International Journal of Education and Psychological Research

(Print and Online Peer Reviewed Journal)


Print - ISSN: 2349 - 0853
e - ISSN: 2279 - 0179

VOLUME 4 - ISSUE 1

(March 2015)

A Study of Optimism and Self Esteem in Relation to Psychological Distress Among Professional and Non professional Students


Authors: Dr. Fareeda Shaheen

Pages: 65-68

Abstract:

Optimism and Self Esteem are important factor which play a key role in dealing with psychological distress, therefore the purpose of this study was to investigate the role of optimism and self esteem in reducing psychological distress among adolescents. The sample comprised of 200 (100 professional and 100 non professional) students of Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh. The Life Orientation Scale Revised (Sheir and Carver; 1994) was used for measuring optimism, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) was used for measuring self esteem and PGI Health questionnaire N-1 (Verma, Wig and Prashad,1985) was used for measuring psychological distress of adolescents. Pearson product moment correlation and t-test were used for analyzing the data. Result showed that there was significant negative correlation between optimism and psychological distress. Negative correlation was also found between self esteem and psychological distress. When Stream group difference was conducted on same sample, it was found that Professional students scored significantly higher on optimism and self esteem as compared to Non professional students. Similarly, it was also found that Non professional students scored significantly higher on psychological distress as compared to Professional students.