Psychological Well-being and Gender Difference among Science and Social Science students

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Abstract:
Psychological Well-being and Gender Difference among Science
and Social Science students
Mohammad Hasan
151
INTRODUCTION
Psychological well being has become
one of the crucial aspects of the modern
psychology. It has attracted not only the
psychologists but also medical practitioners in
compliance to the mental health, emotions,
depression, stress etc. of the individual’s
academic and social life. Right from the
existence of behavioural sciences, efforts have
been made by researchers of different
disciplines to get deep understanding about the
various and different dimensions and correlates
of psychological well being. Freud, Jung,
Bandura, Erickson, Piaget and many others have
given space in their early works. All have much
studied about the various aspects of subjective as
well as psychological well being. This very
rightly reveals that the study of psychological
well being has a rich history with the glorious
past.
At present, psychological well being
has acquired a very pivotal place in psychology
but its popularity and importance has also been
felt in educational psychology. Behaviourists
have postulated that psychological well being is
a learned process of different forms of
individualistic views in accordance to the certain
psychological responses such as self-efficacy,
self-disclosure, anxiety, personality types,
emotional aspects, social support, financial
success etc.; when an individual get reinforced
from external support/stimuli in the forms of
appreciation or reward then he or she responses
in the line of wellness. This asserts that
psychological well being is a crux in the
understanding and enplaning of human
At present, Psychological aspects have got much attention in all the spheres of life including the
educational set up. Changing world‘s scenario have affected every walks of the human life. Not only
the common and working people but students are also struggling with the multi facets problem of
psychological disorders. That is why present study aims to assess the Psychological Well-being
among Science and Social Science Under-Graduate students of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh,
U.P. India. Ryff’s Psychological Well-being scale was administered on a sample of 163 Under-
Graduate (male=83, female=80) students of Science and Social Science Streams. In order to
analysis of collected data; Mean, SD and t-test were applied. Findings showed no significant
difference among the under-graduate students of science and social science with respect to Gender
and Choice of streams. Findings of the study have its importance for the further studies,
psychologists, counsellors, educationists, policy makers and so on. Further, issues of future studies
have been discussed in the light of delimitations of the present study.
Key Words: Psychological Well-Being; Gender Differences; Under-graduate Students; Choice of
Streams
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Indian Journal of Psychological Science, V-6, No.2 (151-158)
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About Authors: *Research Scholar, Department of Education, Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh- U.P. – 202002

152
behaviour (Ryff, 1989).
As per the educationists, psychological
aspects such as emotions, personality types,
mental health, attitude, aptitude, interest,
intelligence etc has direct bearing on the
learning as well as learning process of students.
Thus, psychological well being, supplemented
and cons i s t ed of subjec t i v e, social,
psychological dimensions as well as health
related behaviours which may have gender
differences. That is why the, present research
study aims to find gender differences in
Psychological Well-Being among Science and
Social Under-Graduate Students.
Psychological well being
Psychological well being can be defined
as a dynamic concept that includes subjective,
social and psychological dimensions as well as
health related behaviours (Ryff, 1989).
Psychological wellbeing may also be referred to
as a development and functioning of the mental
abilities such as perception, memory and
awareness of things happening within the
adolescent’s environment (Myers, 2002)
According to Kitchener and Jorm (2002),
Psychological well-being can be described as a
state of mind with an absence of a mental
disorder, from the perspective of positive
psychology, it may include an individual’s
ability to enjoy life, and create a balance
between life activities and efforts to achieve
psychological resilience.
Gender Differences
A gender difference is a distinction of
biological and/or physiological characteristics
typically associated with either male or female
or species in general. While the social sciences
sometimes approaches gender as a social
construct and gender studies particularly do ,
research in the natural sciences investigates
whether biological differences in males and
females influences the development of gender in
humans. Gender is the characteristics, whether
biological or socially influenced, by which
people are defined as male and female.
