Subjective well being of Elderly in Relation to their Happiness Level: a Comparative Study

Abstract

Human well being as a concept encompasses a well rounded balanced and comprehensive experience of life. It includes health in social, physical, mental, emotional, career and spiritual domains. It can be thought of both as an outcome for which individuals strive and as a part of a functional process that helps an individual's to achieve their goals (Lucas & Diener, 2008). When things do not go right in all of these areas, one probably does not experience as much joy, serenity; and may be under greater stress, worry and anxiety. There are different theories of well being which include well being, or how much positive and negative affect one's experiences as well as levels of life satisfaction. It relates to happiness in current situation and at place one wants to be.Although researchers have invariably discussed happiness and well being as they reflect a unitary construct, there is no single definition that captures the entirety of well being. Now it is in general, considered to be multidimensional construct (Wig et al., 1983). Well being researchers divide the domain in various classes of constructs that tap into distinct ways in which one's life could be evaluated (Schimmack, 2008). Diener (1984) has mentioned three basic characteristics of well being (I) it is and depends on experience; (II) it includes not only the absence of negative effects but also positive affects; (III) it refers to evaluation of all aspects of an individuals' life. Subjective well being includes two components, i.e., cognitive evaluation of life satisfaction and affective aspect consisting of presence of positive affects and absence of negative affects independent of each other. At cognitive level, well being is defined in terms of level of Ufe satisfaction and evaluation of life as a whole (Pavot et al., 1991). Now as a multidimensional construct, human well being can be defined as optimal psychological functioning that refers to evaluation of happiness, pleasant vs unpleasant experiences and it includes all judgements of good and bad events of life (Ryan & Deci, 2001 ; Brajsa-Zganec et al., 2011 ).General well being may be defined as the feeling of contentment, happiness, satisfaction with life experiences and one's role in the world of work, sense of achievement, utility, belongingness, and no distress, dissatisfaction or worries etc. These things are difficultto evaluate objectively, hence the emphasis on the term subjective wellbeing. It may well be maintained in adverse circumstances and conversely, may be lost in favourable situation. It is related to but not dependent upon physical/psychological conditions. Subjective well being is the psychological term for Happiness. It is composed of several major components such as global life satisfaction, contentment with specific life domains, the presence of frequent positive affect and a relative absence of negative affect. Optimism and feelings of fulfillment are also a part of well being. These components can be further analysed into more specific elements for example, positive affect is commonly divided into joy, elation, contentment, pride, affection, happiness and ecstasy. While negative affect is categorized into such elements as guilt and shame, sadness, anxiety, worry, anger, stress and depression.Happiness is a nebulous term, which to date has different meanings to different people. To some it is synonymous with while others accept the standard dictionary definition that happiness is a state of well being or contentment- a condition dominated by pleasurable satisfaction (Rahman, 2006).Happiness is not something that happens, it is not the result of the good fortune or random chance, it is not something that money can buy or power command; it does not depend on outside events but rather on how we interpret them. According to Swami Vivekananda (2000), life is not enjoyment alone, true joy is when we venture inwards. …