Relationship of self-perceived strengths with psychological well-being and life satisfaction among middle adults

Abstract: The current study explores the relationship of self-perceived strengths with psychological well-being and life satisfaction among middle adults. The study consists of 408 middle adults (male=204, females=204) aged between 40-59yrs were taken from the urban population of Mangalore city, Karnataka. The self-perceived strengths (Mehrotra, 2013), psychological well-being 20 (Mehrotra 2013) and life satisfaction scale (Kumar & Dhyani) were administered to all the participants. The data were analysed using the Pearson correlation coefficient method. The results revealed a significant positive relationship between self-perceived strengths with all the domains of psychological well-being. In contrast, few domains of life satisfaction were significantly related to self-perceived strengths.

Keywords: self-perceived strengths, life satisfaction, psychological well-being

 

Character strengths

Virtues and character strengths are positive human traits that were identified to benefit significantly individuals’ well-being, specifically health, happiness and emotional well-being (Park 2006). Historically, virtue has been widely discussed among philosophers, theologies and educators. Both eastern and western philosophical ethics have narrated the concepts of living virtuous lives (Peterson 2006). The Scientific Exploration of the concept of character strengths started with the emergence of positive psychology. The most recent work on developing a classification of character strengths and virtues was developed by Peterson and Seligman in 2004. They identified 24-character strengths and six virtues, i.e. wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence. Character strength is the more specific psychological process or mechanism that defines the virtues (Peterson 2004).

Life satisfaction

Life satisfaction is based on the philosophical concept of hedonism, which means “delight”. Life satisfaction is “the degree to which a person positively evaluates the overall quality of his / her whole life” (Veenhoven 1994). Two distinct models can be used to assess life satisfaction: the top-down and the bottom-up models. The top-down model uses the global measure of life satisfaction to determine the individuals’ life satisfaction level. In contrast, the bottom-up model uses the domain-specific measure to assess an individual’s life satisfaction.

Character strengths and life satisfaction

The growing evidence related to life satisfaction and character strengths has identified that strengths such as hope, humour, gratitude, zest, love, and curiosity are related to life satisfaction (Peterson et al.,2007). Looking at individual strengths and their relationship with life satisfaction has identified that people with high wisdom are more humble. As the level of wisdom increases, the potentially beneficial effect of humility becomes more pronounced (Krause 2016). Individuals with higher levels of gratitude, self-forgiveness, the forgiveness of others, hope, and spirituality score higher on life satisfaction. More grateful the person observed to live a meaningful life and experience greater life satisfaction, positive emotion, and relatively less negative emotion. (Datu 2013). Research on marital adjustment and character strengths has identified that personal virtue and perceiving one’s spouse as virtuous are strongly linked to marriage quality. Dissatisfied people tend to attribute negative behaviour to their spouses to the spouse, but positive behaviour to the spouses’ environment. Although satisfied people tend to attribute spouses’ negative behaviour to forces in their world, they attribute positive behaviour to stable, internal factors (Strom 2003). Overall, Strengths are identified to be a powerful strategy for satisfying life (Peterson et al., 2004).

Psychological well-being

The term psychological well-being is based on Aristotle’s concept of Eudaimonia. Ryff’s psychological well-being scale is the most widely used eudemonic well-being measure. Well-being, in Ryff’s view, is more than happiness in life. According to her, well-being is based on human strengths, personal striving and personal growth. The scale of psychological well-being consists of 6 multidimensional constructs i.,e. self-acceptance, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, autonomy and positive relationship with others (Ryff 1998).

 

Psychological well-being and character strengths:

From literature, it is found to have significant positive relationship between psychological well-being and character strengths. A study by Leon topoulou et al. (2012) found that the virtues of wisdom, courage, transcendence, and love seemed to be the good predictor of overall psychological well-being. The well-being subscales of personal growth and self-acceptance predicted overall character strengths. Gratitude was also found to have small correlations with autonomy (r = .17) and medium to large correlations with environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relationships, purpose in life, and self-acceptance (rs ranged from .28 to .61) (Wood 2009). The higher levels of dispositional gratitude were associated with higher levels of flourishing well-being and lower levels of depression and suicidal ideation.

