992). Thus, the direct comparison
of dimensions across linguistic communities
presents problems.
The current study is conducted to study
the impact of gender and category (Open Or
reserved) on interpersonal needs and
relationship between interpersonal need and
the choice of electives.
88
Interpersonal Needs
Method
Participants:
A total of 396 management students,
272 male and 124 female students
participated in the study. 236 belonged to
general category and 160 to reserved
category. The sample distribution as per area
of specialization is as follows: Finance
specialization 198, marketing specialization
132 & Human resource specialization 66.
Materials:
The FIRO-B is a 54-item instrument that
measures six dimensions of an individuals
behavior toward others: (a) Expressed
Inclusion (eI), (b) Expressed Control (eC), (c)
Expressed Affection (eA), (d) Wanted
Inclusion (wI), (e) Wanted Control (wC), and
(f) Wanted Affection (wA). This instrument can
be self-administered and also requires
approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete.
Based on a simple model, the FIRO-B
proposes that individuals are motivated by
three interpersonal needs:1. Inclusion (I): a
need to maintain relationships with others, to
be included in their activities, or to include
them in the activities of the individual.2.
Control (C): a need to maintain a balance of
power and influence in relationships, and 3.
Affection (A): a need to form personal
alliances with others (Schnell &
Hammer,1993, 2004).
Additionally, Schutz (1978) proposed
that two dimensions of each need can be
identified:(a) The extent to which individuals
are likely to express the associated
interpersonal behaviors toward others and (b)
the extent to which individuals want to receive
those same interpersonal behaviors from
others (Hammer & Schnell, 2000).
According to Hammer and Schnell
(2000), a score from 0 to 7 is considered low.
The Total Expressed score indicates that a
person is reluctant to initiate social behavior,
whereas the Total Wanted score with a score
from 0 to 7 indicates that people are reluctant

to rely on others for what is needed. These
individuals are uninterested in close rapport
and are primarily independent. Scores
ranging from 8 to 19 are considered
moderate. People with Total Expressed and
Total Wanted scores in this category
generally exercise caution when developing
close rapport. Individuals who have scores
in the high category (20 to 27) for Total
Expressed enjoy building trust and rapport.
Total Wanted scores in the high category
reflect people who excel in promoting and
building relationships of trust and rapport.
The FIRO-B (Schultz, 1958) consists of
54 items, 9 for each of the 6 scales. For
convenience, the scales are labeled IE for
Inclusion Expressed, IW for Inclusion Wanted,
CE for Control Expressed, CW for Control
Wanted, AE for Affection Expressed and AW
for Affection Wanted.
Results
The total interpersonal score of the
students opting for finance is lowest of all the
three specializations. This is based on the
research paper Relationships between
Interpersonal needs and preference for a
functional area of management among MBA
students by Hill. This hypothesis is rejected
as the Table 1 shows that total interpersonal
score of finance (25.64) is more than the
average of the sample (25.39).
The students preferring human
resources rate highest on affection criteria.
This is based on the premise that the HR
professionals need to handle human capital
of the organization and human relationships
revolve around affection. This hypothesis is
also rejected. As evident from the data of
Table 1, although wanted affection is highest
for HR but total score for affection is less than
the mean of the total sample.
The total interpersonal score for female
candidates is around 25.5. This has its
reference from the study titled Interpersonal
89
Ekta Sharma
Table 1. Mean between Male and female, open and reserved and also different electives
chosen
Variable
Mean of total Male Female Open Reserved Finance Mktg
HR
(396)
(272)
(124)
(236)
(160)
(198) (132)
(66)
EI
5.45
5.47
5.43
5.65
5.16
5.39
5.86
4.82
EC
4.62
4.85
4.11
4.68
4.54
4.53
4.91
4.33
EA
3.53
3.58
3.40
3.58
3.45
3.54
3.70
3.15
Expressed
13.55
13.90
12.77
13.90
13.03
13.36 14.47
12.24
WI
4.25
4.26
4.23
4.62
3.71
4.39
4.24
3.85
WC
4.52
4.67
4.20
4.39
4.71
4.70
4.36
4.30
WA
3.03
3.00
3.07
3.04
3.10
2.85
3.15
Wanted
11.81
11.96
11.48
12.08
11.43
12.23 11.45
11.27
Inclusion
9.71
9.73
9.66
10.27
8.88
9.79
10.11
8.67
Ctrl
9.14
9.52
8.31
9.07
9.25
9.22
9.27
8.64
Affect
6.55
6.59
6.47
6.62
6.45
6.64
6.55
6.30
Total
25.39
25.84
24.41
26.03
24.46
25.64 25.95
needs and vocational specialization among

female business students was conducted by
Hill. This hypothesis is accepted; the mean
of total interpersonal score for females is
24.41, which is approximately around 25.5.
Table 1 presents the means for each of
the FIRO- B Variables. Table 1 also presents
the comparison of means between Males &
females, open & reserved and also different
electives chosen. The table shows that Mean
of total FIRO-B Score of 396 students is 25.39
and the mean of expressed is more than mean
of wanted. This proves that students have
high desire to express themselves.Need for
inclusion is highest followed by need for
control.Males score higher than females on
all variables of FIRO-B except WA.Open
category students score higher than reserved
category students on FIRO-B scale except
one variable i.e. WC.
The students opting for marketing scores
highest on total FIRO-B score, closely
followed by students opting for Finance. Mean
of expressed is highest for marketing & mean
of wanted is highest for finance. WA is the
23.55
only variable in which HR score the highest.

One goal of this project was to explore
relations among the FIRO scales to examine
the extent to which the three relationship
dimensions (affection, control, and inclusion)
were distinct from one another, as well as to
determine whether expressed and wanted
degrees of each dimension were correlated.
The correlations among the FIRO measures
appear in Table 2.
A clear pattern emerged in the relations
among the FIRO-B scales. The correlations
between the Affection, Inclusion and control
measures are positive. In addition, the
Wanted and Expressed levels of Affection,
Inclusion and control are positively correlated.
This holds true probably because of the fact
that there is some basic relationships between
these variables i.e. if I have need to be
included in a group that can be because of
my need to control others or get controlled
by others and which in turn would form a
rapport which might satisfy my need for
affection being in that group. So, it seems
delineating the three variables is difficult.
90
Interpersonal Needs
Table 2. Correlations among the FIRO measures
**p<0.01
*p<0.05
There is a high correlation between

expressed control and wanted inclusion
(.350), which can be attributed to the fact that
people want to be included in group so that
they can satisfy their need to control.
Expressed affection is also highly correlated
to wanted affection (.377). This is possible
probably because of the human psyche of
getting love in lieu of giving love.
Conclusion
The findings of the present study prove
that the gender, category and also the choice
of electives have impact on interpersonal
behavior variables. The study proves that
students have high desire to express
themselves and have high need for inclusion.
References
Cattell, R. B. (1948). Concepts and methods in
the measurement of group syntality.
Psychological Review, 55, 48-63.
Costa, P. T., Jr., & McRae R. R. (1985). The NEO
Personality Inventory manual. Odessa, FL:
Psychological Assessment Resources.
Costa, P. T., Jr., & McRae R. R. (1992). Four
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Gough, H. G. & Bradley, P. (1996). CPI manual.
(3rd ed). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting
Psychologists Press.
Grace,E. (1970).The relationship between
personality traits and vocational interests in
the choice of field of study of selected junior
Ekta Sharma
college students in business administration.

Hill, Raymond. (1972). Relationship between
interpersonal needs and preference for a
functional area of management among MBA
students.
Hofstee, W.B.K., DeRaad, B., & Goldberg, L. R.
(1992). Integration of the Big Five and the
circumplex approaches to trait structure.
63, 146-163.
Kiesler, D.J. (1996). Contemporary interpersonal
theory and research: Personality,
psychopathology and psychotherapy. New
York: Wiley.
91
Leary, T. (1957). Interpersonal diagnosis of

personality. New York: Ronald.
Lewin, K. (1945). Frontiers in group dynamics:
Concept, method and reality in social
science. Human Relations, 1, 5-41.
Roe, A. (1956). The Psychology of occupations.
New York: Wiley.
Roe, A. (1959). Journal of counseling psychology.
Schutz, W.C. (1958). FIRO: A three-dimensional
theory of interpersonal relations. NY: Holt,
Rinehart & Winston.

Ekta Sharma, PhD, Asst. Professor, Amrut Mody School of Management,

Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.Email: ektas55@rediffmail.com
92
Need Saliency and Students Involvement of University Students

Kalpana Sahoo
Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar, Orissa

The present investigation was intended to examine the relationship between
need saliency and students involvement in educational institution. One hundred
university students from Utkal University were randomly sampled from a very
large pool of students. The study adopted a 2(sex) x 2 (stream) design where
boys and girls were crossed with 2 streams of exposure (science and arts). The
questionnaire consisted of measures of perceived importance of study outcomes,
satisfaction, involvement and questions relating to personal information. The
findings indicated that science boys, arts boys, arts girls regarded acquisition
of knowledge and opportunity for future jobs as salient needs. The results
supported our main hypothesis that salient need satisfaction was related to
students involvement. The findings of the study were explained and major
implications were discussed.
Maslow (1965), the farther of humanistic

psychology, deserves credit for analyzing
human needs and suggesting their break-up
in hierarchical order. According to him, mans
needs are arranged in a hierarchy or
importance ranging from the lowest need
(physiological) to safely, love, self-esteem
(ego), and finally self-actualizations. This
hierarchy of prepotency of urgency of
satisfaction means that the most urgent
needs will be monopolized. Man is
continuously wanting. Therefore all needs are
never fully-satisfied. As soon as ones need
is satisfied, its prepotency diminishes and the
next higher unsatisfied need emerges to
replace it. This is a never-ending process
which serves to motivate man to strive to
satisfy his needs. Finally, the needs are
interdependent and overlapping.
Herzbergs (1959) theory of motivation
has been referred to as the motivator-hygiene
theory. It has some basis assumptions. First,
the factors that are present when job
satisfaction is produced are separate and
distinct from factors that lead to job
dissatisfaction. The satisfier relates to the
content or nature of the job and dissatisfier

describes the employees relationship to the
context of environment in which they engage
their work. Therefore, satisfier relates to what
employee does, dissatisfier to the
environment in which they do it. So it is the
hygiene factor that affects job dissatisfaction,
whereas motivational factors make people
happy with their job by serving need for
psychological growth.
Alderfer (1972) advocated the ERG
theory which is basically a reworking of
Maslows theory. There are three groups of
core needs; existence, relatedness, and
growth. The existence of group provides our
basic material existence requirements. This
is the counterpart of the physiological and
safety needs of Maslow. Relatedness refers
to the desire for maintaining important
interpersonal relationships and tally with
Maslows love needs and external component
of esteem need. Growth needs denote an
intrinsic desire for personal development.
This includes the intrinsic component of
esteem and characteristic of selfactualization. This theory does not assume a
Kalpana Sahoo
rigid hierarchy and all the three categories

can operate at the same time. This theory
also contends that when a higher-order-need
level is frustrated; the individuals desire to
increase a low level needs takes place. This
theory is more sensitive to individual
difference.
McClelland (1961) proposed the three
need theory which opines that these needs
are important in organizational setting to
understand motivation. The three needs are
the needs for achievement, power and
affiliation.
If all the theories of motivation are
compared, we find that they emphasize
similar sets of relationships. Maslow views the
rarely satisfied higher level needs as
motivating force. Herzberg sees satisfiers as
motivating force. Alderfer considers growth
needs to be the most important and
McClelland views power needs as motivators.
In recent time, most of the organizational
theories are influenced by Maslows
conceptualization. His identification of the
basic individual needs find an important place
in present day management literature.
However most of theories discussed
earlier are based on their observation of
individualistic western societies where the
need for personal achievement, control and
autonomy are considered most important. In
contrast, in the developing eastern societies,
societal security is considered more important
to life that ones freedom and control. People
may find work very interesting if it guarantees
such security, but may not care for freedom
and control. The collective nature of Indian
social system contrasts with individualistic
western societies where individual is given
primary importance. Consequently, the use
of Maslow-type of framework which basically
evolved in me societies of the West is
inapplicable in non-western societies. It is also
observed that western employees maintain
a gap between norms in the family and norms
in work spheres. However, as family
93
influences are deeply ingrained in the Indian

psyche, there is great deal of carry-over
effect from family to work norms.
The western model assumes that
protestant ethic type socialization training is
the only way of bringing higher involvement.
This work ethic trains people to believe that
autonomy and personal achievement needs
are salient and can provide opportunities for
the expression of ones individuality. Countries
like India promote in their members a sense
of collectivism and saliency for some other
needs. Indian people develop beliefs in
centrality of work not because work can
promote personal achievement, but because
the work can fulfill the collective goals of
brotherhood and sharing of life.
It was also felt that the satisfaction of
intrinsic work needs does not necessarily lead
to greater involvement. Most existing
instruments to measure alienation reflect a
cultural bias, as they include items that place
emphasis only on intrinsic need satisfaction.
According to Kanungo (1982) Empirical
research on workers alienation and
involvement in both sociological and
psychological literature is fought with
conceptual ambiguities. In addition,
instruments developed to measure work
alienation and involvement often contains
inherent methodological inadequacies, since
they are based on constructs that are
conceptually ambiguous.
The lack of cross-cultural applicability of
western-based theories has led Kanungo
(1982) to propose a new pancultral
formulation. This represents the motivational
approach termed the need saliency model.
Therefore, the fundamental concept in this
model is the saliency of needs which is in
contradiction to need hierarchy.
The motivational approach has universal
applicability. In contrast to the humanistic
approach there is no value orientation in this
motivational approach. In this scheme, the
94
Need Saliency and Students Involvement
distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic

needs become unnecessary. Potency of each
of the needs is considered in terms of its
relation to a given subset of human
population. The motivational approach of
need saliency model offers a framework
having greater cross-cultural generality.
Objective:
The arguments presented in the context
of work motivation deepen our impression
that Maslow-type of framework is not
applicable to all cultural systems. The
Maslow-type of framework makes a rigid
distinction in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic
needs. It implies that intrinsic needs are
preferable to extrinsic needs. In such a
scheme of analysis, an institution is
considered effective to the extent it creates
conditions for the satisfaction of intrinsic
needs. However, this kind of analysis has
strong value-orientation. It has an explicit
assumption that intrinsic needs are superior
to extrinsic needs.
More specifically, the study is geared to
examine the following hypothesis:
1. Students involvement is positively
related to the satisfaction of salient needs.
2. Students involvement is unrelated to
the satisfaction of non-salient needs.
Method
Design:
The study adopted a 2 (sex) x 2(stream)
design where boys and girls were crossed
with 2 streams of exposure (Arts and
Science).
Sample:
For the present study, 100 students
were randomly sampled from a large pool of
students. The subjects belonged to one
educational institution (Utkal University). Half
of the participants were from the science
stream whereas the other half were from the
arts stream. The samples consisted of both
males as well as females.
Measures:
Measure included scales of perceived
importance of study outcomes, students
satisfaction and students involvement. The
original scale in work context has been
developed by Kanungo (1982). Kanungo
(1982) has reported the validity and reliability
of this scale in cross-cultural context. On the
basis of this scale, Sahoo (2000) has
developed this original study behaviour
questionnaire to suit educational setting.
Sahoos scale has been used in the present
study.
Measure of Perceived Importance of
Study Outcome.This is a measure reflecting
the nature of the cognitive state of
psychological identification with study. The
subjects are required to rank 15 study
outcomes according to their perceived
importance. The 15 outcomes to be listed in
the random order include both extrinsic and
intrinsic study factors: seven of the factors
are considered extrinsic but institutionally
controlled study outcomes: acquisition of
knowledge, scholarship, opportunity for
professional growth, high examination marks,
sound educational policy, comfortable
educational conditions, opportunity for future
jobs. There are four interpersonally mediated
extrinsic study outcomes: competent
teachers, good peer group relations,
considerate teachers and recognition. The
remaining 4 factors are intrinsic in nature:
responsibility and independence, a sense of
achievement, interesting nature of study, and
freedom from family burdens.
Measures of Students Satisfaction: Their
present level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction
in their study with respect to each of the 15
study factors and to one more factor which
indicates an overall satisfaction in study is
assessed. The study factors are again listed
in random order. Ordinal weights of 1 to 6
are assigned respectively to the six points on
the scale ranging from extremely satisfied (6)
to extremely dissatisfied (1).
95
Kalpana Sahoo
Measure of Students Involvement.:

Three measures in different formats were
used. An-eight-item semantic differential
(SDSI), a ten items questionnaire measure
(QSI) and a two item graphic measure (GSI)
are included to measure students
involvement. The SDSI requires individuals
to think about their present educational
institution the context of their life and evaluate
it using each of seven-point scale. Bipolar
descriptions such as involving - noninvolving,
important nonimportant and so on are
employed. The QSI includes a number of
statements. Respondents are asked to
indicate their agreement/disagreement on a
six-point scale. The GSI consists of two sets
of pictures. In each set, the individual and
his/her career is pictorially presented. In one
set seven boxes consisting of two circles each

are presented. The two circles present the
individual and his or her career respectively.
In the remaining boxes, the circles overlap
each other in varying degree and in the
seventh box, the two circles overlap totally,
representing total involvement in the study.
The second set also comprises of seven
diagrams. Each diagram consists of an
individual and his/her career. The figures are
placed at different distances from each other,
depicting how close or how far one is from
his career.
Results
Taking into account the priority ratings
given by the students to various items related
totheir study, their salient and non-salient
needs have been identified (see Table 1)
Table 1. Salient and Non-salient Needs of Different Groups of Participants.

Groups
Salient Needs
Non-salient Needs
Boys from Science Stream
Girls from Science Stream
Boys from Arts Stream
Girls from Arts Stream
1.
2.
1.
2.
1.
2.
1.
2.
Opportunity for future jobs

Acquisition of knowledge
Responsibility
Acquisition knowledge
Salient needs refer to those needs which

the subjects rate as most important to him/
her in the institution and similarly non-salient
needs are those rated least important to the
student. It is found that the salient needs
among the science boys are opportunity for
future jobs and acquisition of knowledge and
the non-salient needs are sympathetic
teachers and freedom from family burdens.
The salient needs as identified for science
girls are responsibilities and acquisition of
knowledge. The salient needs of the arts boys
are acquisition of knowledge and opportunity
for future jobs and non-salient needs are
freedom from family burdens and
scholarship. The salient needs as identified
for arts girls are acquisition of knowledge and
1. Sympathetic teachers
2. Freedom from family burden
2.Scholarship
2. Scholarship
1. Freedom from family burden.
2. Recognition
opportunity for future jobs and non-salient

needs are freedom from family burden and
recognition.
Need Saliency
The correlations between needs saliency
scores and students involvement present
findings in the expected direction. It is
hypothesized that students involvement
would be positively related to need saliency.
In the science stream there is a
significant correlation between need saliency
and students involvement measured by
semantic differential (SDSI) and graphic
design (GSI), r (48) = .33 and .34 respectively,
p<.05 (see Table 2). The relationship
between need saliency and students
96
involvement measured by questionnaire

method (QSI) is .23. Although this magnitude
of relationship does not reach the level of
statistical significance, the correlation
coefficient indicates trends in the expected
direction. As predicted, there is no significant
relationship between non-salient need
scores and the measures of involvement
expect for the GSI.
In the arts stream, need saliency scores
are significantly related with SDSI and GSI
scores, r(48) = .44 and .44 respectively, P<
.01 (see Table 2). The relationship between
need saliency and QSI is also in the expected
direction, though it does not reach the level
of significance. As expected, there is no

significant relationship between non-salient
need scores and involvement measures.
Taking into account all the participants,
it is found that salient need scores are
correlated significantly with the three
measures of involvement, r(89) = .48, .32 and
.40 respectively, p< .01 (see Table 2). As
predicted, there is no significant relationship
between non-salient need scores and
involvement measures. It is seen that for both
science and arts students as well as when all
the participants are taken together need
saliency is generally related to students
involvement.
Table 2. Correlation Coefficient between Need Satisfaction and Involvement

Groups
Salient Need Satisfaction
Non-Salient Need Satisfaction
SDSI
QSI
GSI
SDSI
QSI
GSI
Science Students
.33*
.23
.34*
.22
.11
.28*
Arts Students
.44**
.25
.44**
.10
.14
.02
Combined
.48**
.32**
.40**
.17
.14
.16
* p<.05 ** p<.01
Table 3. Correlation Coefficients between Need Satisfaction and Involvement
Groups
Total Satisfaction
Overall Satisfaction
SDSI
QSI
GSI
SDSI
QSI
GSI
Science Students .46*
.26
.38**
.47**
.22
.23
Arts Students
.47**
.21
.19
.3*
.32*
.28*
Combined .
49**
.29**
.33**
.39**
.31**
.28**
* p<.05 ** p<.01
In the science stream, total satisfaction

is significantly related with SDSI and GSI
scores, r(48) =.46 and .38, respectively,
P<.01 (see Table 3). The relationship
between total satisfaction scores and QSI is
also in the expected direction, though it does
not reach the significance level r(48) =.26.
The SDSI, QSI and GSI scores are
significantly related with overall satisfaction
scores and in the expected direction.
scores, r(48) = .47, P<.01 (see Table 5). The

relationship between total satisfaction and
QSI and GSI are .21 and .19, respectively.
Although this magnitude of relationship does
not reach the level of significance, the
correlation indicates trends in the expected
direction. There is a significant correlation
between overall satisfaction and the
measures of involvement r(48)=.3, .32 and
.28.
For the arts stream, total satisfaction

scores are significantly related with SDSI
Taking into account all the participants

it is found that total satisfaction scores are
97
Kalpana Sahoo
significantly related with all the measures

involvement r(98)=.49, .29 and .23
respectively, p<.01. Overall satisfaction
scores are also significantly related with all
the measures of involvement, r(98)=.39,.31
and .28 respectively, p<.01.
Discussion
The basic objectives of the present study
were to examine the association between
need saliency and students involvement. The
primary concern was to test the prediction
that students involvement is related to salient
needs but unrelated to non-salient need
satisfaction.
It is observed in the present study that
for science boys, arts boys and arts girls, both
the salient needs are acquisition of knowledge
and opportunity for future jobs. But for
science girls, the salient needs are
responsibility and independence and
acquisition of knowledge. It is found that
salient need satisfaction is related to students
involvement. And the salient need satisfaction
and overall total satisfaction are found to be
significantly related. The result shows that
there is no difference between boys and girls
on any one of the dimensions except the
involvement measured by graphic design
(GSI). The result also shows that in contrast
to arts students, science students have
greater salient and total need satisfaction.
Again, science students indicate higher
involvement on each of the involvement
measures (SDSI, QSI,GSI).
For each individual, certain needs
assume greater saliency or importance than
others in a particular life context. Thus, the
pattern of importance attached to the various
needs that the individuals seek to satisfy in
different life contexts differs. But in students
life, almost all have similar needs (i.e.
acquisition of knowledge and opportunity for
future jobs). Because after the completion of
study all look for jobs with the knowledge they
have acquired from the institution. Therefore,
it is found out from the present study that
science boys, arts boys and arts girls have

similar salient needs (i.e. acquisition of
knowledge and opportunity for future job).
Only for science girls, responsibility and
independence is the salient need in place of
opportunity for future job. This happened
because in our Indian society though women
have higher position, still people think that
women cannot take any responsibility and are
always dependent on others. But this is not
true. Therefore, responsibility and
independence is important for science girls.
The study has found significant relation
between salient need and students
involvement. This supports the hypothesis. It
may be pointed out that this is supported by
previous findings that individual involvement
in any work is related to their satisfaction of
salient needs.
Students involvement depends on the
degree to which the study is perceived to meet
ones needs be they intrinsic or extrinsic in
nature. Involvement is relatively more
situational determined and is dependent
upon whether it satisfies ones salient needs.
As the need saliency theory suggests, when
ones salient needs are fulfilled to a greater
degree, whether they are extrinsic or intrinsic
in nature, he/she will be more involved than
others.
The lack of relationship between nonsalient needs satisfaction and involvement
has also been supported. This is in conformity
with our hypothesis.
Students satisfaction and students
involvement are likely to be positively related.
When ones salient needs are satisfied,
whether they are extrinsic or intrinsic in
nature, it affects his/her overall satisfaction
and which, in turn, affects ones involvement
in study. So it is very likely to expect a positive
relationship between these two phenomena,
which is also found in the present study.
It is important to recognize that the
present investigation predicted positive
98
relationship between salient need satisfaction

and total satisfaction and between salient
need satisfaction and overall satisfaction.
Total satisfaction represents the sum of
satisfaction across 15 study outcome factors
where an overall satisfaction denotes the
verbal responses of the participant regarding
his/her overall satisfaction. It is found that
salient need satisfaction bears positive
association with both total satisfaction and
overall satisfaction.
It has been observed that science
students have indicated greater salient need
and total need satisfaction compared to arts
students. It is plausible that the contemporary
society attaches importance to science
education and takes care of needs fulfillment
of science students.
At present, due to advancement of
science and technology, the avenues for
science students are promising. They get
more information from different sources to
satisfy their needs. Somehow or others the
science students get opportunity for
expansion of their knowledge and ultimately
get employment. But this does not happen in
case of arts students. Because they have
limited scope and unless their perform is
outstanding they are not able to satisfy their
needs. The achievement motive is low in
comparison to science students.
Finally science students have greater
involvement compared to arts students.
Perhaps the present emphasis on science
education has persuaded academically bright
students to pursue science education. The
academic strength of science students makes
it possible for them to have involvement in
studies. The science students are basically
good at scholastic aptitude and they are more
laborious and hard-working than arts
students. The achievement motivation seems
to be higher. Thus, it enhances the
competency and determination. It may be
indicated that Sahoo and his associates have
found the support of the model in various work
contexts (Sahoo, 2000; Sahoo &

Bidyadhar,1995; Sahoo & Padhi, 2001;
Sahoo & Rath, 2003).
Implications
Now-a-days students are showing less
interest in their studies. Gradually they are
alienated from their studies. One of the
important reasons is that students salient
needs are not satisfied in the institution. The
institution is incapable to satisfy their salient
needs. Sometimes, though the institution is
capable, the teachers are insensitive.
Teachers play the most important role in
motivating students towards study. They
should try to discover students needs.
Students should be made aware of the future
so that they will be motivated towards study.
Teachers should improve their teaching style
and the teaching materials should be such
that the students can take interest in it.
Besides these, the needs of the arts
students should take into account. Though
science education is necessary for the
present age, arts education is equally
important for the society. Arts education helps
us to know about our culture, cultural
heritage, society, group, every aspect of
individual behaviour, politics, political
constitution, history, tradition, norms, values
etc. But the institutions are totally ignoring
the needs of the arts students and giving
importance to the needs of the science
students. For arts students there is limited
opportunity for jobs. Therefore, they are
showing less interest in study. By expanding
the job opportunity we can motivate the arts
students. We can motivate them by giving
them scholarships for excellency in studies.
The present investigation is addressed
to an important area of social inquiry. Although
it corroborates the need saliency hypothesis
in the context of university students, it is
possible to bring several refinements in future
research attempts. It is also observed that
the sampling frame can be expanded in
future. The pool of university students has
99
Kalpana Sahoo
included participants from the Bhubaneswar

town. It can be argued that sub-cultural
variation may be an important consideration.
With a view to increasing the representative
ness of university, samples from various
universities need to be represented. Similarly
studies could be undertaken to identify need
in rural and urban students.
Furthermore, future research could be
addressed to examine the position in the
context of special groups such as medical
students, engineering students, management
students. Different groups may attach
differential priorities to certain needs even in
a single cultural system.
Finally the measurement of the main
variables has been attempted in the form of
self-report measures. It is a common
experience that self-report method of
measurement does have the social
desirability effect. People show the tendency
to respond in socially confirming ways. It is
possible to get around this problem by
adopting other methods such as projective
inventory approach. Thus, future research
may adopt other methods such as projective
inventory techniques.
References
Alderfer, C.P.(1972). Existence, relatedness, and
growth. New York. Free Press.
Herzberg, F. (1959). The motivation to work. New
York. Free Press.
Kanungo, R. N. (1980). Work alienation. New
York. Free Press.
Maslow, A. H. (1965). Eupsychian management.
Homeshood, Illinois, USA: Darsy-Irwin.
McClelland, D.C.(1962). The achieving society.
Princeton, Illinois, USA: Van Nostrand.
Sahoo, F. M. (2000). Combating alienation and
helplessness in administration organizations:
The indigenous model of work efficiency.
Journal of Community Guidance and
Research, 17, 76-95.
Sahoo, F. M. & Bidyadhar, S. (1995). A cultural
validation of need
saliency model.
Psychological Studies, 40, 120-125.
Sahoo, F. M. & Padhi, S. (2001). Work and job
involvement in University teachers. Sankalpa,
9, 12-26.
Sahoo, F. M. & Rath, S. (2003). Need saliency
model of involvement in working and
nonworking women. Journal of Community
Guidance and Research, 20, 207-214.
Received: July 07, 2010

Kalpana Sahoo, Senior Faculty in OB and HR, Asian School of Business

Management, Bhubaneswar, Orissa - 754 012
100
Eve Teasing: Role of the Patriarchal System of the Society

Deepa Ghosh
Netaji Subhas Mahavidyalaya, Udaipur, South Tripura.

