Kumar Deepak and Narayanan Annalakshmi
Bharathiar University, Coimbatore
Background: In a traditionally patriarchal society, women have limited or significantly
fewer chances to express their needs or participate in decision-making. Single
women in a patriarchal society are confronted with several challenges that increase
their vulnerability. They often find themselves getting oppressed and suppressed than
married women by the prejudices, harassments, social pressures, and domination of
male-relative/ family members. There is a drastic and constant increase in the number
of single women in India, but little is understood about the factors that challenge and
promote positive adaptations in single women. Aim: The present study examines
whether HEXACO personality dimensions predict psychological distress, happiness,
life satisfaction, and psychological resilience among single women. Method: A sample
of 300 single women (divorced, widows, and separated women) in the age group of
25 to 60 years (M = 40 years, SD = 7.98) were administered self-report measures
of personality, psychological distress, subjective happiness, life satisfaction, and
psychological resilience. Results: Multiple regressions were carried out to analyse
the data. Psychological distress was positively predicted by honesty-humility and
negatively predicted by extraversion and agreeableness. Subjective happiness was
positively predicted by extraversion and negatively predicted by honesty-humility. Life
satisfaction was positively predicted by extraversion and agreeableness and negatively
predicted by openness to experience. Psychological resilience was positively predicted
by extraversion and negatively predicted by emotionality. Conclusion: These findings
highlight the role of personality dimensions as individual resources that promote the
positive adaptation of single women to the challenges of everyday life. Future research
examining the role of demographic, psychological, social, and communal factors that
help in positive adaptation among single women can provide a better understanding of
the process of resilience in this population. The implications of the findings for policy,
practice, and research are also discussed..