Self-Silencing and Psychological Distress among Married Women

Abstract

Individuals who engage in self-silencing (SS), as described by Jack (2001), tend to internalize their distress, often manifesting as unexpressed anger, in order to preserve or enhance their relationships. This inclination to conceal true feelings stems from a desire to maintain interpersonal connections and gain approval from significant others, as proposed by Jack (1991). This study aims to find out if Self silencing (SS) could be correlated with psychological distress of a sample of 200 married women. The tools used included the Silencing the self-scale (STSS)- the silencing the self-scale by Jack & dill, (1992) and The Kessler psychological distress scale(k10)- the Kessler psychological distress scale by Kessler rc.et al, (2003). Correlation, Linear Regression and T-test were used to analyze the relation, influence among the examined variables and the level of difference among the population. The obtained results indicated that there is a significant correlation between Self-silencing (SS) and psychological distress (PD) (p=0.01). Further to study the impact of the same a regression analysis was done. The findings suggest that Self-silencing (SS) plays a significant role in predicting psychological distress (PD). Also, to understand the level of difference on the self-silencing and psychological difference among the married working and non-working women were conducted, the obtained results indicated that there is no significant difference on self- silencing (SS) and psychological distress (PD) among working and non-working married women. This indicates that there is no significant difference on psychological distress (PD) among working and non-working married women. It also indicates that there is no significant difference in the level of self- silencing (SS) among Married working and non-working women. Further research in this area could deepen our understanding and inform interventions to support young adults in navigating life’s complexities with self-silencing (SS).