Well Being among Post Graduate Students using the Ryff Scale

Abstract

Well being has become a matter of concern with many experts in the field of mental health. Research has brought to light a need to understand well being from multiple perspectives such as physical, spiritual,social, occupational, emotional,psychological, professional and financial as well as across age groups and gender.The present study aims at finding correlations between psychological well-being among female postgraduate students pursuing different specialisations(Management, Home Science and Clinical Psychology) as well as within each group. Purposive sampling technique has been used for data collection from two universities, over a time period of 3-4 weeks ,where a total sample of 90 postgraduate students were administered the Ryff scale out of which data of 74 students has been analysed. Findings were calculated using ANOVA and TUKEY tests suggesting that age as a variable showed a negative correlation with well being clearly emphasising that female post graduate students from higher age groups had lower perception of well being. Another finding on sub scale indicated that Personal Growth(PG) is the only dimension for well-being that was found to have a p value less than 0.05,indicating a significant difference in personal growth among Management and Clinical psychology students but not Home science students. Well being programme can help identify reasons for low perception of well being and also enhance other dimensions on the scale as a support towards a positive and holistic well being. Students are important contributors towards the progress of any society and change makers for the future.Conducting well being programmes can help the students enhance various domains of well being over a period of time , along with guidance and support from the education community.