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• Published: 13 September 2021

Navigating India’s rich diversity in social psychological research

• Purnima Singh 1  

Nature Human Behaviour volume  5 ,  page 1116 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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The rich diversity of India offers challenges and opportunities. Researchers can navigate by adapting practices and communication to the local context and including indigenous meaning systems in the vocabulary of the discipline, writes Purnima Singh.

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Singh, P. Navigating India’s rich diversity in social psychological research. Nat Hum Behav 5 , 1116 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01198-2

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Personal wellbeing among adolescents and youth in india.

• 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
• 2 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

This study sought to explore the level of personal wellbeing and identified the determinants of happiness among Indian adolescents and youth. Data were collected from a sample of 495 participants (aged 11–23 years) residing in the National Capital Region of Delhi (Delhi-NCR), using the bilingual version (Hindi and English) of the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI). Their PWI score was 80.06, indicating high happiness levels in the nonwestern normative PWI range. Domains of personal relationship s, community connectedness , and safety represented high overall wellbeing with the highest mean scores. Multivariate analysis showed that the least happy group on life as a whole domain was students aged 19–23 years as compared with the 11–14 and 15–18 years age group. Furthermore, men had higher happiness levels on personal safety , while women had higher scores on life achievement . The qualitative analysis illustrated the socio-cultural basis of these wellbeing determinants as rooted in the hierarchical social structures and collectivistic cultural orientation.

Introduction

The World Health Organization classifies individuals aged between 10 and 24 years as “young people” [ WHO Regional office for South-East Asia.(n.d.) ]. This age group comprises early to late adolescence and youth which forms nearly 30.30% (~373 million) of India's total population ( Office of the Registrar General Census Commissioner, India, 2011 ). Considering their significant contribution to the population of the country and its future economic growth, their health and wellbeing are of paramount importance to the various stakeholders including policymakers and educationists.

The transition from adolescence to adulthood marks an important period during which an individual develops essential behavior and thinking patterns, which could determine health-related outcomes ( Lawrence et al., 2009 ). Several studies have shown that wellbeing-related behavioral patterns established during an individual's early adolescence continue through adulthood and later life impacting their physical and mental health ( Currie et al., 2009 ; Patton et al., 2011 ). Studies have reported a positive association between high levels of satisfaction and happiness with global health, goal attainment, self-esteem, social identity, and community integration, which may act as stable characteristics continuing to early adulthood. Adolescents are especially prone to environmental influences (by peers, family, and society), which act as determining factors of their wellbeing - related behaviors ( Sawyer et al., 2012 ). For example, a study by Suar et al. (2019) predicting factors of subjective wellbeing among Indian millennials found that satisfaction with personal relationships and emotional stability positively predicted their subjective wellbeing by providing a sense of calmness and fulfilled affiliation needs.

Among the various multifactor wellbeing models [e.g., psychological wellbeing, Ryff and Keyes (1995) ; PERMA model, Seligman (2012) ; mental health continuum, Keyes (2002) , etc.], is the Personal Wellbeing (PWB) model, under the broad and multidimensional construct of Subjective Wellbeing (SWB). SWB explores people's interpretation of their own lives (their emotions and cognitive judgments), within which PWB specifically seeks to understand the overall life satisfaction of the individual in various domains of their life. It is measured using the psychometrically robust Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI), which assesses an individual's happiness in seven life domains, namely, standard of living, personal health, life achievement, personal relationships, personal safety, community connectedness, and future security, that act as first-level deconstructions of the global happiness measure: “life as a whole” ( Lau et al., 2005 ).

Exploring an individual's wellbeing through the lens of socio-demographic and cultural determinants, the 2009/2010 HBSC WHO survey reported that the socio-demographic factors such as age and gender have been under-researched with regard to young people's wellbeing ( Currie et al., 2009 ). A study by Singh et al. (2015a) found an age-related decline in levels of PWB among adolescents in India as they advanced from early to late adolescence. Similar results have been reported in Australian and Spanish adolescent samples ( Tomyn et al., 2015 ; Tomyn and Cummins, 2011 ). However, the evidence on the association of age with various domains of personal wellbeing in India is limited. With regards to gender differences, different results have been found across various regions and cultures, for instance, Singh et al. (2015a) reported PWB to be higher in men than women, particularly in the PWI domains of personal safety and life achievement among the North Indian adolescent population. However, Daraei (2013) found no gender differences in the psychological wellbeing of young adults in a sample of Indian undergraduate students in Mysore city. Therefore, further research is needed to build more evidence and investigate the relation between socio-demographics and wellbeing.

Alongside socio-demographic factors, the cultural context of an individual also forms an integral part of their wellbeing ( Diener et al., 2003 ). India is a highly collectivistic nation where most individuals define themselves through group goals, a “we” rather than “I” perspective. As collectivists, individuals in India value collaboration and constructive interdependence resulting in greater group harmony, security, and good social relationships, which form valued social constructs ( Biswas-Diener et al., 2012 ). Research on happiness in collectivistic nations has shown that cultural norms predict the wellbeing of individuals. For example, a large study conducted by Suh et al. (1998) in 61 nations among more than 62,000 people showed that cultural norms strongly predicted life satisfaction among individuals in collectivistic nations. In another study, individuals with a collectivistic orientation show higher affective wellbeing at work ( Rego and Cunha, 2009 ). In India, preliminary research has shown that sacrificing personal goals for group belongingness and other collectivistic themes such as relationship orientation and belief in the hierarchy may promote an individual's happiness ( Biswas-Diener et al., 2012 ). It thus becomes imperative to study the trends and associations of wellbeing indicators in the specific cultural context of people in India.

The use of the native vernacular of a culture to understand the contextual nuances of a construct cannot be disputed. The issue of cultural meanings getting “lost in translation” has been depicted by some wellbeing scholars (e.g., Møller et al., 2015 ). For a detailed cultural understanding of the vernacular and socio-cultural nuances of wellbeing, qualitative research has proven to be a beneficial tool. For example, Møller et al. (2015) conducted focus group discussions in South Africa to investigate the meaning of the isiXhosa version of PWI depicting the wellbeing experiences of natives. Similar in-depth descriptive studies have been performed in other cultural contexts (e.g., Wiens et al., 2014 ; Thin, 2018 ).

In the Indian cultural context, a recent growing body of qualitative research has been conducted exploring the socio-cultural meaning of subjective wellbeing and happiness among children ( Exenberger et al., 2019 ), among at-risk youth with traumatic life experiences ( Exenberger and Reiber, 2020 ), and college students ( Singh and Bandyopadhyay, 2022 ). However, qualitative research on the personal wellbeing indicators to understand the contextual nuances of wellbeing among adolescents and youth is still lacking in the Indian cultural context. Therefore, one of the main objectives of this study was to bridge this gap and examine through a qualitative study, the culture-specific trends in personal wellbeing among Indian adolescents and youth (aged 10–24 years as per the WHO classification).

Given this, this study employed a parallel mixed method design with the following aims:

(1) To quantitatively examine the level of personal wellbeing in a sample of Indian adolescents and youth and explore the demographic differences (age and gender-related) across the PWI domains.

(2) To develop a rich understanding of the facilitators and inhibitors of personal wellbeing among Indian adolescents and youth by studying their experiences using in-depth qualitative analysis.

Methodology

This study employed a parallel mixed method research design with both quantitative and qualitative arms to holistically explore the research aims. The data collection methods and analysis approach are discussed in the “Procedure” section.

Participants

A total of 541 participants took part in this study, from which we excluded 46 participants for submitting incomplete responses (missing data on at least one of the PWI domains). Our final sample comprised of 495 participants ( M age = 15.77 years, SD = 2.81).

As shown in Table 1 , their age was collated into three age groups: 11–14 years, 15–18 years, and 19-23 years to look at the age-related developmental changes in young people. The majority of the participants in the sample belonged to the age groups of 15–18 years and 11–14 years, while 10 participants (2.02%) had missing data. There was a greater representation of school-going than college-going students in this study. Approximately, 59% of the participants were women, and the rest were men, while 17 (3.43%) had missing data on gender.

Table 1 . Demographic sample characteristics.

The PWI measure

The Bilingual (English and Hindi) translated version of the PWI-School Children (PWI-SC) ( Cummins and Lau, 2005 ) developed by Singh et al. (2015a) was utilized for this study. The measure assesses an individual's happiness in seven life domains, namely, standard of living, personal health, life achievement, personal relationships, personal safety, community connectedness, and future security that act as first-level deconstructions of the global happiness measure: “life as a whole” ( Lau et al., 2005 ). The bilingual translated version was reported to be a reliable and valid instrument for measuring PWI among children and adolescents in India, yielding a Cronbach's α of 0.74, with a one-factor solution accounting for 41.29% of the variance and a moderate model fit. The scale items in the bilingual version were identical to the original scale and additionally provide space for qualitative responses after each question. Since a forced-choice question format restricts an in-depth exploration of the construct and limits the respondent to a set of options (e.g., rating 0–10), using an open-ended response format helped us capture the subjective perceptions of the respondents. Tomyn et al. (2013) studied the psychometric equivalence of the child and adult versions of the PWI, i.e., the PWI-SC and the PWI-A, and reported that they measure similar underlying constructs.