The study aimed at examining the attitude towards eve teasing among under
graduate students. Two sets of questionnaires i.e Eve teasing Questionnaire for
Boys (EQB) and Girls (EQG) were developed. The reliability co-efficient of the
questionnaires is 0.88 and 0.92 respectively. The sample consisted of 200
students (100 boys & 100 girls). Results reveal that there are some psychosocial factors which are responsible for eve teasing behaivour among the youth
i.e the patriarchal mindset of the boys, improper socialisation, medias role,
lack of consciousness about the legal provisions. In spite of the provision of
law, which the victims of eve teasing could take recourse to, the girls evade
confrontation. Their coping strategy is evasion because of unsecured feelings
and vulnerability. Due to silence of the victims and the patriarchal mindset of
the boys, evils like eve teasing will exist in the society and continue to devalue
womens dignity.
Keywords: Eve Teasing, Patriarchal system.
Eve teasing is an expression that is ubiquitous

in post- colonial India and which refers to
sexual harassment of women in public places.
Eve teasing is an attitude, a mindset, a set of
behaviours that is construed as an insult and
an act of humiliation of the female sex. This
popular perception of sexual harassment
posits the phenomena as a joke where women
are both a tease and deserve to be teased.
Eve teasing is considered as a growing
problem throughout the sub continent
which, ranges in severity from sexually
coloured remarks to outright groping. It
includes stares, comments or remarks, verbal
abuse, suggestive songs, lyrics typically
targeted at the girl in question, an unwelcome
touch, sexual in nature, physical abuse
beating, flashing which is accompanied by
masturbation or an act of exposing ones
genitals, etc.
By and large, the term eve teasing is
superficially used by the boys. The girls too
consider eve teasing to be a something
regular occurrence. On the whole the youths
identify it as a means to gratify ones delight.
Its fine for those who accept eve teasing

lightly, but a majority of the girls is badly
affected both physically and psychologically.
Though the boys consider the
phenomenon of eve teasing as something
usual, but according to many psychologists
sex, love or fun is not only the sole motive
which encourages men to indulge in eve
teasing behaviour. They believe that eve
teasing behaviour occurs due to the nonfulfillment of psychological, social and
emotional needs. Thus, social scientists
believe eve teasing to be a result of the
frustrations suffered by a majority of youth.
Disappointed by the unbecoming attitude of
teachers and indifferent parents, they yearn
for an outlet to vent their aggression and
depression.
Ordeal against women in our society is
manifested in different shades. Eve teasing
is one such phenomenon, which reminds the
female gender about their vulnerability,
susceptibility, timidity and the tag of weaker
sections of the society. Women have made
Deepa Ghosh
rapid strides in every sphere but they are still

targeted in a heinous way. An economically
and educationally empowered woman is also
susceptible to eve teasing and harassment
by their colleagues at workplace or friends /
classmates at colleges. In the famous Rupan
Deol Bajaj case we find how a senior male
IPS officer in a social gathering patted a senior
lady IAS officer in her posterior. If a top notch
bureaucrat in the stature of an IAS officer can
be publicly humiliated and her modesty
outraged, then it is easily understandable
what could be the plight of an ordinary girl
(Desai, 2008). Women in Indian society have
been victims of humiliation, torture and
exploitation since long. There are many
records about episodes like abduction, rape
and murder etc. of women. In the Indian Penal
Code, the word eve-teasing does not exist.
However, victims of eve teasing could take
recourse to certain sections of the IPC.
Section 298 (A) and (B), Section 292 and 509
of the Indian Penal Code sentences a man
found guilty of making a girl or woman the
target of obscene gestures, remarks, songs
etc. In spite of this, only a few women take
the course of law (Chatterji, 2007).
The origin of this attitude probably lies
in our socialisation process. From childhood,
parents bring up their sons and daughters
by two completely different rules of
censorship on their movements outside the
house geographically and in terms of time
one set of rules for boys and one set of
rules for girls. This defective socialisation
process reminds the boys about their
masculinity and their relaxed approach to eve
teasing. Women on the other hand considers
eve teasing as normal, harmless and
something, which is often worthy of their
gender.
In India with the population of 800 million,
3,100 case of eve teasing were registered in
the cities. However, the three fourth of Indias
population is rural where the crimes like such
are unreported and further it was added that
the percentage of cases registered were very
101
low (Atray, 1988). Moreover Mohan (1994)

mentions about eve teasing as a way of sexual
harassment especially in the northern states
of India. Eve teasing in the northern belt of
India seems to be on the increase. Hence, if
we are truthfully willing to weed out eve
teasing from the society, then we have to raise
the status of women and girls along with the
endeavour to achieve gender equality.
Eve teasing has ruined the academic
atmosphere of colleges and universities along
with the bankruptcy of moral values among
the youths of today, upon whom the future of
our country rests. Unfortunately, it is the seat
of learning where eve teasing is rampant and
it is silently destroying many future minds. We
know that Education teaches us to show
respect and admiration to the opposite sex,
but rarely do we practice what we preach.
Gender inequality is a form of inequality,
which is distinct from other forms of economic
and social inequalities. It is both subtle and
direct, and is borne out of the patriarchal
values operating in society. It stems not only
from pre-existing differences in economic
endowments between women and men but
also from pre-existing gendered social norms
and social perceptions. This gender inequality
has resulted in eve teasing and all other
forms of atrocities against women. A change
in attitude is need of the hour. Any change is
possible only when we are able to identify the
real cause behind eve teasing. Educational
institutions build human resources and
educate the future generation in forming
ethics and behaivour, our approach towards
the society.
Now to find out the cause why eve
teasing is rampant in the campus of
educational institutions, an in-depth study into
the minds of the students is essentially
required. The purpose of this study is to
examine the magnitude of eve teasing in the
educational institution and its impact and the
reaction to this social evil. The study further
tried to explore the causes behind the act of
102
Eve Teasing
eve teasing, so that it can be eradicated from

the society.
Method
Pilot study:
At first, for the development of
Psychological instrument used in the present
study, a group of 200 students (M=100 and
F=100) of different degree colleges and
technical institutions (NIT) were taken. The
questionnaires comprising of 36 items for the
male students and 44 items for the female
students were given to both the groups. The
draft version of the items for both the test
were sent to a group of experts for adjudging
the face validity of the items and after
necessary modification, on the basis of their
observations, subjected item analysis were
done in the pilot study. Obtained results were
analysed statistically and on the basis of that
results only significant items (P< 0.05) were
kept in the final test. The final version, thus
prepared contains 20 items (for boys) and
20 items (for girls). The odd-even split half
reliability coefficients of the scales were
calculated. The reliability coefficient is 0.88
for the eve teasing questionnaire of the boys
and it was 0.92 for the eve teasing
questionnaire of the girls.
Sample:
A sample of 200 students (Male-100 and
Female-100) were chosen randomly from
different degree colleges of Tripura.
Tools:
Eve Teasing Questionnaire for Boys,
(EQB), and Eve Teasing Questionnaire for
Girls.(EQG): Both the tools are two point scale
that follows a simple Yes / No format, i.e. the
scoring rationale is either 1 or 0. If an
unfavourable statement gets positive
response, then the score will be 1 and vice
versa. Thus, higher scores indicate the
positive feelings towards eve teasing
applicable to both the questionnaire.
Result and Discussion

Table 1. Rank wise item, Mean, SD and
Percentages for the scores of eve teasing
assessed by EQB. N=100
Item
Mean
4
0.83
8
0.82
5, 9
0.76
11
0.65
18
0.57
17,19 0.55
10
0.52
13
0.50
16
0.47
15
0.45
6
0.39
3
0.35
7
0.34
2
0.33
20
0.32
12
0.31
1,14
0.30
SD
Percentage
0.38
0.39
0.43
0.48
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.49
0.48
0.48
0.47
0.47
0.46
0.46
83%
82%
76%
65%
57%
55%
52%
50%
47%
45%
39%
35%
34%
33%
32%
31%
30%
Table 1 shows that the highest mean

score is 0.83 with SD equal to 0.38. The lowest
mean score is 0.30 with SD 0.46. This Table
shows that item No 4 carries the highest value
loading which could be interpreted to mean
that 83% of the male respondents think that
being a boy there are certain things which
they should do; 82% of them are saying that
girls reaction to eve teasing is responsible
for the boys to tease the girls. Again, 76% of
the boys think that the influence of Cinema /
Satellite channels is responsible for eve
teasing in the society. They also think that
men is powerful than women. Moreover 65%
of the male respondents think that girls accept
eve teasing as an everyday affair. According
to 57% of the boys, lack of knowledge about
sex education among the boys is responsible
for eve teasing behaivour. 55% of the boys
enjoy watching a scene of eve teasing in a
movie. Simultaneously, the boys think that
they are superior to the girls. Among them
103
Deepa Ghosh
52% are of the view that, they tease the girls

just for gratification. 50% also affirmed that
girls love to be teased. 47% also accept the
fact that boys tease the girls as a retribution
for being rejected in love. Further, 45% think
that a boy teasing a girl is normal. 39%
admitted that if they protest the matter will
worsen. On the other hand there are 35%
who never felt the necessity to protest against
eve teasing. Moreover, there are 34% who
think that men and women are not equal in
any respect. Among them, 33% of the boys
never have protested against eve teasing.
Surprisingly, 32% are there who think that
eve teasing is not a social crime. Whatever
may be the reason, but among them 31% of
the respondents are frustrated. According to
30% of the respondents, revealing dresses/
vulgar dresses are responsible for
encouraging eve teasing behaviour of the
males. Further, similar percentages of the
male respondents confessed that they get
pleasure from teasing.
Table 2. Rankwise item, Mean, SD, and
Percentage for the scores of eve teasing as
assessed by EQG. N=100
Item
1
18
16
14
13
15
4,6
17
2
12
11
9
19
8
3
5
20
7
10
Mean
0.81
0.79
0.70
0.68
0.56
0.51
0.45
0.42
0.37
0.34
0.32
0.29
0.26
0.24
0.22
0.21
0.20
0.16
0.06
SD Percentage
0.39
81%
0.41
79%
0.46
70%
0.47
68%
0.50
56%
0.50
51%
0.50
45%
0.50
42%
0.49
37%
0.48
34%
0.47
32%
0.46
29%
0.44
26%
0.43
24%
0.42
22%
0.41
21%
0.40
20%
0.37
16%
0.24
6%
Table 2 shows that the highest Mean

score is 0.79 with SD=0.41and the lowest
mean score is 0.06 with SD=0.17.
This Table shows that the male
classmates of their college have teased 81%
of the female respondents. This table further
shows that item No 18 which is related to
coping strategy carries the highest rank and
value loadings. This means that 79% of the
female respondents never report to the police
when they are victim of eve teasing. Among
them, 70% of the female respondents said
that they ignore the situation because they
feel that they are alone. 68% of the
respondents think that, boys tease the girls
to settle scores for being snubbed. Among
them, 56% have the opinion that they have
no clear concept about their opposite sex.
Accordingly, 51% of the female respondents
are of the opinion that they do not protest
against teasing, rather they ignore the
situation because they feel that they are
helpless. Among them 45% say they have
never protested against eve teasing because
if they protest the matter will worsen. Among
them, 42% think that there is no point in
protesting. Therefore their coping strategy is
ignorance. 37% of the female respondents
never protested even if they see any boy
teasing their friend. Moreover, 34% of the
female respondents believe that teasing
phenomenon towards girls is normal.
Interestingly, there are 32% who consider eve
teasing as a way to demonstrate masculinity.
Among them 29% of the female respondents
are ignorant about sex education. As a result
26% of the female respondents relish or enjoy
watching a scene of eve teasing in a movie.
There are 24% of the parents of the female
respondents who do not believe in the
concept that both men & women are equal.
Among the female respondents there are 22%
who get pleasure when they are teased,
because they believe that it is an attention to
their glamour and good looks. 21% of the
female respondents never feel the necessity
104
to protest against eve teasing because 20%

of them feel that eve teasing is not a social
crime. Unfortunately till today there are 16%
parents of the female respondents, who
discriminate among their children on the basis
of their gender. The study reveals that 6% of
the female respondents are gratified when
they are teased.
All the above opinion of the male &
female respondents indicates that there are
some motivating factors which are primarily
responsible for such eve teasing behaviour.
These factors are patriarchal mentality of the
boys, improper socialisation, medias role,
lack of consciousness about the legal
provision, lack of knowledge, unsecured
feelings in females, girls coping strategy etc.
Our patriarchal mindset is one important
factor that is the source of eve teasing. Men
are raised to believe that they are more
powerful- physically and emotionally than
women. Women on the other hand are made
to feel vulnerable and the weaker sex. There
are even such families where the boys are
taught that he is a special member of his
family just because he is a son. The duties
or behaivoural pattern are distinguished
separately among boy and a girl. In case a
family comprises of both boys and girls, then
the discrimination in attitude is prevalent both
in disguise and in the open. Obviously this
will have an effect on the attitude of the
children. Thus as a result of gender
discrimination, two sexes adopt two types of
behaivoural pattern. One group (female)
become dependant on the male, he may be
a father, husband or a son. Moreover, even
if the female have economic or political power,
yet they have to reclaim their spaces and
rights on the streets, public spaces, schools,
transportation etc. On the other hand, the
male shape some stubborn impression about
themselves and about their opposite sex. This
stubbornness is unethical and could create
social problem because our society consists
of both male and female. Any manifestation
Eve Teasing
of superiority by one group over the other is

bound to have a negative impact on the
society. If the understanding, respect and
communication are better between the two
groups, the consequences will be industrious.
But this study reveals that both the group are
blaming each other for the existence of sexual
harassment in the society i.e. there is lack of
understanding, respect & communication
between them. Similar from the standpoint of
the development of society this attitude will
hinder the overall development, which is not
desirable.
Further, this study divulges that more
than 75% of the boys feel that man and
women are not equal. Rather they think that
boys are superior to the girls. Such feelings
are shaped gradually and become inherent
in them. Hence, their improper rearing
originates such types of feelings, which
motivate them to underestimate or disrespect
the girls. Besides this, there are some parents
in our society who do not believe in equality
of men and women. They create through
their performance the root of gender
discrimination. On the other hand girls are
taught to avoid such situation and not to give
much thought into the matter. The result of
the study also indicate the above truth,
because it is seen that more than 75% of the
boys think that men are more powerful than
women, 55% of the boys consider women as
inferior to men in all respects and 34% of the
female respondents consider eve teasing as
a regular phenomenon. Thus, from the
response of both the groups, it is clear that
from early childhood their parents
discriminate between them and instil certain
values and ideas based upon patriarchal
mindset. Therefore, the boys and girls of
those parents will be obviously affected by it
and will behave accordingly because parents
play the role of father figure / mother figure
to us. As a result, if the vision is inappropriate,
than it is least expected that our future
generation will think or act positively towards
Deepa Ghosh
the problems of the society. This is the cause

for the existence of sexual harassment like
eve teasing.
Programmes where eve teasing is used
frequently to settle a relationship reinforce
the value that eve teasing behaviour is
acceptable. Normally the role of an eve teaser
is portrayed by the hero connotation that the
media is trying to depict as a way to show
masculinity. The same is reproduced in this
study, where we find that 32% of the girls
believe that eve teasing is a way to
demonstrate masculinity. A majority of the
boys (55%) enjoys watching a scene of eve
teasing in a movie. At the same time it is
mention worthy that media motivates more to
those persons who have already such
feelings towards eve teasing or social crime
or sexual harassment. Though the
percentage is not as much of, but there are
some girls (11%) who enjoy the scene of eve
teasing in a movie. Schramm and Himmelweit
suggested that the effects of Television
violence vary according to the personal &
social characteristics of viewers and
according to how violent acts were portrayed.
Thus it can be concluded that media is playing
a significant role in encouraging eve teasing
or developing a positive attitude or values
towards eve teasing.
The medias role coupled with improper
socialisation affect the attitude of both the
group of respondents. Girls mentally prepare
themselves that they can be publicly taunted,
groped, molested, humiliated, slapped
around, assaulted and brutally attacked
anywhere anytime. And if it is in an
educational institution, she cannot run away.
Therefore, it is her duty to save herself, by
ignoring the situation, otherwise the entire
thing is made out to be girls fault for stepping
out of the home, dressing in vulgar way, or
walking along the wrong street. There is a
tendency to blame innocent victims for their
undeserved fate as a means of maintaining
ones belief that the world is fair and just
105
(Lerner & Simmons, 1966; Lerner & Matthews,

1967). Thus, they will not get moral or social
support from any corner of the society. These
types of thought lead the girls to feel
unsecured, helpless and alone as said by
70% among them. Thus, despite their dislike
ness (96%), they never go for confrontation.
They choose the path of bypassing the
situation. They think that if they go for
confrontation, then nobody will come forward
to rescue them and eventually they would be
harassed in public. They have no trust upon
the law of the land, which is substantiated by
the fact that 42% among the girls strongly
feel that there is no point in protesting against
eve teasing. And again they are of the opinion
that they will not report to the police when
they become a victim of eve teasing (79%).
Since the responsibility of maintaining law &
order and its execution rests upon the police,
sometimes law might be misused. As a result,
the police are reluctant to record a complaint
of eve teasing. Even if they do so, they start
investigation with a predetermined mindset
that a girls attitude and behaivour is solely
responsible for it. Moreover, they start
harassing the girls family also. They try to
highlight the character of the girls. In a study
by Valentine-French, Suzanne, and Radtke
(1989) male subjects attributed less
responsibility to the perpetrators than the
female subjects in sexual harassment.
Sometimes media also plays the same role.
This makes the girls and their family unwilling
to lodge any complaint to the police because
eve teasing is not a college girls problem. It
leads to insecurity for the parents and their
family. This unwelcome masculine attention
on women subjects them to an unimaginable
sexual pressure. Thus, unfortunately the
police and the media who actually have the
power and responsibility to eradicate evils like
eve teasing are not playing their role
effectively. A large number of respondents
(M=39%, F=45%) think that protest against
eve teasing makes the situation worse. Thus
106
it is observed that lack of security is another

problem due to which majority of the girls
accede to such disrespect. If the female
fraternity are sexually harassed and
consequent to it, if they protest by compelling
the law enforcer to initiate prompt action, then
the society should support the purpose. But,
if the victim remains silent or ignore the
situation, then the problem will persist in our
society with different hazardous shades.
Though, a victim remains silent or ignores the
situation, but they are affected by it
psychologically. Thus eve teasing is not only
a social problem, but also a psychological
problem. According to Sheila Gupta, eminent
Psychiatrist, men who harass girls suffer from
psychological problem and seek out a strange
pleasure by passing vulgar and bawdy
comments (Rachana, 2008). Study also
shows more than 50% of the boys, tease the
girls just for gratification. They confessed that
(30%) they get pleasure from doing it. This
pleasure ness leads the girls to be affected
tremendously specifically those girls who
dislike eve teasing. Every year new girls are
humiliated and brutalised, many are maimed
for life, many drop out to escape the physical,
mental and sexual torture, and some are
forced by their parents to get married
according to their choice, several suffer from
severe stress disorder and even some are
driven to commit suicide. Actually, eve teasing
violates a womens right to live with dignity.
From the study it is seen that a diverse
scenario exists in our society when boys and
girls are said to recognize the reason of eve
teasing. Both the groups (though there is a
large difference between the percentages)
said that girls are to some extent responsible
for this problem. More than 80% of the boys
reported that eve teasing is prevalent in the
society due to the girls reaction pattern. This
study also shows that more than 55% of the
female have no clear knowledge about their
opposite sex, i.e they are not acquainted with
sex education. More than 55% boys also admit
Eve Teasing
that lack of knowledge about sex education

is an important reason for eve teasing. In this
era of women empowerment or advancement
there are 20% females who do not think that
eve teasing is at all a social crime. On the
other hand, 30% of the males are unwilling
to recognize eve teasing as a social problem.
If the younger generation, have no clear
conception about gender equality than, the
society will never change from a patriarchal
society to a free society because lack of
knowledge, lack of mental and physical
security and over and above lack of proper
socialisation results in least consciousness
about the problem and thus becoming
detached from the problem.
Conclusion
The patriarchal mindset, from which the
psychological behaivour of eve teasing
originates, will subside and gender parity will
be prevalent in the society. Some effective
steps are required to be taken at the earliest
to bring forth a radical; change, which are:1. Co-educational system of education
should be encouraged and all the male and
female students should be allowed and
motivated to participate in games & sports,
cultural activities and literary activities to
release their tensions.
2. Social awareness about eve teasing
should be increased manifold through skits,
drama, debates, seminar etc held exclusively
in colleges and universities.
3. Enforcement of law specific to eve
teasing and other forms of sexual harassment
should be implemented by women police
officers. This would enable the victim to take
the course of law without any hesitation.
4. Extensive public education aimed at
every section of the society at large.
References
Atray, J.P.,(1988). Crime against Women, Vikas
Publishing House,New Delhi.
107
Deepa Ghosh
Chatterji, S., (2007). Fighting eve-Teasing: rights

and remedy, www.indiatogether.com.
Desai, D., (2008). Sexual Harassment and Rape
Laws in India, Legal Services India,
www.legalserviceindia.com.
Lerner, M.J. & Matthews, G., (1967). Reactions
to suffering of others under conditions of
indirect responsibility, Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 5, 319-25.
Mohan, Vidhu, (1994). Exploitation of Women,
in Dhoundial, V.R., Dhoundial, N.C., Shukla,
Aradhana, (ed), The Indian Girls, Almora: Shri
Almora Book Depot.
Mohan, Vidhu, & Shabnam Priyadarshini (1995).

