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The Relationship of Psychological Resilience and Spiritual Experiences with Psychological Well-being among

Employees

Mazlumeh Khademi1, Dariush Ghasemian1*, Ramazan

Hassanzadeh2

1Department of Psychology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic

Azad University, Mazandaran, Iran

2Department of Psychology, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University

,Sari, Iran

*Corresponding Author: Dariush Ghasemian

ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study was to determine

the relationship of psychological resilience and spiritual

experiences with psychological well-being among employees of

Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA). The participants were

all employees of Tax Administration, Sari (Iran). Based on Krejcie

and Morgan table, a number of 127 respondents were selected

using convenience sampling. The participants were asked to

complete Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC),

Underwood and Teresi Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES) and

Ryff’s Psychological Well-being Scale. Results of data analysis

showed a significant positive correlation of psychological resilience

(r=0.35) and spiritual experiences (r=0.26) with psychological

well-being. Results of regression analysis also indicated that both

variables could significantly predict psychological well-being.

KEYWORDS Psychological Resilience, Spiritual Experiences,

Psychological Well-being.

INTRODUCTION

During recent decades, the tendency to study the positive aspects of health care has increased.

Ryff and Keyes (1998) suggested a psychological well-being model which was widely examined by

Clarke, Marshall, Ryff and Keyes (2002), Dierendonck (2001), Cheng and Chan (2005) and

Lindfors, Berntsson and Lundberg (2006) (Ryff & Keyes, 2002). Psychological well-being is a

multidimensional concept including: (1) self-acceptance that is characterized as adopting a

positive attitude toward oneself as well as accepting positive and negative aspects of one’s

personality and past life, (2) positive relations with others that refers to a feeling of satisfaction

and intimacy with others and understanding the importance of these attachments, (3) autonomy

that entails a sense of independence and effectiveness in life events and having an active role in

behaviours, (4) environmental mastery which is demonstrated as perceived mastery over the

environment, controlling of external activities and effective utilization of peripheral opportunities,

(5) purpose in life that refers to having a purpose in life and belief in the meaningfulness of past

and present life, and (6) personal growth which is the perceived growth and achievement of new

experiences as a creature with certain potentials (Ryff & Keyes, 2002; Ryff & Singer, 1998).

Ryff’s model is one of the most important models of psychological well-being. In this model, well-

being is considered to be an attempt for progress and development. Psychological well-being is a

fulldevelopment process extended in the lifetime. Hence, its proponents argue that well-being

JOURNAL OF

PSYCHOLOGY &

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J. Psych. Beh. Stud. Vol., 2 (3), 105-110, 2014

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does not mean deriving pleasure; instead, well-being refers to efforts for transcendence

and promotion represented in the realization of potentials and abilities. According to Ryff,

psychological well-being is ‘striving for perfection in order to realize the true potential of

the individual’ (Ryff & Keyes, 2002).

A variable closely related to psychological well-being is resilience which refers to an

individual's tendency to cope with stress and adversity (McCubbin, 1996). Resilience, as

a popular research area in recent years, studies and explores personal and interpersonal

capabilities that lead to progression and resistance in difficult situations (Richardson,

2002). Studies show that resilient people are described as not self-defeating, emotionally

bland and able to confront difficulties (Letzring et al., 2005). Arce, Simmons et al (2008)

showed that highly resilient people were likely to show positive emotions in confronting

emotionally-neutral and unknown events. Hamid et al (2012) found a positive

relationship between resilience and mental health.

On the other hand, spirituality is an essential concept that people try to find in their

works. People look for a way to link their lives to spirituality that allows them to relate to

divinity throughout their lives. By spirituality, people achieve peace of mind, inner

satisfaction and long-lasting happiness. They provide opportunities by which other

people can achieve satisfaction and happiness (Madahi et al., 1055). According to

Paragament (1997), people have become aware that spirituality helps them maintain

their health. Madahi et al (2011) indicated the influence of spirituality on people. With

regard to the increasing interest of authors in positive psychology area and correlated

factors, the present study tries to evaluate the following hypotheses:

1. There is a relationship between psychological resilience and psychological well-

being.

2. There is a relationship between spiritual experiences and psychological well-

being.

