Dilkirat Sarna and Neeta Mhavan
Affiliation: MIT ART, DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, PUNE, INDIA
Emotional and psychological well-being are cornerstones in shaping the lives of young adults, influencing their personal growth, academic performance, and overall societal engagement. Although the Western frameworks for gauging psychological well-being have been reasonably researched, gaps are wide open in understanding how such frameworks could be applied to Indian adolescents who face huge socio-cultural challenges such as self-actualization, parenting roles, and social expectations. Filling such gaps will be much more important implementing interventions and formulating policies in terms of mental health scholarship in India. This research will assess the emotional well-being of Indian youth using the Six-Factor Model of Ryff, Erikson's Psychosocial Development Theory, and Seligman's PERMA Model. A survey was conducted with 729 students aged 17-19 using the Psychological Well-Being (PWB) 18-item scale. ANOVA and correlation analysis examined the data based on methodologies adapted from other studies. The conclusions show that while students are motivated and adaptive, they suffer from shortfalls in developing close relationships and creating a sense of purpose. The study points out the constraints surrounding the current understandings of well-being when soft applied to Indian adolescents, hence demanding culturally tailored assessment tools urgently. Practically and at the policy level, the study seeks an embedded system of structured mental health in schools, broadened availability of counselling services, and targeted national policies for awareness regarding youth mental health. By addressing this gap of research, it makes a contribution to the small but important changing mental space surrounding adolescent wellbeing, leading to recommendations necessary to assist in building psychological resilience among Indian youth.