Degree

BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Department

Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Date of Award

Spring 2024

Date of Submission

2024-11-21

Advisor

Amna Tufail, Visiting Faculty, Department of Social Sciences

Committee

Maria Haqqani

Project Type

SSLA Culminating Experience

Access Type

Restricted Access

Keywords

sighted, non-sighted, psychological well-being, psychological distress, hobbies, undergraduate students

Abstract

Each one of us like to unwind after a long day or after a hectic study session. Following this statement, this study was conducted to explore the consequences of hobby-following on the psychological well-being and psychological distress levels of sighted and non-sighted undergraduate students. This research included a sample of 115 sighted and non-sighted undergraduate students from universities in Karachi. Based on both quantitative and qualitative methods, the research included self-report measures, namely the Personal Well-Being (PWB) scale by Ryff & Keyes (1995) and the Kessler Psychological Distress (K10) scale by Kessler & Mroczek (1992), along with qualitative interviews. The quantitative scales were circulated online in survey form. Participants were further interviewed to understand the lived experiences, challenges, gendered expectations of hobbies and environmental pressures that they go through due to following their desired hobbies. The findings revealed that higher frequency of hobby-following was linked to higher levels of psychological well-being, that female well-being scores were higher in comparison to male well-being scores, and that majority of the well-being scores were low, hence majority of the distress scores were high. Thematic analyses of interviews revealed 4 themes each which were elaborated using features of psychological well-being and distress as defined by previous literature. Non-sighted interviewees underwent far more emotional exhaustion, burnout and distress than sighted participants, but they were also far more resilient. Future recommendations include involving personality testing, more aspects of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, etc.), more extensive statistical analyses, and awareness sessions for school managements, parents and children to promote the importance of hobby-following and welcome inclusivity.

Pages

xvi, 78

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