A Survey on the Relationship between Psychological Hardiness and 'Happiness and Feeling of Loneliness' among the Elderly Living in Nursing home in Tehran

Abstract

Aim and scope: increase in longevity and a huge increase in the ageing population has been regarded as one of the
great achievements in current age. Psychological hardiness is drawn into attention as an obvious sign of a suc- cessful
adaptation in exposure with changing circumstances of life. It seems that happiness and feeling of loneli- ness have
had a linkage with the extent of psychological hardiness in the individuals. With regard to few studies in this context,
the present research has been conducted aiming at examining the linkage between psychological hardiness and
'happiness and feeling of loneliness' among the elderly living in nursing home in Tehran. Materials and methods: in
this sectional descriptive study, 61 individuals (36 male and 25 female) were selected in random via goal-oriented
sampling method. The elderly filled the questionnaires of Ahvaz Hardiness Inventory (AHI), the 20-item Oxford
Happiness Inventory (Argyle,. Martin & Crossland, 1989) and UCLA Loneliness Scale (1996). The data obtained through
Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis were analyzed through stepwise method. Findings:
findings indicated that there is a positive significant relationship between psychologi- cal hardiness and happiness
among the elderly living in nursing home in Tehran (P≤0.001). Further, there is a neg- ative significant relationship
between psychological hardiness and feeling of loneliness among the elderly living in nursing home in Tehran
(P≤0.05). Results of regression analysis indicated that the variable of psychological hardi- ness has the power of
prediction for happiness based on the significance level (P≤0.001). Further, psychological hardiness enabled to predict
feeling of loneliness among the elderly living in nursing home in Tehran at (P≤0.005). Discussion and conclusion: the
results from the present research indicated a positive correlation between psycho- logical hardiness and happiness,
and a negative correlation between psychological hardiness and feeling of loneli- ness. With regard to the result of the
present research, increasing the extent of psychological hardiness among the elderly living in nursing home in Tehran
can result in increasing the extent of happiness and decreasing the extent of loneliness among the elderly living in
nursing home in Tehran, resulting in a more suitable life for this generation.