A Survey on eve teasing as experienced by
Girls, The Indian Journal of Criminology &
Criminalistics, 16, 1-7
Rachana, (2008), Eve-Teasing: A rising culture,
retrieved
July
21,
2010
from
www.instablogs.com.
Valentine-French, Suzanne, & Radtke, H.
Lorranine, (1989).
Attributions of
responsibility for an Incident of Sexual
Harassment in a University Setting, Sex
Roles, 21, 545-55.
Received: April 03, 2010

Revision received: June 14, 2010
Acknowledgement: I acknowledge the cooperation of Poonam and Lopa, students

of final year of the Department of Psychology, MBB College, who helped in data
collection.
Deepa Ghosh, PhD, Assistant Professor (Senior Scale), Head of the Department
of Psychology, Netaji Subhas Mahavidyalaya, Udaipur, South Tripura, E-maildeepaghosh71@gmail.com.
108
Relationship between Spirituality and Anger among Women

Meena Sunderrajan and V.D.Swaminathan
Madras University, Chennai
The present study was to ascertain the relationship between spirituality and
anger besides the relationship of demographic variables such as age, income,
educational qualification, employment status and marital status of women to
spirituality and anger. A convenient sample of 100 women whose age ranged
between 20 years and 62 years, were administered with an Interview Schedule,
Spirituality Scale and State Trait Anger Expression Inventory. The design was
expost-facto ,cross-sectional and multivariate in nature. Statistical analyses of
the data revealed that spirituality and all dimensions of anger except angry
reaction were related. Education, employment status, marital status, income
and age were related to anger. Age, employment status and income were related
to spirituality.
Women are said to have enormous potential

and their status can be explored in terms of
the roles they perform in the society. The
diverse roles she plays are of a daughter, a
wife, a mother, if needed a career woman as
well Tandon (1998). Women raise their levels
in different spheres of lives because they are
not only bread makers but also bread winners.
They have been appointed as governors,
judges, members of service commission,
members of the parliament, state legislatures
and some are elevated as ministers. So, in a
dual role career they are prone to face many
problems in their schedule. Emotions play a
vital role in shaping the personal and social
life. One of the most common emotions in
stressful interpersonal situations is anger.
Anger in women is usually internalized due
to traditional and cultural makeup whereas
men who take up career express anger quite
freely. Spielberger (1985) define the concept
of anger generally as an emotional state that
consists of feelings that vary in intensity with
associated activation or arousal of the
autonomic nervous system. Although much
has been written about the negative impact
of anger and hostility on physical and
psychological well-being, definitions of these
constructs are ambiguous and sometimes

contradictory. The causes of anger can be
biological, psychological, situational and
cultural in nature. Beck (1976) recognized
anger as an emotion distinct from violent or
aggressive behavior and discussed it in terms
of provocation and the appraisal of threat.
The strength of angry response is determined
by such intellectual or cognitive factors as
value judgements, self-esteem and
expectations, which are all regarded as
enduring dispositions. Kopper and Epperson
(1991) found that men and women did not
differ in scores on a variety of self-report
measures of anger and its expression clearly.
Social constraints on the expression of anger
are strong, but it may be that social factors
modulate the perception cues to anger. Anger
is a very human emotion. It is a common,
valid, and healthy emotion when expressed
in appropriate ways. On the other hand,
inappropriately expressed anger can have
devastating effects on personal relationships,
work, and the overall quality of ones life. For
those who hold in anger there is a need to
vent their emotions and a need to find a safe
and appropriate way to release them, more
so in the case of women. One such way is
109
through spirituality. Women can make good

use of spiritual practices to channelize the
way they express anger and thus enjoy a
healthy psychosocial life.
Spirituality is universal. Spiritual self-care
includes an ongoing search for meaning and
understanding in life and what may extend
beyond. It involves the exploration and
expression of beliefs and values that are
shaped by experience. Spirituality may be
infested through religion, but religion is not
synonymous with spirituality McCormick
(1994). The meaning of spirituality and
religion in womens lives is highly variable and
subjective. Becoming spiritually fit is not
accomplished by using a single technique or
method. Finding connection with the spirit is
like polishing the facets of a diamond. The
more we work at it, the more facets we have
and the more brightly we can shine. The more
we recognize spirituality, the more we polish
our facets. Walker (2000) also confirmed that
adolescent females with high levels of spiritual
support reported lower levels of aggressive
beliefs. Romero, Catherine and Mitchell,
(2008) carried out studies which revealed that
older women had a reasonably high level of
spirituality and were more forgiving than
younger adult women. Rosenthal and
Schreiner (2000) and Blanchard-Fields and
Coats (2008) carried out studies which found
that older adults experienced less anger and
used more passive emotion regulation
strategies than younger adults. The
abovementioned studies were in line with the
finding that spirituality and anger had an
inverse relationship with age.
Objectives:
Keeping the above problem in view,
objectives of the present study would be spelt
out as follows:
1. To differentiate between women high
on spirituality with those low on spirituality in
respect to various dimensions of anger.
2. To ascertain the relationship of age

with spirituality as well as different dimensions
of anger.
3. To study the relationship between
educational qualification and spirituality,
various dimensions of anger.
4. To know the relationship of monthly
income with spirituality and various
dimensions of anger.
5. To determine the relationship
between employment status and spirituality,
various dimensions of anger.
6. To see the relationship of marital
status with spirituality and various dimensions
of anger.
Hypotheses:
1. Women high on spirituality would
significantly differ from women low on
spirituality with regard to various dimensions
of anger.
2. Older women would be high on the
component of spirituality than younger
women.
3. There would be an inverse
relationship between age and various
dimensions of anger.
4. There would be a direct relationship
between spirituality and educational
qualification.
5. There would be no relationship
between education and anger.
6. There would be no relationship
between employment status and spirituality.
7. Home makers anger would be high
when compared to gainfully employed women.
8. Married women would be more
spiritual than single women.
9. Married women would be better able
to deal with anger than single women.
10.There would be no relationship
between income and spirituality.
110
Spirituality and Anger
11.Women with high income would be

better able to deal with anger.
Women low on spirituality. Table 1 shows the

relationship between spirituality and anger.
Method
According to Table 1, just one function

emerged significantly and all factors
obviously happen to be anger related
variables. This function significantly
differentiated women high on spirituality from
those low on spirituality. The structure matrix
presented in the table would show inverse
relationship between spirituality one hand
and various dimensions of except anger
control, on the other hand. It would not be a
surprising feature at all to see a very strong
inverse relationship between trait anger and
spirituality. That is, the higher the spirituality,
the lower the anger at trait level.
Sample:
The study was conducted on a
convenient sample of 100 women whose age
ranged between 20 and 62 years. Graduates
and non-graduates, gainfully employed
women and homemakers and married and
unmarried women constituted the sample.
They were administered with an Interview
Schedule, Spirituality Scale (Swaminathan &
Bindhu, 2006) and State Trait Anger
Expression Inventory (Spielberger, 1985).
Tools:
The interview schedule was prepared
specially for the present study to elicit
information from the respondents regarding
their personal, familial, marital, educational
and occupational aspects.
The state-Trait Anger Expression
Inventory (STAXI) is a self-reporting test which
provides concise measure of the experience
and expression of anger. It consists of 44
items which form six scales and two sub
scales namely State anger, Trait anger (Anger
temperament & Angry reaction), Anger-In,
Anger-Out, Anger control and Anger
Expression. Alpha coefficient ranged between
0.69 and 0.93 (Spielberger, 1988).
Spirituality scale (Swaminathan and
Bindhu, 2006) had 35 items of which one item
(7th item) was a buffer statement. This was
not considered for scoring. Test-retest
reliability was found to be 0.67.
After testing the data for homogeneity
of variance in linearity, discriminant functional
analysis and correlation by Pearsons method
were used for statistical analysis. Women in
the sample were divided into two groups,
based on the median of their scores on
spirituality. The two groups were Group I
Women high on spirituality and Group II
From the values in Table 2, it was clear

that age was found to be significantly
correlated with spirituality and anger control
in the positive direction. Age had a significant
inverse relationship with trait anger, anger
temperament, angry reaction and anger
expression. However, state anger, anger-in
and anger-out did not have a significant
relationship with age. Education did not have
a significant relationship with spirituality, state
anger, trait anger, anger temperament, angry
reaction, anger-in, and anger-out and anger
expression. Education had a significant
relationship with anger-control in the positive
direction. Employment status was found to be
positively and significantly correlated to
spirituality. There was an inverse relationship
between employment status and trait anger.
There was found to be no significant
relationship between employment status and
state anger, anger temperament, angry
reaction, anger-in, anger-out, anger control
and anger expression. Marital status did not
have a significant relationship with spirituality.
Marital status also did not have a significant
relationship with state anger, trait anger,
anger-in, anger-out and anger-control. There
was a significant inverse relationship between
marital status of women and, anger
temperament, angry reaction and anger
expression.
111
Table 1. Details of Discriminant Functional Analysis on the relationship between Spirituality

and Anger.
Groups
Other Details
Variables
Mean
2
SD
Me an
Summary of C anonical Discriminant Fu nctions

Std.
Function
Deviation
12.25
2.472
6.604
8.358
15.62
12.71
21.92
22.26
S-Anger
T-Anger
T-Anger/T
T-Anger/R
AX/IN
AX/OUT
AX/CON
AX/EX
2.77
0.723
1.73
2.34
3.61
3.06
5.38
7.02
12.87
2.95
7.07
8.63
16.58
13.75
19.75
25.65
3.57
1.11
1.52
1.94
3.74
3.03
4.43
7.25
Eigen
Cumulative
Canonical
Value
Variance
of
Correlation
0.1 4
100
100
0.35
p
0.01
Structure Matrix
Function
Variables
T-An ger
AX/E X
AX/CON
AX/OUT
T-An ger/T
AX/IN
S-Anger
T-An ger/R
-0.705
-0.641
0.585
-0.458
-0.384
-0.353
-0.262
-0.170
CLASSIF ICAT ION RESULTS

Group
Original Count
Predicted Membership
Total
40
13
53
21
20
41
Ungrouped Cases
1
4
75.5
2
25.5
6
100
2
Ungrouped Cases
51.2
66.7
48.8
33.3
100
100
Table 2-Correlation coefficient values for Spirituality, Anger and its dimensions and the
Demographic Variables.
Age
Education
Marital Status
Income
r
0.07 N.S
Employment
Status
r
0.25**
Spirituality
r
0.23*
r
0.10 N.S
r
-0.22*
S-Anger
-0.70(NS)
-0.11 N.S
-0.01 N.S
0.03 N.S
-0.03 N.S
T-Anger
-0.27**
-0.61 N.S
-0.25**
-0.11 N.S
0.24*
T-Anger/T
-0.28**
-0.11 N.S
-0.06 N.S
-0.26**
-0.01 N.S
T-Anger/R
-0.25**
0.01 N.S
-0.08 N.S
-0.20*
0.18 N.S
Ax-In
-0.01(NS)
0.12 N.S
0.06 N.S
-0.06 N.S
0.03 N.S
Ax-Out
-0.02(NS)
-0.20*
0.03 N.S
-0.01 N.S
0.09 N.S
Ax-Con
0.22*
-0.03 N.S
0.06 N.S
0.16 N.S
-0.10 N.S
Ax-Ex
-0.26**
-0.04 N.S
-0.49 N.S
-0.20*
0.09 N.S
Variables
* p< 0.05
** p< 0.01
112
Spirituality and Anger
Income had a significant inverse

relationship with spirituality. Income was found
to be significantly correlated with trait anger
in the positive direction, indicating that the
more the income; greater would be the trait
anger in women. There was no significant
relationship between income and state anger,
anger temperament, angry reaction, angerin, anger-out, anger control and anger
expression.
Conclusion
Within the limitations of the present
study, the following conclusions were drawn:
Spirituality and all dimensions of anger except
angry reaction were related. Anger control
alone had direct relationship with spirituality
while all other dimensions of anger were
inversely related to spirituality. Education,
employment status, marital status, income,
age were found to be correlates of anger. Age,
employment status and income were related
to spirituality.
References
Beck, A.T. (1976). Cognitive Therapy and the
Emotional Disorders. New York: International
University Press
Blanchard Fields & Coats. (2008).The
Experience of Anger and Sadness in Everyday
Problems Impacts Age Differences in
Emotion Regulation, vol 44 no 6, 1547-1556.
(ERIC Journal Reproduction Service No.
EJ823497). Retrieved from http://
www.eric.ed.gov/
Kopper, B.A., & Epperson, D.L. (1991). Women
and anger: Sex and sex role comparisons in
the expression of anger. Psychology of
Women Quarterly, 50, 7-14.
McCormick, D.W. (1994). Spirituality and
management. Journal of Managerial
Psychology, 9, 5-8.
Mramor, Nancy. (2006). Spiritual Fitness. New

Delhi: Fusion.
Romero, Catherine & Mitchell, David, B. (2008).
Forgiveness of interpersonal offenses in
younger and older Roman Catholic women.
Journal of Adult Development, v15, n2, 5561. doi: 10.1007/s10804-007-9036-1.
Rosenthal, Beth, S., & Schreiner, Arleen, C.
(2000). Prevalence of psychological
symptoms among undergraduate students in
an ethnically diverse urban public college.
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12-18. (ERIC Journal Reproduction Service
No. EJ612259). Retrieved from http://
www.eric.ed.gov/
Spielberger, C.D. (1985). In Butcher, James, N.,
Spielberger, Charles, D. (1983). Assessment
of Anger: The State-Trait Anger Scale,
Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum. Retrieved
June 21, 2010 from Google: http://
books.google.co.in/bkshp/.
Swaminathan, V.D., & Mythli, T. (2008).
Psychospiritual correlates of anger and its
management among students, Unpublished
Ph.D Thesis, Chennai: University of Madras.
Swaminathan, V.D., & Bindhu, S. (2006). Revised
and constructed spirituality scale,
Unpublished Coursework, Chennai: University
of Madras.
Tandon, R.K. (1998). Status of women in
contemporary world, 1st (Ed), 323. New Delhi:
Commonwealth Publishers.
Walker, E.A. (2000). Spiritual support in relation
to community violence exposure,
aggressive outcomes and psychological
adjustment among inner-city young
adolescents. Dissertation Abstracts
International, 61, 3295-B.

Meena Sunderrajan, Department of Psychology, Madras University, Chennai600 005

V.D. Swaminathan, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychology, Madras
University, Chennai- 600 005
113
Does Caffeine-Induced Arousal Reduce Mental Workload during

High-demanding Vigilance Task?
This paper investigates whether or not caffeine-induced arousal reduces mental

workload of high - demanding vigilance task. Thirty students of Banaras Hindu
University (14 men, 16 women, age range: 19-26 years) participated in this
study. A 2 (Mental workload: Pre and Post) x 4 (Treatment conditions: placebo,
100mg, 150mg, 200mg) factorial design with repeated measure on last factor
was used. NASA-Task Load Index scale was used before (pre-session) and
after (post-session) final sessions for the assessment of mental workload
associated with the vigilance task. Perceptual sensory task in the shape of
square was used as the vigilance task. Participants were required to detect
infrequently occurring critical signals. The task was designed on SuperLab
4.0 and displayed through a 15" colour monitor. The obtained post weighted
mean scores on global mental workload revealed that participants of placebo
condition perceived high workload than did any of the three caffeine conditions.
These weighted mean scores of global mental workload with regard to treatment
conditions suggested caffeine benefit occurring differently from pre- to posttask sessions.
Keywords: Mental workload, Caffeine-induced arousal, Vigilance performance
Workload has been an area of interest to

human factors researchers for many years.
The workload literature has conceptualized
workload in several different forms. For
instance, workload has been used to
describe the objective task demands imposed
on the observer, the mental effort exerted by
the observer to meet such demands, the
performance of the observer, the psychophysiological state of the observer, and the
observers subjective perception of the
expended effort. Many researchers base their
use of workload on the assumption that mental
workload acts as an intervening variable that
represents the relationship between the task
demands imposed on the observer and the
capabilities of the observer to meet those
demands (Wickens, Mavor, & McGee, 1997).
Workload has been also studied as the costs
of a human operator while performing
complex tasks (Kramer, 1991). This cost may

be conceptualized as an undifferentiated
capacity or resource (Kahneman, 1973;
Moray, 1967).
Vigilance and workload
The maintenance of a proper level of
vigilance is critical for many tasks, but
controlled studies of visual sustained attention
show that performance declines over time
when observers are required to respond to
such stimulus events (targets) that occur in
a sequence of other stimulus events
(nontargets). Traditionally vigilance tasks
have been considered under demanding and
therefore under stimulating. This view follows
the traditional arousal theory of vigilance.
However, recent researches have revealed
that, although maintaining vigilance is boring,
it imposes a considerable workload on the
114
observer (Temple, Warm, Dember, Jones,

LaGrange, & Matthwes, 2000). This is
consistent with the recent multidimensional
conceptualization of energetic arousal that
make reference to attention resources
(Matthews, Davies, & Lees, 1990) and
psychophysical adaptation (Hancock & Warm,
1989).
Warm, Dember and Hancock (1996)
have established that subjective mental
workload in vigilance remains high and is
sensitive to numerous task and
environmental factors that influence task
performance. The workload of vigilance does
not simply arise from the observers efforts
to combat the tedium of having to perform a
dull task. They further demonstrated that
while target cueing reduces observer
workload, subjective boredom remained high.
This suggests that the workload of vigilance
is directly task-related, rather than a byproduct of the boredom. Overall perceptual
sensitivity varies inversely with processing
load (See, Howe, Warm, & Dember, 1995).
Processing load, here, refers to the demands
of information processing imposed by a task
(Matthews & Davies, 1998). Parasuraman
(1979) demonstrated that detection efficiency
varies inversely with event rate.
Using a dual-task procedure where
observers were required to perform the
primary vigilance task and a secondary task
of probe detection, Parasuraman (1985)
demonstrated increased response time to the
secondary probes with high event rates
compared to low event rates. Parasuramans
study suggests that event rate has a
tremendous impact on the resource demands
of a vigilance task. The sensitivity decrement
resulting from an increase in task demands
is associated with a reduction in the availability
of processing resources (Parasuraman,
1985). Galinsky, Dember, and Warm (1989)
confirmed Parasuramans (1985) proposal
using successive discrimination vigilance task
and the NASA-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX;
Vigilance and Mental Workload
Hart & Staveland, 1988). They found that an

average of 80% of the signals was detected
during low event rates (5/min) compared to
an average of 60% with high event rate (40/
min). Under high event rate, overall NASATLX workload increased by 138%; from a
score of 45 at the low event rate to 62 at the
high event rate. They found that mental
demand and frustration were primary
determinants of workload (consistent with
previous research) in the low event rate
condition while temporal demand was a
critical component of workload in the high
event rate condition.
Warm (1993) observed perceived
mental workload (NASA-TLX measures) to be
higher for successive discrimination vigilance
tasks than it was for simultaneous
discrimination vigilance tasks. It has been
reported that in contrast to successive
discrimination
tasks,
simultaneous
discrimination tasks impose little or no load
on working memory (Matthews & Davies,
1998). It has been also found that increasing
event rate and implementing successive
discrimination tasks increase the likelihood
of a sensitivity decrement (Craig & Davies,
1991; Davies & Parasuraman, 1982;
Parasuraman, Warm, & Dember, 1987).
Caffeine and workload
Caffeine has been extensively
researched
and
has
measurable
psychoactive properties. It has been
described as one of the most widely used
social stimulants in our society (Sawyer, Julia,
& Turin, 1982). Caffeine comes from various
dietary sources (e.g. tea, coffee, and coco)
in varying quantities and is consumed by the
majority of people. The psychological effects
of caffeine have been assessed by using
vigilance
task,
mental
workload
questionnaire, personality questionnaire as
well as many mood dimensions. As an
approximate quantity of caffeine in mg/cup,
coffee contains about 6 mg/ cup of instant
and 85+mg/ cup of filter coffee, tea contains
about 25mg/ cup prepared with a dip bag and

35mg/ cup prepared with leaves, while cola
contains about 20mg/ can. For this reason it
is important to determine the relationship
between dose and the effect of repeated
caffeine doses.
Using the abbreviated vigilance task of
high event rate (i.e., 57.5 event per minute),
Temple et al., (2000) demonstrated enhanced
behavoural performance (i.e., Hit rate) due
to caffeine administration, although, they
could not find any significant difference in
mean global workload scores on NASA-TLX
for caffeine and placebo condition suggesting
that caffeine influences factors that control
signal detection but not those that control
task-induced workload.
A number of researches extend empirical
support to the beneficial outcome of caffeine
intake for human vigilance performance. But
very few researchers have attempted so far
to study the effect of caffeine on workload
associated with vigilance task especially
during high cognitive demand conditions. The
present study endeavors to examine the effect
of caffeine on mental workload during high
cognitive demanding vigilance task. It was
hypothesized that participants would report
less mental workload in caffeine conditions
as compared to placebo.
Method
Design:
The design was a 2 (Workload scores:
Pre & Post) x 4 (Treatment conditions:
placebo, 100mg, 150mg, 200mg) factorial
with repeated measure on the last factor.
Participants:
Thirty younger adults (14 men, 16
women, M age = 21 years, age range: 19-26
years) of Banaras Hindu University
participated in this study. Participants with
normal vision or corrected to normal vision
tested on Snellen chart in the laboratory were
selected. Only such participants were
selected who had no prior experience on
115
sustained attention task.

Subjective assessments:
The NASA Task Load Index (TLX) was
used in this study (NASA-TLX: Hart &
Staveland, 1988). It is a subjective workload
assessment technique that relies on a
multidimensional construct to derive an
overall workload score based on a weighted
average of ratings on six subscales: mental
demand, physical demand, temporal demand,
performance, effort, and frustration level. The
use of these six subscales to compute an
overall workload score has been found to
reduce variability among subjects, relative to
a uni-dimensional workload rating, while
providing diagnostic information about
workload sources (Hart & Staveland, 1988).
Specific sources of mental workload imposed
by different tasks are an important
determinant of workload experiences. Three
of the subscales relate to the demands
imposed on the subject (mental, physical, and
temporal demand), whereas other three
subscales focus on interaction of subject with
the task (performance, effort, and frustration
level). Thus, the NASA TLX combines
subscale ratings that are weighted according
to their subjective importance to subjects for
a specific task. The NASA-TLX was
administered in two sessions: a prequestionnaire, completed after the practice
period; and a post- questionnaire completed
after the main vigil session.
Procedure:
Prior to the 40-minute main vigil session,
all participants performed a 3-minute
demonstration task to familiarize themselves
with the vigilance task followed by a 10-minute
practice, which served the purpose of
assigning participants to different
experimental conditions. The criterion for the
selection of participants for different
experimental conditions of the main session
was based upon their practice performance,
in which they were required to score 75% or
above on correct detection measure.
116
Participants inspected the random

presentation of a square of 3.5 cm (target)
and a square of 3.0 cm (non-target) in high
cognitive demand condition (30 events/
minute). The ratio of target and non-target
was 1:4. The task was displayed on 15 colour
monitor via stimulus presentation software
SuperLab version 4.0 (Cedrus, 2007). The
squares were exposed for 100 ms against a
white background. Critical signals (target) for
detection was the appearance of the bigger
square, while making no overt response to
neutral signals (non-target) small square.
Participants signified their detection of critical
signals by pressing the key on a response
pad.
The experiment was conducted in a small
cubical with an ambient illumination provided
by a 40-watt light bulb housed in a covered
ceiling fixture located above the observer and
angled to reduce glare on the computer
monitor. The monitor was mounted on a
computer table at eye-level approximately 55
cm from the seated participant. Participants
surrendered their wristwatches, and cell
phones at the outset of the experimental
session and had no knowledge of its duration
other than that it would not exceed 60 minutes.
eta squared = .222, such that the workload

was higher for placebo (M = 61.28, SD =
13.16) than any of the caffeine conditions like
100 mg (M = 58.77, SD = 12.78); 150 mg (M
= 54.83, SD = 13.43), and 200 mg condition
(M = 51.63, SD = 14.97) irrespective of
overall pre- and post- mental workload
scores. The main effect of overall mental
workload was non-significant, F(1, 29) = 1.75,
p > .05. However, the interaction effect was
significant, F (3, 87) = 5.25; p < 0.002; partial
eta squared = .153. Post hoc analyses
indicated the mean workload score as
significantly lower in the pre-condition (M =
56.98, SD = 14.17) than in the postconditions (M = 65.58, SD = 12.16) for
placebo group, F(1, 29) = 8.79, p < .001;
partial eta squared = .233. However, these
pre- and post- comparisons were not found
significant for any of the three caffeine
conditions i.e., 100 mg, 150 mg, 200 mg (all
p > .05) (see Figure 1).
Statistical Analyses
Weighted means and standard
deviations of global workload were calculated.
Further, these weighted mean scores of global
mental workload (pre- and post-workload)
with regard to treatment conditions (Placebo,
100mg, 150mg, 200mg) were submitted to 2
x 4 factorial ANOVA with repeated measure
on the last factor. An alpha level of 0.05 was
used for all statistical tests. Effect size was
also reported for significant result.
Subjective workload state (NASA-TLX)
The two-way analysis of variance results
of overall mental workload revealed that the
main effect of treatment condition was
significant, F (3, 87) = 8.25; p < 0.001; partial
Figure 1. Global weighted mean workloads

(pre and post) of treatment condition. Error
bars represent standard deviations.
These results showed that overall mental

workload increased from pre- to posttest
session, in placebo condition while it was
almost similar from pre- to post- session with
caffeine conditions. In other word, this result
suggest that amount of caffeine intake i.e.,
100mg, 150mg and 200mg helps in reducing
mental workload from pre- to posttask
session.
The role of caffeine in reducing mental

workload extends findings of the previous
researches (Temple, et al., 2000) that
suggested non-significant difference in mean
global workload scores on NASA Task Load
Index for caffeine and placebo condition. It
seems that caffeine act as an agent that
increase participants cortical arousal level,
resulting in a low perception of mental
workload. The stimulating effects of caffeine
might be interpreted within the framework of
Humphreys and Revelles (1984) proposal
that arousal increases the availability of
information-processing resources due to
which the participants could not felt the
mental workload associated with two
demanding tasks used in the current study.
Thus, our hypothesis that caffeine reduces
mental workload is accepted.
References
Cedrus (2007). SuperLab version 4.0 [Computer
Software]. San Pedro, CA.
Craig, A., & Davies, D. R. (1991). Vigilance:
Sustained visual monitoring and attention. In
J. A. J. Roufs (Ed.), Visual and visual
dysfunction (Vol. 15): The man-machine
interface. London: Macmillan.
Davies, D. R., & Parasuraman, R. (1982). The
psychology of vigilance. London: Academic
Press.
Galinsky, T. L., Dember, W. N., & Warm, J. S.
(1989, March). Effects of event rate on
subjective workload in vigilance performance.
Paper presented at the meeting of the
Southern Society for Philosophy and
Psychology, New Orleans, L.A.
Hancock, P. A., & Warm, J. S. (1989). A dynamic
model of stress and sustained attention.
Human Factors, 31, 519537.
Hart, S. G., & Staveland, L. E. (1988).
Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index):
Results of empirical and theoretical research.
In P. A. Hancock & N. Meshkati (Eds.),
Human mental workload (pp. 139-183).
North-Holland: Elsevier Science.
Humphreys, M. S., & Revelle, W. (1984).
Personality, motivation, and performance: A
117
theory of the relationship between individual

differences and information processing.
Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and effort.
Eaglewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Kramer, A. F. (1991). Physiological metrics of
mental workload: A review of recent progress.
In D. L. Damos (Ed.), Multiple-task
performance (pp.279-328). London: Taylor
and Francis.
Matthews, G. & Davies, D. R. (1998). Arousal
and vigilance: The role of task factors. In R.
R. Hoffman, M. F. Sherrick & J. S. Warm
(Eds.), Viewing Psychology as a whole: The
integrative science of William N. Dember (pp.
113-144). Washington, DC: APA.
Matthews, G., Davies, D. R., & Lees, J. L. (1990).
Arousal, extraversion and individual
differences in resource availability. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 150168.
Moray, N. (1967). Where is capacity limited? A
survey and a model. Acta Psychologia, 27,
84-92.
Parasuraman, R. (1979). Memory load and event
rate control sensitivity decrements in
sustained attention. Science, 205, 924-927.
Parasuraman, R. (1985). Sustained attention: A
multifactorial approach. In M. I. Posner & O.
S. Marin (Eds.), Attention and Performance
XI. (pp. 493-511). Hillsdale, New Jersey:
Erlbaum Associates.
Parasuraman, R., Warm, J. S., & Dember, W.
N. (1987). Vigilance: Taxonomy and utility.
In L. S. Mark, J. S. Warm & R. L. Huston
(Eds.), Ergonomics and human factors:
Recent research (pp. 11-32). New York:
Springer-Verlag.
Sawyer, D., Julia, H., & Turin, A. (1982). Caffeine
and human behaviour: Arousal, anxiety and
performance effects. Journal of Behavioral
Medicine, 5, 415-439.
See, J. E., Howe, S. R., Warm, J. S., & Dember,
W. N. (1995). A meta-analysis of the
sensitivity decrement in vigilance.
Psychological Bulletin, 117, 230-249.
Temple, J. G., Warm, J. S., Dember, W. N.,
Jones, K. S., LaGrange, C. M., & Matthews,
G. (2000). The effects of signal salience and
118
caffeine on performance, workload and stress

in an abbreviated vigilance task. Human
Factors, 42, 183-194.
Warm, J. S. (1993). Vigilance and target
detection. In B. M. Huey & C. D. Wicken
(Eds.), Workload transitions: Implications for
individual and team performance (pp. 139170). Washington, DC: National Academy
Press.
Warm, J. S., Dember, W. N., & Hancock, P. A.
(1996). Vigilance and workload in automated
systems. In R. Parasuraman & M. Mouloua
(Eds.), Automation and human performance:

Theory and applications (pp. 183-200).
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Wickens, C. D., Mavor, A. S., & McGee, J. P.
(Eds.) (1997). Flight to the Future: Human
Factors in Air Traffic Control. Washington.
D.C.: National Academy Press.

