Amish and Alok Pratap Singh
Feroze Gandhi College, Rae Bareli
Pages:120-131
Empathy and proactive personality both are valuable constructs. Empathy is an important
part of emotional functioning and interpersonal cognition which are mainly attentive to
the mental states and emotions. Individuals having proactive personality play important
role in initiating various activities. This study examined the relationship of empathy and
proactive personality with mental health of College Students. Using a survey-based
methodology and questionnaires, responses were obtained from participants (N=273)
of different colleges of India by using a cross-sectional correlational research design and
incidental sampling method. The results of correlational analysis indicate that emotional
contagion was found significantly positively correlated with psychological wellbeing
(r=.206, p<.001), life satisfaction (r=.168, p<.01), positive orientation (r=.149, p<.05)
and overall mental health (r=.159, p<.01). Cognitive empathy was found significantly
positively correlated with psychological wellbeing (r=.335, p<.001), life satisfaction
(r=.253, p<.001), positive orientation (r=.157, p<.01) and overall mental health (r=.262,
p<.001). Overall empathy was found significantly positively correlated with psychological
wellbeing (r=.290, p<.001), life satisfaction (r=.230, p<.001), positive orientation (r=.140,
p<.05) and mental health (r=.210, p<.001). Proactive personality was found significantly
positively correlated with psychological wellbeing (r=.191, p<.01), life satisfaction
(r=.177, p<.01) and mental health (r=.128, p<.05). The results of hierarchical stepwise
regression analysis reveal that cognitive empathy was found significant predictor of
mental health (β=.239, p<.001). Empathy and proactive personality were also found
significant positively associated with mental health (β=.152, p<.01; β=.254, p<.001). The
findings indicate that empathy and proactive personality play significant role in alleviating
mental health problems of college students. Future research and limitations were also
discussed. The findings of this study will add empirical support for the study variables.
Keywords: Emotional disconnection, cognitive empathy, emotional contagion, mental
health, proactive personality