Role of Optimism in the Well-Being of Undergraduate Students in Goa

The present study was designed to study the relationship between optimism and well-being . The sample for the study comprised of 500 undergraduate students from colleges in Goa. Five measures'Life Orientation Test - Revised' by Scheier and Carver (1994), 'Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)' by Watson, Clark and Tellegen (1988), 'Subjective Happiness Scale' by Lyubomirsky and Lepper (1999),'Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)' by Radloff (1977), and 'Satisfaction with Life Scale' by Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin (1985) were administered to participants. The findings of this study indicate a moderate positive relationship between optimism and subjective well-being. Optimism was positively correlated to positive affect (r=.486, P<0.01), happiness (r=.436, P<0.01), and life satisfaction (r=.472, P<0.01), and negatively correlated to negative affect (r=-.357, P<0.01) and depression (r=-.457, P<0.01).