Data collection

Convenience sampling was used to collect the data from schools and colleges in the Delhi-NCR region of North India. Various education institutes were contacted to obtain permission from the principal/class teacher for data collection, and a consent letter was signed by the authorities. We took the informed consent of those aged 18 years and above, and the assent of the school students aged below 18 years. Participants were informed that their participation was voluntary, and they were free to withdraw from the research at any stage. They were also made aware that the results would be used only for research purposes, and confidentiality of data would be strictly maintained. The students were briefed about the study verbally, and a data collection booklet comprising the assent/consent form, a demographic information sheet, and the bilingual PWI form (each word/sentence written in Hindi and English languages) were distributed to them in the classroom. The participants were asked to respond to the PWI using the 0–10 scale and encouraged to elaborate on their responses. Therefore, both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained during data collection. The bilingual format is readily employed in India for all official government and private purposes, providing the participants with ease to write responses on the PWI scale in any language they were comfortable with. Any doubts that the participants had were clarified.

Quantitative data analysis

The overall PWI was reported as a mean score, calculated as per the guidelines of the International Wellbeing Group. Mean scores for the global “life as a whole” domain and the seven domains of PWI were also calculated. Ranks from 1 (highest happiness) to 7 (lowest happiness) were assigned to each of the PWI domains according to their mean scores to discern the low and high personal wellbeing domains. Furthermore, Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted using SPSS version 20 to investigate the differential effect of demographic variables (age and gender) on the PWI domains.

Qualitative data analysis

Item-wise deductive content analysis of the data was conducted using the NVivo 12 Plus. The length of qualitative answers ranged from one sentence to five/ six sentences per domain. As an ongoing process, codes were generated and refined by both authors independently. Codes representing similar meanings were then categorized together and given suitable labels that captured the meaning appropriately, representing emergent themes. Authors actively deliberated the codes and refined them to ensure consistency. Any disagreements were resolved. The focus was on identifying specific inhibitors and facilitators of happiness as elaborated by the respondents. Like Singh et al. (2020) , we categorized respondents' PWI scores as equal interval 11-point Likert scale responses (where higher scores reflect higher happiness). Categorizations of 0–4 (slightly happy), 5–6 (moderately happy), and 7–10 (highly happy) were formed wherein the lower score range (0–4) was indicative of inhibitors of happiness and the high score range (7–10) was indicative of the facilitators. The responses in the middle (5–6 score range) were a mix of the inhibiting and facilitating happiness responses.

Table 2 depicts the domain-wise PWI mean scores of the sample stratified by gender and age. The overall PWI of the sample was 80.06. The mean score on the global domain happiness with life as a whole was 79.30 (SD = 2.09), which was regarded as a separate item not included in the calculation of the overall PWI. Ranks from 1 (highest happiness) to 7 (lowest happiness) were assigned to each of the PWI domains according to their mean scores to discern the low and high personal wellbeing domains. Overall, happiness with personal relationships (1), personal safety (2), and community connectedness (3) were among the top-ranked items, whereas future security (7), personal health (6), and standard of living (5) received the lowest ranks. Table 2 further depicts demographically determined rank orders.

Table 2 . Mean scores on the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) domains and their rank order.

Differential effects of demographic variables on the PWI domains

Multivariate analysis was conducted for all eight PWI domains to look at the differential effect of demographic variables (age and gender) on PWB. Seventeen participants did not report their gender, and ten participants did not report their age. These were excluded from the analysis totaling our sample to 474 participants.

Results showed statistically significant differences in wellbeing domains based on student's age [ F (16, 928) = 3.90, p < 0.01, partial η 2 = 0.06] and gender [ F (8, 465) = 2.28, p < 0.01, partial η 2 = 0.03]. Results on gender differences across the domains yielded statistically significant differences on life achievement [ F (1, 472) = 3.93, p < 0.05, partial η 2 = 0.008] with women possessing higher wellbeing than men; and on personal safety [ F (1, 472) = 6.22, p < 0.05, partial η 2 = 0.01] wherein men reported higher wellbeing.

Age-related differences were significant across the domains of life achievement [ F (2, 471) = 19.60, p < 0.01, partial η 2 = 0.07], personal relationships [ F (2, 471) = 6.00, p < 0.01, partial η 2 = 0.25], community connectedness [ F (2, 471) = 5.98, p < 0.01, partial η 2 = 0.02], and life as a whole [ F (2, 471) = 7.02, p < 0.01, partial η 2 = 0.02]. Multiple comparison analyses for age showed that the mean wellbeing scores were significantly different between age groups 11–14 and 19–23 years ( p < 0.01) and between age groups 15–18 and 19–23 years ( p < 0.01), but not statistically significant between the 11–14 and 15–18 age groups. Adolescents in the 15–18 age group scored highest on the wellbeing domains, whereas the young adults (19–23 age group) scored the lowest.

Examining the gender differences within each age group, it was found that in the 11–14 year group, gender differences were significant for the domains of life as a whole [ F (1, 189) = 12.23, p < 0.01, partial η 2 = 0.06], community connectedness [ F (1, 189) = 3.97, p < 0.05, partial η 2 = 0.02], and future security [ F (1, 189) = 5.60, p < 0.05, partial η 2 = 0.03] with women reporting higher wellbeing in all domains than men. In the 15–18 age group, gender differences were significant for the domain of personal safety [ F (1, 209) = 13.47, p < 0.01, partial η 2 = 0.06], where men scored higher wellbeing than women. In the 19–23 age group, gender differences were not statistically significant for any PWI domains.

Qualitative analysis

The content analysis generated rich themes within each of the eight PWI domains. Table 3 depicts the response categorizations of happiness inhibitors (0–4 score range) and facilitators (7–10 score range,) depicting low and high levels of happiness, respectively. The responses in the middle (5–6 score range) denote a mix of the inhibiting and facilitating happiness responses.

Table 3 . Content analysis depicting inhibitors and facilitators of happiness.

Life as a whole

A majority of the participants gave high scores to this domain (7–10 range), indicating high levels of happiness. The major facilitators of happiness were family belongingness, community support, self-accomplishments, and a luxurious lifestyle. “ I am happy with my life in various areas. I have a good family, friends, studied in a good school & now in a good college. I feel satisfied with my life, although there are some things which give trouble but it is part of life” (Female, Age-22, Score-8).

Friends and family acted as essential support networks motivating students toward achieving their goals. “ I read it myself at eight because I have very good friends who always help me whenever I am in trouble. They are very supportive. I live in hostel and miss my family very much. But they always call me and motivate me to do good things in my life” (Female, Age-21, Score-8). Happiness with the community was expressed in the context of a positive learning environment at school- “ I am very happy because the life is very interesting in my school are so many activities in school have good teacher and good study” (Male, Age-14, Score-9). Academic accomplishments and possession of life virtues (such as hard work and determination) emerged as strong facilitators of happiness, which were key to achieve success. “ I am quite happy and satisfied with my life as a whole. I want to achieve more for that I will do hard work so I am determined and confident” (Male, Age-22, Score-9).

Only a few participants gave low scores (0-4 range) to this domain elucidating the inhibitors of happiness, namely, failure to accomplish aims, academic and work stress, and negative experiences with their family and community (such as gender discrimination). “ Happy with all things in life except the worry about the pressure to perform right now to have a successful future. The pressure to achieve goals is the reason of unhappiness or stress in life causing headaches ” (Male, Age: 20, Score: not reported).

Despite negative life circumstances, students reported an optimistic outlook where they chose to learn from their life experiences. “ Ups and downs are a part of life although I do feel sad when I can't sometimes get the things I enjoy. But I feel that if I have got this life, why not enjoy it fully.” (Female, Age-16, Score-7).

Standard of living

Standard of living (SOL) is largely related to the possession of assets and wealth in the family. The majority of the participants who gave high scores to the domain typically belonged to families with a good socioeconomic status who could provide for them financially. “ I am very happy with annual income of my family I have nice DSLR NIKON D700 and also adidas shoes and branded t-shirts like Lee Cooper, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. I have more amazing things prove that I am happy” (Male, Age-13, Score-9). While for others, happiness with basic life necessities acted as a facilitator of happiness in life- “ Whatever I could think of, necessities like comfort, education, family I have. I know what I can do with my life there's no regret for anything I do not dream of over comfort” (Female, Age-20, Score-9).

