Binge Watching, Quality of Life and Subjective Wellbeing among

college students during a pandemic.

Abstract

Binge Watching has become a topic of interest among many researchers in the

field of media and social science specifically since there has been a rise in the usage of

on-demand channels like Netflix and Amazon prime in the past decade. This deadly

virus, known as coronavirus or Covid-19, has taken a toll on the mental health of college

students who are already facing immense amount of pressure with deadlines and an

uncertain fututre and so binge watching TV shows and movies has become a coping

mechanism during these stressful times. 60 participants were administered using WHO

QOL BREF, Binge Watching Engaging and Symptoms Questionnaire and Satisfaction

with Life Scale amidst the pandemic through online mediums. The research found that

out of all of the variables, the variables of Binge Watching and Social Relationship,

Subjective Wellbeing and Psychological Health, Psychological Health and Physical

Health, Environment and Physical Health, Social Relationship and Psychological Health,

Environment and Psychological Health had significant correlations. Future research were

suggested in the end.

Table of Contents

S.No. Chapter title Page No.

1 Introduction 1

2 Review of Literature 9

3 Methods 29

4 Results and Discussion 35

5 Summary 50

6 References 53

6 Appendices 56

List of Tables

i. Table 1 showing distribution of participants according to education level.

ii. Table 2 showing average of Undergraduates and Postgraduates for the four domains

of Quality of Life.

iii. Table 3 showing average of Undergraduates and Postgraduates for the variable of

Subjective Wellbeing.

iv. Table 4 showing average of Undergraduates and Postgraduates for the variable of

Binge Watching.

v. Table 5 showing Normality test scores.

vi. Table 6 showing correlation scores among Binge Watching, Subjective Wellbeing

and the four domains of Quality of Life.

List of figures

i. Figure A: Column graph showing pie chart distribution of participants according to

education level.

ii. Figure B: Column graph showing average of the Undergraduates and Postgraduates

for the four domains WHO QOL BREF- Physical Health, Psychological Health,

Social Relationships and Environment.

iii. Figure C: Column graph showing average of the Undergraduates and Postgraduates

for the variable- Subjective Wellbeing.

iv. Figure D: Column graph showing average of the Undergraduates and Postgraduates

for the variable- Binge Watching.

CHAPTER I

Introduction

About a decade ago one had to rush to attend any kind of emergency during an

advertisement before the show comes back on. Since then there has been a dramatic change in

the way youth of today consume content. There is a drift from traditional broadcast channels to

online streaming services. One can subscribe to on-demand video channels and watch any of

their favorite TV show/movie at any given time of the day and thus does not require them to plan

their day around these shows. On demand services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar

have taken over a person’s major part of daily routine. They provide a different sense of

satisfaction to millennials after the tiring and hectic schedule they need to keep up with. The

famous “couch potato” has now turned into a norm amongst them. As Toronto Star, Raju

Mudhar stated, “Entertainment is fast becoming an all-you-can-eat buffet. Call it the Netflix

effect” (Mudhar, 2014). However, this new type of pleasure is starting to affect a person’s

overall quality of life. College students and working youth are starting to use channels like

Netflix and Amazon Prime as coping mechanism from the stress they face on a daily basis. This

paper aims to find the relationship between Binge Watching, Quality of Life and Subjective

Wellbeing.

As of 2020, a dangerous virus killing millions of people has shadowed the entire world.

This virus is known as Coronavirus or COVID-19. It has threatened humanity on a large scale

throwing every kind of caution to the air. Covid-19 or Coronavirus is a virus affecting the

respiratory system in humans causing symptoms like fever, cough, sore throat, weakness, body

ache. It does not travel through air but is transmitted through some form of contact.

Reader’s Digest published an article by Chelsea Stone called How Unhealthy Is Binge

Watching? Press Pause, and Read On. This article talks about the health and other risks of

binging on any show. Adults who watched more than three hours of TV a day doubled their risk

of premature death compared to those who watched less as reported in a recent study published

in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Sitting for long stretches of time is one of the

main cause of health issues like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

The virus is causing almost everyone around the world to restrict their movements to only

inside one’s home which is taking a huge toll on one’s wellbeing and quality of life. The

lockdown has created a massive break in the daily cycle. The need of the hour is to remain

indoors and not pursue any activity in the outer world. During this global emergency, almost

everyone is switching to subscription of online streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime,

Hotstar, Hulu, Alt Balaji, Zee 5, binge watching shows to relieve of the anxiety that comes with

the danger posed by the virus.

