Are Cognitive States Gender Specific in Predicting Quality of Life among Youth?

Gender is an important schema that guides the way we see ourselves and the world at large. Gender concepts are learned from one's particular society. Such concepts not only shape one's behavior but also psychological characteristics such as emotional and cognitive states (hope, self-esteem and self-efficacy). The present study is an attempt to explore the gender differences in the levels of cognitive states, quality of life and the predicting power of cognitive states in quality of life of youth. A purposive sample of 300 students consisting both males (n=110) and females (n=190) aged 18-22 years was drawn from various colleges of Rewari and Gurgaon districts of Haryana. Descriptive and inferential statistics reveal almost similarity in the levels of cognitive states as well as overall quality of life in both sexes. However, gender differences are observed to some extent in various domains of quality of life. Further, stepwise multiple regression analysis highlights the gender specific pattern of predicting power of different cognitive states with regards to overall quality of life and its related domains.