Exploring the Relationship between Emotional Self-Disclosure and Psychological Well-Being among Undergraduate Students

Abstract

The present study was conducted over a period of twelve months during the 2023-2024 academic year, with data collected exclusively from undergraduate students in the Ludhiana district of Punjab, India. The primary objective was to examine emotional self-disclosure and psychological well-being with respect to gender and locale-based differences among undergraduate students. The sample comprised 380 undergraduate students, including 190 rural and 190 urban setting, randomly selected from five representative rural and urban colleges of the district. The sample was further equally distributed across gender, with 95 boys and 95 girls participants from each locale. Data was collected by using a Self-Structured Information Sheet, the Emotional Self-Disclosure Scale by Snell et al (2013), and the Psychological Well-Being Scale by Sisodia and Choudhary (2012). Findings indicated a significant negative relationship between emotional self-disclosure and the domains of life satisfaction and efficiency among boys. In contrast, girls demonstrated a significant positive relationship between emotional self-disclosure and the domains of sociability and interpersonal relations. Additionally, a significant positive relationship was observed between overall emotional self-disclosure and overall psychological well-being among girls, suggesting that greater emotional disclosure was associated with enhanced psychological well-being. Locale-wise analysis revealed that overall emotional self-disclosure was significantly and negatively associated with life satisfaction and efficiency among rural students. Contrary, among urban students, overall emotional self-disclosure was significantly and positively associated with interpersonal relations. However, no significant differences were observed between overall emotional self-disclosure and overall psychological well-being across locales.