Binge Watching

Even though the term did not come into popular usage by 2012, the term ‘Binge’ was

first used in 1800’s which means ‘to soak’ and is derived from the dialects of the midlands

counties of England, such as Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. The English Dialect

Dictionary  of the nineteenth century notes that to soak a wooden vessel such as a cask or a tub

to swell the wood and render it watertight was said to binge it. By extension a man who “soaked”

himself in alcoholic drink was said to binge or be on a binge, a usage recorded from

Northamptonshire in 1854.

. At present with the advent of on-demand services like Netflix and Amazon Prime,

‘Binge Watching’ has gained a fresh popularity in recent years. British dictionary publisher-

Collin refers to it as watching series of the same television show back to back in one sitting.

Macmillan dictionary refers to Binge Watching as the activity of watching TV for an extended

period of time, e.g. several episodes of a series.

According to some scientists, people love Binge Watching because it releases a natural

chemical in the brain that makes them feel good called dopamine which is responsible for the

feelings of happiness that come from doing something pleasant, like exercising or eating good

food. Watching hours upon hours of a beloved television show can also release dopamine,

especially when those episodes can be viewed without interruption.

Since the millennials are the ‘burnout’ generation, they are turning to streaming services

such as Netflix and Amazon Prime for coping with that burnout. According to a recent survey by

Yellow Brick, a psychiatric and trauma treatment, among the age of 23 and 38, 16% of the

respondents said they watch Netflix, Hulu, or TV. They also reported sleeping and exercise as a

coping mechanism (10% each), followed by drinking alcohol (9%), taking drugs (8%),

meditation (8 %), surfing the Internet (7%), and talking to friends/family (5%).

In a USA Today article by Susannah Griffee, noting the current trend of binge watching

television programs, interviewee Andrew Goldman, HBO/Cinemax vice president of program

planning and scheduling and adjunct professor at the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at

New York University, noted that, “college students are more likely to binge watch than adults

because they are not set to regular schedules or busy spending time with spouses or children.”

Two other individuals cited in the article indicated that it is the immediate satisfaction associated

with binge watching television that incites this behavior.(Griffee, 2013).

According to a 2013 Nielsen study, consumers’ usage of Netflix was 38% in 2013

compared to the 31% in 2012, Hulu usage increased from 12% in 2012 to 18% in 2013, and

Amazon Prime Instant Video nearly doubled in usage from 7% in 2012 to 13% in 2013.

(Nielsen, 2013)

With the recent increase in the number of people viewing Television Viewing

Behaviours, TV shows and movies on streaming sites such as Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Instant

Video that make available whole seasons of a show at one time, the easy accessibility to

programs and the consequences associated with this is a subject of relevance in today’s world.

Shuhua Zhou, a professor interviewed with The University of Alabama’s The Crimson White,

noted the negative implications of the word “binge,” suggesting that this new trend may have

harmful effects on one’s body as well as interfere with one’s daily life (Linville, 2013). Many

writers liken this recent trend to an addiction, one stating he would stay up into the late hours of

the evening, choosing “‘just one more’ hit” over the rest necessary for the tasks of the next day,

another likening binge viewing to an eating disorder – lying about her whereabouts and always

wanting more, even wishing her husband would go on a business trip so she could shamelessly

binge on her favorite programs (Hsu, 2014; Willens, 2013).

Quality of Life

The concept of quality of life broadly encompasses how an individual measures the

‘goodness’ of multiple aspects of their life. These evaluations include one’s emotional reactions

to life occurrences, disposition, sense of life fulfilment and satisfaction, and satisfaction with

work and personal relationships (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999). In the literature, the term

‘quality of life’ is also often referred to as ‘well-being’. However, there are a number of

challenges to developing a meaningful understanding of the quality of life and/or well-being

literature. The first is to ascertain what, exactly, the terms mean (Clarke, Marshall, Ryff, &

Rosenthal, 2000; Farquhar, 1995). Almost 30 years ago, in one of the seminal geographical

studies in this field, Smith (1973) proposed that well-being be used to refer to objective life

conditions that apply to a population generally, while quality of life should more properly be

limited to individuals’ subjective assessments of their lives because of what Smith felt to be the

evaluative nature of the term. Today, this distinction has been lost. The terms are often undefined

or used inconsistently or interchangeably within studies. In some instances, one term is even

used to define the other (De Leo et al., 1998). The lack of distinction can in part be traced to the

multiple conceptualisations of quality of life that have evolved over the years (Beesley &