Rationale for the study: the concept of life satisfaction is based on the philosophy of hedonism, and psychological well-being is based on the philosophy of eudaimonia. Both constructs are viewed as opposing ways of pursuing well-being. In the hedonic view, well-being is equated with an individual’s pleasure or feeling state. On the other hand, eudemonic view well-being as a continuous process of fulfilling one’s potential. It emphasises more the functioning state of an individual’s life. Considering the different models of well-being, the current study focused on examining the relationship of character strengths with both hedonic and eudemonic aspects of well-being, a question that few studies have explored using a uni-dimensional model of life satisfaction. However, the current study aimed at investigating the relationship of character strengths with domain-specific life satisfaction among mid adults.

 

Method

This research aims to explore the relationship of self-perceived strengths with life satisfaction and psychological well-being among mid-adults.

Research design: the present study is a cross-section in nature.

Sample for the study: The current study consists of 408 middle adults (204 males and 204 females) aged between 40-59yrs. The sample was drawn from Mangalore city, Karnataka.

The sampling method was purposive. The following inclusion and exclusion criteria were considered for the sample selection. Inclusion criteria: Middle adults working, married, living with a spouse, and having children. Exclusion criteria: individuals with mental and physical challenges.

Sample characteristics: The sample consists of 50.2% of young middle adults aged between 40-49yrs and 49.80% from advanced middle adulthood, 50% were between 50-59yrs. Among these adults, 82.80% were from the Hindu religion, 14.50% were from Christianity, and  1.70% were from the Muslim community. Most of the mid-adults were noticed to have Undergraduate and Post Graduate studies (35.30%), and only 5.10% of them had primary education. Looking at the occupational status, 17.89% of the adults were lecturers, 9.55% were industrial clerical, and 14.70% were from the sales profession. Most of these adults worked in the private sector (64%), and 32.10% were working in the government sector.

Tools

Demographic data sheet: self-developed demographic data sheet was used to collect basic information about the adults, such as gender, age, religion, and educational and occupational status of the participants.

Self-Perceived Strengths (Mehrotra et al., 2013): self-perceived strength is a self-administrative test. It consists of 24 strengths. Each strength was narrated in paragraphs describing an imaginary person possessing a particular personal strength. Participants were asked to read each paragraph thoroughly and then to indicate to what extent they think this fictional person is like them with respect to the strengths described in the paragraph. They were asked to indicate their response by placing a tick mark on a 6-point rating format that ranges from very different to very much like me. The scale consists of four dimensions: social strengths (leadership, hope, social responsibility, courage, sense of humour, wisdom, energy, and liveliness). Pragmatic strengths (practical and farsightedness, modesty, humility, self-discipline, open-mindedness). Relational strengths (justice, kindness, close and loving relationship, genuineness, and honesty) and learning orientation strengths (appreciation of beauty, creativity, curiosity, and love to learn new things). The total scores for each domain are calculated separately. The reliability alpha for the domains was 0.76 for social strengths, 0.69 for learning orientation, 0.67 for relational, and 0.65 for pragmatic strengths.

 

Life satisfaction scale (Kumar, P & Dhyani, J. 1988): life satisfaction scale is a self-administrative test. It provides a domain-specific evaluation of one’s life. The participants were asked to read the given statements carefully and indicate their responses by placing tick marks on a 3-point rating format, i.e. True, Partially true, and Not true. The total items on the scales were 54 statements. It includes mental satisfaction, job satisfaction, social satisfaction, marital satisfaction, and family satisfaction. The total life satisfaction was calculated by adding the obtained scores on each domain. The higher the total score, the higher the participants’ life satisfaction. The psychometric property of the test material was found to be good. Spilt-half reliability was found to be 0.68 (N=30) with an index of reliability of 0.82, and test-retest reliability was found to be 0.67 with an index of reliability of 0.81.

Psychological well-being-20: Psychological well-being-20 is developed by Seema Mehrotra, Tripathi & Banu (2013), based on Ryff’s (1989) model in the Indian context. This structured, self-report instrument is based on four dimensions, which point to different aspects of positive functioning. The participants were asked to read the given statements carefully and indicate their response by placing tick marks on a six-point rating format. The total number of items on the scale is 20. The instrument consists of four subscales representing the dimensions of self-acceptance, positive relationship, mastery and competency, engagement and growth. The higher the score, the higher the psychological well-being of the participants will be. The reliability alpha for self-acceptance is 0.72, mastery and competence 0.75, positive relations 0.69, engagement and growth 0.74 and total psychological well-being 0.83.

