Psychological Wellbeing of Elders as a Function of Religious Involvement, Spirituality and Personal Meaning in Life

Belay Tefera Kibret,Gerum Tareke

doi:10.4172/2471-2701.1000153

Abstract

A developmentally salient concern so characteristic of the growing persons in the latter years is psychological well-being. This study attempted to examine the status of this psychological well-being of elders aged 60-89 years and possible existential (religious involvement, spirituality and personal meaning in life) and demographic factors (gender, age and education) affecting this status. Data were collected from 329 elders (162 males and 167 females) in Dessie Town through rating scales. Findings indicated that most elders had moderate and above moderate score on self-esteem and autonomy. Moreover, reasonable number of elders had moderate and high score on depression. There existed a significant difference between males and females in personal meaning in life, autonomy, selfesteem, and depression; males better in psychological well-being. In addition, one-way ANOVA results showed significant differences in autonomy, self-esteem, and depression scores due to differences in educational level. Stepwise regression analysis finally yielded that personal meaning in life, spirituality, and religious involvement together contributed significantly to the variance in autonomy, self-esteem and depression. Personal meaning in life had the highest contribution to the total variance in autonomy, self-esteem and depression. The contribution of spirituality was significant to the variance in autonomy, depression and self- esteem of the elderly. Furthermore, religious involvement was found to make significant contribution to the variance in self-esteem and depression but not autonomy.

Highlights

Psychological wellbeing is a subjective human functioning that has increasingly taken an important space in psychological literature and mental health
This study examines the psychological wellbeing of the elderly in Dessie Town and the effect of some selected demographic factors and existential factors
Keeping in view the cut off scores for different levels of psychological well-being already developed in the original sub scales, it can be said that the mean scores of participants in all the three sub-scales places them somewhere in the moderate level

Summary

Introduction

Psychological wellbeing is a subjective human functioning that has increasingly taken an important space in psychological literature and mental health. It has been differently defined as ‘living life in a fully and deeply satisfying manner’ [1,2,3], ‘an overall satisfaction and happiness’ [4], ‘thoughts and feelings about life and how events in the environment are perceived’ [5], ‘subjective report of one‘s own life’ [6], ‘a mental state of being healthy, satisfied’ [4], ‘an absence of illness’ [7], and ‘selfacceptance, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, positive relations with others, and personal growth’ [8]. Depression, on the other hand, is a state of psychological ill-being including such excessive negative feelings as anxiety, worry, sorrow, tiredness, hopelessness, sleeplessness and loneliness being amidst people [9]

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