Russwurm, 1989), starting with the economic approaches popular in the late 1960s and 1970s

when quality of life/well-being was assessed by quantitative measures and unemployment rates

(Liu, 1976). In reaction to this rigidly quantitative approach to the subject, researchers began

inquiring in to individuals’ subjective experiences of their lives in the belief that objective

measures alone were incomplete measures of ‘quality of life’ (Andrews & Withey, 1976;

Campbell, Converse, & Rogers, 1976). A second reason for the loss of distinction between the

terms is the acknowledgement that quality of life/well-being has both objective components –

i.e., components external to an individual and measurable by ‘others’ – and subjective

components – i.e., personal assessments of one’s own life or of particular aspects of life using

measures of satisfaction, happiness, or other self-assessment scales (Campbell et al., 1976).

Thus, although researchers such as Smith (1973) maintained a conceptual distinction between the

two types of measures, it is clear that those who followed did not. Here, both terms will be used

interchangeably. Diener et al. (1999) summarise some common components of subjective well-

being. He mainly focuses on top-down factors that represent individual factors (such as values

and goals) influencing well-being.

In psychology, the first quality-of-life studies were conducted as a part of research into

‘successful aging’. A typical book of this kind would be ‘Personal Adjustment in Old Age’ by

Cavan, Burgess, Goldhamer, and Havighurst (1949). In the 1960s, the topic also appeared studies

of mental health such as ‘Americans View their Mental Health: A Nationwide Interview Survey’

by Gurin, Veroff and Feld (1960) and the groundbreaking cross-national study on The Pattern of

Human Concerns by Cantril (1965) in a book by that same title now a common issue in

psychological research and is often referred to as “subjective well-being” (Diener, Lucas, Smith,

and Suh (1999).

Quality of life in relation to health, or “health-related quality of life”, has traditionally

been based on a “pathology” model of health and dependency, and has focused on the

measurement of physical and mental decline, impaired role and social functioning. In short, it

has tapped the individual’s performance of activities that are essential for the continuing

functioning of the wider society (the model of “functionalism”). This approach has led to a

negative focus in measurement, at the expense of the positive (for example, scales have been

developed to measure levels of functional disabilities, rather than balanced scales with equal

measures of levels of ability). Descriptive and evaluative research based on negative models

inevitably underestimates the quality of life of people. A different approach to definition has

been measuring health-related quality of life as the gap between present health and functional

status and one’s aspirations to fill this gap (gap theory). This model is based on social

expectations and comparisons with others. While innovative attempts have been made to

measure this gap, there is little supporting evidence of the content validity of this model.

Recognition of the need for broader, more positive and balanced definitions of quality of life has

resulted in more general adoption of the WHO Quality of Life Group’s (WHOQOL) definition:

“… an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value

systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, and standards and

concerns. It is a broad-ranging concept affected in a complex way by the person’s physical

health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, and their relationships to

salient features of their environment.” It is also a concept that is dependent on the perceptions of

individuals. Research has cast doubt on the power of objective variables alone in predicting

quality of life ratings, especially in view of the paradox of wellbeing (the presence of subjective

wellbeing in the face of objective difficulties that would be expected to predict unhappiness).

Subjective Wellbeing.

A person who has a high level of satisfaction with their life, and who experiences a

greater positive affect and little or less negative affect, would be deemed to have a high level of

Subjective WellBeing (SWB) or in simpler terms, be very happy.

The concept of SWB falls within the ‘hedonic’ perspective that defines well-being or

happiness as being fundamentally about hedonic pleasure and avoiding or minimizing pain.

This differs from the ‘eudiamonic’ perspective which, as Waterman (1993) stated, is where one

lives in accordance with one’s iamond, or ‘true self’. This perspective places focus on meaning

in life and self-realization, and the extent to which a person fully integrates this into his or her

life.

Philosophers debated the nature of happiness for thousands of years, but scientists have

recently discovered that happiness means different things. Three major types of happiness are

high life satisfaction, frequent positive feelings, and infrequent negative feelings (Diener,1984).

“Subjective well-being” is the label given by scientists to the various forms of happiness taken

together. Although there are additional forms of SWB, the three types- Life Satisfaction(“I think

my life is great.” “My job is going great”, Positive feelings (Enjoying life, loving others) and

Negative feelings (Few chronic worries) have been have been studied extensively.