3. Psychological resilience and spiritual experiences significantly predict

psychological well-being.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The research participants consisted of all employees of Iranian National Tax

Administration (INTA), Sari, Iran. The sample size included 127 employees using Krejcie

and Morgan table. Convenient sampling was also used to select the sample. Ryff’s Scale

of Psychological Well-being (SPWB): SPWB is a self-report scale designed to measure

psychological well-being. This 84-item instrument consists of six subscales: (a)

Autonomy, (b) Environmental mastery, (c) Personal growth, (d) Positive relations with

others, (e) Purpose in life, and (f) Self-acceptance. Participants respond on a 6-point

Likert scale that ranges from ‘strongly disagree’ (5) to ‘strongly agree’ (1). 47 items and

37 items are scored directly and inversely, respectively. In order to study the validity of

the scale and its relationship with other measures of personality traits and indicators of

psychological well-being, Ryff drew upon such measures as Bradburn’s Affect Balance

Scale (5919), Neugertan’s Life Satisfaction (5911) and Rozenberg’s Self-esteem (1965)

(Ryff & Keyes, 2002). The results confirmed the construct validity of the scale (Ryff &

Singer, 1998). Ryff and Keyes (2002) has reported Cronbach’s α coefficients for self-

acceptance (0.93), positive relations with others (0.86), environmental mastery (0.90)

and personal growth (0.87).

Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC): CD-RISC is a 25-item scale developed by

Connor and Davidson (2003) to measure resilience against pressure and threats. Each

item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from not true at all to true nearly all time.

Although this scale measures different aspects of resilience, it has a total score. Hashemi

and Jokar (1055) used Cronbach’s α (α=0.87) and test-retest methods to measure the

reliability and factor analysis to determine the validity (0.73) of the scale. The results of

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factor analysis using principal component showed a principal factor in the scale. The

factors were extracted based on the slope of S-curve and special fit of larger than one.

KMO index and Bartlett’s sphericity coefficient were 0.88 and 5175, respectively. The

indices were significant at the level 0.001, which indicated the adequate sampling of

items and correlation matrix.

Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES): DSES is a 16-item self-report measure

developed by Underwood and Teresi (2003) to assess ordinary experiences of connection

with the divine, connection with God and responsibility for others in daily life. Underwood

and Teresi (1001) estimated the internal consistency of the scale by using Cronbach’s

alpha formula which yielded a coefficient of 0.94 and 0.95 in two cases of the

administration of the scale (Hashemi, 2011). Taghavi and Amiri (2010) studied the

properties of the scale in Iran. They examined the reliability of the scale using test-

retest, Spearman-Brown split-half and Cronbach’s alpha methods which yielded a

coefficient of 0.96, 0.88 and 0.91, respectively. They used three methods to study the

validity of the scale: concurrent validity, factor analysis and correlation of questionnaire

items with the total score. Concurrent validity was examined by simultaneous

administration of DSES and Allport’s Religious Orientation Scale, which yielded a

coefficient of 0.71. They conducted exploratory factor analysis using principal factor

analysis with varimax rotation, which helped derive three factors in DSES including

ordinary experiences of connection with the divine, connection with God and

responsibility for others in daily life. These three factors were found to account for over

61% of the total variance. They also reported that all questionnaire items had a

correlation of 0.4-0.8 with the total score (Hamid, 2012).

The present study used descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis for

data analysis.

RESULTS

Table 1 shows scores of resilience, spiritual experiences and psychological well-being

among the studied sample.

Table 1. Subjects' scores on Resilience, Spiritual experiences and Psychological well-

being variables.

N SD Mean

127 11.36 66.21 Resilience

127 11.37 69.26 Spiritual experiences

127 36.94 345.2 Psychological well-being

Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between resilience

and spiritual experiences (table 2). The results showed a significant positive relationship

between resilience and psychological well-being (r=0.35) while no significant relationship

was found between resilience and the subscales of psychological well-being. A significant

positive correlation was also found between spiritual experiences and psychological well-

being (r=0.26). This variable was also significantly and positively correlated with the

subscales of self-acceptance (r=0.25) and positive relations with others (r=0.23).