 

Translation of the tools: all three scales were translated to Kannada and back-translated to English. Following that, the validity of the back-translated version was tested with the original scale.

 

Procedure

Heads of different organisations met; the purpose of the research was explained, and their consent was obtained to collect data from a few of their organisation’s employees. Subsequently, the employees who met the inclusion criteria were approached, and the purpose of the study was explained to them and written informed consent was obtained from the willing participants. They were first asked to fill the self-perceived strengths, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being scale. For those participants who were busy with their work, the questionnaire was left with the participants and collected after a mutually agreed period (usually after 3-5 days). Specific doubts regarding any of the questions were clarified to the participants both at the first and subsequent contact. The total time for filling the scales was 20 minutes.

 

Statistical analysis

The data were coded for computer analysis. SPSS 21.0 version was used for the analysis. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to see the relationship between the variables. For levels of significance, 0.05 and 0.01 levels were determined.

 

Results

The study’s objective is to explore the relationship of self-perceived strengths between life satisfaction and psychological well-being. A Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was carried out to study the above objective.

Table 1.1

Pearson correlation co-efficient among self-perceived strength and life satisfaction.

Domains Mental Job Social Marital Family
Social .226** .176** .217** .084 .209**
Pragmatic 166** .126* .042 .084 .180**
Relation 185** .097 .148** .179** .262**
Learning 185** .157** .104* .172* .195**

Table 1,1 shows a correlation between self-perceived strengths and life satisfaction. Mental and family satisfaction are found to have a significant positive relationship with social, pragmatic, relationship, and love for learning character strengths at 0.01 level. While relation strengths are positively related to job satisfaction, similarly pragmatic strengths are positively associated with social and marital satisfaction, social strengths are positively related to marital satisfaction. This illustrates that exercise of self-perceived strengths increases life satisfaction or vice versa.

Table 1.2

Pearson’s co-efficient of correlation between self-perceived strengths and psychological well-being among mid adults.

Domains Self-acceptance Mastery and competence Positive relation Engagement and growth Psychological well being
Social strengths .206** .344** .333** .299** .437**
Pragmatic strengths .170** .295** .336** .253** .392**
Relation strengths .207** .307** .379** .293** .435**
Learning orientation .174** .301** .342** .334** .421**

 

Table 1.2 shows a correlation between psychological well-being and self-perceived strengths. The result reveals a significant positive relationship with all the parameters of psychological well-being at 0.01 levels. This indicates that as an exercise of self-perceived strengths increases, psychological well-being also increases or vice versa.

Undoubtedly, character strengths play a crucial role in life satisfaction. However, these strengths are significantly related to only a few domains of life satisfaction, namely mental and family satisfaction. In contrast, other domains of life satisfaction, namely, job, social and marital satisfaction, are only positively related to character strengths. At the same time, results on psychological well-being and self-perceived strengths have illustrated a significant positive correlation with all the domains of psychological well-being. This finding confirms that character strengths are more strongly related to psychological well-being than subjective well-being.

Discussion

The study aims to identify the relationship of self-perceived strengths with life satisfaction and psychological well-being. The findings have identified a statistically significant positive relationship with all the domains of psychological well-being. In contrast, some domains of life satisfaction were identified as positively significant to character strengths.

 

Relationship between character strengths and life satisfaction:

The current study reveals that all the character strengths, namely, social, pragmatic, relational and love for learning, are significantly positively related to mental satisfaction. The research linked to physical and psychological well-being has shown that the use of strengths is positively associated with subjective well-being, self-esteem, self-efficacy and health-related quality of life (Proctor et al., 2011). People with a higher level of gratitude tend to experience greater well-being, which reduces their depression level (Lin et al., 2015, Proyer et al., 2013).