Notably, 147 references emphasized that happiness arising from nonmonetary possessions such as spending quality time with significant others and life virtues is more important than monetary happiness ( Table 3 ). Participants wrote- “ I am very happy with my standard of living because I have my parents love and trust which is much more important than any amount of money.” (Female, Age-17, Score-10). “ Money is not important for happiness. We feel happy only when we achieve the things by hard-work. The most beautiful thing in my life is family.” (Female, Age-17, Score-9).

Participants who gave a low score (0-4 range) mostly belonged to families who were financially not able to afford luxuries in life. The dearth of wealth, desire for more assets, and privilege comparison with others acted as primary inhibitors of happiness in their lives. “ I am not happy with the things I have because my family's financial situation isn't good. I see other people's things and imagine how it'd feel having them however my parents can't afford these things so I feel sad” (Male, Age-16, Score-4).

Personal health

Synonymous with the other domains, a majority prescribed high scores (7-10 range) and elaborated on their active efforts toward the improvement of their health. Self-care in the form of good dietary choices, physical activity, and family support facilitated healthy living. “ I am very happy with my health because I eat my meals timely every day and try to include a variety of foods like pulses, grains, fruits for a well-balanced diet” (Female, Age-16, Score-10); “ I am a sportsperson so I have to do everything to keep myself fit and healthy. My health is very good and I never encounter even fever” (Male, Age-20, Score-10). Family support promoted healthy living and was linked to taking timely meals, avoiding unhealthy substances, and going for regular check-ups- “ My parents take care of my health. Being physically healthy makes me feel happy and reduces irritation in life” (Female, Age-16, Score-8). Notably, throughout the themes, “health” was referred largely to physical fitness and not mental wellbeing. “ I am happy with my personal health because I have no ailments in my body. I just wish that in future too I remain disease-free.” (Male, Age-14, Score-7).

In contrast, lack of self-care, frequently falling ill, and dissatisfaction with body appearances acted as inhibitors of happiness (0-4 range). Lack of self-care was related to unhealthy food choices, lack of physical exercise, and living in unhygienic environments. For example, “ Recently I have put on a lot of weight and completely stopped physical activity sedentary lifestyle due to work pressure, I want to rectify this” (Age-21, Score-4). For participants with chronic ailments, the frequency of visits to the hospital determined their happiness with personal health.

Many students aspired to be healthier than they were now by improving self-care and changing their habits (such as being more athletic). “ If I start to care and take my health seriously then I think I would be able to give perfect 10 ” (Male, Age-22, Score-7).

Achievement in life

Participants focused on academic pursuits, involvement in sports, and job opportunities when describing their life goals. Participants with a high score in this domain talked about their capabilities, support from significant others, societal expectations, and future responsibilities as essential motivators for goal attainment. Enumerating essential life skills, students wrote- “ It is quite impossible to be good at something you aspire to be good at. It always needs more practice and attention” (Male, Age-21, Score-7). Furthermore, participants also reported feeling happy by remembering the praises they received from neighbors and family which acted as an essential motivator to achieve goals. Elucidating on family support, participants wrote-“ When I think about success, I feel very happy because I want to be an engineer and my parents always motivate and support me to achieve this dream” (Male, Age-15, Score-9); “ I have full confidence in my capabilities and love and support of my parents through which I am able to work toward my goals” (Male, Age-21, Score-8).

Unhappiness results from failure to accomplish aims, inhibiting self-virtues, and uncertainty regarding future events. Disappointed with failures, a participant wrote “ I am not so happy because I always try to improve myself but I do not get good results related to my study and I am worried about my parents what if I am not able to fulfill their dreams” (Female, Age-15, Score-4). Anxiety and fear associated with future uncertainty were further impediments to happiness. “ I am happy about the dreams I have but the thought of whether I'll be able to fulfill my dreams makes me unhappy” (Male, Age-17, Score-5). A few students also enumerated certain personality factors acting as an impediment to their success, for example, not working hard, procrastinating, and worrying about life events made them give low scores in the life achievement domain. “ I always escape from my responsibilities but always keep thinking of doing it but I am so lazy to do it” (Male, Age-14, Score-4).

Personal relationships

Participants outlined their belongingness with significant others and essential virtues as factors facilitating happiness. Most of the responses focused on the interactions with family and friends acting as essential sources of happiness: “ I really like meeting the people I know in school and at home like my parents, siblings, friends, and relatives. These define personal relationship for me” (Male, Age-18, Score-not reported); “ I have always valued my friendship is very highly. I didn't have many close friends in school but in college I became also very close circle and have had amazing experiences with them” (Score-8). “Mutual trust,” “supportiveness,” “respect,” and “emotional bonding” were among the important virtues reported while describing these personal relationships. Personality factors such as being extrovert and optimistic were reported as harbingers of happiness in relationships.

In contrast, factors straining personal relationships were increasing academic and work stress, living away from home due to career demands, and society's negative reactions. Elucidating on the negative reactions hindering relationships, a 14-year-old reported: “ Most of the people in my life are selfish and create a lot of nuisance” (Male, Score-4). Respondents also reported some personality factors which inhibited happiness. For example, being introvert and shy in expressing emotions emerged as a barrier to form close relationships (Male, Age-19, Score-4); “ When I am with people I tend to behave differently. I am not able to express myself.” (Female, Score-5).

For a few, improving personal relationships contributed to happiness- “ Earlier I had many fights with my best friends, that was a lesson for me to not trust people blindly but now with the bunch of people I hang out now are really supportive and in need are always by my side” (Female, Age: 14, Score: 10).

Personal safety

Participants reported feeling safest at home as families provided them with the protection they needed. For example- “ I am happy with my safety because my father drops me to school and takes more care of me.” (Female, Age-14, Score-8). For others, trust in government safety laws made them feel physically secure when outside their homes. Describing it as “ achi kanoon vyavastha” in Hindi (translated as “good law and order”), participants wrote- “ In today's society, we can get help from the police after registering a compliant. I am happy with the police protection around me.” (Translated from Hindi; Male, Age-16, Score-10).

Advancing greater opportunities for women through changing patriarchal mindsets and a greater focus on women's safety made women happy- “ Very often I feel unsafe in my society. However, I am happy because the government has now strengthened the women safety laws” (Female, Age-17, Score-5). Many talked about the necessity of self-protection through learning techniques of karate or even greater knowledge of the social behavioral norms to feel safer. For example, “ I follow the traffic rules, always walk on zebra crossings, do not touch the bare electricity wires to avoid getting electrocuted and because of these reasons I feel safe” (Male, Age-16, Score-7).

Increasing crime rates, rape cases, discrimination against women, and incidents of bullying acted as inhibitors of safety, making participants give low scores on the domain. For example, “ I am unhappy about my safety because everyone takes advantage of me since I am a girl and boys on the street abuse and stare when I am walking. If I share it with my family, they won't allow me to go out of the house” (Female, Age-15, Score-0). Due to such incidents, many women reported feeling afraid and on a constant lookout when outside their homes. Male participants also reported similar safety concerns- “ Living in a hostile city like Delhi, you don't feel particularly safe but I'm glad I am a boy as it is very difficult to grow as a girl in this male dominant society (I am not being sexist)” (Age-14, Score-7). The need for stricter laws for female security and equality was highly recognized.

Part of community

Most participants understood this domain as synonymous with “personal relationships.” Belongingness with the family and nearness to home were the largely reported themes. Although the majority responded with a high score, it is possible that participants understood this domain as just “living far from home” and not connected with the community. Following responses demonstrate this issue- “ Since I live in Delhi and my home is also in Delhi I get to meet my family whenever possible. So it does not feel like doing something away from home” (Male, Age-20, Score-6); “ I'm not happy about being away from home but I know that this is an opportunity that I need to make most of the college and education” (Male, Age-21, Score-7).

A total of 227 references centered around changing the prevalent norms of society for the betterment of the community. By identifying specific problem areas such as “ widespread lack of efficiency of the government employees who do not work with competence thus disrupting the economy,” participants described how they would work to disseminate knowledge and tackle societal issues, making them feel happy and a responsible part of their community. “ I feel very happy whenever I talk or play with underprivileged children they have so much talent. They're doing hard work” (Female, Age-21, Score-9). Others demonstrated their belongingness with neighbors and friends as essential support networks during difficult life phases. According to a participant, working together in society makes it easier and faster to complete tasks such as keeping the environment clean (Male, Age-18, Score-10).