Table 2. Correlation coefficient test.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Spiritual experiences 1

Resilience 0.17 1

Psychological well-

being *0.26 0.35 1

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Self-acceptance *0.25 0.11 0.08 1

Positive relations

with others *0.23 0.07 0.15 *0.62 1

Autonomy 0.14 0.05 0.10 *0.29 *0.27 1

Environmental

mastery 0.17 0.09 0.03 *0.70 *0.70 *0.31 1

Purpose in life 0.13 0.05 0.10 *0.71 *0.65 0.18 *0.80 1

Personal growth 0.18 0.07 0.10 *0.56 *0.63 *0.25 *0.63 *0.69 1 *Significant at the level 0.01

Multivariate regression was used to explain the contribution of each predictor variable

(spiritual experiences and resilience) in predicting the criterion variable (psychological

well-being) and their combination. R2 value, as shown in the table 3, suggests that this

model can predict 14.9% of variations in psychological well-being. Table 4 shows the

contribution of variables in predicting the criterion variable. According to β value (non-

standardized coefficient), resilience has the greatest share in predicting psychological

well-being (β=0.351). Spiritual experiences also predict psychological well-being

significantly (β=0.109).

Table 3. Regression model.

Standard error Adjusted R2 R2 R Model

34.08 0.149 0.167 0.408 1

Table 4. Predict the amount of variables.

B SE Beta T Sig.

Resilience

Spiritual

experiences

1.026

0.680

0.311

0.311

0.316

0.209

3.299

2.188

0.001

0.031

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship of psychological

resilience and spiritual experiences with psychological well-being in the employees with

INTA. Findings of the present study showed a positive relationship between resilience

and psychological well-being among employees. This finding is consistent with Basu

(2004), Masten (2001), and Conner and Davidson (2003) who reported that decreased

resilience to life events was associated with psychological pressure, anxiety or

depression. Resilience improves self-esteem and successful confrontation with negative

experiences by increasing positive emotions. Accordingly, resilience leads to positive

adjustment and psychological well-being by improving self-esteem as an intermediate

mechanism. People with high psychological well-being are more adjustable to difficulties

than people with less psychological well-being. Resilient people seem to be more creative

and flexible in dealing with problems and plan to solve them. Moreover, the more they

are able to display resilience, cope with problems and take responsibility, the less they

will be exposed to deviant behavior and the more they will have psychological well-

being. It seems that such people adopt a creative, resilient attitude toward problems,

develop plans to solve the problems, do not hesitate to ask for help should the need

arise and have full resources to cope with problems, which together contribute to their

higher mental health and psychological well-being. To confront problems, they possess a

complete resource which leads to high mental health and psychological well-being.

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The present findings also demonstrated a positive relationship between spiritual

experiences and psychological well-being among employees. This finding is consistent

with Koening (2007), Ferguson (2001), Hackney et al (2003), Desrosiers and Miller

(2007), Amy and Park (2006), Madahi et al (2011). A dimension of a healthy life is

spiritual needs. Human is a biological, psychological, social and spiritual being;

therefore, his needs should be considered in life plans. Spirituality influences personal

life and well-being. Therefore, in providing an existential definition of human, World

Health Organization (2004) addresses physical, mental and moral aspects and adds

spiritual dimension as the fourth aspect contributing to human development. Allport

(1968) contends that a strong faith and conviction is necessary to develop a mature

(healthy) personality. He emphasizes that a healthy human being has an integrated and

goal-oriented life. Thus, spirituality affects the practical life and well-being of people

(Hashemi, 2011)

Other findings showed that resilience and spiritual experiences could predict changes in

psychological well-being. To explain this, one can resist against and overcome stressing

factors as well as those factors which cause many psychological problems by improving

resilience. Resilience guarantees psychological well-being by modifying and eliminating

such factors as stress and depression (Conner, 2003). Spirituality nurtures a sense of

attachment, security and social service in people.

Considering the findings of the present study, it is recommended that programs be

designed and implemented based on health psychology in educational systems and mass

media to increase resilience and well-being in people. There was a significant

relationship between spiritual experiences and psychological well-being; therefore,

psychologists are recommended to consider this important construct in their educational

interventions in order to promote spirituality. A condition needs to be provided in which

people can internalize spirituality in their emotional and cognitive system and shift from

belief level to religious belief which can insure unity of people and their mental health.

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