Destitute Women in Kerala: Psychological resources and psycho ...

negative affect states including anxiety, depression, and hostility. The kind of symptoms or
psychological difficulties a person is likely to develop are related to his basic personality
characteristics and principles of nervous system functioning. According to Eysenck, a person
develops neurotic symptoms because of the joint action of a biological system and experience
that contributes to the lowering of strong emotional reaction to fear-producing stimuli.
According to Eysenck, neuroticism score indicates the emotional stability-instability of the
individual. Neuroticism is determined by the activation of visceral brain or limbic system coordinated
with the autonomous nervous system. Activation of this system makes a person
feel nervous, tense or distressed.
Emotional maturity
According to Smithson, emotional maturity is a process in which the person is continuously
striving for greater sense of emotional health, both intra-psychically and intra-personally.
According to Kalpan and Beren, the characteristics of an emotionally mature person are the
following: has the capacity to withstand delays in satisfaction of needs; has the ability to
tolerate reasonable amount of frustration; has belief in long-term planning, and is capable of
delaying or revising expectations in terms of demand of situations.
An emotionally mature child has the capacity to make effective adjustment with self, members
of family, and peers in school, society, and culture. But maturity means not merely the
capacity of such attitude and functioning but the ability to enjoy them fully as well. Cole
(1944) says that emotional maturity is indicated by a person’s ability to withstand tension.
An emotionally mature person persists in the capacity for fun and recreation. Such a person
enjoys both play and responsible activities and keeps them in proper balance. Therefore, the
emotionally mature individual is not one who necessarily has resolved against all conditions
that are around him but one who is continuously in the process of seeing himself in clear
perspective and involved in a struggle to gain healthy integration of feeling, thinking, and
action.
Adjustment
Adjustment is a continuous process of satisfying one’s needs rather than something fixed
and static. And it involves virtually all aspects of human behaviour. No organism achieves a
complete adjustment, at least not for long.
Adjustment is regarded in terms of the positive characteristics that individuals display. A
well-adjusted person has some awareness of his own motives, desires, ambitions, and feelings
and has high self-esteem. A person who is emotionally mature and stable will be well adjusted
and mentally healthy.
Capacity to adjust well socially with other persons and ability to get along with others in any
situation are also indicative of adjustments and mental health.
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