Resilience and Psychological Well-being: An Exploratory Study of Orphans and Non-Orphan Adolescents

Orphans are usually found to have more psychological problems as compared to nonorphans. The present study provides insight into the resilience and well-being of orphaned adolescents living in orphanages and non-orphaned adolescents living with their families. The objectives of the study were to examine differences among orphan and non-orphan adolescents in the level of resilience as well as in their well-being. The present study also aims to explore the relationship between resilience and well-being among the present sample. The sample consisted of 100 adolescents (50 orphans and 50 nonorphans) between 12-18 years selected through purposive sampling from the city of Agartala, Tripura. The Resiliency Scale (Wagnild and Young, 1987) and The Warwick- Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale WEMWBS (NHS Health Scotland, University of Warwick and University of Edinburgh, 2006) was used for measuring resilience and wellbeing in the present study. Psychometric adequacy and parametric statistic assumptions were checked. Pearson correlation, One-Way ANOVA, and Regression analysis were applied. The results revealed group differences on resilience and wellbeing. Significant relationships were observed between the psychological variables, the result also indicate resilience as a significant predictor of well-being among the sample.