Review of Related literature
Since last decade, psychological well
being has emerged as a subject of research in
education as well as in psychology too. Ryff &
Singer (2006) have attempted to explain the
psychological well being in epistemological and
genetic perspectives. Ryff (1989) come out with
an integrated and theoretical framework of
wellbeing based on the extensive literature
review. Ibironke & Donald (2015) have
investigated the extent personality factors,
dispositional wellbeing among undergraduates;
they argued that only openness of personality
factor significantly predicted psychological well
being of under graduate while extraversion,
agre e a bleness, c onscienti o u sness, a n d
neuroticism had no significant prediction on
psychological well being. Moreover, personality
factors, dispositional optimism and single
parenting showed a joint prediction of
psychological well being. Perez, J.A. (2012)
studied the various aspects of psychological
well-being among college students. Findings
revealed gender differences with respect to daily
spiritual experience, father relationship, peer
relationship, autonomy, positive relations with
others, and purpose in life. However, no gender
differences were found with respect to positive
effect, negative effect, mother relationship,
teacher relationship, environment mastery,
personal growth and self-acceptance. Akhtar, S
(2015) examined the psychological well-being
of gender differences. Findings of the study
revealed significant differences in the levels on
psychological well- being among students.
Ayden (1999) carried out a research with respect
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to find out the relationship between students’
perceive social support and their psychological
wee-being. Gencoz & Ozlale (2014) also
conducted a study on the impact of social
support on psychological well-being at
university level and come out with results that
social support associated with appreciation
showed direct impact on psychological well-
being. Siddiqui, S (2015) conducted a study on
Gender differences between assertiveness and
Psychological well-being among university
students. Study revealed significant difference
between male f female with respect to
psychological well-being. Roothman, Kristen &
Wissing (2003) assessed the gender differences
in the various dimensions of psychological well
being. Findings revealed significant gender
differences with small to medium practical
effect. No significant difference in gender were
observed on senses of coherence, satisfaction
with life, affect balance, emotional intelligence,
self-efficacy, and the social components of self-
concept and of fortitude. Bano (2014) examined
the impact of life on psychological well-being
and stress among university students. Results
showed no significant difference between men
and women with respect to meaning in life
variables. Hasnain, Wazid & Hasan (2014)
found significant difference young adult
Assames Males and Females on Psychological
Well- Being and Happiness. Mabekoje (2003)
found in his study that self-esteem, social
support and agreeableness were the significant
predictors of teachers’ psychological well-being
among Nigerian Teachers.
Objectives
Following are the main objectives of the study:
1. To investigate the Gender differences in
Psychological Well-being among Male
and Female Under-Graduate Students.
2. To exam ine t he differen ces in
Psychological Well-being among
Science and Social Science Under-
Graduate students.
Hypotheses
Following are the hypothesis of present study:
1. There will be no significant difference
in Psychological Well-being among the
total male and female under- graduate
students of science and social science.
2. There will be no significant difference
in Psychological Well-being of Science
male and female Under-graduate
Students.
3. There will be no significant difference
in Psychological Well-being of Social
Science male and female Under-
graduate Students
4. There will be no significant difference
in Psychological Well-being among
male Under-graduate students of
science and social science.
5. There will be no significant difference
in Psychological Well-being among
female Under-students graduate of
science and social science.
Delimitations
Following are the main delimitations of
the present research study.
vPresent study consisted of a sample size
of 163 male and female under-graduate
students.
vThis study confined to the variables of
Psychological Well-being, gender
differences and science and social
science Under-graduates.
vPresent study delimited only to the
Under-graduate Students.
vStudy confined only to Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh. U.P. India.
vIt also delimited only to the Under-
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graduate students of science and social
departments.
Design: Present study is a descriptive research
study and data were withdrawn from the
population through the standardised
scale. Thus, survey design was
employed to carry out the present
research study.
METHOD
Sample: Thus, in the present study,
sample consisted 163 (male =83 and
female =80) of under-graduates
students of various departments of
science and social science faculty of
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh,
U.P. India were randomly selected .
Tools:
Scale for Psychological well-being
(Ryff’s (1985),, comprised of 43 items, was
administered on the Science and Social Under-
graduates of Aligarh Muslim University.
Data Collection: In the present study,
researcher personally visited to the various
departments of science and social science
faculty of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
and administered the scale on the under-
graduate students. Before administering the
scale, permission was sought from the
concerned authority of the departments and
detail instructions were given to the students
about the every aspects of scale in terms of
marking degree of agreements on the statement
of scale.
