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Self-regulation as a correlate of psychological well-being

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Indian Journal of Health and Well-being © 2018 Indian Association of Health, Research and Welfare
2018, 9(3), 441-444 ISSN-p-2229-5356,e-2321-3698
http://www.iahrw.com/index.php/home/journal_detail/19#list UGC Journal No 42787 and NAAS Ratings 4.13

Self-regulation as a correlate of psychological well-being

Surjeet Singh and Nov Rattan Sharma
Department of Psychology, Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana

Self-regulation is the capacity of the individual to disregard prominent responses and to regulate affects, cognitions,
and behaviors. It is the ability to alter thoughts, feelings, desires and actions in the perspective of such higher goals
and would represent one of the most adaptive variables of the human behaviour (Vohs & baumister, 2004). Self-
regulation capacity was found to play a key role in the development of psychological well-being (e.g., Gagnon,
Durand-Bush, & Young, 2016; Brilki, 2017) because high self-regulatory capacity should strengthen the intention-
behaviour relationship because it enables an individual to inhibit undesired responses (De Ridder, Lensvelt-
Mulders, Finkenauer, Stok, & Baumeister, 2012). Therefore, the present study attempts to examine whether the self-
regulation ability might associate or linked with psychological well-being. The purpose of this study was to
investigate the relationship between self- regulation capacity and psychological well-being in 100 young adults.
Short form of the original Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSRQ; Carey, Neal, & Collins, 2004) and Psychological
Well-Being scale (Ryff & Keyes, 1995) were used to fulfill the purpose of the study. Pearson correlation analyses
showed that self-regulation capacity positively associated with psychological well-being and its dimension;
personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life and self-acceptance and negatively associated with
autonomy and environmental mastery. As a positive construct implication of self-regulation to maintain optimal
mental health was discussed.

Keywords: self-regulation, well-being

Well-being is multi-factorial and complex in nature. Well-being actions in the perspective of such higher goals (Carver & Scheier,
encompasses two forms: Hedonic (or subjective) and eudaimonic 1998; Vohs & Baumeister, 2004). Self-regulation is the capacity of
(psychological) well-being. Hedonic well-being emphasizes the the self to disregard prominent responses and to regulate affects,
pursuit of pleasurable experiences, measyred with subjective well- cognitions, and behaviors.
being; whereas eudaimonic well-being emphasizes the pursuit of a Broadly defined, “Self-regulation is an individual's ability to alter
meaningful life, measured with psychological well-being (Peterson a response or override a thought, feeling, or impulse” (Baumeister,
& Park, 2014; Vallerand, 2015). Psychological well-being is a multi- 1999; Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996).
faceted concept composed of six different intra-personal When people face difficulties and conflicts to achieve their goals,
characteristics that describe the fully functional individual (Ryff, the construct of self-regulation make clear a systematic process
1989). These factors are: Autonomy, environmental mastery, process that involves conscious effort to influence thoughts,
purpose in life, personal growth, positive relationships with others, feelings, and behaviors in order to achieve a goal in the context of a
self-acceptance. Psychological well-being is influenced by a number changing environment (Zeidner, Boekaerts, & Pintrich, 2000).
of things including our age (Steptoe, Deaton, & Stone, 2015); socio- Successful self-regulation requires the strategic mobilization of
economic status (Kessler, 1982; Kaplan, Shema, & Leite, 2008); thought, feeling, and action (Cantor, 1990; Gollwitzer, 1996; Kuhl,
family history of illness (Dator, 2014); proper dietary behaviour 2000). Self-regulation ability is positively associated with better
(Hong & Peltzer, 2017); physical exercise (Scully, Kremer, Meade, health, good adjustment, mental and physical well-being (Vohs &
Graham, & Dudgeon, 1998); interpersonal relationship (Arnold & baumister, 2004).
Sarah, 2015); education and living conditions (Glenn & Weaver,
Tangney, Baumeister, and Boon (2004) found that higher self-
1981). Self-regulation (behavioural factors) as an individual ability
regulation scores correlate with less alcohol abuse, a higher grade
can have a major impact on a person's health and psychological well-
point average, better psychological adjustment, and more optimal
being (Vohs & Baumeister, 2004; Hofer, Busch, & Kartner, 2011;
emotional responses. Self-regulation is used in a number of
Gagnon, Durand-Bush, & Young, 2016).
processes including: Regulating emotions, behavioral self-control,
People are able to resist their own impulses, adapt their behavior to controlling thoughts, and physically restraining actions or
a range of standards, and change their current behaviors in the service behaviors. Effective self-regulation strategy helps to optimize
of attaining distal goals (Baumeister, 1999). People experience performance and well-being. It could significantly positively
psychological distress, when they think that situation is out of associated and predict psychological well-being (Simon & Durand-
control, in that situation people are need to change or regulate their Bush, 2009-2014).
thoughts, plans, and strategies in a appropriate direction to cope with
Gagnon, Durand-Bush, and Young (2016) examined the
situation. The term self-regulation is often used to refer generally to
association between self- regulation capacity, psychological well-
efforts by humans to alter their thoughts, feelings, desires, and
being, and burnout in 37 Canadian medical students and 25
Correspondence should be sent to Surjeet Singh physicians. Results showed that self-regulation capacity positively
Research Scholar, Department of Psychology predicted psychological well-being and negatively predicted
Maharishi Dayanand University burnout for both groups. Concerning the dimensions of purpose in
Rohtak, Haryana life and environmental mastery, the benefits of self-regulatory
442 SINGH AND SHARMA/ SELF-REGULATION AS A CORRELATE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL

capacity were particularly pronounced for physicians. Self- the short form of the original Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSRQ:
regulation competences are helpful to maintain optimal mental Brown, Miller, & Lawendowski, 1999). The SSRQ (Carey, Neal, &
health. Briki (2017) examined the relationships between passion, Collins, 2004) is a single factor, 31-item questionnaire that is scored
trait self-control, and well-being. Study revealed positive using a 1 to 5 Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to
relationships between harmonious passion, trait self-control, and “strongly agree.” Items reveal cognitive, affective, behavioral and
well-being. social/environmental aspects of self-regulation. The SSRQ has been
Human strengths and positive self-care strategies and skills are shown to have good psychometric properties in a series of studies on
believed to act as buffers against the negative effects of stress and self-regulation and drinking behavior in college students (Hustad,
allow individuals to thrive and optimize their health and well-being. Carey, Carey, & Maisto, 2009).
In light of the growing research evidences, present study was to plan Well-being: Well-being was assessed using Ryff and Keyes'
to investigate the relationship between self-regulation and (1995) Scales of Psychological Well-Being (SPWB). This
psychological well-being. This study provides insight into the well- comprehensive and psychometrically sound tool includes six 42-
being and self-regulation among adults, using a positive psychology item scales measuring the following dimensions of psychological
perspective. Specifically, it examines whether self-regulation well-being: (a) autonomy, (b) environmental mastery, (c) personal
capacity can account for variation in various dimension of growth, (d) positive relations with others, (e) purpose in life, and
psychological well-being. The objective of present study was to (f) self-acceptance. Items are answered using a six-point Likert
examine associations between self-regulation capacity and scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree,” with
psychological well-being. higher scores reflecting a higher level of well-being for each
dimension.
Problem
Self-regulation as a correlate of Psychological well-being. Research design and analysis
A correlational research design was used in present study. To
Hypothesis of the study examine our hypothesis, descriptive and inferential statistical
Based on evidence which is showing that effective self-regulation methods including: mean, standard Deviation, Pearson product
leads to optimal level of well-being, a hypothesis was formulated. moment correlation coefficient analysis were used for analysis of
● Self-regulation would positively associate with psychological the data.
well-being.
Procedure
Method Participants were contacted in a face to face individually or in a
group setting. After taking the consent of the subjects, they were
Participants given to questionnaires and purpose of the study was explained to
A purposive sample of 100 young adults (50 males & 50 females, them. Participants completed measures on short form self-
with the age range of 20-40 years) was taken for the present study. regulation and psychological well-being within the 20 minutes.
Instruments Results
Self-regulation capacity: Self-regulation capacity was assessed by

Table 1: Descriptive statistics and correlation matrices explaining relationship between self-regulation and psychological well-being
VARIABLES MEAN S.D. SR AT EM PG PR PL SA PWS
Self-regulation 97.76 7.06 -.064 -.070 .281** .197* .554** .395** .185*
Autonomy 28.62 4.72 -.384** .368** .437** .189* .355** .690**
Environmental Mastery 27.43 4.21 .176* .308** .214* .228* .588**
Personal Growth 29.04 5.18 .636** .470** .278** .676**
Personal Relatedness 30.83 5.35 .393** .561** .765**
Purpose in Life 29.32 4.57 .416** .582**
Self-Acceptance 31.04 5.10 .589**
Psychological Well-being 175.26 19.71
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (1-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (1-tailed).

Table 1 descriptive statistics show that the mean self-regulation For the psychological well-being questionnaire mean scores
capacity score for young adults was 42.74, (SD=7.06). Based on ranging between 27 and 42 were obtained for each of the six
Brown et al.'s (1999) suggested cut-off scores for high, moderate, dimensions of the psychological well-being. Following Ryff and
and low self-regulation capacity, all participates had 97.76 Singer's (2006) guidelines, high scorers and low scorers on each
(SD=7.06) low self-regulation capacity. dimension were delimited, based on the middle cut-off score of 49.
 Indian Journal of Health and Well-being 2018, 9(3), 441-444 443

Mean scores for autonomy (28.62, SD = 4.72), environmental regulation is negatively but not significantly correlated with
mastery (27.43, SD = 4.21), personal growth (29.04, SD =5.18), autonomy and environmental mastery. Some time it has been
personal relatedness (30.83, SD = 5.35), purpose in life (29.32, SD = observed that too much self-control limit the sense of autonomy and
4.57) and self- acceptance (31.04, SD = 5.10) were all below 49, suppress the sense of mastery and competence in managing the
which indicates that adults had low levels of well-being. environment. Too much controlled self cannot make effective use of
As shown in Table 1, Self-regulation was significantly and surrounding opportunities.
positively correlated personal growth (r=.281, p ≤ .01), personal Implication of the study: Present study suggests that having
relatedness (r=.197, p ≤ .05), purpose in life (r=.554, p ≤ .01), self- greater self-management competencies may be particularly
acceptance (r=.395, p ≤ .01) and overall psychological well-being important to help adult people to maintain a purposeful and
(r=.185, p ≤ .05). The obtained correlational values are highly meaningful life, and effectively manage the extensive personal and
significant but they are weak in nature. However self-regulation is professional responsibilities they have in their daily life. The
negatively correlated with autonomy and environmental mastery but potential power of self-regulation capacity can be used to enhance
it is not significant. psychological well-being. Self-regulation skills programs can be
planned and organized to bolster and maintain to health, well-being,
Discussion and performance.
From intercorreltion table 1, it is clear that Self-regulation ability is
significantly positively correlated with overall psychological well-
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