Patriarchy, financial troubles, and lack of self-confidence acted as barriers to working for the community. Many girls reported that they were not allowed to work outside the home and found themselves in a constant struggle to achieve their dreams as compared with their male counterparts- “ I would be very proud of myself if I go to work outside home. In this male dominant society, I would be able to find my place and help other girls in our society by motivating them to work outside. Working outside is not a sign of weakness rather makes us independent” (Female, Age-16, Score-10).

Future security

Participants talked about personal ambitions, financial security, and their contributions to the country's growth and future. Personal ambitions centered around working for a cause and earning money which was seen as a pathway to a secure future “ I am happy with my future because I want to be engaged in social work for the community and become a respectable and successful person” (Male, Age-17, Score-8). Possessing virtues of hard work, optimism, and confidence acted as essential facilitators of happiness with future security- “ Life gives a lot of good opportunities, I just have to grab onto them. After my experiences, I'm pretty confident I'll be able to create heaven for myself on earth” (Score-9).

“ Planning” and “ learning from one's experiences” along with having the “ capability to implement one's dreams” were often detailed as essential components toward a successful future. One participant mentioned conducting extensive research for her professional success (Age-20, Score-8), while others had the support of their parents and siblings. For some, their present situations acted as a testament to their future- “ I feel sad when I think about my future because we are taking water resource for granted which will make our future problematic and painful” (Female, Age-17, Score-9). Others were hopeful about the future of the country's growth- “ I am very happy when I think about my future because our country is slowly progressing. In future, mud houses will transform into cemented ones, corruption will cease to exist and our future will be bright” (Male, Age-16, Score-5).

Uncertainty about future events, insecure living conditions, and professional competition acted as stressors, which made participants prescribe low scores in this domain (8%). For example, “ I feel little afraid due to the raising competition in our country. I want to be a chartered accountant. I know that I have to work hard” (Male, Age-13, Score-5); “ I am quite nervous for my future. I always get tensed whether I will achieve my long-term goal in future or not” (Male, Age-13, Score-4).

This study aimed to examine the level of personal wellbeing among young people in India and their experiences using the PWI scale across seven life domains, namely, the standard of living, personal health, achievement in life, personal safety, personal relationships, community connectedness, and future security, that act as the first-level deconstruction of the global happiness measure: “life as a whole” ( Lau et al., 2005 ).

As a global happiness measure of the PWI, the “life as a whole” domain is typically comprised of responses from all seven PWI domains. ( Singh et al., 2015a ) found that the domains of standard of living, community belongingness, personal health, and achievement in life predicted happiness with life as a whole among Indian adolescents, which were the top-ranked domains constituting the facilitators of happiness among young people in our sample. Similarly, other studies conducted with Chinese and Australian adolescent samples found that living standards, personal relations, and life achievement domains predicted happiness with life as a whole ( Lau et al., 2005 ). Demographically, the age-related differences that we found were consistent with the Romanian population where Baltatescu and Cummins (2006) reported higher levels of PWI among high-school students than university students, demonstrating that the cross-cultural determinants overlap on the global PWI measure. A similar age-related decline over the lifespan has also been reported for subjective wellbeing in multiple studies and populations, e.g., Chinese ( Xing and Huang, 2014 ) and British ( Clark and Oswald, 2006 ) populations, demonstrating that age-related differences in wellbeing may show a similar picture across cultures. This could be true for gender differences in wellbeing as well, where similar to our findings, a survey in 60 nations found that younger women reported higher levels of overall life satisfaction than young men ( Inglehart, 2002 ). Higher happiness with life as a whole has also been reported in female Spanish adolescent samples ( Casas et al., 2012 ).

Interestingly, responses on nonmonetary happiness by young people in the sample depicting the importance of family belongingness were synonymous with the findings of another study in Chile, on family support, and PWB among school students. They found that intangible and social support from family was positively related to happiness in life ( Schnettler et al., 2015 ). In a collectivistic culture such as India, the importance of family values, such as cooperation and harmony, and bonds are further exemplified by the preference of “We” over “I,” thus positively impacting wellbeing ( Mosquera, 2015 ). Our participants' responses on improving personal relationships by learning from past mistakes provided insight into the strong meaning of relationships in a student's life, making the domain of family belongingness one of the best-understood items.

Another observation to note was that the participants largely used “community connectedness” interchangeably with “belongingness with the family.” Møller et al. (2015) conducted focus group discussions on PWI in South Africa where they also reported “community connectedness” as a problematic item, which resonated responses with the personal relationship domain. This discrepancy in the current sample may reflect conceptual issues with language where the questionnaire term “ doing things away from home” might have been culturally misunderstood.

Responses on belongingness with the community highlighted the need to inculcate the value of social work among students. Government programs such as the “National Service Scheme (NSS)” instill the value of community work and collaboration and might be a step in this direction. In a similar vein, recent research on happiness in India has identified strategies to enhance the happiness levels of people, identifying a greater need for engagement of people in voluntary social services ( Bhattacharyya et al., 2019 ).

Moving on, we found age-related differences in wellbeing. School-going adolescents (aged 11–18) ranked personal relationships and life achievement higher, while college-going students (aged 19–23) ranked personal safety and standard of living higher. This depicts that the differential social needs are based on the developmental challenges among these population cohorts.

Qualitative responses on the domain of personal safety seemed to be demographically unanimous. Although men had higher wellbeing than women on personal safety, their responses consisted of similar safety concerns as enlisted women. However, adolescent men reported their wellbeing to be higher on personal safety than women, which has been well documented in previous literature (e.g., Casas et al., 2012 ; May, 2001 ). This can be explained by the social environment of the participants in India. With 17,000 reported incidents of crime against women in Delhi, which is projected to reach 28,000 in 2020 ( Dwivedi and Sachdeva, 2019 ), the city is surely not safe for women. Incidents of serious violence, physical abuse, and rape have been rampant with few internationally notorious gruesome rape cases. In such a situation, it is slightly satisfactory that the qualitative responses of women in the sample pointed to feel safe at their home, which is usually also not immune to such crimes.

The PWI score of this study (80.06) falls on the high end of the normative score range of both western and nonwestern samples representing high happiness levels among the young people of Delhi-NCR. Consistent with our findings, Singh et al. (2015a) reported high mean PWI scores (76.4-87.2) among 13-18-year-old Indian students. The western PWI normative score range is 70-80 points (e.g., The Australian Wellbeing Index Report, 2018, PWI: 75.1; International Wellbeing Group, 2013 ). It has been reported by researchers that the PWI score range of Asian countries is generally 10 points lower than western normative scores including studies from China (e.g., Chen and Davey, 2009 , PWI: 64.4), Hong-Kong ( Lau et al., 2005 , PWI: 65.9), and Thailand ( Yiengprugsawan et al., 2010 , PWI: 75.7). These high scores reported by the study could perhaps be because the sample is representative of an urban setting (Delhi-NCR) where resources are more readily available than other areas in India affecting their wellbeing experiences. Consistent with the present research findings, another study from Delhi-NCR by ( Singh et al., 2015b ) upheld the view that slightly more Indians were flourishing and less languishing compared with the other groups such as the US and South African youths. Therefore, replicating our study in different parts of India would better ascertain the normative PWI score range among Indian adolescents and youth.

Comparison of wellbeing ratings with other nonwestern samples shows similar findings with regards to the domains of personal relationships and safety, which were among the highest ranked items and future security ranked among the lowest by many Asian cohorts including samples from Zhuhai, Hong Kong, and Macau ( Chen and Davey, 2009 ). In their research on the optimal level of wellbeing, Oishi et al. (2009) explored the nuances of a high level of happiness (those in the top 10% of happiness scores on a wellbeing measure). Utilizing the World Values Survey Data, they found that a slightly lower level of happiness was associated with the most academic and financial success. A high level of happiness was associated with success in close personal relationships. This study lends support to this finding, wherein 79% of those who reported a score of “10” on the global PWI domain (169 participants) regarded personal relationships (family support and belongingness) as an essential facilitator of happiness.

Using the internationally recognized PWI tool, this study captured the wellbeing experiences among young people of Delhi-NCR. The analysis of the data was conducted robustly by researchers and discussed in detail so as not to let any personal biases confound this study. Using the survey as a methodology, a large geographical area was reached in the cosmopolitan capital city of Delhi-NCR, and holistic accounts of wellbeing were captured. The use of the psychometrically valid bilingual PWI scale made it possible for the participants to answer with ease enhancing their conceptual understanding of the questions.

