Role of Optimism and Sense of Humor towards Subjective Well Being among College Students

Abstract

This study is conducted for predicting, the role of optimism & sense of humor towards subjective wellbeing among college students. The main obj ectives of this study are to identify the role of humor towards subjective well-being, to understand the role of optimism towards subjective well-being and to examine the gender difference in level of subjective well-being, humor and optimism.The last two decades show an increasing interest of scientists to subjective wellbeing (SWB) studies. Subjective well-being (SWB) refers to one's perception of quality of life (McNeil, Stones, & Kozma, 1986). It is a measure of how someone feels about his life at a given moment (Ehrlich & Isaacowitz, 2002). It includes emotional reactions to events, feelings, pleasures, satisfaction with life and satisfaction with specific areas such as marriage and work (Diener, Oishi, & Lucas, 2003). A little humor can brighten one's outlook, and optimism can fuel humor. In similar vein, Fry (1995) also found that humor and optimism moderate the effects of daily hassles on self-esteem and physical health. Britt (2005) found that perfectionism, humor, and optimism moderate the deleterious effects of daily hassles on self-esteem, burnout and physical health. He further found that humor is directly linked to optimism. Humor and optimism play a beneficial role in relieving stress in students and maintaining one's life satisfaction.Most studies on subjective well-being are conducted among college students (Emmons & Diener, 1986 Steger & Kashan, 2007 cited in Galang, Magno, Paterno, & Roldan, 2011) because of age-related changes and high activation of emotions as individuals develop in this age period. College students (graduate students) face a barrage of challenges in their daily life. Aside from doing their home works, projects and extra-curricular activities, they also have responsibilities at home as a son or daughter, brother or sister and as a friend. Thus, it is vital to understand the importance of their life purpose and their well-being. Emmons and Diener (1986) worked on the assumption that the successful pursuit of meaning in life plays an important role in the development of individuals' psychological well-being. That is why there is an increasing attention to subjective well-being (Inglehart, 1993).Current study also assessed, if there is any gender difference between SWB, humor & optimism.Subjective well-beingSubjective well-being (SWB) is defined as 'a person's cognitive and affective evaluations of his or her life (Diener, Lucas, & Oshi, 2002, p. 63). Robbins and Kliewer (2000) refers to subjective well-being to the self-evaluation of life satisfaction. In line with this, life satisfaction refers to the satisfaction experienced by an individual in his or her life as a whole; it is the cognitive element referred to what one thinks about his or her life satisfaction in global terms (life as a whole) and in domain terms (in specific areas of life such as work, relationships, etc.) On the other hand, subjective happiness is inherently defined from the perspective of a person (Emmons & Diener, 1986; Omodci & Wearing, 1990; Plays & Little, 1983; Ruehlman & Wolchik, 1988). The affective element refers to emotions, moods and feelings. Subjective well-being can be expressed in simple terms like saying oftently, I feel good and I feel (Schwartz & Strack, 1999).The study of subjective well-being is a central concern of positive psychology. Researchers in positive psychology have pointed out that in almost every culture studied the pursuit of happiness is regarded as one of the most valued goals in life. Understanding individual differences in subjective well-being is of key interest in positive psychology, particularly the issue of why some people are happier than others. Some people continue to be happy in the face of adversity whereas others are chronically unhappy at the best of times. …