Subjective well-being (SWB) is the scientific term for happiness and life satisfaction—

thinking and feeling that life is going smoothly. Scientists rely primarily on self-report surveys to

assess the happiness of individuals, but they have validated these scales with other types of

measures. People’s levels of subjective well-being are influenced by both internal factors, such

as personality and outlook, and external factors, such as the society in which they live. Some of

the major determinants of subjective well-being are a person’s inborn temperament, the quality

of their social relationships, the societies they live in, and their ability to meet their basic needs.

To some degree people adapt to conditions so that over time our circumstances may not

influence our happiness as much as one might predict they would. Importantly, researchers have

also studied the outcomes of subjective well-being and have found that “happy” people are more

likely to be healthier and live longer, to have better social relationships, and to be more

productive at work. In other words, people high in subjective well-being seem to be healthier and

function more effectively compared to people who are chronically stressed, depressed, or angry.

Thus, happiness does not just feel good, but it is good for people and for those around them.

CHAPTER II

Review of Literature

BINGE WATCHING

1. Karila, L. Vogele, C. Canale, N. Flayelle, M. (2019) did a research on “Assessing binge-

watching behaviors: Development and validation of the “Watching TV Series Motives”

and “Binge-Watching Engagement and Symptoms” questionnaires.”

This study mainly provides a theoretically driven and psychometrically accurate

instruments like the ‘Watching TV Series Motives’ and ‘Binge-Watching Engagement and

Symptoms’ which can be used for assessing binge-watching behaviors. It’s sole concern was

that even though recent research generates negative outcomes from binge watching, it’s

psychological investigation remains half baked.

 Preliminary items were created for each questionnaire, and a focus group with TV series

viewers was conducted and analyzed to generate the final instruments. The questionnaires were

then administered via an online survey (N=6556), together with complementary measures of

affect, problematic Internet use and substance use. Exploratory and confirmatory factor

analyses, along with correlational analyses, were performed to examine both structural and

external validity of the scales. The factorial analyses resulted in a 4-factor model (i.e. emotional

enhancement, enrichment, coping-escapism and social) for the Watching TV Series Motives

Questionnaire (WTSMQ), and in a 7-factor model (i.e. engagement, positive emotions, desire-

savoring, pleasure preservation, binge-watching, dependency and loss of control) for the Binge-

Watching Engagement and Symptoms Questionnaire (BWESQ). The results suggest good

psychometric properties for both scales. (Karila, L. Vogele, C. Canale, N. Flayelle, M. 2019)

Through the development of the abovementioned instruments, this paper has also

mentioned about the addictive pattern of binge watching and it’s dangerous consequence on the

physical health. There is basically recycling substance abuse habit into this addictive watching

and how it has replaced other hobbies. The available initial evidence suggests that excessive

binge-watching impair day-to-day functioning (De Feijter, Khan, & Van Gisbergen,

2016), sleep hygiene (Brookes & Ellithorpe, 2017; Exelmans & Van den Bulck, 2017), and

social life quality (De Feijter et al., 2016; Hernández Pérez & Martínez Díaz, 2016).

With recent researches on conditions like ‘facebook addiction’ and ‘selfie addiction’,

research on binge watching tend to neglect their uniqueness, but aim at identifying potential

similarities as the abovementioned addictions. Thus, Flayelle et.al decided to take a

psychological process- based approach towards binge-watching investigation in

order to propose an adequate understanding of this particular behavior.

2. Max Kutner (2015) wrote an article called Depression a factor in binge watching TV

shows in the culture section of Newsweek.

This article studies how binge watching is used as an avoidance coping strategy

among people who are depressed and/or lonely. This was found as psychological factors

behind watching three episodes or more at once by researchers at the University of Texas,

Austin.

Doctoral students Yoon Hi Sung and Eun Yeon Kang and professor Wei-Na Lee

questioned 316 people between the ages of 18 and 29 about participants' TV-watching habits

and psychological states. One of the question was, "How often do you feel alone?" Diving into

the project, the authors figured that if loneliness and depression are tied to binge drinking and

eating as many studies have found, then maybe even something as entertaining as binge-

watching isn't so different (Kutner, M. 2015). Seventy-five percent of study responders said

they binge-watched mostly on streaming websites such as Netflix and Hulu. Comedy and

romance were the most binge-watched genres; some of the most popular shows for binge-

watching were Orange Is the New Black, Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill and Desperate

Housewives. (Kutner, M. 2015).