We recognized a few limitations to the study as well. Although survey methodology is an effective tool to research a large geographical population, its effectiveness is limited by short responses. Interactive interview sessions or focus group discussions might have captured in-depth responses on wellbeing. Another shortcoming that limits the generalizability of the present results is the nature of the sample, as data were primarily collected from middle and upper-class residents of an urban North Indian city. Future studies can use face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions with a more diverse sample. Such studies may also qualitatively explore gender and age-related differences or similarities in the conceptualization of personal wellbeing and its determinants among Indians, thereby addressing another shortcoming of the present research. Another possibility for future research in the area can be to quantitatively explore the relationship between personal wellbeing and sociodemographic variables such as caste, socio-economic status, religion, stream or course of study, or type of school or college. These variables can affect the personal wellbeing of youth (e.g., Achour et al., 2015 ). Thus, the experiences of wellbeing among young people need to be documented from other subpopulations within India.

In brief, the take-home message from this research is that this study supports and validates the findings of existing research on the personal wellbeing of adolescents and youth in India. It depicts the importance of the cultural background of the individual when examining wellbeing in the Indian cultural context. There is a need to conduct research on personal wellbeing in different regions of India to holistically understand the culture-specific trends in personal wellbeing.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

All procedures in this study thoroughly followed the ethical standards and guidelines of the institutional research committee (Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi), and the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki ethical guidelines. Voluntary written informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from all participants 18 years and above, assent was obtained from minors, and formal permission was taken from the school administration. The data was collected ensuring ethical guidelines. All participants were made aware that the results would be used only for research purposes and confidentiality of data would be strictly maintained.

Author contributions

KS conceptualized the study, collected the data, and oversaw the direction of the research. DR designed the research methodology, conducted the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data, interpreted the results, and took the lead in writing the manuscript. KS and DR were involved in the qualitative content analysis, collaborated, and provided critical feedback to help shape the final version of the manuscript. Both authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords: Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI), adolescent wellbeing, youth wellbeing, India, socio-cultural experiences, happiness determinants

Citation: Ratra D and Singh K (2022) Personal wellbeing among adolescents and youth in India. Front. Psychol. 13:914152. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.914152

Received: 06 April 2022; Accepted: 25 July 2022; Published: 25 August 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Ratra and Singh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Dhriti Ratra, dhriti.ratra@psych.ox.ac.uk

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Research Ideas: Behavioural Psychology

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• The effects of daily mindfulness practice on stress and anxiety in middle-aged women
• The use of behavioural interventions in the treatment of eating disorders in poorer communities
• Understanding implicit cognitive processes involved in the over-consumption of fast food
• The use of cognitive behavioural therapy for alcohol addiction treatment
• The impact of extensive technology use in children on long-term attention and focus
• The impact of social media on self-destructive behaviour and poor mental health outcomes
• Exploring the role of sleep and sleep deprivation on healthy behaviours

Research Ideas: Clinical Psychology

• The use of mindfulness-based approaches in the treatment of anxiety disorders among college students
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• The use of virtual reality technology in the treatment of phobias and PTSD among war veterans
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• The effectiveness of family therapy in addressing childhood trauma and depression
• The impact of cultural mistrust on the diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues in culturally-diverse populations
• The effectiveness of group therapy on post-traumatic stress symptoms among survivors of sexual assault

Research Ideas: Cognitive Psychology

• The impact of lifelong aerobic exercise on cognitive function in old age
• The effects of evening screen use on cognitive development in preschool children
• The impact of sleep deprivation on decision-making among graduate students
• The use of neuroimaging to understand the neural basis of memory retrieval
• The effect of conservative religious homes on social functioning in LGBT+ adolescents
• The role of positive emotions in working memory among high school learners
• The neural basis of decision-making and problem-solving during undergraduate statistic assessments
• The neural basis of language processing among adults learning English as a second language
• The role of technological tools in improving working memory in older adults
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• The impact of depression on cognitive function during ageing The impact of daily meditation and mindfulness practice on cognitive function
• The relationship between increased protein intake and improved cognitive function
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Research Ideas: Developmental Psychology

• The impact of maternal affection on cognitive, social, and emotional development
• The effects of parenting styles on children’s executive function
• The impact of late-night screen use on child development
• The role of digital play on child development outcomes
• Exploring the impact of poverty on early child development in Brazil
• The trauma-informed care as moderating the impact of trauma on child development
• Evaluating the relationship between peer relationship quality and child social development
• The impact of child-targeted media and advertising on child behavioural development
• The role of parental attachment in child resilience
• The moderating impact of culture on bullying and child social development
• The impact of single-parenting on child development in India
• The impact of early educational interventions on child socio-emotional development
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• The impact of socioeconomic status on child executive function
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Research Ideas: Educational Psychology

• The relationship between self-regulated learning and academic performance in asynchronous versus synchronous learning environments
• Exploring effective parental involvement strategies and their impact on student achievement
• The role of intrinsic motivation in formative assessment in the classroom
• The impact of classroom management and practice on student learning and behaviour
• University students’ preference regarding online learning environments
• The effects of gentrification on student achievement in traditionally poor neighbourhoods
• The impact of teacher expectations and academic self-concept on K12 student mathematics performance
• The use and effectiveness of game-based learning in a high school biology classroom
• The impact of prejudice on the relationship between student motivation and academic performance among Black university students
• The impact of culture on second language English student learning preferences
• The effects of student self-efficacy and engagement on academic performance in secondary school mathematics
• The role of metacognition in learning musicality in hip hop
• The role of small group instruction on teacher efficacy and stress in early childhood education
• The perception and use of multimedia among high school biology teachers in France
• The use of augmented reality applications and its impact on student learning, motivation and attitude

Research Ideas: Forensic Psychology

• The impact of trauma on the psychological functioning of police officers and first responders
• Understanding cultural considerations during forensic psychological assessment and treatment of trauma
• Ethical considerations of the use of AI in forensic psychology in the legal system
• The psychological factors related to recidivism among white collar female offenders in the USA
• The psychological factors related to false confessions among juveniles
• Understanding the use of psychological assessment in the evaluation of eyewitness testimony in criminal courts in England
• The impact of trauma on the reflective functioning of adult female sexual assault victims
• The use and effectiveness of psychological interventions in reducing recidivism among non-violent criminals
• The impact of domestic violence on the mental health and forensic evaluation of men
• Exploring the ethical considerations and use of behavioural analysis in the study of criminal behaviour
• The use and limitations of neuropsychological assessment in forensic evaluations
• The use of social media forensics in evaluating criminal behaviour in violent crimes
• The racialised use of psychological assessment in the evaluation of competency to stand trial in Canada
• Exploring the use and availability of virtual reality technologies in forensic psychology in Spain
• The impact of motivational interviewing-based interventions among criminalized drug users

Research Ideas: Social Psychology

• The impact of prejudice and discrimination on social behaviour among African immigrants in South Africa
• The impact of social networks on behaviour and well-being among young adult females
• The effects of social identity on non-conformity in University students
• The effects of group dynamics on risk-seeking behaviour in adult men
• The impact of social media on the quality of interpersonal relationships among high school learners
• The impact of parental emotional intelligence on pro-social behaviour in children and adolescents
• The effects of conformity and deviance on social attitudes and behaviour during a global recession
• The effects of Tik Tok on social comparison and self-esteem among teenage girls
• Understanding gendered differences in social influence and algorithms on impulsive decision-making
• The effects of social support on mental health among healthcare workers in the UK
• The effects of gender roles on social behaviour among trans teens
• The impact of perceived power and social status on the behaviour of social media influencers
• The impact of social norms on prosocial behaviour among women
• The effects of community participation on aggression and violence in middle-aged men
• The impact of culture and gender on social behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

Research Ideas: Sports Psychology

• The moderating role of cultural factors on the relationship between mental health and sports performance in team sports
• The role of mindfulness practice in addressing stress and anxiety in young national athletes
• The relationship between team cohesion and performance in cricket teams
• The effect of transformational leadership on female sports teams in Canada
• The effect of positive self-talk on athletic performance and motivation among Olympic athletes
• The use and perception of hypnosis in New Zealand team sports Understanding stress and burnout in University team athletes
• The efficacy of personalised nutrition and diet on athletic performance among sprinters
• Exploring mental preparation techniques and their effect on athletic motivation and resilience among team-sport athletes
• Exploring the perception and understanding of goal-setting characteristics on athletic performance among team coaches
• The effects of motivational feedback on the performance of female gymnasts
• The perception and use of visualization and imagery among coaches as a means to enhance sport performance
• The impact of sports injuries on mental health and recovery in high school athletes
• The moderating role of sleep on mental toughness and sports performance in Olympic athletes
• The use and perception of technology in sports training and performance in little league softball