Trayambak Tiwari, PhD, Cognitive Science Laboratory, Department of

Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005 (U.P.), Email:
trayambakbhu@gmail.com
Anju L. Singh, PhD, Department of Psychology, Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya,
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221010 (U.P.), Email:
anjubhu@rediffmail.com
Indramani L. Singh, PhD, Cognitive Science Laboratory, Department of
Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005 (U.P.), Email:
ilsingh_bhu@rediffmail.com
119
Resilience, Behaviour Approach and Inhibition among

Adolescents
Annalakshmi, N
Bharathiar university, Coimbatore.

Whether high resilient and low resilient distinguish between them in terms of
the approach avoidance motivation was investigated. A convenient sample of
200 graduate students was used in the study. Both males and females were
included in the sample. The BU Resilience Scale (BURS) and the Behavioral
Approach System (BAS) and Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) Scales were
used. Criterion groups representing high and low levels of resilience based on
their scores on BURS were compared on their scores on BIS/BAS Scales using
analysis of variance. The findings showed that the resilient were not only less
inhibited but also were less responsive to rewards. Males were more fun seeking
and less inhibited than females. No interaction effect between resilience and
gender was found to be significant with regard to BIS/BAS. The findings lend
support to the premises of the BIS/BAS theory of Gray and the ego resiliency
theory by Block and Block.
The capacity of individuals to bounce back

to normalcy after a set-back is recognized as
resilience. The construct of resilience include
various dimensions including time taken to
get back to normalcy after a set-back, reaction
to negative events, perception of the effect
of past negative events, response to risk
factors in life, confidence in coping with
future, defining problems, being open to
experience and being flexible (Annalakshmi,
2009a).
Three prototypes of personality
including the resilient, the over-controlled, and
the undercontrolled types have been
replicated in researches across methods,
languages, ages, and diverse cultural
populations. These prototypes are most often
interpreted with reference to two
psychological functions related to the capacity
for effective adaptation to change and conflict
(Block & Blocks, 1980; Block, 1993; Letzring,
Block, & Funder, 2004; Knyazev &
Slobodskaya, 2006). Many positive

psychosocial correlates including good
adjustment have been attributed to resilients.
Overcontrollers are attributed with a variety
of psychosocial characteristics including low
extraversion and emotional stability,
vulnerability to internalizing problems.
Undercontrollers are attributed with such
characteristics as moderate to high
extraversion, moderate to low emotional
stability, impulsivity, and concomitant
tendencies to internalizing and externalizing
problems. Without ego resiliency, the
effective regulation of ego control, people will
be characterized as tending toward either
overcontrol or undercontrol. Resilient persons
have been found to be relatively well
adjusted, whereas undercontrolled persons
tend toward a variety of externalizing problems
and overcontrolled persons toward
internalizing problems (Caspi & Silva, 1995;
Robins, John, Caspi, Moffitt, & StouthamerLoeber, 1996).
120
The characteristics attributed to

overcontrollers and undercontrollers seem to
run parallel to the Behavioral Approach
System (BAS) and Behavioral Inhibition
System (BIS) propounded by Gray (1987).
This paradigm of Gray is based on his
researches on animals and behavioral and
psychopharmacological experiments. The
former is sensitive to signals of reward and
relief from punishment and regulates
appetitive motivation and approach behavior.
The later is sensitive to signals of punishment
and frustrate non-reward promoting
avoidance behavior and feeling of anxiety.
BAS and BIS brain systems are postulated to
underlie the dimensions of impulsivity and
anxiety, respectively. In a recent revision of
his theory Gray has stated that BIS become
active when approach-avoidance, avoidanceavoidance, and approach-approach conflicts
are experienced (Gray & McNaughton, 2000).
The primary function of BIS is inhibiting
ongoing behavior, but it can also motivate risk
assessment behavior or behavior caution,
and increase the attention and arousal. BAS
is also called the behavior facilitation system
(Depue & Collins, 1999; Dupe & Iacono, 1989)
or the behavioral activating system (Fowles,
1980). BAS is activated by stimuli of reward,
or by opportunities to avoid or stop
punishment (McNaughton & Corr, 2004).
In his conception of the basic
dimensions Gray (1972, 1981) has attempted
to modify Eysencks dimensional theory of
personality which has been formulated by
factor analysis of individual differences
among human subjects (Eysenck, 1947;
1990). Originally, Eysenck postulated that
Extraversion (E), Neuroticism (N), and
Psychoticism (P) adequately accounted for
the individual differences found among
human beings as important dimensions of
personality. Gray suggests that rotating the
dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism
by 45 degrees results in two new dimensions:
impulsivity (N+, E+), and anxiety (N+, E-). High
Resilience and Inhibition
impulsivity, the first of the new dimensions,

leads to high sensitivity to reward and to nonpunishment. High anxiety, the second of the
new dimensions leads to high sensitivity to
non-reward, to punishment, and to novelty.
Gray contends that the behavioral approach
system (BAS) is the neurophysiological basis
of impulsivity, whereas the behavioral
inhibition
system
(BIS)
is
the
neurophysiological basis of anxiety. Grays
work has been done almost exclusively on
animals.
The BIS is activated when we observe
that our actions will be ineffective under
natural conditions. Resilient seems not to
subscribe that their action might be
ineffective. The BIS is activated primarily by
aversive stimuli. Such stimuli are related to
punishment and non-reward. They cause
behavioral inhibition, an increase in arousal
and attention levels, and negative affective
experiences. Further, the BIS are the
proposed causal basis of trait anxiety. Gray
proposed that the BIS comprise the
septohippocampal system, its monoaminergic
afferents from the brainstem, and its cortical
projection in the frontal lobe. Recent revision
of the theory holds that the BIS do not mediate
reaction to aversive reaction per se. But, BIS
is responsible for resolving approachavoidance conflict (Gray & McNaughton,
2000). The BAS is activated primarily by
appetitive stimuli. Such stimuli are related to
reward and termination of punishment. They
cause approach behavior or activation and
positive affective experiences. Further, the
BAS is proposed to be the causal basis of
trait impulsivity. Gray suggests that the neural
basis of the BAS is activity in the mesolimbic
dopamine system focused on the nucleus
accumbens. In the revised theory, BAS
mediates reactions to both conditioned and
unconditioned (added) appetitive stimuli
(Gray and McNaughton (2000). Individual
differences exist in the sensitivity or strength
of these systems. Some people are prone to
Annalakshmi, N
react to incentives and to have positive

emotional reactions (BAS sensitive
individuals). Others are fixed on threats or
dangers in the environment and to negative
emotional reactions (BIS sensitive
individuals).
Encouraged by the findings revealing
the similarity of undercontrollers and
overcontrollers with individuals with
overactive BAS and BIS, investigators have
assumed that the two neurological systems
may underlie distinctions of the personality
types cited. Very recent studies done in USA
by Letzring, Block and Funder (2004) and in
Russia by Knyazev and Slobodskoya (2006)
suggest that it is possible that the individual
differences found among human beings could
be adequately accounted by ego-control and
resiliency in line with the theory mooted by
Gray.
Finding the various measures hitherto
have been used to investigate the
perspectives of Grays theory problematic,
Caver and White (1994) have developed a
set of measures to assess BAS and BIS
sensitivity. The measures have been reported
to have adequate predictive validity by the
authors of the instrument.
A study on generalization of brief under
control and ego-resiliency scales (Letzring,
Block & Funder, 2004) has shown that
patterns of relationships between personality
characteristics and ego-resiliency differ
between females and males. While results
among females consistently conformed to
expectations, results among males some
times did not. Further, examinations of the
correlations between scores of the males and
females on the California Adult Q-set (Block,
1961) and ego-resiliency scale showed that
females who scored high on ego resiliency
were described as valuing intellectual and
cognitive matters and assertive and not
lacking in personal meaning, generally fearful,
not self defeating, while near zero correlations
121
were obtained on these items in the case of

males. It was found that emotional resiliency
and well-being are strongly positively related
among the females than the males. The
investigators try to attribute the deviation of
the findings cited to the personality
differences existing between the males and
females in the sample and also to the
difference in age related psychological
development.
Gender differences have also been
reported in the case of BIS/BAS scales (Jorm
et al., 1999). Nakaya, Oshio, and Kaneko,
(2006) found that a significant negative
correlation of was noted for scores on the
Adolescent Resilience Scale and the
Neuroticism dimension of the Big Five
Personality Inventory.
Resilience scale contributed for
adaptation as much as the FFM (Waaktaar &
Torgersen, 2008). However, the resilience
scales did not outperform Five Factor Model
by increasing the explained variance. This
challenges the validity of the resilience
concept as an indicator of human adaptation
and avoidance of disturbance. High
extraversion, low neuroticism and low
psychoticism were associated with resilience
in a sample of 186 post-graduate students in
the age group 21-23 years of age
(Annalakshmi, 2007).
Ego-control and ego-resilience have
been found to independently predict each Big
Five dimension (Gramzow et al., 2004).
Cluster analysis revealed that self-regulatory
processes are co-ordinated with other basic
personality dimensions. Participants in the first
cluster reported the highest levels of
resilience and moderately low levels of
control, those in the second cluster reported
above-average resilience and high control,
the third cluster reported below-average
resilience and extremely low control and the
final cluster reported very low resilience and
high control. These four clusters differed
122
systematically in their Big Five profiles.

Antagonistic behavior systems are
recognized in a number of psychological
theories. Appetitive motives induce in the
organism a desire to move toward the goal
and act as a system. Aversive motives induce
in the organism a desire to move away from
a repelling end (Elliot, Bush, & Chen, 2006).
Sex typing may be attributed to genderbased schematic processing, particularly
from the self-concept itself being assimilated
to the gender schema (Bem, 1981). Western
society is characterized by three main beliefs
concerning men and women (Bem, 1993).
These beliefs include androcentrism, gender
polarization and biological essentialism.
Androcenterism
connotes
malecenteredness since it simply describes how
society is structured: male experiences alone
are taken as the norm. Gender polarization
simply uses the differences in men and
women to structure society: the masculine way
of doing something is usually seen as the
correct way. The biological essentialism views
the other two propositions as natural because
of biological differences. It is possible that the
western pattern of thinking could be
generalized to the population of the present
study. Sun and Stewart (2007) assessed selfperception of resilience and associated
protective factors. Female students are found
to be more likely to report higher levels of
communication, empathy, help-seeking and
goals for future and aspirations.
Objective:
To examine whether resilient would
distinguish themselves from non-resilient on
their disposition to impulsivity and anxiety.
Specifically, it attempts to investigate whether
resilience is related to the personality
dimensions identified by Gray (1981, 1982).
Method
Design:
The subjects in the sample were
classified into groups on the two factors of
sex and resilience giving rise to a 2 X 2

Factorial Design. Criterion groups
representing high and low levels of resilience
were formed using the median of the
distribution of the scores of the subjects on
BU Resilience Scale as the point of
bifurcation.Sample:
A convenient sample of 220 students
was employed in the study. There were 111
of boys and 109 of girls in the sample. All the
subjects were studying in the second year
engineering degree course at the time of the
investigation. The regional language of the
population is Tamil and the medium of
instruction in the institution of the subjects is
English. All the subjects had high sustained
motivation to faithfully respond to the
instruments. The subjects were informed that
they will be given feed-back on their response
to the questionnaires and that their true
responses to the questionnaires would
enable them appreciate their personal
disposition for bringing change in their lifestyle, if necessary. The information served
as an incentive to the subjects to participate
in the investigation with adequate motivation.
Measures:
The BU Resilience Scale (Annalakshmi,
2009a) and the Behavioral Approach System
(BAS) and Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)
Scales (Carver & White, 1994) were
administered to the subjects in this study in
groups. The first scale had been developed
on the population to which the sample
belonged to. The second mentioned scales
were developed on a population to which the
present sample is not related. An item
analysis of the BAS/BIS Scales done on the
responses of the present sample showed that
all the items of the scales adequately
discriminated the high scores and low scorers
on the relevant scales. Hence the scale in its
original form was retained for use in this study.
Results
Drive scores were subjected to a twoway analysis of variance having two levels of
Annalakshmi, N
resilience (low, high) and two genders (males,

females). The main effect of resilience yielded
an F ratio of F (1, 216) = 0.99, p = .32,
indicating that the Drive score was not
significantly different for low resilient group
(M = 11.58, SD = 2.34) and the high resilient
group (M = 11.90, SD = 2.05). The main effect
of gender yielded an F ratio of F (1, 216) =
1.68, p = .20, indicating that the Drive score
was not significantly different for males (M =
11.94, SD = 2.32) compared to the females
(M = 11.52, SD = 2.07). The interaction effect
was non-significant, F(1, 216) = 0.63, p = .43.
As mentioned above, the F-ratios
relating to the effect of resilience and the
gender are not significant. Hence the null
hypotheses relating to the effect of resilience
and gender are sustained. It is concluded that
neither resilience nor gender has any effect
on drive. The F-ratio relating to the interaction
effect is also not significant. Fun Seeking
scores were subjected to a two-way analysis
of variance having two levels of resilience
(low, high) and two genders (males, females).
The main effect of resilience yielded an
F ratio of F (1, 216) = 1.32, p = .025, indicating
that the Fun Seeking score was not
significantly different for low resilient group
(M = 10.85, SD = 2.33) and the high resilient
group (M = 10.52, SD = 2.55).
The main effect of gender yielded an F
ratio of F (1, 216) = 4.40, p = .04, indicating
that the Fun Seeking score was significantly
greater for males (M = 11.02, SD = 2.53) than
for females (M = 10.69, SD = 2.44). The
interaction effect was non-significant, F(1,
216) = 0.00, p = .97.
As mentioned above the F-ratio relating
to the resilience is not significant. The F-ratio
relating to the gender is significant at 0.05
level. Hence the null hypothesis relating to
resilience is sustained while the null
hypothesis relating to gender is rejected. The
males do more Fun Seeking than the
Females. The F-ratio relating to the
123
interaction is not significant.

Reward Responsiveness scores were
subjected to a two-way analysis of variance
having two levels of resilience (low, high) and
two genders (males, females). The main effect
of resilience yielded an F ratio of F (1, 216) =
6.82, p = .01, indicating that the Reward
Responsiveness score of the low resilient
group (M = 17.06, SD = 2.26) was significantly
higher than that of the high resilient group
(M = 16.15, SD = 2.77). The main effect of
gender yielded an F ratio of F (1, 216) = 1.19,
p = .28, indicating that the Reward
Responsiveness was not significantly
different for males (M = 11.94, SD = 2.32)
compared to the females (M = 11.52, SD =
2.07).
The interaction effect was nonsignificant, F(1, 216) = 1.27, p = .26.
As mentioned above the F-ratio relating
to the resilience is significant. Hence the null
hypothesis relating to resilience is rejected.
The high resilient has lesser Reward
Responsiveness than the low resilient. The
F-ratio relating to the difference between
genders is not significant. Hence the null
hypothesis relating to the gender is
sustained. The F-ratio relating to the
interaction is also not significant.
Behavior Inhibition System scores were
subjected to a two-way analysis of variance
having two levels of resilience (low, high) and
two genders (males, females). The main effect
of resilience yielded an F ratio of F (1, 216) =
56.72, p = .00, indicating that the Behavior
Inhibition System score of the low resilient
group (M = 22.32, SD = 3.20) was significantly
higher than that of the high resilient group
(M = 18.87, SD = 3.54). The main effect of
gender yielded an F ratio of F (1, 216) =
12.67, p = .00, indicating that the Behavior
Inhibition System score for males was
significantly lower for males (M = 19.73, SD
= 3.62) compared to the females (M = 21.57,
SD = 3.74). The interaction effect was non-
124
significant, F(1, 216) = 1.74, p = .19.

As mentioned above the F- ratio relating
to the resilience is significant. Hence the null
hypothesis relating to resilience is rejected.
The high resilient have lower behavior
inhibition than the less resilient. F-ratio
relating to the gender is also significant. the
females have higher behavior inhibition than
the males. The F-ratio relating to the
interaction is not significant.
Findings and Discussion
The findings reveal that neither
resilience nor gender has any effect on Drive.
Resilience and gender have been found to
have no significant interaction effect on drive.
Resilience has no effect on Fun Seeking.
However, gender has an effect on Fun
Seeking. The males have been found to be
more Fun Seeking than females. Resilience
and gender have no significant interaction
effect on Fun Seeking. Resilience has a
significant effect on Reward Responsiveness.
The high resilient has lesser Reward
Responsiveness than the low resilient. No
gender difference has been found on Reward
Responsiveness. No resilience-Gender
interaction is found on Reward
Responsiveness. Resilience is found to have
a significant effect on Behavior Inhibition. The
high resilient has lesser inhibition than the
less resilient. Gender also had a significant
effect on inhibition. Females have greater
inhibition than males. Resiliencegender
interaction on inhibition is not found to be
significant.
BIS/BAS questionnaire used here
measures the dispositional sensitivities to BIS
and BAS at a cognitive level. The BIS Scale
is concerned with the possible occurrence of
negative events and sensitivity to such events
when they occur. The Drive subscale of BAS
is concerned with persistent pursuit of
desired goals. The Fun seeking subscale of
BAS is concerned with desire for new rewards
and a willingness to approach a potentially
rewarding event on the spur of the moment.

The Reward Responsiveness subscale of
BAS is concerned with positive responses to
the occurrence or anticipation of reward.
Thus the findings relating to BAS scales
suggest that resilience is characterized by
less reward responsiveness only. Resilience
seems to be independent of drive and fun
seeking aspects of the BAS. Further males
are more fun seeking and given less to
behavioral inhibition. Drive and reward
responsiveness do not seem to be attributes
connected with gender. Resilience and
gender do not seem to interact with each other
with regard to BIS/BAS.
The lesser level of BIS found with the
resilient suggests that they are likely to be
less sensitive to signals of punishment, and
novelty. They are likely to be less retrained
from indulgence that may lead to negative
painful outcome. The resilients may
experience less fear, anxiety, frustration, and
sadness in response to punishment cues
(Gray, 1972; 1981; 1987; 1990).
It is to be noted that BIS scale and BAS
subscale of Reward Responsiveness are
concerned with sensitivity for events that
occurred or expected to occur and the Drive
and Fun Seeking subscales of BAS are
concerned with actions individuals take,
either since they strive for a goal or since
they want to experience fun. The stress here
is on sensitivity and action.
The findings relating to variables of
sensitivity have emerged in support of the
expectations based on Gray. The findings
seem to confirm the expectations based on
Grays theory with regard to behavioral
inhibition. Partial support to the contentions
of Gray about approach system is seen in
the findings. The Resilient is found to be
having less reward responsiveness as
expected. But, the other aspects of behavioral
approach system, viz., drive and fun seeking
have failed to distinguish themselves in any
125
Annalakshmi, N
manner as inclinations associated with

resilience. Resilient seem to be less over
controlled and to certain extent less under
controlled (Knyazev & Slobodskaya, 2006)
The present findings give some
credence to applying Grays theory. While the
findings seem to provide greater support to
the theory in the case of BIS, they provide
only partial support to the contentions
deduced from BAS.
The big picture of resilience emerging
from the projection of the findings suggests
that the resilient strikes the golden mean and
trod the median path flanked by inhibition and
approach systems. This seems to be in line
with the in line with the personality typology
identified across different cultures (Block and
Block, 1980; Letzring, Block, and Funder,
2004; Knyazev & Slobodskaya, 2006).
The
lesser
level
of
reward
responsiveness found with the resilient
individuals suggest that they are less
responsive to rewards. The resilient seem to
be not very much affected when relived from
threat. It is likely that they may accept threat
to be inevitable to certain extent and hence
are relatively prepared to accept it. This may
account for the resilient not showing greater
relief and show only less relief when a threat
is removed. Perhaps relief from threat
remains is as a matter of hygiene for the
resilient and does not remain as a motivator.
The lesser level of BIS found with the
resilient individuals suggests that they are
likely to have less sensitivity to signals of
punishment, and novelty. They are likely to
be less refrained from indulgence that may
lead to negative painful outcome. The
resilient may experience less fear, anxiety,
frustration, and sadness in response to
punishment cues (Gray, 1972; 1981; 1987;
1990). This finding may be possibly due to
the resilient being prepared to meet
uncertainty with hope and confidence to
adequate extent.
The present findings lend some

credence to applying Grays theory. While the
findings seem to provide greater support to
the theory in the case of BIS, they provide
only partial support to the contentions
deduced from BAS.
The higher score of female on BIS seem
to be in line with the findings of Jorm et al.
(1998). BIS scores were higher in females,
while the BAS subscales showed a more
complex pattern, with reward responsiveness
scores higher in females and drive scores
higher in males (Jorm et al., 1998). Males
have scored high on Fun Seeking than
females in this study. Gender differences are
not uncommon with regard to BAS/BIS
(Kagan et al, 1999). However, the gender
differences met in the present findings may
be explicable by invoking the cultural factors
characterizing the population studied.
The findings imply that the individual
differences relating to Behavioral Approach
System and Behavioral Inhibition System may
be taken into account while formulating
intervention for enhancing resilience.
Individuals may be adequately encouraged
to control their impulsivity and anxiety by
regular practice.
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Annalakshmi, N, PhD, Reader, Department of Psychology, Bharathiar University,

Coimbatore - 641 046..
128
Configurational Imagery Experience in Sighted and Visually

Impaired Children
Gandhi, T.K., Khurana, A., Santhosh, J., and Anand, S.
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
There is a disagreement among researchers about the spatial abilities of visually

impaired, during various mental task executions. One of the issues in the field
of perception is whether the visual and somesthetic systems are capable of
giving rise to spatial frame work and /or an appreciation in space independent to
each other or in combination. Earlier studies have traced out the importance of
previous visual experience in execution of spatial imagery task. In this study
we investigated the ability of haptic scaling tasks of visually impaired and sighted
participants in imagery tasks. The results obtained showed that in addition to
earlier visual experience in a sighted person, factors like orientations,
configurations and user familiarity are also important in determining some of the
spatial abilities in human brain. For visually impaired person, these factors
have limited influence i.e., as long as the task is simple and not very complex.
Keywords: Spatial ability; Somesthetic Systems; Spatial imagery; Haptic
scaling
Vision is considered as the spatial sense par

excellence (Foulke, 1983), and one of the
fundamental questions about the cognition
of space is the extent to which it is facilitated
by sight (Kennedy, et. al., 1992).The ability
of visually impaired to understand macrospatial relations has been of philosophical
interest (Descartes, 1637), and central to
philosophy and psychology since the days
of Berkeley, Molineux and John Locke. There
is renewed scientific and applied interest in
spatial cognition without sight due to its
relevance in fields as diverse as way finding,
robotics, artificial intelliogence, virtual reality
and human computer interaction. Sight is said
to be vital for all types of tasks as it allows
the immediate perception of objects and the
opportunity to easily orient oneself (Gandhi,
et. al., 2008, Brambring, 1986). In particular,
vision allows a person to perceptually
differentiate perspective, to recognize the
invariant structure of an environment (Scholl,
1996) and makes available distal information
about the location of objects not just in relation
to the perceiver (self to object and object to

self), but also relative to one another (object
to object) (Morrongiello, Timney, Humphrey,
& Anderson, 1995). As such, vision provides
an external frame of reference for coding
spatial information. People with no or limited
vision have to rely on sequential learning
using tactual, kinesthetic and auditory senses
to construct spatial relationship (Bigelow,
1996). Moreover intuitive logic dictates that
limited vision (visual perception) leads to
limited environmental knowledge. As a
consequence of restricted vision, it is widely
contended that people with severe visual
impairment experience a world different from
those who are sighted (Golledge, 1993).
Kennett, Taylor-Clarke, and Haggard
(2001) and Newport, Rabb, & Jackson (2002)
used the term noninformative to coin vision
that provided no task-relevant spatial cues.
The hypothesis raises important questions for
theories of sensory integration in visually
impaired people. Previous findings show
considerable interaction between vision and
touch in crossmodal conditions (eg.