The authors, who admitted that they too binge-watch, discovered a correlation between binge-

watching and loneliness, depression, and having lack of self-regulation.

For people who feel lonely or depressed, the authors suggest, binge-watching allows them to

escape from negative feelings. And the more episodes someone watches, the longer that person

can escape. Experts call this an avoidance coping strategy. (Kutner, M. 2015).

3. Lisa G. Perks researched on a topic called Media Marathoning Through Health

Struggles: Filling a Social Reservoir.

This essay uses grounded theory to analyze interviews with a dozen people who media

marathoned while going through a health struggle. Three prominent relationship-focused

themes emerged from the analysis: (1) Interviewees experienced “parasocial encouragement,”

drawing inspiration from characters’ perseverance; (2) interviewees often marathoned stories

recommended by family or friends, which led to conversations about the stories; and (3)

interviewees struggling with depression or anxiety were able to learn more about human

relationships through media and to use media engagement experiences as springboards for

communication. In sum, through the cultivation of social support and social capital, media

marathoning experiences helped study participants buildup and draw from a meaningful social

reservoir in their time of enhanced need for connection. The social reservoir metaphor captures

media marathoning’s embeddedness in a rich social environment of real and fictive others, with

relationships that can both precede and live on beyond the media engagement experience.

4. Yu- Kei Tse did a research on Television’s changing role in social togetherness in the

personalized online consumption of foreign TV.

This article studies how television’s role in social togetherness has changed in the

post-network context, using Taiwanese consumption of foreign programs via online sharing as a

case study. Interview findings demonstrate that while audiences celebrated the personalization of

online viewing, they sometimes wondered if they would become detached from society if they

did not follow broadcast television. Moreover, by using online platforms, audiences achieved a

sense of togetherness in two ways: by connecting to others with the same interests in foreign

programs and by reassociating with home when they are abroad by consuming domestic

programs.

A sense of togetherness is attained through personalization of online viewing since

people can watch their favorite show any time of the day, even though it might be less explicit

than that generated in the consumption of broadcast television.

5. Binge-watching motivates change: Uses and gratifications of streaming video viewers

challenge traditional TV research by Emil Steiner and Kun Xu.

This paper aims to explore how binge-watching culture and technology are changing the

ways viewers understand and interact with television. They propose that the motives and rituals

of binge-viewers can be used to expand uses and gratifications (U&G) theory. Uses and

gratification theory posits that people have control over their media usage rather than being

passive consumers. We conducted qualitative, semi-structured interviews to gather thick

descriptions of why people binge-watch, how they do it, and how do they feel about binge-

watching. The findings indicate that (1) viewers’ primary motivations for binge-watching are

catching up, relaxation, sense of completion, cultural inclusion, and improved viewing

experience; (2) the portability and navigability of streaming video technology influence binge-

watching rituals; and (3) viewers are ambivalent about their binge-watching. Based on the

findings, they propose that a viewer attentiveness spectrum is a more accurate descriptor of

contemporary TV watching than the passive/active dichotomy. The researchers further argue that

the changing motives and rituals of TV viewers can be used to bolster the quantitative surveys

often employed in U&G research and to address the lingering criticisms of U&G theory.

6. Breaking Binge: Exploring The Effects Of Binge Watching On Television Viewer

Reception was written by Lesley Lisseth Pena.

This study was able to accomplish interesting and significant strides on the recently popular

yet under-researched television phenomenon of binge watching. The primary finding of this

research experiment was that the effect of binge watching on viewer reception is contingent on

the show. This also underscores that content and storyline still matter in viewer reception even in

the midst of new services and technology. This study also found that binge watching delivers an

escape gratification for viewers better than appointment viewing. This insight could perhaps

explain why some shows are better suited for binging than others.

Binge-watching accelerates the consumption of a television series, making some shows

more enjoyable -- yet other particular series may be better received when given enough time to

digest. If the show a viewer is binge-watching serves as an escape, it’s reasonable to believe that

their positive or negative feelings towards it may be amplified because of the concentrated

amount time they are spending with it. This deeper understanding of binge-watching effects is

advantageous to on-demand streaming media companies as well as television networks and

production companies when making decisions on content, development, marketing and

distribution. Recognizing the effects of binge watching could be helpful in effective media

planning and making meaningful audience gains and retention.