Psychology-Related Dissertations & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic in psychology, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together in practice.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various psychology degree programs to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• Effects of a Patient Question Prompt List on Outpatient Palliative Care Appointments (McDarby, 2022)
• The role of affect and exercise goals in physical activity engagement in younger and older adults (Stojanovic, 2022)
• Lay Theories about Whether Emotion Helps or Hinders Reasoning and Well-being (Karnaze, 2022)
• The effects of blast-induced traumatic brain injury on two transgenic models of Alzheimer’s Disease (Gann, 2020)
• Understanding the parental mind: Examining the stability of parental reflective functioning across the birth of a child and associations with maternal mind-mindedness (Pitzen, 2021)
• An investigation of ineffective ally behaviours (Collier, 2019)
• Response Inhibition-Related Beta Power: Distinguishing Cognitively Intact Elders by Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease (Evans, 2021)
• Recognition Memory of Extremely High-Frequency Words (Miller, 2019)
• The Relationship between Dementia Caregiver Burden and Caregiver Communications in a Memory Clinic Setting (Martin, 2021)
• Examination of Maternal Versus Paternal Ratings of Child Pre-Injury Functioning in Predicting Child Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms (Sayer, 2021)
• Electromyography As A Means of Predicting The Rubber Hand Illusion (Teaford, 2021)
• Linking Diversity Climate and Feedback Seeking Through Interpersonal Processes and Race Effects (Flores, 2021)

Looking at these titles, you can probably pick up that the research topics here are far more specific and narrowly-focused , compared to the generic ones presented earlier. This is an important thing to keep in mind as you develop your own research topic. That is to say, to create a top-notch research topic, you must be precise and target a specific context with specific variables of interest . In other words, you need to identify a clear, well-justified research gap.

Fast-Track Your Topic Ideation

Still unsure about how to find the right topic for your research project? Check out our private coaching services , where we work with psychology students on a 1:1 basis to help them find the perfect topic.

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10 Comments

Great insight

A very interesting site that offers a variety of options regarding research topics.

You’re most welcome

A good platform to get information

Amazing and interesting options 👌

Very useful but had not any field of research in health psychology

I feel honored going through this lovely stuff put together. Thank you so much

I need counseling psychology research topics

very empowering and insightful presentations. Can I be assisted in crafting a school psychology-related research topic about African context

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61 intriguing psychology research topics to explore

Last updated

11 January 2024

Reviewed by

Brittany Ferri, PhD, OTR/L

Psychology is an incredibly diverse, critical, and ever-changing area of study in the medical and health industries. Because of this, it’s a common area of study for students and healthcare professionals.

We’re walking you through picking the perfect topic for your upcoming paper or study. Keep reading for plenty of example topics to pique your interest and curiosity.

• How to choose a psychology research topic

Exploring a psychology-based topic for your research project? You need to pick a specific area of interest to collect compelling data. 

Use these tips to help you narrow down which psychology topics to research:

Focus on a particular area of psychology

The most effective psychological research focuses on a smaller, niche concept or disorder within the scope of a study. 

Psychology is a broad and fascinating area of science, including everything from diagnosed mental health disorders to sports performance mindset assessments. 

This gives you plenty of different avenues to explore. Having a hard time choosing? Check out our list of 61 ideas further down in this article to get started.

Read the latest clinical studies

Once you’ve picked a more niche topic to explore, you need to do your due diligence and explore other research projects on the same topic. 

This practice will help you learn more about your chosen topic, ask more specific questions, and avoid covering existing projects. 

For the best results, we recommend creating a research folder of associated published papers to reference throughout your project. This makes it much easier to cite direct references and find inspiration down the line.

Find a topic you enjoy and ask questions

Once you’ve spent time researching and collecting references for your study, you finally get to explore. 

Whether this research project is for work, school, or just for fun, having a passion for your research will make the project much more enjoyable. (Trust us, there will be times when that is the only thing that keeps you going.) 

Now you’ve decided on the topic, ask more nuanced questions you might want to explore. 

If you can, pick the direction that interests you the most to make the research process much more enjoyable.

• 61 psychology topics to research in 2024

Need some extra help starting your psychology research project on the right foot? Explore our list of 61 cutting-edge, in-demand psychology research topics to use as a starting point for your research journey.

• Psychology research topics for university students

As a university student, it can be hard to pick a research topic that fits the scope of your classes and is still compelling and unique. 

Here are a few exciting topics we recommend exploring for your next assigned research project:

Mental health in post-secondary students

Seeking post-secondary education is a stressful and overwhelming experience for most students, making this topic a great choice to explore for your in-class research paper. 

Examples of post-secondary mental health research topics include:

Student mental health status during exam season

Mental health disorder prevalence based on study major

The impact of chronic school stress on overall quality of life

The impacts of cyberbullying

Cyberbullying can occur at all ages, starting as early as elementary school and carrying through into professional workplaces. 

Examples of cyberbullying-based research topics you can study include:

The impact of cyberbullying on self-esteem

Common reasons people engage in cyberbullying 

Cyberbullying themes and commonly used terms

Cyberbullying habits in children vs. adults

The long-term effects of cyberbullying

• Clinical psychology research topics

If you’re looking to take a more clinical approach to your next project, here are a few topics that involve direct patient assessment for you to consider:

Chronic pain and mental health

Living with chronic pain dramatically impacts every aspect of a person’s life, including their mental and emotional health. 

Here are a few examples of in-demand pain-related psychology research topics:

The connection between diabetic neuropathy and depression

Neurological pain and its connection to mental health disorders

Efficacy of meditation and mindfulness for pain management

The long-term effects of insomnia

Insomnia is where you have difficulty falling or staying asleep. It’s a common health concern that impacts millions of people worldwide. 

This is an excellent topic because insomnia can have a variety of causes, offering many research possibilities. 

Here are a few compelling psychology research topics about insomnia you could investigate:

The prevalence of insomnia based on age, gender, and ethnicity

Insomnia and its impact on workplace productivity

The connection between insomnia and mental health disorders

Efficacy and use of melatonin supplements for insomnia

The risks and benefits of prescription insomnia medications

Lifestyle options for managing insomnia symptoms

The efficacy of mental health treatment options

Management and treatment of mental health conditions is an ever-changing area of study. If you can witness or participate in mental health therapies, this can make a great research project. 

Examples of mental health treatment-related psychology research topics include:

The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for patients with severe anxiety

The benefits and drawbacks of group vs. individual therapy sessions

Music therapy for mental health disorders

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for patients with depression 

• Controversial psychology research paper topics

If you are looking to explore a more cutting-edge or modern psychology topic, you can delve into a variety of controversial and topical options:

The impact of social media and digital platforms

Ever since access to internet forums and video games became more commonplace, there’s been growing concern about the impact these digital platforms have on mental health. 

Examples of social media and video game-related psychology research topics include:

The effect of edited images on self-confidence

How social media platforms impact social behavior

Video games and their impact on teenage anger and violence

Digital communication and the rapid spread of misinformation

The development of digital friendships

Psychotropic medications for mental health

In recent years, the interest in using psychoactive medications to treat and manage health conditions has increased despite their inherently controversial nature. 

Examples of psychotropic medication-related research topics include:

The risks and benefits of using psilocybin mushrooms for managing anxiety

The impact of marijuana on early-onset psychosis

Childhood marijuana use and related prevalence of mental health conditions

Ketamine and its use for complex PTSD (C-PTSD) symptom management

The effect of long-term psychedelic use and mental health conditions

• Mental health disorder research topics

As one of the most popular subsections of psychology, studying mental health disorders and how they impact quality of life is an essential and impactful area of research. 

While studies in these areas are common, there’s always room for additional exploration, including the following hot-button topics:

Anxiety and depression disorders

Anxiety and depression are well-known and heavily researched mental health disorders. 

Despite this, we still don’t know many things about these conditions, making them great candidates for psychology research projects:

Social anxiety and its connection to chronic loneliness

C-PTSD symptoms and causes

The development of phobias

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) behaviors and symptoms

Depression triggers and causes

Self-care tools and resources for depression

The prevalence of anxiety and depression in particular age groups or geographic areas

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a complex and multi-faceted area of psychology research. 

Use your research skills to learn more about this condition and its impact by choosing any of the following topics:

Early signs of bipolar disorder

The incidence of bipolar disorder in young adults

The efficacy of existing bipolar treatment options

Bipolar medication side effects

Cognitive behavioral therapy for people with bipolar 

Schizoaffective disorder

Schizoaffective disorder is often stigmatized, and less common mental health disorders are a hotbed for new and exciting research. 

Here are a few examples of interesting research topics related to this mental health disorder:

The prevalence of schizoaffective disorder by certain age groups or geographic locations

Risk factors for developing schizoaffective disorder

The prevalence and content of auditory and visual hallucinations

Alternative therapies for schizoaffective disorder

• Societal and systematic psychology research topics

Modern society’s impact is deeply enmeshed in our mental and emotional health on a personal and community level. 