Krauthamer, 1968; Miller 1971, 1972,1975;
Rudel et al., 1964; Spelke,1976 ; Streri ,1993).
When the two inputs conflict, vision improves
shape matching, locating, reaching targets,
and distorts tactile sensation (Rock et al.,
1964; Rorden, et. al, 1999; Tipper et. al,
1998). Vision thus seems to dominate over
touch and haptic inputs that involve touch and
movements. Optimal sensory integration
theories assign weights to different sensory
inputs model interactions. The weights
depend on the precision and salience of an
input for a task (Van Beers, et al, 1999, 2002;
Ernst et al, 2002; Massaro, et al, 1990). Such
models imply that vision dominates only when
it adds relevant cues (Millar, 1994). A crucial
question in row task-irrelevant vision affects
heptic performance. Miller et al. have studied
the effect of spatial and non-spatial aspects
of vision in spatial integration of haptic
processing. Moreover Eimmer, 2004 has
pointed out that the localization of tactile
events is strongly affected by visual
information, reflecting the dominant role of
vision in spatial integration. Also new research
suggests that early visual experience is critical
for the establishment of multi-sensory links.
As evident in the above review of
literatures, people with severe visual
impairments do process and structure their
knowledge in ways different to sighted
people. However the present study reveals
the orientations, configurations and user
familiarity with the objects which play the vital
role to process and configure the structural
knowledge of spatial environment around us.
Method
Participants:
Purposive sampling technique was used
to select the subjects. The subjects consists
of 30 visually impaired children as
experimental group (15 M (mean age, 12.67
years; range 10 to 15 years); 15 F(mean age,
12.68 years; range, 10 to 15 years) and 30
129
sighted children as control group with age

and gender match. Clinical characteristics of
experimental group are summarized in Table1. Some of the visually impaired children had
minimal light perception early in their life prior
to loss of sight. All blind participants were
studying in various blind as well as normal
schools and use Braille. Except for the visual
impairment, no history of neurological or
psychiatric illness was reported in any of the
experimental group participants. All subjects
were right handed and native Indians. Both
the groups of participants were matched for
educational level, sex and age.
Table 1. Characteristics of visually impaired
participants
No.Age Sex Cause of Blindness Age at *Visual
onset of Blindness (Year) Acuity(L/R)
1 13 M Eye infection
<2
0/0
2 12.6 M Eye infection
<2
0/0
3 12.5 M Cataract
1.5
LP
4 13 M unknown
2
0/0
<1.5
0/0
6 12 M Optic nerve atrophy
2
0/0
7 12 M Microphthalmos
<1
0/0
8 14 M Microphthalmos
<1
0/HM
9 12 M Optic nerve atrophy
2.5
0/0
2
0/0
11 13.5 M Microphthalmos
1
0/0
12 14 M Fundus Coloboma
1
0/0
13 12 M Glaucoma (Post measles)3 0/0
14 13.6 M Microphthalmos
2
HM/0
15 12 M Cataract
2
0/LP
16 14 F Cataract
<3
LP
17 14.5 F Microphthalmos
3
0/0
18 12 F Optic nerve atrophy
2.5
0/0
19 12.5 F Glaucoma(Post measles) 2 LP/0
20 13 F Traumatic retinal detachment 3 0/0
21 13 F unknown
<2
0/0
22 13 F Microphthalmos
2
LP/0
23 14 F Glaucoma
<2.5
0/LP
24 15 F Optic nerve atrophy
3
0/0
25 14 F Cataract
2
LP
26 12 F Eye infection
1.5
0/0
27 13 F Eye infection
2
0/0
28 13.5 F
29 12.5 F
30 14 F
Optic nerve atrophy 2.5

Glaucoma
2
Eye infection
<2.5
0/0
0/LP
0/0
*Visual acuity categories: no vision (0), see only

hand movements (HM), has only light perception (LP), and
L/R represents Left and Right eye
130
Visually Impaired and Sighted in Imagery Tasks
Material and procedure

The experimental stimuli used was 10
sets of objects of various sizes ranging from
10 centimeters to 120 centimeters, which are
familiar in size & shape to both experimental
and control groups. Participants were asked
to sit comfortably in front of the experimenter.
The sighted participants were blind-folded
and asked to tactually explore the length of a
30 centemeter scale by using their both hand
and memorise the same for reference
purpose only. Participants were free to use
one or both hands to explore the stimuli. They
were guided to touch the objects (stimuli)
randomly one after another, at the same time,
exploring each object tactually, asking the
length in reference scale. Participants were
asked to perform the experiment as soon as
possible. The sighted participants remained
blind folded throughout the exploration of all
objects. In this study, only total congenital
visually impaired participants were included
to get very compatible results.
Results
The data was analyzed by conducting a
mixed factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA).
From 2-way ANOVA it was found that there is
no effect of category (F(1,45)=1.560,
p>0.05) (i.e. visually impaired and sighted)
as well as gender (F(1,45)=.434, p>0.05) (i.e.
male and female ) on execution of tasks. From
repeated measure analysis taking size of the
objects into consideration, it was observed

that the result was significant at p=0.001 level,
where (F(1, 45) =147.887, p<0.001). However
the difference is only coming at the boundary
of 30-45cm, where both categories of
participants were doing equally well. This
indicates the size plays an important role in
performance level of both category of
subject.
From figure 1, it is clearly observed that,
both boys and girls of visually impaired
category executed the task equally well
compared to their sighted counterpart as
shown in figure 2 and figure 3 Response
curve for inter group comparison within
gender, where Avg(B)=Average response of
all boys, Avg(G)=Average response of all girls,
Actual=Actual response
Here not much statistical significance was
shown about the results (F(1,45)=0.002,
p>0.05 and 2=0.0) in performing theses
tasks. When comparison was carried out
between two groups taking gender into
consideration, it was found that visually
impaired boys and girls are performing equally
well for the objects below 45cms but the
performance was down-graded when size of
the objects was larger than 45centimeters as
shown in figure 3.
Discussion and Conclusion
Our analysis has revealed that there is
little difference in the ability to scale big
Figure:1 Response curve for Visually Impaired Category , where Avg (B)=Average response of all
boys, Avg (G)=Average response of all girls, Actual=Actual response, Average=Average response of
both boys and girls
131
Figure:2 Response curve for Sighted Category , where Avg(B)=Average response of all boys,
Avg(G)=Average response of all girls, Actual=Actual response, Average=Average response of both
boys and girls
objects. There is no significant difference results also suggest that the spatial
between the sighted and visually impaired in competence of visually impaired is
their ability to estimate the size of the objects. comparable to their sighted counterpart. This
This is in contrast with many prior studies. It has a number of implications for the quality
is widely believed that lack of vision forces of life of people with severe visual
people to rely on direct contact and self- impairment. Lahav et al (2008) have also
referenced perception of places or objects found out that mental mapping of spaces is
to encode spatial information in a serial and essential for the development of efficient
manner
(Zuidhok et
al., 2007).
andresponse
mobility skill in visually
Figure:3 Responseegocentric
curve for inter
group comparison
within
gender, whereorientation
Avg(B)=Average
of all boys, Avg(G)=Average
response
of
all
girls,
Actual=Actual
response
impaired.
Indeed
our result suggest that the
The degree of disagreement among the
visually
impaired
should be given training
responses of visually impaired and sighted
about
their
spatial
environment, orientations
category for the big objects are due to the
with
respect
to
each
other and haptic
increased degree of body movement,
exploration
about
various
complex objects
rotation, change in spatial configuration of the
present
in
their
immediate
surrounding,
which
subject with respect to the object and vice
versa. At the same time, for objects reaching is more or less helpful in their daily life.
their arm-length, both categories of Though the visually impaired explore the
objects haptically but they are doing equally
participants are doing equally well.
well compared to their normal counterpart,
It is reported about the sex differences those who are using their previous visual
in lateralization of haptic orientation experience for executing tasks. Hence it is
processing task (Zuidhoek et.al, 2007) which clearly understood that not only previous
is not significant in our present study. These visual experience but also the factors like
132
Visually Impaired and Sighted in Imagery Tasks
orientation, configuration user familiarity play

important role in some of the spatial
exploration and haptic representation skills.
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Received: September 05, 2010

Acknowledgments: The authors are thankful to the principal of primary school,

IITD, Mr Makheja, Director, National association for Blind (NAB,New Delhi), all
participated children, Dr R.W. Guillery, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey for
his advice and suggestions and Doctors of SCEH for their help in subject selection.
T.K. Gandhi and S. Anand, Brain dynamics and cognitive Engineering
Laboratory, Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology,
Delhi & All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
gandhitk@gmail.com, sneha@cbme.iitd.ac.in
A. Khurana, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of
Technology, Delhi, India akhurana@hss.iitd.ac.in
J. Santhosh, Computer Services Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi,
India.jayashree@cc.iitd.ernet.in
134
Impact of CBT on Self Efficacy and Academic Achievement in

Adolescent Students
University of Mysore, Mysore
This study examined the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

on Self efficacy and the Academic achievement in the adolescents. The sample
consisted of 200 adolescents (100 Experimental, and 100 Control) attending
two English medium schools in Trivandrum and had scored low scores on General
Self Efficacy scale (GSE) and low grades in their first two terminal examinations.
The study hypothesised that CBT will have positive impact on the self-efficacy
and the academic achievement of adolescents. After the selection of the sample,
CBT was administered to the Experimental group over a span of 90 days. After
the intervention, post test on GSE was conducted for both experimental and
control groups and grades of final term was obtained. Findings of the study
revealed that the experimental group exhibited significant enhancement in
their self-efficacy and Academic achievement. Implications of CBT on improving
self efficacy and academic achievement have been discussed.
Keywords: CBT, Self Efficacy, Adolescents, Academic Achievement
Perceived self-efficacy is defined as peoples

beliefs about their capabilities to produce
designated levels of performance that
exercise influence over events that affect their
lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how
people feel, think, motivate themselves and
behave (Bandura, 1994). Self-efficacy beliefs
provide the foundation for human motivation,
well-being, and personal accomplishment.
This is because unless people believe that
their actions can produce the outcomes they
desire, they have little incentive to act or to
persevere in the face of difficulties
(Pajares,2002). Typically, self-efficacy
beliefs help determine the outcomes one
expects. Confident individuals anticipate
successful outcomes. Students confident in
their social skills anticipate successful social
encounters. Those confident in their
academic skills expect high marks on exams
and expect the quality of their work to reap
personal and professional benefits. The
opposite is true of those who lack confidence.
Students who doubt their social skills often
envision rejection or ridicule even before they

establish social contact. Those who lack
confidence in their academic skills envision
a low grade before they begin an examination
or enroll in a course. The expected results of
these imagined performances will be
differently envisioned: social success or
greater career options for the former, social
isolation or curtailed academic possibilities for
the latter (Pajares,2002).
Earlier studies show that self efficacy
beliefs have varied influence on the overall
functioning of the individuals, particularly their
performance in the academic level. According
to Bandura, et al. (1996) Self efficacy beliefs
affect academic achievement through
psychosocial influences
(Bandura,
Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996);
Students achievement in arithmetic and in
reading comprehension is predicted by ones
perception of self efficacy (Ghosh, 2007),
self-efficacy and metacognitive prompting
increased problem-solving performance
(Hoffman & Spatariu 2008), and high
perceived efficacy for self-regulated learning

in junior high school contributed to junior high
school grades and self-regulatory efficacy in
high school (Caprara, Fida, Vecchione, Del
Bove, Vecchio, Barbaranelli & Bandura,
2008).
Academic achievement may be defined
as the performance of the students in the
subjects they study in the school. Academic
achievement determines the students status
in the class. The competence can be
measured by the test scores , and or marks
assigned by the teacher in the examination
(Pandey, 2008). Academic achievement has
become an index of a childs future in this
highly competitive world (Subrahmanyan &
Sreenivasa Rao, 2008).
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is an
active, directive, time-limited, structured
approach used to treat a variety of psychiatric
disorders (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery,
1979). Cognitive behaviour Therapy is based
on a theory of personality, which maintains
that how one thinks, largely determines how
one feels and behaves. The goals of
cognitive therapy are to correct faulty
information processing and to help patients
modify assumptions that maintain maladaptive
behaviors and emotions (Corsini & Wedding,
1989). Cognitive Behaviour Therapy initially
gained recognition as an approach to treating
depression. At present cognitive Behavioural
methods have been applied to children and
families, parent training, child abusers, marital
distress, divorce counseling, anxiety
disorders, skill training, stress management
and health care problems.(Corey, 2001).
Cognitive behavioural approach is found
to be the most popular theoretical base for
interventions in childrens group (Corey,
2004)
There are many psychological
distresses in adolescents, related to low self
efficacy and poor academic achievement.
Considering the multiplicity of adolescent
emotional issues related to low self efficacy,
135
which is possibly an outcome of cognitive

distortions, and illogical thinking, the
researcher has opted to administer Cognitive
Behaviour Therapy to enhance their self
efficacy and academic achievement. The
present study examines the effectiveness of
CBT on self-efficacy,
and academic
achievement in adolescent students.
Objectives:
i) To study the Impact of Cognitive
Behavioural Intervention (CBI) on Self Efficacy
and academic achievement in adolescent
students.
ii) To study the Impact of Cognitive
Behavioural intervention on Gender
difference.
Method
Participants:
The sample of this study consisted of
200 adolescents attending two English
Medium schools in Trivandrum, Kerala. The
participants were selected through
screening/pre test of 400 adolescent
students for low Self efficacy and low
Academic achievement and were randomly
assigned to experimental and control groups
with each having 50 boys and 50 girls. CBT
was administered to the experimental group
and no specific treatment was given to the
control group.
Measure:
General Self- Efficacy Scale (GSE) By
Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1993, revised,
2000) : It aims at a broad and stable sense
of personal competence to deal efficiently
with a variety of stressful situations. The
German version of this scale was originally
developed by Jerusalem and Schwarzer in
1981. English version of General self-Efficacy
scales was developed in 1993 by original
authors. The scale is designed for the general
adult population, including adolescents. The
GSE consists of 10 items reflecting perceived
optimistic self-belief of respondents. The
136
scale is usually self- administered, as part

of a more comprehensive questionnaire.
Preferably, the10 items are mixed at random
into a larger pool of items that have the same
response format. Sum up the responses to
all 10 items to yield the final composite score
with a range from 10 to 40. No recoding is
applied. Reliability of GSE in samples from
23 nations, Cronbachs alphas ranged from
.76 to .90, with the majority in the high .80s.
Criterion-related validity is documented in
numerous correlation studies where positive
coefficients were found with favorable
emotions, dispositional optimism, and work
satisfaction. Negative coefficients were found
with depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, and
health complaints.
Procedure:
The study was conducted in three
phases:Screening/Pre-test, CBT intervention
and Post test.
Phase I, Screening/ Pretest:
During this phase, the General Self
Efficacy Scale (GSE) was administered to a
large sample (400) and their grades in the
two terminal examinations were obtained.
Adolescents who scored low scores on GSE
and had low grades in their terminal
examinations and were willing to participate
in the study were selected. 200 adolescents
were selected, 100 boys (50 experimental and
50 control) and 100 girls (50 experimental
and 50 control) forming experimental and
control groups.
Phase II, CBT intervention for the
Experimental Group:
After the selection of the sample, CBT
was administered on the experimental group
in 12 sessions over a span of 90 days. The
therapy was given to the groups of 15 each.
In the first session the participants were
psycho educated on, what is group therapy,
ethics of a therapy group, confidentiality in a
group, setting goals for the therapy and
initiated therapeutic alliance. During the next
CBT on Self Efficacy and Academic Achievement
three sessions (2,3,4) the subjects were

further psycho educated on self efficacy and
its influence on academic achievement.
Relaxation training (deep breath and guided
imagery) was provided simultaneously during
these sessions. In the fifth and sixth sessions
psycho education on automatic thoughts,
core beliefs and cognitive biases was done
and home work assignment was given to the
participants to identify their negative
automatic thoughts and were reviewed in the
beginning of next session. In the seventh
and eighth sessions cognitive interventionCognitive Restructuring, dealing with
Negative Automatic Thoughts and negative
self talks triggering low self efficacy was done.
Participants were instructed to note what
they tell themselves before, during and after
a problem situation. They were trained to
change negative thoughts/ self talks into
positive through role play. Home work
assignments were given and their illogical
thoughts were analyzed . During the 9th
session Socratic questioning and reality
testing of three negative automatic thoughts
by using questions like What the worst thing
would happen?, If it happens, what would
make this such a negative out come?,
Wheres the evidence for..? was done.
In the 10th and 11th sessions problem
solving and coping skills were given. This was
adapted from Thompson (2003) and was
done in three steps: In the first step the
participants were asked to identify a problem
situation or an area of concern. Three
questions were provided to facilitate this. The
questions were, What needs to be improved?
What really bothers me? And what is not
working well with me? In the second step they
were asked to identify attributes, aspects and
facts related to the area of concern such
as, Why I am concerned? Who or What is
involved and How does it affect others? In
the third and final step solution finding was
done by generating ideas for solving the
problem by group brain storming and
selecting a practical solution and finally a
137
plan of action for the future. In the 12 th

session evaluation of the entire process of
therapy was done and concluded
Phase III, Post test and data analysis:
Posttest on GSE was administered on
both experimental and control groups. after
one week and their grades in the final
examination were obtained. MANOVA was
applied to see the effectiveness of CBT on
Self efficacy and Contingent coefficient was
applied to Academic achievement , since there
was pre-test difference between the
experimental and control groups. SPSS for
windows software (Ver.16.0) was employed for
the analysis.
Results
higher scores (mean 22.67) as compared to

control group (mean13.01). In the second
part of MANOVA, it is revealed that there is
no Gender difference between two groups
as the F value .040 failed to reach the
significance level criterion. The interaction
between group and gender was also found
to be non-significant (F1, 195=1.913; p=.168).
Table 2 explains the academic
achievement of adolescents of both
experimental and control group after the
intervention (CBT). In the experimental
group none (0%) scored<40% after the
Intervention. 11 participants (11%) scored
40-49% , 30 participants (30%) scored 5059%, 47 participants (47%) scored 60-69%
and 12 participants (12%) scored 70-79%
indicating
significant improvement
(CC=.677;P=.000) of academic achievement
in the experimental group as against the
control group where 74 participants (74%)
scored <40%, 26 participants (26%) scored
40-49% and none (0%) scored 50-59 and
above,
indicating
non-significant
improvement. In other words among the
control group we see hardly any change.
The analysis of data divided in two parts:

a. At first part the effect of CBT on self-efficacy
evaluated .Table 1 shows the mean and S.D
scores of self-efficacy before and after CBT
treatment. b. In the second part the effect of
CBT on academic achievement estimated .
Table 1, it appears that the scores of selfefficacy slightly differ between experimental
group and control group. The results of
MANOVA are also revealed a significant
Discussion
difference between the experimental and
The principal objective of this study was
control groups (F 1.195= 641.217; p=.000),
where experimental group had significantly to assess the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral
Table 1, Mean and SD scores of Self-Efficacy in Male and Female
Variable
Self
Efficacy
Gender
Experimental
Mean
SD
Male
22.92 2.798
Female 22.42 3.698
Total
22.67 3.272
Groups
Control
Mean
SD
12.74
2.389
13.28 1.415
13.01 1.972
Mean
17.83
17.85
17.84
Total
SD
5.733
5.372
5.541
Table 2. Percentage of Academic Achievement in Experimental, Control and Total groups
Variable
Group
Academic
Achievement Experimental
Control
Total
<40
0%
74%
37.0%
Percentage
40-49
50-59
11%
30%
26%
0%
18.5% 15.0%
60-69
47%
0%
23.5%
70-79
12%
0%
6%
138
Therapy (CBT) on Self efficacy and

Academic achievement in Adolescent
students. The findings of the study revealed
that CBT was highly effective in enhancing
the self esteem and Academic achievement
in adolescent students. Hyun, Chung and
Lee (2005) examined the effects of cognitive
behavioral group therapy (CBT) on the selfesteem, depression, and self-efficacy of
runaway adolescents residing in a shelter in
Seoul, South Korea. And the results showed
that after the intervention depression
decreased and self efficacy increased
significantly. Burleson and Kaminer (2005)
studied on Youth substance abuse relapse
prevention as a function of patients
situational self-efficacy (SE), their confidence
to abstain from substance use in high-risk
situations. An increase in SE has been shown
to be enhanced by cognitive behavioral
therapy (CBT) in adults.
Taylor &
Montgomery (2007) in their systematic review
evaluated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral
therapy (CBT) in improving self-esteem
among depressed adolescents aged 13
18 years. Their data suggests that CBT may
be an effective treatment for increasing global
and academic self-esteem . Solomando,
Kendall, and Whittington, (2008) in their
study concluded that, cognitive behavioural
therapy has a potentially important role in
improving the mental health of children and
adolescents. In their case report titled
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Low SelfEsteem, McManus, Waite and Shafran
(2009),
describes the assessment,
formulation, and treatment of a patient with
low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety
symptoms. The treatment showed large
effect sizes on measures of depression,
anxiety, and self-esteem. Suveg, Sood,
Comer, and Kendall (2009) Examined the
changes in emotion regulation following
Cognitive BehaviouralTtherapy for anxious
youth. Treated youth exhibited a reduction
in anxiety and increased self-efficacy and
emotional awareness at post -treatment.
CBT on Self Efficacy and Academic Achievement
Treated youth also demonstrated improved

coping and less emotional dysregulation with
worry. Greenberg, Markowitz, Petronko,
Taylor, Wilhelm, and Wilson (2010) in their
study titled Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for
Adolescent Body Dysmorphic Disorder,
examined the effectiveness of a brief CBT
treatment on enhancing an adolescents
quality of life through the reduction of
maladaptive thoughts and behaviors, and
incorporates skills training and parent
training. And the treatment was associated
with clinically significant improvement in
symptoms of BDD, self-esteem, depression,
and quality of life.
Conclusion
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy perceives
psychological problems as stemming from
commonplace processes such as faulty
thinking, making incorrect inferences on the
basis of inadequate or incorrect information
and failing to distinguish between fantasy
and reality (Corey,.2001). The CBT approach
used in the present study helped the
adolescents to identify their Negative
Automatic Thoughts and negative self talks
triggering low self efficacy, through role play
and home work assignment. Problem solving
and coping skill training have helped them to
opt for more practical solutions in a problem
situation. Besides, CBT has helped them to
improve their level of academic performance.
To conclude , the teachers , school
counselors and mental health professionals
who deal with the adolescents are
encouraged to make use of CBT and
likewise approaches which restructure the
faulty cognitions and thereby
help the
adolescents to live and function with more
healthy thoughts, better self perception,
increased self confidence and with reduced
psychological distress .
References
Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In V. S.
Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of
human behavior (Vol. 4, pp. 71-81). New York:
Academic Press.
Bandura, A., Barbaranelli,C., Caprara. G.V., &
Pastorelli, C. (1996). Multifaceted Impact of
Self-Efficacy Beliefs on Academic
Functioning, Child Development, 67, 12061222
Beck, A.T., Rush, A.J., Shaw, B.F., & Emery, G.
(1979). Cognitive Therapy of Depression. New
York: Guilford press
Burleson, J.A., & Kaminer, Y. (2005). Selfefficacy as a predictor of treatment outcome
in adolescent substance use disorders.
Addictive Behaviour, 30, 1751-64.
Caprara, G.V., Fida, R., Vecchione, M., Del Bove,
G., Vecchio, G.,Barbaranelli, C., & Bandura,
A. (2008). Longitudinal analysis of the role
of perceived self-efficacy for self-regulated
learning in academic continuance and
achievement. Journal of Educational
Corey,G. (2004). Theory and practice of Group
Counselling (6th Ed.). US: Thomson Brooks
Corsini,R.J.,& Wedding,D.(1989).Current
Psychotherapies (4 th Ed.). Illinois: F.F.
Peacock Publishers Inc.
Ghosh,A. (2007). Academic self efficacy and
Achievement in a Group of siblings of Primary
schools, Psychological Studies, 52, 364- 366
Greenberg, J.L., Markowitz, S., Petronko, M.R.,
Taylor, C.E., Wilhelm,S. S., & Wilson, G.T.
(2010). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for
Adolescent Body Dysmorphic Disorder .
Cognitive and Behavioral Practice 17, 248258
Hoffman.B., & Spatariu,A. (2008). The influence
of SelfEfficacy and metacognitive prompting
on Math problem-solving efficiency.
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33,
875-893
Hyun, M.S.,Chung,H.I & Lee,Y.J.(2005). The
effect of cognitivebehavioral group therapy
on the self-esteem, depression, and selfefficacy of runaway adolescents in a shelter
in South Korea. Applied nursing
Research,18, 160-166
139
McManus, F., Waite, P., & Shafran, R.(2009).

Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Low SelfEsteem: A Case Example , Cognitive and
Behavioral Practice, 16, 266-275
Pajares,F. (2002). Overview of social cognitive
theory and of self-efficacy. Retreived
November
3 rd 2008
from
http://
www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/eff.html
Pandey, R.C, (2008). Academic achievement as
Related to Achievement Motivation and
parental background,Indian Psychological
Reviews, 70, 213-216
Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1993).
Generalized Self-Efficacy scale. In J.
Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston,
Measures in health psychology: A users
portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 3537). Windsor, England: NFER-Nelson.
Solomando, A.M., Kendall, T., & Whittington,
C.J. (2008). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
for Children and Adolescents, Current opinion
In Psychiatry, 21, 332-337
Subrahmanyan,K., & Sreenivasa Rao,K.(2008).
Academic achievement and emotional
intelligence of Secondary school children,
Journal of community guidance and
Research, 25, 224-228
Suveg, C., Sood, E., Comer, J.S., & Kendall,
P.C. (2009). Changes in emotion regulation
following cognitive-behavioral therapy for
anxious youth. Journal of clinincal child and
adolescent psychology, 38, 390-401.
Taylor,T.L., & Montgomery, P. (2007). Can
cognitive-behavioral therapy increase selfesteem among depressed adolescents? A
systematic review. Children and Youth
Services Review 29, 823-839
Thompson,R.A. (2003). Counselling Techniques:
Improving relationships with others,ourselves,
our families and our environment (2 nd.Ed.),
New York: Brunner-Routledge

Venkatesh Kumar, G., PhD, Professor, DOS in Psychology, University of

Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysore- 570006
Lissamma Sebastian, Research Scholar, DOS in Psychology, University of
Mysore.e-mail: lizadsfs@yahoo.co.in
140
The Relationship between Birth Order Theory and Past

Academic Performance of Management Students
Vijendra Kumar S.K.
SUKRUT Human and Organisation Consultants, Bangalore

The study has been conducted on first year students doing their MBA at a
Business School in Bangalore. Data were been collected from 481 students
who fall in the birth order category of being the only child, first born, second
born, and last born. Grade 10, Grade 12 and under graduate degree scores
have been taken and considered as their past academic performances. The
ANOVA results of birth order and academic performance suggest that significant
differences are observed between second born and last born, and second born
and only child categories of students. Contrary to Adlers theory, scores indicate
that second born students have achieved significantly better results than other
birth order category students. Implications for cultural differences in psychological
birth order are discussed.
Keywords: Order of birth, Academic performance.
One of the significant contributions to

personality theories by Alfred Adler was the
relationship between order of birth and
personality (Adler, 1931; Eckstein, 2000).
Adler observed that the personalities of the
oldest, middle, and the youngest child in a
family were likely to be different due to the
distinctive experiences that each child has as
a member of that family. These distinctive
experiences and being a significant member
of the family are important and could affect
development in critical ways (Adler, 1992b).
Even though Adlers theory has been
widely researched, it is not devoid of
controversies. Some studies were
inconsistent in supporting the theory (Jones,
1931) and others supported well and lead to
many studies (Schachter, 1959). A recent
study conducted by Harris (1998) reveals that
birth order may not have an impact on
enduring aspects of personality and adult
behavior.
A similar concept to Adlers work, Zajonc
found that birth order and family size have a
significant impact on adolescents intellectual
performance, which he calls confluence

model. This model says Intellectual
development within the family context is
conceived of as depending on the cumulative
effects of the intellectual environment, which
consists primarily of the siblings and parents
intelligence. The model predicts positive as
well as negative effects of birth order, a
necessarily negative effect of family size, and
a handicap for the last born and the only child
(Zajonc & Markus, 1975). But Belmont and
Marolla (1973) could only find the significant
effect of birth order on intelligence.
Longitudinal study conducted in Australia
(Marjoribanks, 2003) suggests that birth
order have small but significant associations
with adolescents self-concept and
educational aspirations and with young adults
educational attainment. This study has taken
account of differences in family social status
and family learning environments.
The theory that birth order has a
significant effect on intelligence has been
questioned in a longitudinal study, in which
using large random samples of American
141
Vijendra Kumar S.K.
families have been considered. This study

shows that there is no relationship between
birth order and intelligence (Rodgers,
Cleveland, Van Den, & Rowe, 2000). One
study showed methodological flaws in
Zajoncs study (Wichman, Rodgers &
MacCallum, 2007). Some other researchers
suggest that favourable family interaction has
a greater impact on intelligence than birth
order (Kristensen & Bjerkedal, 2007). In their
recent article, Zajonc and Sulloway (2007)
clarified and confirmed the effect of birth order
on intelligence. They concluded that the
effect of birth order on intelligence occur
within family dynamics than between families.
In the Indian context, study conducted
by Kaur and Dheer (1982) focused on both
academic achievement and personality
structure. They concluded that birth order
had no significant effect either on academic
achievement and extraversion and
introversion dimensions of personality.
However, researchers found birth order had
significant effect on neuroticism dimension of
personality.
Nevertheless, the uniqueness of the
present study is that it focuses on academic
performance of students who are pursuing
their education in the field of management
and coming from a heterogeneous academic
background. It is thus evident that the study
on the relationship between birth order and
past academic performance of management
students is essential in order to understand
the dynamic role of the ordinal position of birth
on academic performance within the Indian
socio-cultural context.
Objectives:
The present study focuses on the
relationship between order of birth and
academic performance of students, who are
aspiring to become managers and leaders.
The study also analyses possible influencing
factors on this relationship from Indian Sociocultural perspectives.
Method
Participants:
The population comprises of 520
students who come from different parts of
India and also from diverse socio-cultural
backgrounds. The general socio-economic
status of the population is upper middle class.
The study focuses on the first born, second
born, third born and only child category. After
eliminating incomplete data, the final
participants size was 481. The participants
comprised of 217 girls and 264 boys with an
average age of 22.74 years, the standard
deviation being 0.90.
Results
In our attempt to investigate the role of
order of birth on academic performances, four
groups were made, namely first born, second
born, third born and the only child group.
Academic performances of 10th standard, 12th
standard and graduation percentage scores
were considered as the dependent variablepast academic performance.
Table 1. Mean and SD for Academic
Performance of Students by Birth Order
Categories
Category N
M
SD
1st born
235
67.922
5.902
2nd born
169
68.975
6.187
3 born
36
66.499
5.949
Only
41
66.302
7.647
rd
In Table 1, means were calculated for

each category using standard deviation
scores of past academic performances. For
every student, standard deviations for all
three academic percentage scores were
considered as raw data. The table shows that
the means differed between each category
of birth order. Second born students are
slightly ahead of first born students (mean
difference 1.053 scores); however, this
difference is not statistically significant.
The results of the students past
academic performance data. The overall
142
Birth Order and Past Academic Performance

T a ble 2 Fis her s Le as t S ignifica n t Diff eren ce ( LS D ) t- te st a n d Co he n s
A pplie d t o Com par is on of D iff er en ce s in Birt h Ord er.
C o mpari son
of birth ord e r
1& 2
1& 3
1& 4
2& 3
2& 4
3& 4
M ean d i fferenc e
1.0 53
1.4 23
1.6 19
2.4 76
2.6 73
0.1 96
0 .683
1 .289
1 .551
2 .186 *
2 .488 *
0 .139
d
0 .170
0 .230
0 .262
0 .401
0 .433
0 .031
* (t (4 77) = 1 .960 , p<.05)
result show
that there is a significant
difference in the past academic performance
of students due to their order of birth [F
(3,477) = 3.155, p<.05].
Table 2 shows individual group

comparisons using Fishers Least Significant
Difference (LSD) Test. Students who were
second born performed significantly better
than third borns [t(477) = 2.186] and also only
child [t(477) = 2.488], where Table t.05(477) =
^
1.960. Cohens d for above comparison

groups did not differ much (0.401 and 0.433
respectively), which shows approximately
0.40 standard deviation of the effect on
academic performance of second born child
category is due to their ordinal position of
birth.
Discussion
The present study shows significant
effect of birth order on academic
performance, which concurs with Adlers work
and corroborated by many researchers. An
interesting fact in the present study is that
the students who fall in the category of the
second born have higher academic
performance than those in the category of
first born. This is explained in the works of
Ansbacher and Ansbacher (1956) and Sicher
(Davidson, 1991) on Adlers theory that the
second born child shows more
competitiveness and wants to over take
others. Adler (1931) also extended his idea,
that perceived acceptance of the ordinal

position has significant impact greater than
the chronological or actual order of birth. The
students who fall in the category of second
born feared rejection as perceived by them
in their family structure, and on account of
this, had to over compensate by performing
better in academic fields in order to secure
their position within the family.
Another possible rationale for second
born children performing better than others
could emerge from socio-cultural factors,
which is similar to Adler s concept of
psychological birth order. A majority of Indian
families raise their children differently and
have different expectations from them based
on traditional Hindu culture. In traditional
families, the first born male children are more
accepted and wanted than the other children
in the family. He is expected to follow the
fathers business or line of work and has the
obligation to take care of the family as well
as elders (Ramayana and Mahabharata, the
ancient Hindu epics and other Smritis mention
this). He would be the most important person
in family ceremonies and rituals related to
parents death. But for the second born child,
it would be different. There is an unconscious
expectation to go out and work and to be
independent. And furthermore there is a need
for them to compete with the first born child
in order to prove their worth. In their struggle
to gain acceptance and recognition from
parent figures, and, having the desire to meet
143
Vijendra Kumar S.K.
their expectations, they strive and make every

effort to do better than the first born child.
However, the problem is quite complex
when it comes to girl child. The Indian parents
obsession about begetting male children has
a significant belief system behind it. A boy
child is worshipped and preferred as the belief
is that if the last rites of the parents were to
be performed by them, only then would the
parents soul attain salvation. In addition, the
second born girl child is mostly unwanted
especially if the first born is also a girl. Most
people would want to terminate the
pregnancy if they become aware of the sex
of the child. Consequently, if the third born is
also a girl child and the pregnancy was not
terminated, then the fate is worse as they are
ill treated, rejected and cursed consciously
by the parents. However, if parents accept
their girl child as similar to a boy child, then
the scenario may be different. If the first born
is a girl child, then there is an expectation to
get her married off and she would be in a
similar position like the first born boy child.
The scenario in the case of the second born
girl child is same as that of the boy child. She
is allowed to study well and be independent.
However, these days there are changes in
the modern urban Indian families and they
tend to follow the egalitarian western family
system rather than the traditional one and
competitiveness is quite high in all the children
within the family. Further research is required
to draw any conclusions.
Limitations and Further Challenges
Even though the present study shows
significant effect of birth order positions on
academic performance, it is not clear in many
aspects. Firstly, as the population is
heterogeneous in the nature of their
academic background, it raises the question
whether grouping them based on their birth
order position and comparing their
performance is free of errors arising from the
lack of homogeneity. Secondly, the study of
birth order may not be accurate without
considering the gender of the elder siblings,

the familial and cultural influences specific to
the Indian context on the child, which is subject
of this present study. Thirdly, the discrepancy
in chronological birth order and psychological
birth order is not considered, which may
obscure the findings. Lastly, assuming that
the performance of the majority of second
born children is significantly higher than
others due to their competitiveness and their
drive to be superior cannot be generalized
as personality characteristics of second born
child students without adequate empirical
research support. Individuals striving for
superiority can be pure and not necessarily
as a compensation for the order of birth or
feelings of inferiority.
Understanding the birth order, whether
it is the actual position or perceived and its
relationship with academic performance is
quite complex and interesting. It is important
to narrow down the significant effects to
specific individual cases, and then
generalizing through multiple case studies to
quantify the results. It will be helpful to gather
the necessary specific information on this
significant effect performance through
structured interviews and detailed counseling
to understand the individuals as well as
cultural perspectives underlying his or her
performance.
Conclusion
The present article clearly suggests that
order of birth significantly varies the academic
performance and helps in understanding
human personality and intelligence in a better
way. The results show mixed findings
compared to other research evidences
mentioned earlier; however, it agrees with
Adlers theory that ordinal position of birth
has strong impact on individuals intelligence
as well as their personality and leads to
differences in their academic performances.
As culture influences the role and
expectations of the child of particular birth
order, the resulting perceived acceptance of
144
Birth Order and Past Academic Performance
that ordinal position can happen by way of

compliance to the norms of that particular
culture. However, the current study could not
conclude on any specific influencing factors
within the birth order on academic
performance. These differences in academic
performances in various orders of birth of
children are due to parenting, socio-cultural
factors and the individuals interpretations of
the early experiences. The results can be
used for better understanding of students
personality. Accordingly appropriate steps
can be taken to develop their personality and
in turn help them to be efficient managers.
References
Adler, A. (1931). What life should mean to you.
Boston: Little Brown.
Adler, A. (1992b). Understanding human nature.
Trans. from the 1927 edition by Colin Brett.
Oxford: Oneworld Publications.
Ansbacher, H. L. & Ansbacher, R. (Eds), (1956).
The individual psychology of Alfred Adler.
London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
Belmont, M., & Marolla, F.A. (1973). Birth order,
family size, and intelligence. Science, 182,
1096-1101.
Davidson, A. K. (Ed), (1991). The collected works
of Lydia Sicher: An Adlerian perspective. Fort
Bragg, California: QED Press.
Eckstein, D. (2000). Empirical studies indicating
significant birth-order-related personality
differences. The Journal of Individual
Psychology, 56.
Harris, J. R. (1998). The nurture assumption: Why
children turn out the way they do. New York:
Free Press.
Jones, H.E. (1931). Order of birth in relation to
the development of the child. In C. Muchison,
(Ed), Handbook of psychology. Worcester,

Mass: Clark University Press.
Kaur, H., & Dheer, V. (1982). Birth order,
academic achievement and personality
structure. Indian Journal of Clinical
Kristensen, P & Bjerkedal,T. (2007). Explaining
the relation between birth order and
intelligence. Science, 316 (5832), 1717.
Marjoribanks, K. (2003). Birth order, family
environments, academic and affective
outcomes. Psychological reports, 92 (3, Pt
2), 1284-1286.
Rao,R. (2000). Mental health in Ayurveda.
Bangalore: NIMHANS.
Rodgers, J. L., Cleveland, H. H., Van Den. O.
E., & Rowe, D. (2000). Resolving the debate
over birth order, family size and intelligence.
American Psychologist, 55, 599-612.
Schachter, S. (1959). The psychology of
affiliation. Stanford, California: Stanford
University Press.
Wichman, A.L., Rodgers,J.L., & MacCallum,R.C.
(2007). Birth order has no effect on
intelligence: A reply and extension of previous
findings. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 33, 1195-1200.
Zajonc, R., & Markus, G. (1975). Birth order and
intellectual development. Psychological
Review, 82, 74-88.
Zajonc, R.B., & Sulloway, F.J. (2007). The
confluence model: Birth order as a withinfamily or between family dynamic?
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,
33, 1187-1194.
Received: February 25, 2010

Acknowledgements: My sincere thanks to all my colleagues at ICFAI Business

School, Bangalore for their support and to Dr. Amitha Santiago for proof reading
this article.
Vijendra Kumar S.K., Manager-Projects & Research, SUKRUT Human and
Organisation Consultants Pvt Ltd, 855, 6th main, J.P.Nagar Phase, Bangalore78.
145
Astro-Psychotherapeutic Effect on Pathological Gamblers

M.G. Sharma
Sri Agrasen Kanya P.G College,

Varanasi
and
Vandana Sharma
Mental and Physical Health Society

Varanasi.
The aim of this scientific study is to see the effect of astro-psychotherapeutic

techniques on pathological gamblers. Indian adaptation of T.A.T. (Seven cards)
1, 3B,4,6BM,7BM, 13MF,and 16., and Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire were
administered on 278 subjects out of these 65 subject were from experimental
group they were treated by astrotherapy and psychotherapy, and 65 un-treated
subjects were consisted as control group. These two groups were matched on
the variables of age range 29 to 64years with a mean age of 39.7 years and they
had gambled for an average of 15.3 years with a mean length of uncontrollable
gambling was 9.7 years. All the subjects of experimental group were treated at
S. I. Mental and Physical Health Society (SIMPHS), Varanasi. The t- test is
used for statistical analysis. Interestingly, the findings revealed that the
characteristics associated with treated pathological gamblers were cognizance,
dominance, autonomy, achievement, counteraction, affiliation, sex, interpersonal
relations and out come visa vis aggression, rejection, passivity, acquisition,
anxiety, obsession, somatization, depression, and press in un- treated
pathological gamblers
Pathological gambling was recognized as a

psychiatric disorder in the DSM-III, but the
criteria were significantly reworked based on
large scale studies and statistical methods
for the DSM-IV. As defined by American
Psychiatric Association, Pathological
gambling is an impulse control disorder that
is a chronic and progressive mental sickness.
The observation suggested that the
motivation to gamble differed between various
forms of gambling. In addition to or because
of the excitement of gambling, poker machine
players reported secondary rewards in the
form of psychic or emotional escape from
stress. They become totally oblivious to their
daily problems. Horse race addicts on the
other hand more frequently reported that
gambling served to reduce dysphoric mood
states. Often they would delay the receipt of
race results to prolong anticipatory
excitement and arousal. Expectations of large
wins which may lead to improved financial and

socio-economic status may also provide
current and anticipatory reinforcement value
despite continued losses (Tec, 1964).
Anderson and Brown (1984) and Brown
(1984) postulated a model of gambling based
on individual differences in autonomic and
cortical arousal which, in interactions with
irregular reinforcement schedules, led to the
development of pathological gambling.
Anderson and Brown (1984) found mean
heart rate increases of 23.1 beats / minute in
response to real-life casino gambling with half
their sample of twelve gamblers reporting
excitement as their main motivation from
gambling. Leary and Dickerson (1984) shows
that exposure to gambling cues did not alter
base line arousal in their high or low
frequency poker machine players. Playing
was associated with increased arousal in both
groups, significantly so for the high frequency
146
players. Their mean heart rate increase of

13.5 beats / minute was lower than that
observed by Anderson and Brown (1984) but
was most likely accounted for by differences
in stimulated versus actual gambling
conditions and average bet siz. Increased
subjective ratings of anxiety as measured by
a shorted from of the Speilbergers Stateanxiety Inventory paralleled heart rate
increases. Custer and Custer (1970)
surveyed 150 Gamblers Anonymous
members attending a conference and found
only five percent had reported early,
premorbid sociopath behaviors. Sharma and
Sharma (2001) also have disclosed in an
International conference after the long
experience of the treatment of pathological
gamblers that behavior therapy is very
effective in comparison to the psychoanalytic
therapy. Mc Cormic Russo, Ramirez, and
Taber (1984) reported 76 percent of a
sample of 50 gamblers seeking treatment to
meet Research Diagnostic Criteria for major
depressive disorder. Fourteen of their
subjects reported that the depression
commence prior to the emergence of their
compulsive gambling. Ferioli and Cimenero
(1980) describe similar characteristics in their
gamblers: depression, low self esteem, lack
of assertiveness, inability to handle stress
and the inability to identify or express
feelings. Sharma and Sharma (2008) used
Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and
revealed that treated pathological gamblers
had significantly higher on extraversion and
lower on neuroticism, psychoticism and lie,
and group therapy is more effective
techniques for the treatment of pathological
gamblers as compared to the individual
counseling (Sharma and Sharma,2008) .
Some other recent study of Sharma and
Sharma (2009) used meditation and
psychotherapy on pathological gamblers and
disclosed that these two techniques are more
useful for the treatment point of view, and
vipassana meditation is also one of the most
Astro-Psychotherapeutic Effect
important techniques for the treatment of

pathological gamblers (Sharma and Sharma
2009)
Indian astrology mainly recognizes only
nine planets and not trans-as turbine planets
like herchel, nepture, and pluto. It belives that
apart from the seven major planets viz: sun,
moon, marsh, mercury, jupitor, venus, and
satrum, other heavenly bodies effect is
collectively conveyed through the nodal
points, rahu, and ketu.
Astrology is an organized system of
information about the stars and how they
reflect our earthly reality. Your chart is a map
of the planets, the sun, and the moon amide
the background of the constellation or signs
of the zodiac. When astrology began, the
constellation and the signs were aligned with
each other. Due to the gravitational force of
the sun and the moon upon earth, the point
in the sky we define as the spring equinox
has moved background through the zodiac.
This is called precession and the moment has
resulted in the equinox moving background
through pisces to the sign of aquarius. This
is what is meant by the term Age of Aquarius
the sun now rises in the part of the zodiac we
call aquarius at the time of the spring equinox.
Treatment:
There are a number of therapeutic
techniques for the treatments of pathological
gambling disorders. Psychodynamic
psychotherapy attempts to uncover any
underlying psychological factor that trigger
the gambling. For people who can gamble to
escape, such as those who are depressed,
this approach may be successful. Treating
any substance abuse problems that may exist
with the pathological gambling can also be
helpful. Other types of treatments involve
behavioral techniques used to teach
relaxation and avoidance of stimuli
associated with gambling. Aversion therapy
appears to be successful in treating
pathological gambling disorder in highly
147
motivated patients with some insight into the

problems, but is not helpful for patients who
are less educated or resistant to behavioral
methods or treatments.
Psychotherapy is procedures in which
persons with mental disorder interact with a
trained psychotherapist who helps them
change certain behaviors, thoughts or
emotions so that they feel and function better.
Group therapy is also a type of procedure in
which several people discuss their problems
with one another under the guidance or
leadership of a trained therapist.
Astrology science is also a type of
therapy in which an astrologer can treats of
those people who suffers from socioeconomic conditions, physical, and
psychological problems. In this therapy an
astrologer uses different types of suitable/
appropriate tantra- mantra and stones
according to their problems. It is universal
truth that the planets decide to fate of all the
living persons.
Method
Sample:
The sample compared of 65 treated and
65 un-treated pathological gamblers between
the age range of 29 to 64 years with a mean
age of 39.7 years. After the analysis of
horoscope and the position of planets in chart
it was decided to control their negative effect
which was responsible for gambling. For the
completion of this purpose, different type of
appropriate stones and tantra-mantra were
used viz: Pearl in rohini nakshatra on monday
for moon and related mantra Om Shram
Shrim Shroum Sah Chandramase Namah.,
Corel in mrigsihira nakshatra on tuesday for
marsh and related mantra Om Kram Krim
Kroum Sah Bhoumai Namah. Neelam in
pushya nakshatra on saturday for satrum and
related mantra Om Pram Prim Proum Sah
Sannaishcharai Namah, and Gomed in adra
nakshatra at mid-night on wed. / sat. for rahu
and related mantra Om Bhram Bhrim Bhroum
Sah Rahway Namah. On the basis of their

planets position, astro-therapy and
grouptherapy was provided by a group of
three experts clinical psychologists to
experimental group.Time alloted to each
group session at a particular date and place
about 60-90 minutes for six months. In1st
month-4 times /week, 2nd months-3 times/
week,3rd months-2 times/week,4th months-1
time/week, 5th months-1 time/10 days and 6th
months-1 time/15 days.
Tools:
Thematic
Apperception
Test
(Chowdhury, 1967) was applied to the
ascertain personality characteristics of
treated and un- treated pathological
gamblers. and Middlesex Hospital
Questionnaire (Baht and Srivasta, 1973) was
used for the assessment of mental health of
treated and un- treated pathological
gamblers.
An attempt was made to compare mean
scores of the treated and un-treated
pathological gamblers on needs, press,
interpersonal relations, outcome, and mental
health variables usingt-test of significance.
Results of such comparison are given in table
1 to 3. It is apparent from the table 1 that the
treated and un-treated pathological gamblers
on need variables found that the two groups
differ significantly on cognizance, aggression,
dominance,
rejection,
autonomy,
achievement, passivity, counteraction,
affiliation, acquisition, and sex and treated
pathological groups having higher mean
scores on harm-avoidance needs of which
treated pathological gamblers do have higher
mean scores on cognizance, dominance,
autonomy, achievement, counteraction, and
sex needs, and lower on aggression,
rejection, passivity, and acquision.The
treated pathological gamblers have higher
harm-avoidance. It indicates that treated
pathological gamblers had better cognizance,
148
dominance in nature, autonomy in behavior nature, tough minded and dominating

they always think about their achievement; personality. In another recent study of
counteraction, affiliation, and sex were the Sharma and Sharma (2009) reported that
main needs. Un-treated pathological treated pathological gamblers were
gamblers were un aggressive, rejection, and associated with dominance, autonomy,
have less passivity as capacity is not a good achievement, harm-avoidance, counteraction
an effective of life. In a study of Sharma and affiliation and sex, and this finding of the study
Sharma (2008) revealed that non treated is quite similar to the present study.
pathological gamblers were aggressive in
Table 1. Comparison of Treated and Un-treated Pathological Gamblers
on Need Variable.
Needs
Treated
Un-treated
Pathological Gamblers Pathological Gamblers
M
SD
M
SD
t value
Cognizance
Aggression
Dominance
Rejection
Autonomy
Achievement
Passivity
Harm- avoidance
Counteraction
Affiliation
Acquisition
Sex
4.99
8.69
13.04
2.78
6.43
11.23
2.01
3.69
7.03
7.99
4.79
8.98
3.01
2.97
3.65
1.81
2.99
3.87
1.99
3.92
3.97
4.98
2.21
2.79
3.64
9.7 5
10.43
3.97
4.12
8.76
3.87
2.36
4.32
5.98
5.86
6.25
2.66
2.94
3.82
2.87
2.97
3.96
2.01
3.96
3.17
3.34
2.99
3.21
2.71**
2.05
3.99
2.83**
4.42**
3.60**
3.52
1.92
4.30**
2.70**
2.21
5.19**
**p<0.01
Table 2 Comparison of Treated and Un-treated Pathological Gamblers on Press,
Interpersonal Relations and Outcome Variables.
Variables
Treated
Un-treated
Pathological gamblers Pathological gamblers
M
SD
M
SD
t value
Press
2.31
1.27
3.96
1.39
7.14
Interpersonal relations
4.01
2.01
2.81
1.87
3.52
Outcome
2.87
1.09
1.83
1.81
4.00
**p<0.01
It is clear from the table no. 2 that of the

press, interpersonal relations and out come,
the two groups i.e., treated and un-treated
pathological gamblers do differ significantly
on press, interpersonal relations and out
come variables. The treated pathological
gamblers do have higher mean values on
interpersonal relations and lower on press
variables. This means it is quite fact that
interpersonal relations was better and they

did like to adjust in social situation after the
treatment of pathological gamblers. In a
recent study of Sharma and Sharma (2009)
used T.A.T., and revealed that characteristics
associated with treated pathological gamblers
are press and interpersonal relations. This
finding of the study is quite similar to the
present finding.
149
Table 3. Comparison of Treated and Un-treated Pathological Gamblers

of Anxiety, Obsession , Phobia, Somatization, Depression, and Hysteria
on M.H.Q.
Variables
Treated
Un-treated
Pathological Gamblers Pathological Gamblers
M
SD
M
SD
t value
Anxiety
Obsession
Phobia
Somatization
Depression
Hysteria
**p<0.01
2.58
3.98
4.01
4.12
3.43
4.42
1.24
1.01
1.12
1.13
1.12
1.25
It is evident from the table 3. that treated

and un-treated pathological gamblers do
differ significantly on six variables i.e. anxiety,
obsession, phobia, somatization, depression
and hysteria. The treated group of
pathological gamblers has higher mean value
on hysteria and lower means score on
anxiety, obsession, somatization, depression,
and phobia This means anxiety might be
cause of regular gambling, obsessive traits,
phobic neurotic symptoms were also seen,
and somatic and depressive symptoms were
found in un-treated pathological gamblers
due to regular gambling. Sharma and Sharma
(2009) however, in a study found that nontreated pathological gamblers had higher
range of anxiety in comparison to the treated
pathological gamblers.
Conclusion
It would appear that characteristics
associated with treated pathological gamblers
are cognizance, dominance, autonomy,
achievement, counteraction, affiliation, sex,
interpersonal relations and outcome whereas
characteristics associated with un-treated
pathological gamblers are, aggression,
rejection, passivity, acquisition, anxiety,
obsession, phobia, somatization, depression,
and press.
References
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Laboratory Gambling, Sensation seeking and
4.31
5.39
4.13
4.97
5.24
4.12
1.27
0.99
1.03
1.01
1.32
1.12
7.93**
8.19**
5.98**
4.56**
8.45**
1.36**
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Questionnaire, B.H.U. I.M.S.
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gambler: a survey of 150 members of
Gamblers Anonymous. Paper presented at
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treatment of pathological gambling as an
addictive behavior, In W.R. Eadington (ed).
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Fifth National Conference on Gambling and
Risk Taking. Bureau of Business and
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Reno.
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arousal in high and low frequency gamblers.
Unpublished Manuscript.
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& Taber, J.I. (1984). Affective-disorders among
pathological gamblers seeking treatment.
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Sharma, M.G. (2001). Treatment of pathological
gamblers with behavior therapy, Proceedings
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pathological gamblers with counseling and
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gamblers and psychotherapy compared on
the E.P.Q. Indian Journal of Applied

