Stress as a Predictor of Psychological wellness in Old age: an Indian Perspective.

ABSTRACT

Old age is considered to be the phase of degenerative changes taking place in an individual’s life span. It is one of the different phases of life which is characterized by physical as well as psychological decline. Old age contributes in bringing about a change in individual’s behavior, attitude, intelligence, ability physical capacity etc. Deficiency in either of the form makes a person distressed and unsatisfied. Psychological wellness is a major concept in this direction for each and every individual especially during the old age. The present study was designed to explore the relationship between five areas of stress viz. physical stress, emotional stress, mental stress, spiritual stress and relational stress with the psychological wellness among the healthy Indian elderly couples.Using stress assessment scale the stress reactions of 100 elderly couples aged between 60 to 75 years (N=200) was measured in five domains of stress. Similarly psychological wellness was assessed using psychological wellness scale. Results were consistent with the prior findings in literature. Stress was found to be negatively related with the psychological wellness in elderly couples. However, it was also revealed that physical stress was found to be the most significant predictor of psychological wellness among elderly. The psychological wellness of elderly has been correlated with the severity of stress and its dimensions. Stress has been found to hold a negative relationship with that of psychological wellness in elderly couples. Thus keeping psychological wellness in healthy direction the elderly people should be directed for lessening their stress and maintaining their psychological wellness.