Here are a few examples of societal and systemic psychology research topics to explore in more detail:

Access to mental health services

While mental health awareness has risen over the past few decades, access to quality mental health treatment and resources is still not equitable. 

This can significantly impact the severity of a person’s mental health symptoms, which can result in worse health outcomes if left untreated. 

Explore this crucial issue and provide information about the need for improved mental health resource access by studying any of the following topics:

Rural vs. urban access to mental health resources

Access to crisis lines by location

Wait times for emergency mental health services

Inequities in mental health access based on income and location

Insurance coverage for mental health services

Systemic racism and mental health

Societal systems and the prevalence of systemic racism heavily impact every aspect of a person’s overall health.

Researching these topics draws attention to existing problems and contributes valuable insights into ways to improve access to care moving forward.

Examples of systemic racism-related psychology research topics include: 

Access to mental health resources based on race

The prevalence of BIPOC mental health therapists in a chosen area

The impact of systemic racism on mental health and self-worth

Racism training for mental health workers

The prevalence of mental health disorders in discriminated groups

LGBTQIA+ mental health concerns

Research about LGBTQIA+ people and their mental health needs is a unique area of study to explore for your next research project. It’s a commonly overlooked and underserved community.

Examples of LGBTQIA+ psychology research topics to consider include:

Mental health supports for queer teens and children

The impact of queer safe spaces on mental health

The prevalence of mental health disorders in the LGBTQIA+ community

The benefits of queer mentorship and found family

Substance misuse in LQBTQIA+ youth and adults

• Collect data and identify trends with Dovetail

Psychology research is an exciting and competitive study area, making it the perfect choice for projects or papers.

Take the headache out of analyzing your data and instantly access the insights you need to complete your next psychology research project by teaming up with Dovetail today.

Get started today

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50+ Research Topics for Psychology Papers

How to Find Psychology Research Topics for Your Student Paper

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

• Specific Branches of Psychology
• Topics Involving a Disorder or Type of Therapy
• Human Cognition
• Human Development
• Critique of Publications
• Famous Experiments
• Historical Figures
• Specific Careers
• Case Studies
• Literature Reviews
• Your Own Study/Experiment

Are you searching for a great topic for your psychology paper ? Sometimes it seems like coming up with topics of psychology research is more challenging than the actual research and writing. Fortunately, there are plenty of great places to find inspiration and the following list contains just a few ideas to help get you started.

Finding a solid topic is one of the most important steps when writing any type of paper. It can be particularly important when you are writing a psychology research paper or essay. Psychology is such a broad topic, so you want to find a topic that allows you to adequately cover the subject without becoming overwhelmed with information.

I can always tell when a student really cares about the topic they chose; it comes through in the writing. My advice is to choose a topic that genuinely interests you, so you’ll be more motivated to do thorough research.

In some cases, such as in a general psychology class, you might have the option to select any topic from within psychology's broad reach. Other instances, such as in an  abnormal psychology  course, might require you to write your paper on a specific subject such as a psychological disorder.

As you begin your search for a topic for your psychology paper, it is first important to consider the guidelines established by your instructor.

Research Topics Within Specific Branches of Psychology

The key to selecting a good topic for your psychology paper is to select something that is narrow enough to allow you to really focus on the subject, but not so narrow that it is difficult to find sources or information to write about.

One approach is to narrow your focus down to a subject within a specific branch of psychology. For example, you might start by deciding that you want to write a paper on some sort of social psychology topic. Next, you might narrow your focus down to how persuasion can be used to influence behavior .

Other social psychology topics you might consider include:

• Prejudice and discrimination (i.e., homophobia, sexism, racism)
• Social cognition
• Person perception
• Social control and cults
• Persuasion, propaganda, and marketing
• Attraction, romance, and love
• Nonverbal communication
• Prosocial behavior

Psychology Research Topics Involving a Disorder or Type of Therapy

Exploring a psychological disorder or a specific treatment modality can also be a good topic for a psychology paper. Some potential abnormal psychology topics include specific psychological disorders or particular treatment modalities, including:

• Eating disorders
• Borderline personality disorder
• Seasonal affective disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Antisocial personality disorder
• Profile a  type of therapy  (i.e., cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy, psychoanalytic therapy)

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Human Cognition

Some of the possible topics you might explore in this area include thinking, language, intelligence, and decision-making. Other ideas might include:

• False memories
• Speech disorders
• Problem-solving

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Human Development

In this area, you might opt to focus on issues pertinent to  early childhood  such as language development, social learning, or childhood attachment or you might instead opt to concentrate on issues that affect older adults such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

Some other topics you might consider include:

• Language acquisition
• Media violence and children
• Learning disabilities
• Gender roles
• Child abuse
• Prenatal development
• Parenting styles
• Aspects of the aging process

Do a Critique of Publications Involving Psychology Research Topics

One option is to consider writing a critique paper of a published psychology book or academic journal article. For example, you might write a critical analysis of Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams or you might evaluate a more recent book such as Philip Zimbardo's  The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil .

Professional and academic journals are also great places to find materials for a critique paper. Browse through the collection at your university library to find titles devoted to the subject that you are most interested in, then look through recent articles until you find one that grabs your attention.

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Famous Experiments

There have been many fascinating and groundbreaking experiments throughout the history of psychology, providing ample material for students looking for an interesting term paper topic. In your paper, you might choose to summarize the experiment, analyze the ethics of the research, or evaluate the implications of the study. Possible experiments that you might consider include:

• The Milgram Obedience Experiment
• The Stanford Prison Experiment
• The Little Albert Experiment
• Pavlov's Conditioning Experiments
• The Asch Conformity Experiment
• Harlow's Rhesus Monkey Experiments

Topics of Psychology Research About Historical Figures

One of the simplest ways to find a great topic is to choose an interesting person in the  history of psychology  and write a paper about them. Your paper might focus on many different elements of the individual's life, such as their biography, professional history, theories, or influence on psychology.

While this type of paper may be historical in nature, there is no need for this assignment to be dry or boring. Psychology is full of fascinating figures rife with intriguing stories and anecdotes. Consider such famous individuals as Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner, Harry Harlow, or one of the many other  eminent psychologists .

Psychology Research Topics About a Specific Career

​Another possible topic, depending on the course in which you are enrolled, is to write about specific career paths within the  field of psychology . This type of paper is especially appropriate if you are exploring different subtopics or considering which area interests you the most.

In your paper, you might opt to explore the typical duties of a psychologist, how much people working in these fields typically earn, and the different employment options that are available.

Topics of Psychology Research Involving Case Studies

One potentially interesting idea is to write a  psychology case study  of a particular individual or group of people. In this type of paper, you will provide an in-depth analysis of your subject, including a thorough biography.

Generally, you will also assess the person, often using a major psychological theory such as  Piaget's stages of cognitive development  or  Erikson's eight-stage theory of human development . It is also important to note that your paper doesn't necessarily have to be about someone you know personally.

In fact, many professors encourage students to write case studies on historical figures or fictional characters from books, television programs, or films.

Psychology Research Topics Involving Literature Reviews

Another possibility that would work well for a number of psychology courses is to do a literature review of a specific topic within psychology. A literature review involves finding a variety of sources on a particular subject, then summarizing and reporting on what these sources have to say about the topic.

Literature reviews are generally found in the  introduction  of journal articles and other  psychology papers , but this type of analysis also works well for a full-scale psychology term paper.

Topics of Psychology Research Based on Your Own Study or Experiment

Many psychology courses require students to design an actual psychological study or perform some type of experiment. In some cases, students simply devise the study and then imagine the possible results that might occur. In other situations, you may actually have the opportunity to collect data, analyze your findings, and write up your results.

Finding a topic for your study can be difficult, but there are plenty of great ways to come up with intriguing ideas. Start by considering your own interests as well as subjects you have studied in the past.

Online sources, newspaper articles, books , journal articles, and even your own class textbook are all great places to start searching for topics for your experiments and psychology term papers. Before you begin, learn more about  how to conduct a psychology experiment .

What This Means For You

After looking at this brief list of possible topics for psychology papers, it is easy to see that psychology is a very broad and diverse subject. While this variety makes it possible to find a topic that really catches your interest, it can sometimes make it very difficult for some students to select a good topic.

If you are still stumped by your assignment, ask your instructor for suggestions and consider a few from this list for inspiration.

• Hockenbury, SE & Nolan, SA. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers; 2014.
• Santrock, JW. A Topical Approach to Lifespan Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Education; 2016.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Key facts as India surpasses China as the world’s most populous country

India is poised to become the world’s most populous country this year – surpassing China, which has held the distinction since at least 1950 , when the United Nations population records begin. The UN expects that India will overtake China in April , though it may have already reached this milestone since the UN estimates are projections.