Psychology. 45, 31 - 34.
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psychotherapy and vipassana meditation on
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Acknowledgement: We wish to thanks our spiritual Master Shri P.Rajgopala

Chariji without his blessing we can not imagine to complete this research paper.
M.G. Sharma, PhD, Lecturer, Dept. of Psychology, Sri Agrasen Kanya P.G
College, Parmanandpur, Varanasi-221003. Hon. Director, S.I.Mentaland Physical
Health Society, C.33/204-1-B 1,ChanduaChhittupur, Varanasi 221 002.
Email:gopal.simphs@gmail.com
Vandana Sharma PhD, Psychologist, S.I. Mental and Physical Health Society
(SIMPHS), C33/204-1-B-1, Chandua Chhittupur, Varanasi- 221 002.
151
Role of Perceived Organizational support and family

Involvement in Organizational Citizenship Behaviour among
First Level Mangers
The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of perceived organizational
support (POS) and family involvement in predicting Organizational Citizenship
Behaviors (OCBs). Three standardized psychometric measures namely the
Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale, the Perceived Organizational Support
Scale and the Family Involvement Scale were used for data collection. The
study was conducted on 188 front level male executives of Indian organizations.
The study revealed a positive and significant relationship of tangible support and
informational support with the five dimensions of OCB; and intrinsic motivation
(family involvement) with the five dimensions of OCB. Relationship of emotional
support (POS), affective involvement and internalization of family goal (family
involvement) with OCB is somewhat limited. This study provides an evidence of
the positive relationship of perceived organizational support and family involvement
with organizational citizenship behavior. Such knowledge may help to prepare
and implement the policies regarding work-family and retention management.
Keywords: Organizational citizenship behaviour, Perceived organizational
support, family involvement.
A major concern of organizational theorists

and practitioners is organizational
effectiveness. Quite essential for achieving
this is the willingness of employees to go
beyond the formal specifications of job roles,
termed as extra-role behaviours (Organ,
1990; Tepper, Lockhart, & Hoobler, 2001).
Jordan and Sevastos (2003) stated that
organizational viability in complex, fastchanging, and turbulent economic time
requires employees willingness to exceed the
roles and responsibilities defined by formal
job descriptions. Organizational citizenship
behaviors (OCB) can improve organizational
performance and adaptability in environments
demanding complex, ambiguous, and teamoriented work (Organ, Podsakoff, &
MacKenzie, 2005). Organizational citizenship
behaviors (OCB), defined as volitional extrarole behaviors not directly related to a specific
task or job description, improves customer

and peer relationships, enhanced teamwork,
operational flexibility, and competitiveness
(Borman, 2004).
Organ et al (2005) defines OCB as
individual behavior that is discretionary, not
directly or explicitly recognized by the formal
reward system, and in the aggregate
promotes the efficient and effective
functioning of the organization. Empirical and
theoretical researches demonstrate that OCB
correlates
with
improvements
in
organizational performance (Organ et al.,
2005; Podsakoff & MacKenzie, 1997). Organ
et al. (2005) in their review found that some
OCB dimensions (i.e., helping and
consciousness) correlated more strongly with
performance than other dimensions (i.e.,
sportsmanship or civic virtue). Organ (1988)
proposed an expanded taxonomy of OCB that
152
included altruism, conscientiousness,

sportsmanship, courtesy, and civic virtue.
Perceived organizational support (POS)
is an employees belief that the organization
cares for and values his or her contribution
to the success of the organization (Kaufman,
Stamper, & Tesulk, 2001). Antecedents of
POS include procedural justice, supportive
and respectful acts by supervisors,
recognition, fair pay and rewards,
promotions, job security, autonomy, and
training (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002).
Consequences of heightened POS are
increased organizational commitment, job
satisfaction, positive affect, task interest, task
performance, and intentions to remain with
the organization (Rhoades & Eisenberger,
2002). Perceived organizational support
(POS) encompasses policies promoting
employees well-being and feelings of
accomplishment, a sense of positive
contribution to the organization, as well as
the personal and organizational goal
attainment (Eisenberger, Armeli, Rexwinkel,
Lynch, & Rhoades, 2001)
Perceived organization support has
been found to correlate with increased
employees efforts to attain organizational
goals (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, &
Sowa 1986). Findings by Cardona, Lawrence,
and Bentler (2004) observed that employees
reporting higher POS had stronger social
attachment to the organization, which in turn
leads to increased OCB.
Perceived organizational support is a
variable that represents social exchange
between the employee and the employing
organization (Wayne, Shore, & Liden, 1997).
It refers to the perception of employees that
the organization values their contributions and
cares about their well-being (Eisenberger,
Fasolo, & Davis-LaMastro, 1990;
Eisenberger et al. 1986). Eisenberger et al.
(1986), suggested that, in order to meet the
needs for praise and approval, and to
determine the organizations readiness to
Family Involvement and OCB
reward greater effort to meet organizational

goals, employees form global beliefs about
the organizations commitment to them. Such
beliefs form the basis for POS, which in turn
increases employees affective commitment
to the organization and the expectancy that
greater work effort will be rewarded. Affective
commitment implies identification with,
involvement in, and emotional attachment to
the organization (Allen & Meyer, 1996).
Further, the belief that greater efforts will lead
to rewards will help to establish trust in the
long-term fairness of the organization to
recompense positive, discretionary behaviors
(Eisenberger et al. 1990). Therefore a
positive relationship between POS and OCB
can be expected. Recent empirical evidence
also supports this contention (Masterson,
Lewis, Goldman, & Taylor, 2000). Thus, it can
be hypothesized that:
H1: POS will be positively related to OCB
The concept of family involvement does
not have a comparable research history. Like
job involvement, family involvement
represents the degree to which the family is
thought of as being central to ones life or
self concept. So, family involvement can be
defined as the intensity of a persons
psychological identification with their family.
The family involved person is one for whom
family is a very important part of life and as
one who is affected by much responsibilities
of his whole family situation.
In the last three decades, there has
been a dramatic increase in the amount of
research devoted to understanding the
linkages between work and family life. A variety
of linking mechanisms have been proposed
that explain the nature of the relationship
between work and family roles (Edwards &
Rothbard, 2000), the most prominent of which
are conflict (or interference), and enrichment/
enhancement.
Consistent with the rise in positive
psychology (Snyder & Lopez, 2002), scholars
have broadened the lens on the workfamily
153
interface beyond a focus on conflict to

examine how involvement in one role
positively influences the other role. This
concept, workfamily enrichment, is defined
as when the experiences in one role improve
the quality of life for the individual in the other
role (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). Workfamily enrichment has also been referred to
as work-family enhancement, work-family
facilitation, and positive spillover. All of these
terms describe the notion that a variety of
resources from work and family roles have
the capacity to provide positive experiences
in the other role.
The scant literature indicates that
enrichment contributes to an understanding
of workfamily dynamics above and beyond
conflict (Grzywacz & Bass, 2003); theoretically,
our understanding of the workfamily
interface is incomplete without consideration
of enrichment. Practically, enrichment relates
to important organizational outcomes such as
job satisfaction and effort (Wayne, Musisca,
& Fleeson, 2004).
While the research provides extensive
evidence of the negative impact of work
family conflict on individuals well being, the
positive spillover or mutually enriching effects
(work-family enrichment) that work and family
roles can have on one another have not been
as widely or systematically examined (Gould
& Werbel, 1983). Marks (1977), Sieber
(1974), and others (Piotrkowski, Rapoport,
& Rapoport, 1987) proposed that
participation in multiple roles can be
stimulating, and enhance the well being of
individuals. Yet empirical research about
whether work and family can facilitate one
another is sparse (Balmforth & Gardner,
2006; Hill, 2005; Mulvaney, ONeill,
Cleveland, & Crouter, 2007).
The scarcity perspective dominates the
relevant literature regarding the workfamily
interface research (Greenhaus & Powell,
2006). However, according to the expansionenhancement perspective, involvement in
multiple roles can produce a number of

benefits for employees, and these benefits
can outweigh the difficulties or costs
associated with work and family roles
(Demerouti, Geurts, & Kompier, 2004;
Kinnunen, Feldt, Geurts, & Pulkkinen, 2006).
Considering the expansion-enhancement
perspective it may be hypothesized that
executives involvement in their family role
may facilitate OCB.
H2: Family Involvement will be positively
related to OCB
Method
Sample:
Present study was carried out on 188
front level managers in India. Purposive
sampling was used for data collection. 188
male executives of public (N=95, 50.5%) and
private (N=93, 49.5%) sector organizations.
Participants mean age was 39.4 years
(S.D=10.45) and mean of organizational
tenure was 14.6 years (S.D = 10.20). 156
(83%) participants were married and 32 (17%)
unmarried. The subjects were convinced to
participate in the study and they were not paid
for their participation in this study.
Tools:
Organizational Citizenship Behaviour
Scale (OCB): It was adopted from Podsakoff,
et al (1990). This five dimension scale focuses
on performance in areas that are not a part
of the requirements specified in the job
description as follows: (a) altruism (b)
conscientiousness (c) civic virtue (d) courtesy
and (e) sportsmanship.
Internal
consistency
reliability
(Cronbachs Alpha) on Indian sample for
whole scale was found to be 0.85. As
proposed by the Podsakoff et al., (1990) the
subscale analysis was also preformed.
Conscientiousness dimension consists of five
items and its alpha was found to be 0.67.
Sportsmanship dimension consists of five
items and its alpha was found to be 0.71. Civic
Virtue dimension consists of four items and
154
its alpha was found to be 0.67. Courtesy

dimension consists of five items and its alpha
was found to be 0.76. Altruism dimension
consists of five items and its alpha was found
to be 0.71.
Perceived Organizational Support Scale
(POS): To assess the level of perceived
organizational support of managers, It was
developed during the study. The factor
structure (principal component analysis with
varimax rotation) of this scale was examined.
Three component solutions were found
suitable to the scale which explained a total
of 47% variance. First component which
consists of 7 items were labeled as Emotional
Support. Second component which consists
of 6 items was labeled as Tangible Support.
The third component which consists of 7 items
was labeled as Informational Support. Internal
consistency reliability (Cronbachs Alpha) was
found to be 0.86 for whole Perceived
Organizational Support Scale. Component
wise Cronbachs Alpha was found to be 0.81
for Emotional Support, 0.76 for Tangible
Support and 0.74 for Informational Support.
Family Involvement Scale: It was
developed and standardized during the
research work. The factor structure of the
scale was examined by principal component
analysis with varimax rotation. Three

component structures were found suitable for
the scale which explained 41.6% of total
variance.
First component which consists of 10
items were labeled as Intrinsic Motivation.
Second component which consists of 6 items
was labeled as Internalization of Family Goals.
Third and Last component which consists of
4 items was labeled as Affective Involvement.
Internal consistency reliability (Cronbachs
Alpha) was found to be 0.73 for whole Family
Involvement Scale. Component wise
Cronbachs Alpha was found to be 0.78 for
Intrinsic Motivation, 0.63 for Internalization of
Family Goals and 0.55 for Affective
Involvement.
Results
Table 1 shows the results of correlation
analyses of demographical variables (age,
organizational tenure, marital status) along
with types of organization and rating sources
and predictor variables (family involvement
and perceived organizational support) with
five dimensions of organizational citizenship
behaviour. Results indicate that age and
organizational tenure was significantly
positively correlated with conscientiousness,
sportsmanship, courtesy and altruism
Table 1: Correlational analyses

Variables
OCB
OCB
OCB
OCB
OCB
Conscientiousness Sportsmanship Civic Virtue Courtesy Altruism
Age
.29**
.37**
-.03
.34**
.25**
Organization Tenure
.32**
.35**
.02
.36**
.27**
Marital status
-.24**
-.36**
-.09
-.28**
-.23**
Types of Organization
-.28**
-.31**
-.04
-.30**
-.36**
Rating Sources
-.34**
-.41**
.08
-.52**
-.16*
Emotional support
.04
.09
.12
.08
-.004
Tangible support
.21**
.31**
.24**
.24**
.20**
Informational support
.15*
.35*
.17*
.22**
.24**
Intrinsic motivation
.35**
.48*
.27**
.52**
.41**
Internalization of family goal .04
.03
.22**
.10
.09
Affective Involvement
.03
-.22**
.14
-.02
-.003
*p<.05 (two tailed) **p< .01 (Two tailed)
Note: Marital Status is coded 1 = married, 2 = unmarried Rating source is coded
1= self rating, 2= supervisors rating, Organization type is coded1= public sector org.
2 = private sector org.
155
Table 2. Results of hierarchical regression analysis for Perceived Organizational Support

as a predictor and OCB as a criterion variable
Variable
Dependent Variable (Organization Citizenship Behaviour)

Conscientiousness Sportsmanship Civic Virtue
Courtesy
Altruism
Step1 Step 2
Step1 Step 2 Step1 Step 2 Step1 Step 2 Step1 Step 2
Control Variables
Age
Organizational Tenure
Marital Status
Organization Type
Rating source
Independent Variables
Emotional Support
Tangible Support
Informational Support
Overall R2
Adjusted R2
R2 change
Fa change
-.35
.37*
-.14
-.17*
-.23***
-.36
.38*
-.11
-.17
-.21**
-.06
.18*
.02
.176
.199
.154
.164
.176
.023
7.78*** 1.73
-.07 -.05
.08
.05
-.23** -.19*
-.16* -.16*
-.28*** -.23**
-.52*
.43*
-.18*
-.10
.12
-.10
.19*
.22**
.252 .335 .054
.232 .305 .028
.252 .083 .054
12.3***7.44***2.09
-.54**
.44*
-.14
-.10
.17*
-.33
.300
-.13
-.15*
-.45***
-.34 -.34 -.32

.30
.32
.28
-.11 -.17 -.15
-.15* -.34***-.33***
-.43*** -.006 .03
-.03
-.02
.23**
.13
.10
.06
.126 .314 .336
.086 .295 .307
.071 .314 .022
4.86** 16.6*** 2.03
-.14
.18*
.17*
.168 .221
.145 .186
.168 .054
7.33***4.10***
a- Step 1 degree of freedom = 5, 182 Step 2 degree of freedom = 3, 179

*P<0.05, **P< 0.01 ***P< 0.001
Note: Standardized is reported in table
(P<.01). Marital status, types of organization

and rating sources were found to be
significantly negatively correlated with
conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy
and altruism (P<.01). It is obvious from the
results that demographical variables, types
of organization and rating sources did not
significantly correlated with civic virtue.
Tangible support was found significantly
positively correlated with all the five
dimensions of OCB (P<.01). Similarly
informational support was also significantly
positively correlated with all the dimensions
of OCB. But relationship of emotional support
and OCB was found insignificant.
Intrinsic motivation was significantly
positively correlated with all the five
dimensions of OCB (P<.01). Internalization of
family goals was significantly positively related
only with civic virtue (P<.05); whereas
affective involvement was significantly
negatively related with sportsmanship (P<
.01).
Results of correlation analysis have
shown that demographical variables along
with types of organization and rating sources

highly influence the executives performance
on OCB. So there is a strong need to control
the effects of these variables whenever
deriving the association of POS and family
involvement with OCB. Therefore, to test the
hypotheses as proposed in present study,
hierarchical regression analysis was
performed. In hierarchical regression analysis
demographical variables along with the types
of organization and rating sources were
treated as control variables and entered in
first step and predictor variables were entered
in the second step.
A summary of the results of hierarchical
regression analysis for perceived
organizational support as a predictor variable
and OCB as a criterion variable are reported
in Table 2. Demographical variables along
with the types of organization and rating
source were treated as control variables in
this analysis. Results (Table 2) indicates that
tangible support was found significantly
positively associated with conscientiousness
(=.18, P<.05), sportsmanship (=.19,
P<.05), civic virtue (=.23, P<.01), and
156
Table 3. Results of hierarchical regression analysis for Family Involvement as a predictor

and OCB as a criterion variable
Variables
Dependent Variable (Organization Citizenship Behaviour)

Conscientiousness Sportsmanship Civic Virtue Courtesy
Altruism
Step1 Step 2 Step1 Step 2 Step1 Step 2 Step1 Step 2 Step1 Step 2
Control Variables
Age
-.35
-.33
Organizational Tenure.37*
.35
Marital Status
-.14
-.08
Organization Type
-.17* -.15
Rating source
-.23*** -.21**
Independent Variable
Intrinsic Motivation
.20*
Internalization of family
goals
-.01
Affective Involvement
.11
Overall R2
.176 .219
Adjusted R2
.154 .184
.176 .043
R2 change
Fa change
7.78*** 3.25*
-.07 .16
.08
-.17
-.23** -.09
-.16* -.10*
-.28*** -.20**
-.52*
.43*
-.18*
-.10
.12
.34***
.26**
-.001
-.18**
.252 .359
.054
.232 .330
.028
.252 .106
.054
12.3***9.89*** 2.09
a- Step 1 degree of freedom = 5, 182
*P<0.05,
**P< 0.01
Note: Standardized is reported in table
altruism (=.18, P<.05). Informational support

was significantly positively associated with
sportsmanship (=.22, P<.01) and altruism
(=.17, P<.05). Results revealed that tangible
support was more powerful predictor amongst
all three components of POS in determining
OCB.
A perusal of results report (Table 2) also
explores that POS explains 2.3 percent of total
variance in conscientiousness, 8.3 percent
of total variance in sportsmanship, and 7.1
percent of total variance in civic virtue, 2.2
percent of total variance in courtesy and 5.4
percent of total variance in altruism. It is
obvious form the results that POS played a
significant role in sportsmanship, civic virtue,
and altruism.
To examine the causal association of
family involvement with OCB, hierarchical
regression analysis was performed. In this
hierarchical regression analysis family
involvement was used as a predictor variable
and OCB as a criterion variable. The
demographical variables (age, organizational
tenure, and marital status) along with the
rating source and types of organization were
-.46*
.37
-.07
-.07
.14
-.33
.300
-.13
-.15*
-.45***
.37***
.10
.12
.151 .314
.113
.295
.096 .314
6.77*** 16.6***
-.21
.16
.01
-.12
-.40***
-.34
.32
-.17
-.34***
-.006
-.21
.18
-.06
-.31***
.05
.34***
.04
.05
.427 .168
.401 .145
.113
.168
11.8*** 7.33***
-.003
.02
.253
.219
.085
6.81***
Step 2 degree of freedom = 3, 179
***P< 0.001
treated as control variables. The results are

presented in Table 3
Results (Table 3) specified that intrinsic
motivation was significantly positively
associated with conscientiousness (=.20,
P<.05), sportsmanship (=.34, P<.001), civic
virtue (=.26, P<.01), courtesy (=.37,
P<.001), and altruism (=.34, P<.001).
Internalization of family goal was not
significantly associated with any dimension
of OCB. On the other hand, affective
involvement was negatively associated with
sportsmanship (=.17, P<.01). It is also clear
that intrinsic motivation was more important
predictor of OCB than other two components
of family involvement. Furthermore, the
results (Table 3) revealed that family
involvement explains 4.3 percent of total
variance in conscientiousness, 10.6 percent
of total variance in sportsmanship, and 9.6
percent of total variance in civic virtue, and
11.3 percent of total variance in courtesy and
8.5 percent of total variance in altruism. In
conclusion, family involvement plays a
significant role in the predicting of all the five
dimensions of OCB.
Discussion
Three significant findings resulted from
this study. The first was the significant, though
modest, correlation of OCB with
demographical variables (age, organizational
tenure, and marital status), types of
organizations and rating sources (though, it
was not our main objective). The second
finding was that POS (mainly tangible
support) positively correlated with OCB.
Finally, the study uncovered that the family
involvement (mainly intrinsic motivation)
significantly influences the OCB.
In first hypothesis it was proposed a
positive relationship between POS and OCB.
The findings supported the presence of a
mutual exchange relationship where
employees expressed intentions to
reciprocate POS through OCB. Findings
clearly indicate that tangible support is a more
powerful predictor of OCB. Informational
Support is a weak but significant predictor of
OCB especially the sportsmanship and
altruism dimensions. But Emotional support
did not show any significant association with
OCB. In essence, POS ensure to play a
significant role in the predicting the three
dimensions of OCB (sportsmanship, and civic
virtue and altruism).
Employees appear to seek a balance in
their exchange relationships with
organizations by demonstrating attitudes and
behaviours thats commensurate with the
amount of commitment they feel from the
employer (Wayne et al., 1997). Being an
effective organizational citizen is one way that
an employee may reciprocate the support he/
she feels is being provided by the
organization (Graham, 1991). In turn, making
suggestions for improvement, helping coworkers, and other types of OCB incur
obligations that the other party (i.e., the
individual or the organization) will later
reciprocate. In doing so, the repayment of
these obligations reinforces the beneficial
exchange between the employee and the
157
organization (Eisenberger et al., 1986).