Looking at job satisfaction, strengths like social, pragmatic, and love for learning are significantly positively related to job satisfaction. Studies have also found that exercise of character strengths is related to greater happiness in one’s occupational activities and is indirectly associated with greater well-being in one’s life (Harzer & Ruch, 2015, Harzer, Willibald, 2013). Character strengths such as hope, zest, persistence,  wisdom, knowledge, leadership, prudence, and self-regulation are strongly linked to work satisfaction. Adults apply character strengths more often in private life than in work life. Strengths such as wisdom, knowledge, leadership, prudence, and self-regulation are more applicable in work life, While courage, humanity, transcendence, forgiveness, and modesty are more often applied in private life. Individuals with more signature strengths on the job enjoy a higher positive work experience, job satisfaction, enjoyment, engagement and meaning in life (Harzer et al. 2012).

Social satisfaction is found to be significantly positively related to social, relational and love for learning strengths. It is found that gratitude contributes to a higher degree of social support that affects the subjective health of the person (Jans-Beken et al., 2017). It is also observed that thankful people appear to employ more active problem-focused and emotional-focused coping strategies that promote greater well-being (Lin et al., 2015). Thus character strengths play a crucial role in facilitating social well-being.

 

Marital satisfaction is significantly positively related to relational and love for learning strengths. Research related to marital satisfaction and character strengths reveals that strengths such as forgiveness, acceptance, appreciation, fairness and ability to sacrifice for the relationship are identified as having a significant direct impact on marital adjustment ( Veldorale-Bradford, Vail, 2010). A study by Jian, Yong, and Xing (2015) has identified that all the 24 character strengths positively relate to marital satisfaction.

 

Social, pragmatic, relational and love for learning strengths are positively associated with family satisfaction. The study indicated that a parent with high life satisfaction tends to have children with relatively high life satisfaction, and parents’ life satisfaction is primarily linked to child’s hope, indicating that children who have parents who are satisfied with their lives will have a more optimistic outlook for the future (Hoy 2011). On the other hand, parental strain is associated with an increase in symptoms of mental health, which limits their ability to communicate with their children and instils trust and confidence in them (Borre 2014). Overall, character strengths are essential for experiencing life satisfaction among mid-adults.

Relationship between Character strengths and psychological well-being

The result reveals a significant positive relationship with all the parameters of psychological well-being at 0.01 levels, indicates that exercise of self-perceived strengths increases psychological well-being or vice versa. A study by Leontopoulou & Triliva (2012) found that the virtues of wisdom, courage, transcendence, and love seemed to be good predictors of overall psychological well-being. The character strengths of wisdom, courage and transcendence appeared to be highly and positively correlated with the well-being sub-scales of environmental mastery, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. A study using temperament and strengths inventory has revealed that self-direction predicts high psychological well-being, while harm avoidance predicts lower psychological well-being (Garcia 2010). Studies focusing on single character strengths have identified that gratitude is related mainly to psychological well-being (Joshanloo 2008). The relationship between humour style and psychological well-being among mid-adults has revealed that situational humour responses are related to environmental mastery. In contrast, affiliation humour style is related to environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relationship, and self-acceptance.

On the other hand, the Aggressive humour style was negatively correlated with personal growth, positive relation, self-acceptance, and purpose in life. Strengths like optimism, hope, and happiness seemed to be significant predictors of psychological well-being (Hasnain et al., 2014). Moreover, it is also evident that higher spiritual perception is consistently and independently associated with better psychological well-being. Spirituality enhance autonomy, positive affect, purpose in life, positive relation and self-acceptance (Greenfield 2009). The overall current study, as well as existing literature, highlights a significant positive relationship between character strengths and psychological well-being.

Looking at the relationship between self-perceived strengths and both the hedonic and eudemonic perspective well-being, all the domains of psychological well-being were found to be positively significantly related to character strengths, while results, on the other hand, few domains of life satisfaction were positively significantly related character strengths. Joshanloo 2008 also identified that values more strongly predict psychological well-being than subjective well-being.

 

Conclusion

The current study explored the relationship of self-perceived strengths with life satisfaction and psychological well-being among mid-adults. The study findings indicated that character strengths are significantly related to psychological well-being than to life satisfaction. The limitation of the study can be the sample size and the sample selection. A future research can focus on exploring the mediating factor and the relationship of character strength with an integrated model of well-being.

The authors of this article are :

  1. Dr. Reshma N.S., Assistant Professor , Psychiatry Department, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
  2. Dr. Manjula M.Y., Professor Emeritus at CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Central Campus, Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

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