Here are key facts about India’s population and its projected changes in the coming decades, based on Pew Research Center analyses of data from the UN and other sources.

This Pew Research Center analysis is primarily based on the World Population Prospects 2022 report by the United Nations. The estimates produced by the UN are based on “all available sources of data on population size and levels of fertility, mortality and international migration.”

Population sizes over time come from India’s decennial census. The census has collected detailed information on India’s inhabitants, including on religion, since 1881. Data on fertility and how it is related to factors like education levels and place of residence is from India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS) . The NFHS is a large, nationally representative household survey with more extensive information about childbearing than the census. Data on migration is primarily from the United Nations Population Division .

Because future levels of fertility and mortality are inherently uncertain, the UN uses probabilistic methods to account for both the past experiences of a given country and the past experiences of other countries under similar conditions. The “medium scenario” projection is the median of many thousands of simulations. The “low” and “high” scenarios make different assumptions about fertility: In the high scenario, total fertility is 0.5 births above the total fertility in the medium scenario; in the low scenario, it is 0.5 births below the medium scenario.

Other sources of information for this analysis are available through the links included in the text.

India’s population has grown by more than 1 billion people since 1950, the year the UN population data begins. The exact size of the country’s population is not easily known, given that India has not conducted a census since 2011 , but it is estimated to have more than 1.4 billion people – greater than the entire population of Europe (744 million) or the Americas (1.04 billion). China, too, has more than 1.4 billion people, but while China’s population is declining , India’s continues to grow. Under the UN’s “ medium variant ” projection, a middle-of-the-road estimate, India’s population will surpass 1.5 billion people by the end of this decade and will continue to slowly increase until 2064, when it will peak at 1.7 billion people. In the UN’s “high variant” scenario – in which the total fertility rate in India is projected to be 0.5 births per woman above that of the medium variant scenario – the country’s population would surpass 2 billion people by 2068. The UN’s “low variant” scenario – in which the total fertility rate is projected to be 0.5 births below that of the medium variant scenario – forecasts that India’s population will decline beginning in 2047 and fall to 1 billion people by 2100.

People under the age of 25 account for more than 40% of India’s population. In fact, there are so many Indians in this age group that roughly one-in-five people globally who are under the age of 25 live in India. Looking at India’s age distribution another way, the country’s median age is 28. By comparison, the median age is 38 in the United States and 39 in China.

The other two most populous countries in the world, China and the U.S. , have rapidly aging populations – unlike India. Adults ages 65 and older comprise only 7% of India’s population as of this year, compared with 14% in China and 18% in the U.S., according to the UN. The share of Indians who are 65 and older is likely to remain under 20% until 2063 and will not approach 30% until 2100, under the UN’s medium variant projections.

The fertility rate in India is higher than in China and the U.S., but it has declined rapidly in recent decades . Today, the average Indian woman is expected to have 2.0 children in her lifetime, a fertility rate that is higher than China’s (1.2) or the United States’ (1.6), but much lower than India’s in 1992 (3.4) or 1950 (5.9). Every religious group in the country has seen its fertility rate fall, including the majority Hindu population and the Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain minority groups. Among Indian Muslims, for example, the total fertility rate has declined dramatically from 4.4 children per woman in 1992 to 2.4 children in 2019, the most recent year for which data is available from India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS). Muslims still have the highest fertility rate among India’s major religious groups, but the gaps in childbearing among India’s religious groups are generally much smaller than they used to be.

Fertility rates vary widely by community type and state in India. On average, women in rural areas have 2.1 children in their lifetimes, while women in urban areas have 1.6 children, according to the 2019-21 NFHS . Both numbers are lower than they were 20 years ago, when rural and urban women had an average of 3.7 and 2.7 children, respectively.

Total fertility rates also vary greatly by state in India , from as high as 2.98 in Bihar and 2.91 in Meghalaya to as low as 1.05 in Sikkim and 1.3 in Goa. Likewise, population growth varies across states. The populations of Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh both increased by 25% or more between 2001 and 2011, when the last Indian census was conducted. By comparison, the populations of Goa and Kerala increased by less than 10% during that span, while the population in Nagaland shrank by 0.6%. These differences may be linked to uneven economic opportunities and quality of life .

On average, Indian women in urban areas have their first child 1.5 years later than women in rural areas. Among Indian women ages 25 to 49 who live in urban areas, the median age at first birth is 22.3. Among similarly aged women in rural areas, it is 20.8, according to the 2019 NFHS.

Women with more education and more wealth also generally have children at later ages. The median age at first birth is 24.9 among Indian women with 12 or more years of schooling, compared with 19.9 among women with no schooling. Similarly, the median age at first birth is 23.2 for Indian women in the highest wealth quintile, compared with 20.3 among women in the lowest quintile.

Among India’s major religious groups, the median age of first birth is highest among Jains at 24.9 and lowest among Muslims at 20.8.

India’s artificially wide ratio of baby boys to baby girls – which arose in the 1970s from the use of prenatal diagnostic technology to facilitate sex-selective abortions – is narrowing. From a large imbalance of about 111 boys per 100 girls in India’s 2011 census, the sex ratio at birth appears to have normalized slightly over the last decade. It narrowed to about 109 boys per 100 girls in the 2015-16 NFHS and to 108 boys per 100 girls in the 2019-21 NFHS.

To put this recent decline into perspective, the average annual number of baby girls “missing” in India fell from about 480,000 in 2010 to 410,000 in 2019, according to a Pew Research Center study published in 2022 . (Read more about how this “missing” population share is defined and calculated in the “How did we count ‘missing’ girls?” box of the report.) And while India’s major religious groups once varied widely in their sex ratios at birth, today there are indications that these differences are shrinking.

Infant mortality in India has decreased 70% in the past three decades but remains high by regional and international standards. There were 89 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990, a figure that fell to 27 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2020. Since 1960, when the UN Interagency Group for Child Mortality Estimation began compiling this data, the rate of infant deaths in India has dropped between 0.1% and 0.5% each year.

Still, India’s infant mortality rate is higher than those of neighboring Bangladesh (24 deaths per 1,000 live births), Nepal (24), Bhutan (23) and Sri Lanka (6) – and much higher than those of its closest peers in population size, China (6) and the U.S. (5).

Typically, more people migrate out of India each year than into it, resulting in negative net migration. India lost about 300,000 people due to migration in 2021, according to the UN Population Division . The UN’s medium variant projections suggest India will continue to experience net negative migration through at least 2100.

But India’s net migration has not always been negative. As recently as 2016, India gained an estimated 68,000 people due to migration (likely to be a result of an increase in asylum-seeking Rohingya fleeing Myanmar). India also recorded increases in net migration on several occasions in the second half of the 20th century.

• Birth Rate & Fertility

Laura Silver is an associate director focusing on global attitudes at Pew Research Center

Christine Huang is a research associate focusing on global attitudes at Pew Research Center

Laura Clancy is a research analyst focusing on global attitudes research at Pew Research Center

Few East Asian adults believe women have an obligation to society to have children

A growing share of americans say they’ve had fertility treatments or know someone who has, key facts about china’s declining population, global population skews male, but un projects parity between sexes by 2050, india’s sex ratio at birth begins to normalize, most popular.

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Hundred Years of Social Psychology in India

• First Online: 31 October 2021

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• Janak Pandey 4  

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The practical knowledge related to social behaviors can be traced in the rich Indian intellectual traditions of philosophy, religious texts, social–political treaties, and narratives of reform movements. The roots and evolution of modern social psychology have a unique history of importing it from the West. During the initial phase, social psychologists showed interest in the study of social tension and conflicts. By the late 1960s, social psychology in India acquired a level of maturity in terms of selection of subject, method, and quality of publications. A number of research programmes were taken up increasing the visibility of social psychology internationally. The blind imitation of the western approach was questioned. During the period of 1970–1990, social–psychological research not only in quantity but also in quality improved significantly. A number of institutions developed as hubs of social psychology education and research. Interest in applied social psychology set the agenda for the new role of social psychology to carry on research that leads to the solution of social problems related to change and development. The decades of 1970s and 1980s are also marked by a number of new initiatives and concerns for the sociocultural context. By the turn of the century, it became widely accepted that to achieve the goal of universal psychology inclusion of contextual and cultural variables is a must. The important trends that have emerged include indigenous psychology, cultural psychology, ethnic psychology, and cross-cultural psychology. Social psychology as a discipline in India has been influenced by a number of factors and has progressed through stages, but still, the discipline has not reached near autochthonization.

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Pandey, J. (2021). Hundred Years of Social Psychology in India. In: Misra, G., Sanyal, N., De, S. (eds) Psychology in Modern India. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4705-5_16

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