Eisenberger et al., (2001) suggested
that POS would indicate the organizations
willingness to notice and reward employees
efforts to help the organization succeed.
They also found that employees with higher
levels of POS felt more obligated to help the
organization reach its objectives, and thus,
engage in more organizationally spontaneous
behaviours, a form of OCBs. Rhoades and
Eisenbergers (2002) found that POS was
positively related to in-role and extra-role
performance, and was negatively related to
withdrawal behaviours such as absenteeism,
tardiness and turnover.
The findings of the study offers hope
that POS can overcome fears of exploitation,
lead to trust in the organization and prompt
employees to risk reciprocation through acts
beneficial to the organization.
In second hypothesis it was
hypothesized that family involvement would
be positively associated to organizational
citizenship behaviour. Results of correlational
analysis indicates that intrinsic motivation was
significantly positively correlated with all the
five dimensions of organizational citizenship
behaviour; whereas internalization of family
goals was significantly positively correlated
only with civic virtue dimension; and that
affective involvement was significantly
negatively
correlated
only
with
sportsmanship. Similar patterns of results
were found in hierarchal regression analysis
but significance of the association between
internalization of family goals and civic virtue
was not statistically confirmed.
Intrinsic motivation is based on innate,
organism need for competence, and self
determination. Organizational citizenship
behaviour and intrinsic motivation share many
similar characteristics. Both
are
discreationary, non-rewarded and thus, OCB
can be considered an example of employees
intrinsic motivation in an organization.
Therefore, it appears natural that intrinsic
158
motivation regarding family involvement leads

OCB in organizational setting.
domain and benefits functioning in another

(Greenhaus & Powell 2006; Rothbard, 2001)
Findings of this study is consistent with

expansion-enhancement perspective that
allows for multiple demanding roles to be
supportive and energizing of each other.
Participation in multiple roles can be
stimulating, and enhance the well being of
individuals. Work-family expansion refers to
the notion that simultaneously engaging in
multiple work and family roles is beneficial for
the physical, mental, and relationship with the
individuals health (Barnett & Hyde, 2001).
The quality of the roles, rather than the
number of roles occupied, or the amount of
time spent in particular role, determine the
degree to which individuals experience the
positive affects of participating in multiple
roles.
For example, individuals who engage in

all three roles of spouse, parent, and
employee report heightened levels of physical
and mental health and overall well-being
(Barnett, Marshall, & Pleck, 1992; Repetti,
Matthews, & Waldron, 1989). There are many
processes that contribute to the beneficial
effects of multiple roles such as additional
income, social support from ones family and
co-workers/supervisors, an expanded frame
of reference, and additional opportunities to
experience success and develop a sense of
self-confidence. By theory, when involvement
in one role frequently enriches ones
involvement in the other (e.g., FWE), then
performance and quality of life in the second
role (e.g., work) should improve (Frone,
Yardley, & Markel, 1997). Similar results were
found in present study; the executives who
were highly involved in their family have
shown high level of organizational citizenship
behaviour at work place.
In workfamily enrichment, experiences

in one role improve the quality of life in the
other role. Greenhaus & Powell (2006)
considered enrichment as synonym with
positive spill over, enhancement, and
facilitation. They further proposed that
enrichment occurs when resource gains
generated in one role promote performance
or affect in the other role. This, they suggest,
can occur in one of two ways. The first,
referred to as the instrumental path, occurs
when resources such as skills and
perspectives gained from one role directly
improve performance in the other role. The
second pathway, the affective, occurs when
a resource in one domain produces positive
affect within that domain which in turn
improves individuals functioning in the other
domain. Positive affect refers to a valenced
feeling state reflecting positive moods,
emotions, or attitudes (Pettit, Kline, Gencoz,
Gencoz, & Joiner, 2001). In particular, then,
high positive affect reflects the degree to
which one feels enthusiastic, alert, has high
energy, and experiences pleasurable mood
(Pettit et al., 2001). Enrichment occurs when
such positive affect is experienced in one
Therefore, it is obvious that employees

whose involvement in family resulted in
positive mood, support and sense of
accomplishment that helped them to cope
better, work more efficiently, feel more
confident and positive, and be more
energised for ones role at work were also
more satisfied with their job, had higher
affective commitment to the organisation, and
were more likely to stay in the job and at the
same time he/she might be interested to go
some extra miles for organization in the form
of organizational citizenship behaviour.
Suggestions and Implications
In present study it has been found that
POS was positively correlated with
organizational citizenship behaviour.
Therefore, on the basis of the findings it may
be recommend that organization(s) should
make an effort to increase the level of POS
of their employees through, treating them
fairly, providing proper support from
organization representatives (e.g. superiors

and other higher managerial authority) and
using favourable HR practices such as job
security, autonomy, training, participation in
decision-making, and opportunities for
rewards and promotions. And the
organization(s) involve in such practices, the
contextual performance (OCB) and task
performance would be automatically
increased.
The findings of the study also provide
practical applications for organizations that
when employees perceive that organization(s)
cares for their well-being, acknowledge and
valued their contribution(s); helps improve
productivity without experiencing any
increase in labour cost.
Considering the competitive job market
and the need to recruit and retain valued
employees, developing a work-family culture
in which work-related activities facilitate family
life or vice versa will be a small price to pay
for a satisfied, and committed workforce.
Family involvement is one of the big factors
which influence employees work behaviour
including OCB. As the findings of the study
suggest that family involvement was positively
correlated with OCB. Satisfaction and
involvement in one domain of life (family) may
facilitate the satisfaction and involvement in
other domain of life (work). Therefore,
organization should take initiative to increase
the family involvement of their employees by
offering supportive work-family policies and
creating progressive work-family cultures.
The results of present study suggests
that employers should facilitates work-family
balance to help employees achieve balance
between professional and personal lives.
Valued organisational outcomes may result
from workplace cultures and initiatives that
openly address and support work and family
issues (Brough, ODriscoll, & Kalliath, 2005;
Thompson, Beauvais, & Lyness, 1999). Some
of the issues include operational flexibility,
supportive supervision, and employee
159
discretion, over work and time demands

(Clark, 2001). This may require long-term
change that may impact on existing
organisational structures and practices but
with communication and support across the
organisation, developing a work-family culture
can occur at individual and group/team levels
as well as organisational levels. Due to the
demands of work and family roles and the
increasing impact of work life on peoples
personal lives, or vice versa, and the
intervention programmes for family to work
facilitation and work to family facilitation
appear to be pre-requisite in present
competitives business environment. In this
regard, the organizations/ employers should
do their best effort.
Limitations
This study has several shortcomings.
First the sample was collected from multiple
organizations,
which
helps
with
generalizability but may have hurt sample
equivalence. Second, only male executives
were sampled in study. Therefore, female
participants are desirable for further studies.
Third, the rating sources significantly
influence the performance on OCB. Thus the
use of single rating source is not more
effective to conduct the researches related
to OCB. Most of the studies suggest that
using the superiors rating is a valid source of
information but behaviour regarding OCB is
not always performed at the front of superiors,
so there is a felt need to gather more
information forms other sources. Hopefully,
the use of the 360 degree of rating (self, peer,
subordinate and superior) on OCB scale
would suffice.
Conclusion
In sum it can be say that, demographical
variables, type of organization and rating
sources are significantly correlated with OCB.
Perception of organizational support and
managers involvement in their family also
predicted the OCB.
160
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Akhilendra K. Singh, PhD, Lecturer, Department of Psychology, Banaras

Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, Email-akhilendra_bhu@yahoo.com,
A.P. Singh, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi-221005, Email- aps_bhu@yahoo.co.in
162
Predictors of Marital Adjustment: The Communication Skills and

Sexual Satisfaction
Sistan & Baluchestan University, Zahedan, Iran

The purpose of this investigation is to examine the relationships among marital
adjustment, sexual satisfaction and as well as two communication skills:
Resolving conflicts in the least excitement mood and Making aware and letting
free. The sample comprises 137 young spouses from Zahedan, Iran. The Dyadic
Adjustment Scale (DAS), the Skills of Communication Scale (SCS) and Sexual
Satisfaction Scale (SSS) were used as instruments of this research. The results
show that the three research variables are related to marital adjustment. The
stepwise regression analyses demonstrate that sexual satisfaction was the
strongest predictor and entered the equation first, followed by the Making aware
and letting free skill. The findings show that the mean scores of marital
adjustment for men are significantly higher than for women.
Keywords: Marital adjustment, Coping skills, Communication skills, Sexual
satisfaction
Marital adjustment needs effective skills. All

couples, specially the most successful ones,
experience marital conflicts. Indeed, some
couples have serious forms of lovely
arguments and are ways for expressing of
massive dissatisfactions, inconvenience and
troubles (Kinder, 2002). It is important that
how the couples should deal with these
conflicts and coping with them. This disability
of marital partners to cope with their problems
is one of the major contributors to marital
dissatisfaction (Storaasli & Markman, 1990).
Metz and Epstein (2002) indicated that the
results of conflict can influence partners
relationship satisfaction. Kouros, Papp, and
Cummings (2008) found that at higher levels
of marital conflict, there is a strong negative
association between marital satisfaction and
depressive symptoms. Approximately half of
first-time marriages end in divorce, an
experience often linked with physical and
psychological health problems (Faulkner,
Davey & Davey, 2005). Therefore it is
necessary for the couples to know examined
marital coping skills to improve their marital

adjustment.
Janetius (2004) is concentrated on
communication skills as a group of coping
skills. He reported a strong adjustment
between those couples who had had a regular
communication together and demonstrated
that communication predicts marital
satisfaction (Litzinger and Gordon, 2005).
These studies suggested that preventive
programmes should improve the couples
premarital communication skills (Storaasli and
Markman, 1990). Gordon, Baucom, Epstein,
Burnett and Rankin (1999) argued,
interventions that aim at improving
communication skills are successful in moving
half of couples into the nondistressed state.
They suggest that the couple can be taught
effective communication skills. Furthermore
Rehman and Holtzworth-Munroe (2007)
argue that the main of studies have examined
the communication behaviors of Western
couples and have demonstrated a strong
relationship between marital satisfaction and
couple communication and there has been

less attention given to the non-Western
couples.
The relationship between communication
skills and marital satisfaction is a complex one
varying as a function of several moderating
factors. Further, Gordon et al (1999) showed
that the correlation of communication with
marital adjustment for women interacts with
relationship-focused standards; but no such
interaction for men. Biller (2000) found that
problem solving communication was a
significant predictor of global distress for men,
whereas emotional communication was a
predictor of global distress for women.
Burleson and Denton (1997) revealed that
communication skills and marital satisfaction
were positively associated among nondistressed couples, but they were negatively
associated among distressed couples.
Rehman, Ginting, Karimiha and Goodnight
(2010) revealed that negative communication
patterns and depressive symptoms are
related only when wives had received sad
mood stimulation. Furthermore, it is more
useful and applicable to separate the
communication skills, because some of these
skills may be stronger than the others. In this
research, two particular communication skills
will be suggested and examined:
a) The communication skill, examined in
this research, is Making Aware and Letting
Free. The humanistic skill (De Carvalho,
1992) argued that freedom is the most
essential prerequisite for the human capacity
to values. Besides, Aida and Falbo (1991)
found that participants who see themselves
as equal partners are more satisfied with their
relationship than the traditional partners.
Humanists believe that humans have selfdetermination and freedom and they are not
just passive responders to environmental
circumstances (Staats, 1987). Therefore,
freedom or self-determination is an essential
prerequisite for life satisfaction. In this view
that marital satisfaction is a subdivision of life
163
satisfaction and one of the skills introduced

and examined in this research is Making
Aware and Letting Free skill, inferred from
humanistic bases. That is, if marital
communication accompanies freedom or selfdetermination, it results in self-fulfillment,
thereby life and marital satisfaction.
b) The second communication skill is
based on some emotional facts. Wright and
Busby (1997) and Rauer and Volling (2005)
suggest that emotional functioning is the
major determinant of marital functioning and
distressed couples showed more negative
nonverbal behaviors than nondistressed
couples (Bernstein & Bernstein, 2001).
Johnson, Cohan, et al (2005) indicated that
there is a strong interaction between positive
emotions and negative skills. A path analysis
shows (Schumacher & Leonard, 2005) that
verbal aggression predicts physical
aggression. Based these researches
Resolving Conflicts in the Least Excitement
Mood skill was proposed and examined. It is
anticipated that resolving marital conflicts in
an excitement mood could result in negative
emotional expressivity. The couples who
resolve their marital conflicts in the least
excitement mood should be more satisfied
and adjusted in their marital relationships.
Further, sexual relationship is an
essential motivation for marriage and it may
be a cause or a result of some marital coping
factors. So, in this research, sexual
satisfaction is examined to contribute to the
judgment about the stronger predictors of
marital adjustment.
Johnson and OLeary (1996) show the
relationship between marital satisfaction and
different behavior traits of spouses such as
the positive spousal behavior, wives marital
and interpersonal functioning (Faulkner,
Davey and Davey, 2005), and the number of
secure spouses in a couple (Bagley, 2000).
A behavior trait of spouses that was a subject
for several studies is the relationship between
sexual behaviors of couples and marital
164
Predictors of Marital Adjustment
adjustment (Metz & Epstein, 2002; Shafer,

2001; and Litzinger & Gordon, 2005).
Bodenmann, Atkins, Schr and Poffet (2010)
found that higher stress of couples was
related with lower levels of their sexual
satisfaction and a decline in their relationship
satisfaction. Tomic et al (2006) reported that
a womans sexual function can be predicted
by her passionate love for her partner and
her sexual satisfaction. Troxel, Robles, Hall
and Buysse (2007) argue that there have
been little studies on the association between
couples close relationships and their sleep.
They revealed that couples sleep problems
were associated with higher levels of marital
unhappiness. In Iranian culture, all sign of
sexual relationship, like kissing and
embracing must be happen in an empty place
and no sexual sign are shown from the formal
televisions. Therefore studying in this field is
difficult. Some studies indicate that Iranian
parents have a negative attitude toward the
boyfriend and girlfriend relationship (Yosefi,
Abedi & Neshatdost, 2007, cited by Boostani
& Mohammadpur, 2009). But in the last
decades, this attitude has been changing
(Movahed, Abbasishovazi & Hashemineia,
2009).
The present study examined the
relationship among Resolving conflicts in the
least excitement mood, Making aware and
letting free skills and sexual satisfaction in
predicting marital adjustment.
Method
Sample:
Statistical population consisted of young
spouses, with maximum of age 35, with at least
one child, who had lived in Zahedan, the
largest city in southeast of Iran. Purposive
sample was used. A suitable sample was
selected randomly from accessible subjects.
The sample comprises happy couple from the
parks, normal couple from different stores,
busy couple from the offices, couple with
problem from clients of clinics and courts. The
participants were 137, including 63 men and
74 women. Seven of the received scales were

imperfect and were omitted.
Tools:
The Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS)
consists of four components: a) dyadic
satisfaction; b) dyadic coherence; c) dyadic
consensus; and d) emotive expression
(Bernstein & Bernstein, 2001). Spencer
studied validity of DAS (Bernstein and
Bernstein, 2001). According to the Cronbach
Alpha Coefficient, reliability of the DAS was
0.94.
The Skills of Communication Scale (SCS)
is comprised two particular skills:
(a) Resolving Conflicts in the Least
Excitement Mood skill. This skill has two
components: a) when a marital partner is in
excitement situations such as tiredness or
anger, the other partner delays to resolve
marital conflicts. b) A marital partner tries to
resolve the conflicts when his/her partner
calms down.
(b) Making aware and Letting Free
skill. This skill is made of three components:
a) to resolve marital conflicts, a spouse gives
her/his spouse her/his own point of view or
information about the subject. b) a spouse
lets his/her partner do what his/her partner
would like. c) a spouse ignores his/her
partners mistakes. Reliability of the SCS was
0.76. Reliabilities of the subscale of SCS are
0.58 for Resolving Conflicts in the Least
Excitement Mood skill and 0.67 for Making
Aware and Letting Free skill.
Sexual Satisfaction Scale (SSS). This
variable consists of four components: a)
numbers of complete sexual activities per
month. b) duration of sexual activity. C)
preparing activities before and after the
optimal sexual activity. d) paying attention to
sexual needs of both partners. These
components are based on Dezhcam (2001)
principles for a satisfactory sexual
intercourse. These principles consider the
women differences. Reliability of the SSS was
0.80.
165
Results
Table 1: Results of correlation among marital adjustment, communication skills and
sexual satisfaction.
Variables
1
2
3
4
1. Marital Adjustment
1.0
2. Resolving Conflicts in the least Excitement mood 0.45*** 1.0
3. Making Aware and Letting Free
0.57*** 0.50*** 1.0
4. Sexual Satisfaction
0.63*** 0.48*** 0.37*** 1.0
Results indicate that all of the research

variables and marital adjustment are
significantly and positively correlated: For
Resolving Conflicts in the least Excitement
mood skill, r = .45, d 0.001, For Making
Aware and Letting Free skill, r = 0.57,
d 0.001 and for Sexual Satisfaction, r = .62,
d 0.001. These variables also are

significantly and positively correlated to each
others.
The result of the Durbin Watson test was

1.96. Therefore the Stepwise Regression
Analysis test was used and the results are
represented in Table 2.
Table 2: summery of Stepwise Regression Analysis for the research variables predicting
marital adjustment.
Sta nd ar di zed
Ad jus te d
2
R
S exu a l
S atisfa ction
0.6 3
0.39
S exu a l
S atisfa ction
+ M a k in g A w ar e
a nd Le tti ng F ree
0.4 8
0.52
Ste ps
P re dic to rs
1
2
0.3 9
R
cha ng e
F
c h an g e
P artia l
cor re latio n
0.39
0.6 3
0.13
F (1 , 13 5) =
a
8 6 .6 7 ** *
F (2 , 13 4) =
b
7 2 .3 7 ***
0.5 4
0.4 6
Durbin- Watson = 1.96 ***p <0.001

a Predictors: (Constant), Sexual Satisfaction, b Predictors: (Constant), Sexual Satisfaction,
Making Aware and Letting Free, c Dependent Variable: marital adjustment
The table 2 shows that Sexual

Satisfaction was the strongest predictor and
entered the equation first, followed by the
Making Aware and Letting Free. The first
predictor accounted for 39% of the variance
in marital adjustment (F = 86.67, df = 1, 135,
pd 0.001). The combination of the two
predictors accounted for 52% of the variance
in marital adjustment (F = 72.35, df = 2, 134,
pd 0.001). Resolving Conflicts in the least
Excitement mood although was significantly
and positively correlated to marital
adjustment; it did not significantly contribute
to prediction of marital adjustment when other
variables in the model were controlled.
Results of the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA),
calculated on the two steps of Model, showed
that in the both steps the amount of F is

significant (pd 0.001). According to the
Standard Correlation Coefficient ( ), the
Regression Equation for the two standard
variables is represented below:
Marital Adjustment = Z 0.48 Sexual Satisfaction
+ Z 0.39 Making Aware and Letting Free
To examine the unique contribution of
each variable to prediction of marital
adjustment, a partial correlation was
calculated. Findings showed that relationship
between Sexual Satisfaction and marital
adjustment was r y1.2 = 0.54, even after
removing variance associated with Making
Aware and Letting Free variable. Also a
partial correlation between Making Aware
166
and Letting Free and marital adjustment was

ry2.1 = 0.46, removing variance associated with
Sexual Satisfaction variable.
Similar prediction model was
demonstrated when separated analyses for
men (R for Sexual Satisfaction = 0.46 and
for Sexual Satisfaction + Making Aware and
Letting Free = 0.59) and for women (R for
Sexual Satisfaction = 0.32 and for Sexual
Satisfaction + Making Aware and Letting Free
= 0.45) was conducted
Levenes Test of Equality of Error
Variances showed that the error variance of
the dependent variable is equal across the
groups, F (120) = 2.81, p e 0.05. Therefore,
Independent Samples t test was performed
and outcomes summarized in Table 3.
Table 3. The results of gender differences of
marital adjustment.
Groups Mean
SD
t-value
women 136.72
22.56
1.98
men
144.14
17.99
Result showed a significant (t = 1.98, p

e 0.05) difference between marital
adjustment of men and women. The men had
a higher Marital Adjustment mean score
(M=144.1, SD=18) than the women (M=
136.7, SD=22.68).
Discussion
The results of statistical analysis showed
strong positive relationship among the
research variables. The Sexual Satisfaction
was the strongest predictor that predicted
39% of the Marital Adjustment variance. The
Making Aware and Letting Free skill predicts
13% of Marital Adjustment variance. Thus,
these two variables predict 52% of marital
adjustment variance that is a good prediction.
Therefore, when couples had more complete
sexual activities per month, longer sexual
activity, more preparing activity before and
after the optimal sexual activity, and more
paying attention to sexual needs of their
partners, they have more marital adjustment.

Further when marital partners resolve their
marital conflict by telling their spouses their
own point of view about the subject, letting
their partners to do what their partners would
like, and ignoring their partners mistakes,
they have more marital adjustment. It is useful
that preventive programs and counsellors
enable couples to carry out these skills and
behaviors in their marital interactions.
This finding confirms the results of
previous researches (Metz and Epstein, 2002;
Shafer, 2001; and Litzinger and Gordon,
2005) study finding revealed that sexual
satisfaction is related to marital satisfaction.
Also the present results about communication
skills supported the findings of previous
researchers (Litzinger & Gordon, 2005;
Janetius, 2004; Gordon et al., 1999). These
findings indicated that communication skills
predict marital satisfaction. Further this result
supports humanistic psychologists opinion,
which argues freedom and self-determination
are the most essential for humans (De
Carvalho, 1992; Aida & Falbo, 1991; and
Staats, 1987). But the findings of this research
show that sexual satisfaction is stronger than
the communication skills for prediction of
marital adjustment.
Therefore sexual relation is one of the
initial causes of marriage, at least in Iran, and
sexual problems could mean as problems in
the essential marriage motivation. Other
results of this research revealed that
although, there had been a robust
relationship between Resolving Conflicts in
the least Excitement mood skill and Marital
Adjustment. But, when the two above
mentioned variables entered into the Model,
it could not be a significant predictor of marital
adjustment. This weak result may be because
of low Alpha of the questionnaires scale. The
results, related to gender differences,
displayed that the mean of marital adjustment
for men is significantly higher than for women.
The higher marital adjustment reported

by men may result from dominated position
of men in marital relationship, in Zahedan. In
view of the fact that a major source of
aggression is frustration (Sears, Peplau &
Taylor, 1991; Orenson, 1985), these gender
differences may show the struggle of women
in Zahedan for changing their position in
marital relationship and show their
dissatisfaction of their current position. It
might be caused by emotional characteristic
of women.
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Yahya Kazemi, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education and Psychology,

Zahra Nikmanesh, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education and Psychology,
169
Prof. Anima Sen Award

Prof.
Anima Sen Award
for Excellence in Research
for 1000/- for an outstanding paper

Certificate and a cash award of Rs.
Excellence
in Research
published
in each
volume of
Certificate
cash award
of Rs. 1000/- for an
Lateand
Dr.a Anima
Sen (1938-1995)
outstanding paper published in each volume of
A distinguished scholar and professor of Psychology, University of Delhi. Prof. Anima

Sen has authored several books, published large number of papers and guided a number
of research students. She was recipient of a number of prestigious awards and
fellowships, including Fulbright, Hull University Research Fellowship and has also been
a National Fellow of UGC. This award has been instituted by Prof. A.K. Sen as a tribute
Late Dr. Anima Sen
to Dr. Anima Sen and it will remain a lasting inspiration.
1938-1995
Awards
A distinguished scholar and professor of Psychology, University of

Delhi.papers
Prof.have
Anima
Sen
has authored
several books, published large
The following
been
selected
for the Award:
number of papers and guided a number of research students. She was
Award 2006
ofTrait
a number
prestigious of
awards
fellowships,
including
Trait recipient
Anxiety and
Anger:of
A Comparison
Pepticand
Ulcer
and Bronchial
Asthma
Patients Hull
by S.N.
Ghosh and
Sagar Sharma,
Shimlaand has also been a
Fulbright,
Uiversity
Research
Fellowship
StateNational
Self Esteem
and Causal
Attributions
in Reattribution
Training among
SelfFellow
of UGC.
This award
has been instituted
by Prof.
A.K.
worth Protective Students by S.P. Sinha and Sandhya Gupta, Agra
Award 2007
Attachment Style in Relation to Family Functioning and Distress in College

Students by Aruna R. M. Kapanee and Kiran Rao, NIMHANS, Bangalore
Effects of Target Expectancy and Cognitive Demand on Vigilance Performance by
Indramani L. Singh, Trayambak Tiwari and Anju Lata Singh, BHU, Varanasi.
Award 2008
Psycho-Oncology Research in India: Current Status and Future Directions by
Seema Mehrotra, NIMHANS, Bangalore
Technology to Teach Self-Help Skills to Elementary Students with Mental
Disabilities by Kamlesh Rai, NCERT, New Delhi
Award 2009
NEO-PI-R Factor Structure in College Students by Kamlesh Singh, IIT Delhi
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by R. Kannappan, Vinayaka Missions Medical College, Salem
170

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JIAAP Abstracts 1985-2010

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1

Volume 37, Special Issue

Copyright 2011 by the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology

Life Skills Education for Young Adolescents Indian Experience

Emotional Intelligence or Nonverbal Intelligence: Which is a Better Predictor of

Work-Family Interference and Well-being in Indian Women: Mediating Role of

Self-Efficacy and Mental Health of Women Teacher Students

Personal Influences in Depression among Female Adolescents

Effect of Mindfulness based Self Control Therapy on Perceived Stress, Self-efficacy

Enhanced Right Hemispheric Performance in Depression: Role of Co-occurring

(Contents continued on next page)

This issue has been published with the grant-in-aid from

Influence of Premature Ejaculation on Depression

Correlates of Personality, Diversity, Decision-Making and Affective Well Being of

Stress and Work Life of College Teachers

Interpersonal Needs of Management Students: Facilitator in the Choice of Electives

Need Saliency and Students Involvement of Universitys Students

Eve Teasing: Role of the Patriarchal System of the Society

Relationship between Spirituality and Anger among Women

Does Caffeine-Induced Arousal Reduce Mental Workload during High-demanding

Resilience, Behaviour Approach and Inhibition among Adolescents

Configurational Imagery Experience in Sighted and Visually Impaired Children

Astro-Psychotherapeutic Effect on Pathological Gamblers

Role of Perceived Organizational Support and Family Involvement in Organizational

Predictors of Marital Adjustment: The Communication Skills and Sexual

Prof. Anima Sen Award for Excellence in Research.

Information for Authors

This special issue has been released on

INDIAN ACADEMY OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

Department of Educational Management and Applied Psychology

Indian Academy of Applied Psychology

Past Presidents of IAAP

Journal of the Indian Academy of

Major S. Parthasarathy and

Prof. C.R. Paramesh

Prof. Purnima Mathur

Prof. P.V. Krishna Rao

1990-2002 Prof. Habib Ahmad

Awards Instituted in the IAAP

Department of Educational Management and Applied Psychology

JIAAP Abstracts: 1985-2010

First Edition : January, 2011, Price: Rs.300

Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology

lAAP Life Member

INDIAN ACADEMY OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

Welcome to the ISPA Conference 2011 at Chennai

Local Organizing Committee

Prof. Dr. S. Mohan (Cheif Patron)

Prof. Habib Ahmed (Chair)

Registration details are available at

Life Skills Education for Young Adolescents Indian Experience

The study of adolescent development has been of great interest to researchers,

Adolescence is a transition period that

adulthood (Vranda & Chandrasekhar-Rao,

There are taxonomies of generic life skills

Life Skills Education

are identified which are basic to every culture

M.N. Vranda and M.Chandrasekhar Rao

Figure 1. Model of Effect of Life Skills Education

ways, through the promotion of mental well

comprising both interpersonal and

Emotional intelligence is the capacity to

Social skills have been broadly used as

* p<.05, p<.001, * p<.001