7. Brenna C. Davis wrote an article The Netflix Effect and Defining Binge Watching in

2016.

With the advent of Netflix, consumers are now viewing their favorite TV show in one sitting

which is quite convenient in today’s world. Netflix calls this new habit of watching two to six

episodes of series in one sitting binge watching. It is the most widely used definition of binge-

watching, but does not account for the varying lengths of episodes for the different types of

programming. The researcher studied the neurocognitive and behavioral motivations and effects

of excess indulgence to propose a new definition for binge-watching to further the study of this

field.

The researcher also found that high patterns of television use were associated with increased

risk for heart disease and all-cause mortality, poorer cognitive function in midlife, shortened

leukocyte telomere length, and disrupted circadian rhythm patterns, independent of factors such

as physical activity and family history. She has assessed binge-watching in comparison to binge-

drinking and used the format of a study on the perceptions of binge-drinking to conduct a survey

of college students on their television practices and perceptions of what constitutes binge-

watching.

8. Time perception and Binge Watching among Medical Students with Depressive

Symptoms- an article written by M.Boudali, M. Hamza, S. Halayem, A. Bouden, A.

Belhadj.

This paper aims to investigate time perception among medical students with depressive

symptoms and determinate its correlation with binge watching. Medical students were recruited

at the University of Tunis El Manar of Tunisia. Selection of participants was at random without

regards to gender, age, level of medical studies or socioeconomic status. The Beck Depression

Inventory (BDI) in its French version was used to assess depression. A questionnaire exploring

the circumstances of the binge viewing, its frequency and the average time spent in one sitting

was fulfilled. The time perception task consisted in estimating retrospectively the duration that

had elapsed between the moment they started to complete the questionnaire and the end without

having been warned beforehand.

Results showed that among the recruited students only 73,4% (n=69) responded to the time

perception task. Depressive students were more likely to under-estimate the time interval

experienced giving a shorter time duration than that experienced (57,5%). Among depressive

students (n=52), 69,2% used to binge watch TV shows at the frequency of at least one time a

week in 66,6% of cases and with an average time exposure in one setting of 3,6 hours. Binge

watching has not been found more prevalent among depressive students (p=0,22) and neither the

frequency of this behavior nor the average of exposure time were correlated to depression scores

but some of the viewing features were significantly associated with depression.

9. Katherine S. Wheeler wrote a research article called The Relationships Between

Television Viewing Behaviors, Attachment, Loneliness, Depression, and Psychological

Well-Being (2015).

With the rise in streaming products such as Netflix and Hulu, there is a need to

investigate the new trend of “binge-watching” television programs. The present study

investigated college students’ television-viewing behaviors, including binge-watching television,

television affinity, and television-viewing motivations, and assessed the relationships between

these television-viewing behaviors and relationship attachment, loneliness, depression, and

psychological well-being. Participants completed several measures, including the Experiences in

Close Relationships: Revised (ECR-R), the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3), the Center for

Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale, the

Television Viewing Motives Scale, the Television Affinity Scale, and items created by the

current researcher to measure television viewing habits and binge-watching behaviors. Results

showed significant positive associations between binge-watching television and attachment

anxiety and depression. Results also showed that binge-watching behaviors were positively

associated with television affinity, instrumental TV viewing motives, and ritualistic TV viewing

motives. These results contribute to our understanding of the psychological correlates of

television viewing behaviors, and are relevant in today’s world with the increased use of

television and movie streaming forums such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant Video.

QUALITY OF LIFE

1. Ruut Veenhoven (2001) wrote an article called Quality of Life and Happiness:

Not Quite the Same.

Quality-of-life is conceived as a broad concept that covers three meanings: 1) quality

of the living environment, 2) quality of performance and 3) subjective enjoyment of life.

'Happiness' is understood as part of the latter meaning. It is defined as the overall

appreciation of one's life-as-a-whole. This chapter explores the relation of happiness with

the first two quality-of-life variants. A review of empirical happiness-research shows that

happiness concurs with several qualities of the living environment, especially with

economic affluence, freedom and intimate ties. Yet not all living- conditions deemed

beneficial appear to be linked with happiness, for instance not income-equality or full-

employment. Empirical research shows also relations between happiness and

performance, especially with physical and mental health. Again there are noteworthy

exceptions, for instance happiness appears unrelated to intelligence. The analysis

illustrates that quality-of-life is not one encompassing syndrome. Rather than one quality

the term denotes in fact combinations of qualities. Hence the term should be used as a

token only. Reasoning, measurement and decision-making requires on more discrete

concepts.