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Table: 1. Showing difference in Psychological Well-being between total male and
female Under-Graduate students of Science and Social Science
Science and Social Science 83 156.10 9.90 161 0.02
Under-Graduate Students
Science and Social Science female 80 156.50 10.59
Under-Graduate Students
male
Basis Df
No. Mean SD t- value
Not Significant at 0.01 Level
Table 1 reveals that the‘t’ value 0.02 is
statistically not significant at 0.01 level. This
con firms no si gnific ant d iffe rence in
Psychological Well-being between male and
female under-graduate students of science and
social science streams. Hence, null hypothesis is
accepted. This means, both male and female
under-graduate students of science and social
science streams have similar level of
Psychological Well-being.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
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A close view of Table 2 shows that the ‘t’ value
0.08 is statistically not significant. This signifies
that there is no difference in Psychological Well-
being between male and female science Under-
graduate students. However, both male and
female science under-graduate students had
expressed same level of Psychological Well-
being.
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Table: 2. Showing difference in Psychological Well-being between Science
male and female Under-Graduate Students
Science male under-graduate students 38 157.47 11.80 78 0.08
Science female under-graduate students 42 156.23 9.63
Basis Df
No. Mean SD t- value
Not Significant at 0.01 Level
Table: 3. Showing difference in Psychological Well-being between Social Science male
and female Under-Graduate students
Social Science male under-graduate 38 154.95 9.32 76 0.03
students
Social Science female Under-Graduate 40 155.35 8.32
Students
Basis Df
No. Mean SD t- value
Not Significant at 0.01 Level
A close inspection of Table 4 shows that the
‘t’value 0.03 is statistically not significant at
0.01 level. This infers that there is no significant
difference in Psychological Well-being between
social science male and female under-graduate
students. Hence, null hypothesis accepted. This
means both male and female under-graduate
students of social science streams had
experienced same level of Psychological Well-
being.
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Table 4 shows that the‘t’ value 0.18 is
statistically not significant at 0.01 level. This
confirms that there is no significant difference in
Psychological Well-being between male under-
graduate students of science and social science
streams. Thus, this infers that male under-
graduate of both streams had possessed similar
level of Psychological Well-being.
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Table: 4. Showing difference in Psychological Well-being between Science and
Social Science male Under-Graduate students
Science female under-graduate students 38 156.23 9.63 78 0.70
Social Science female under-graduate 42 155.33 8.32
students
Basis Df
No. Mean SD t- value
Not Significant at 0.01 Level
A close view of table 5 shows that the ‘t’value
0.70 is statistically not significant at 0.01 level of
significance. This clarifies that there is no
significant difference in Psychological Well-
being between female under-graduate students
of both streams. Thus, female under-graduate
students of both streams had similar level of
Psychological Well-being.
10. Findings of the Study
1. No significant difference was found in
Psychological Well-being between
male and female under-graduate
students of science and social science.
2. No significant difference was found in
Psychological Well-being between
male and female under-graduate
students of science.
3. No significant difference was found in
Psychological Well-being between
Table: 5. Showing difference in Psychological Well-being between Science and
Social Science female Under-graduate students
Science male under-graduate students 43 157.74 11.80 81 0.18
Social Science male under-graduate 40 154.95 9.32
students
Basis Df
No. Mean SD t- value
Not Significant at 0.01 Level
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male and female under-graduate
students of Social Science.
4. No significant difference was found in
Psychological Well-being between
Science and Social Science male under-
graduate students.
5. No significant difference was found in
Psychological Well-being between
Science and Social Science female
under-graduate students.
CONCLUSION
As it has been discussed earlier that
psychological well-being has become one of the
crucial dimensions of research. Life of present
century has changed the overall scenario of
education. Exploring novel field of knowledge
has got maximum attention from every corner of
the world. Likewise education, especially
psychology of education got much expansion in
research perspectives. Now researchers started
undertaking research work on contemporary
issues of learners. Psychological well-being is
considered as an important aspect of learners
because it has direct bearing on the overall
academic performance of learners. Both male
and female has been becoming the victims of it.
But very astonishing results were revealed in the
present study that no significant differences
were found neither among the total male and
female nor male and female undergraduates of
science and social science faculty respectively.
However, in order to get more clarity over the
impact psychological well-being on learners, a
very viable study comprised of more than one
independent variables, is needed.
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