The Role of Dispositional Optimism in Psychological Well-Being and Social Anxiety Among University Students

Objectives: The primary goal of this study was to investigate the association between dispositional optimism psychological well-being and social anxiety in university students.Method: The correlational research design was used, and the sample was recruited employing the non-probability purposive sampling technique. The life Orientation Scale developed by Scheier et al., in 1994, the Psychological Well-being scale by Ryff & Keyes (1995), Social Anxiety Scale developed by Ejaz et al., (2020) along with the demographic sheet were utilized for the data collection. Results: The sample constituted 350 participants (165 males and 185 females), with ages ranging from 20-30 years (M=23.46, SD=3.22). Results revealed a significant association between dispositional optimism and all subscales of social anxiety and psychological well-being (p<.05). Similarly, significant differences among both genders were observed in levels of dispositional optimism, psychological well-being, and social anxiety (p<.01). Dispositional optimism and psychological wellbeing were also observed as the significant predictors of social anxiety in university students (p<.001). Likewise, the results proved that dispositional optimism was a significant moderator between psychological well-being and social anxiety (p<.01).Conclusion: the study concluded that dispositional optimism moderates the association between psychological well-being and a level of social anxiety.