Relationship between Vedic personality traits (Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas) with life satisfaction and perceived stress in healthy university students

Introduction: Trigunas are three basic mental attributes of a personality according to Indian Vedic literature that explains the relationship between mental attributes and human behavior. The three attributes are Tamas (tendency toward lethargy and rigidity), Rajas (tendency toward ambition and activity) and Sattva (tendency toward selfless service), respectively. Satisfaction with life and perceived stress are the important determinants of one's quality of life. Aim: A cross-sectional study assessed the relationship between Trigunas, life satisfaction and perceived stress. Materials and methods: The study recruited 121 willing healthy university students (75 females) with general health questionnaire scores ≤3. All participants were assessed using standardized psychometric tools. Results: Spearman two-tailed correlation test revealed Sattva to have positive correlation with life satisfaction (r = 0.503) and negative correlation with perceived stress (r = −0.302) and other two Gunas (Tamas: R = −0.77; Rajas: R = −0.75), respectively. On the other hand, both Rajas and Tamas correlated positively with perceived stress (Rajas: R = 0.183; Tamas: R = 0.321) and negatively with life satisfaction (Rajas: R = −0.40; Tamas: R = −0.36). Conclusion: This cross-sectional study on university students in India suggests an association of Vedic personality traits (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas Gunas) with life satisfaction, and perceived stress.