2. Quality of life and subjective well-being in undergraduate students by Asude

Malko (2011).

The study is designed to investigate whether the quality of life and its four domains

(physical health, psychological health, social relationships and environment) are

significant predictors of subjective well-being and also to examine the quality of life in

terms of gender, socio-economic level, the number of sibling, living environment,

mother education level and father education level. The study was carried out with

undergraduate students in German, French and English Language Teaching

Departments and Primary Education Department. Subjective Well-Being Scale

(Tuzgöl Dost, 2004) and WHOQOL-BREF that was adapted to Turkish by Eser,

Fidaner, Fidaner, et al. (1999) were used to collect data. Data were analyzed by using t-

test, One Way ANOVA and stepwise regression analysis. Results revealed that quality of

life (overall) and psychological health, social relationships and environment domains of

quality of life predicted subjective well-being positively whereas physical health domain

did not predict subjective well-being. In addition to this, significant difference was

found in quality of life scores in terms of socio-economic level.

3. Quality of life research in cancer clinical trials: a need for common rules and

language written by Aaronson NK (1990).

While increasing attention is being paid to the feasibility of incorporating quality of life

investigations into cancer clinical trials, and QOL data have played a prominent role in some

recent trials, such studies remain the exception rather than the rule. This paper addresses a

number of measurement, research design, and implementation issues surrounding clinical-

trial-based quality of life studies. These include: the appropriate source of quality of life data;

global versus multidimensional approaches to conceptualizing quality of life; the feasibility

and desirability of a quality of life measurement "gold standard;" generic versus disease-

specific measures; the role of psychometrics in selecting quality of life measures; the

frequency and timing of data collection; and patient accrual and differential loss to follow-up.

Where appropriate, areas of real or potential consensus on the methods of conducting quality

of life investigations are highlighted.

Subjective Wellbeing

1. The Local-Ladder Effect: Social Status and Subjective Well-Being is written by Cameron Anderson, Michael W. Kraus, Adam D. Galinsky, Dacher Keltner (2012).

Dozens of studies in different nations have revealed that socioeconomic status only

weakly predicts an individual’s subjective well-being (SWB). These results imply that

although the pursuit of social status is a fundamental human motivation, achieving high

status has little impact on one’s SWB. However, they proposed that sociometric status—

the respect and admiration one has in face-to-face groups (e.g., among friends or

coworkers)—has a stronger effect on SWB than does socioeconomic status. Using

correlational, experimental, and longitudinal methodologies, four studies found consistent

evidence for a local-ladder effect: Sociometric status significantly predicted satisfaction

with life and the experience of positive and negative emotions. Longitudinally, as

sociometric status rose or fell, SWB rose or fell accordingly. Furthermore, these effects

were driven by feelings of power and social acceptance. Overall, individuals’ sociometric

status matters more to their SWB than does their socioeconomic status.

2. Ed Diener (2013) wrote the article called The Remarkable Changes in the Science of Subjective Well-Being.

This paper shows how the science of subjective well-being (SWB) has grown

dramatically in the last three decades, moving beyond the early cross-sectional surveys of

the demographic correlates of SWB and that how stronger methods are frequently used to

study a broader set of psychological phenomena, such as the effects on SWB of

adaptation, culture, personality, and genetics. One important new research finding is that

SWB has beneficial effects on health and longevity, social relationships, and productivity.

National accounts of SWB are being created to provide information to policy makers

about the psychological well-being of citizens. The SWB accounts represent an

opportunity for psychologists to demonstrate the positive effects their interventions can

produce in societies.

3. Adaptation and the Set-Point Model of Subjective Well-Being: Does Happiness Change After Major Life Events? By Richard Lucas (2007).

Hedonic adaptation refers to the process by which individuals return to baseline

levels of happiness following a change in life circumstances. Dominant models of

subjective well-being (SWB) suggest that people can adapt to almost any life event and

that happiness levels fluctuate around a biologically determined set point that rarely

changes. Recent evidence from large-scale panel studies challenges aspects of this

conclusion. Although inborn factors certainly matter and some adaptation does occur,

events such as divorce, death of a spouse, unemployment, and disability are associated

with lasting changes in SWB. These recent studies also show that there are considerable

individual differences in the extent to which people adapt. Thus, happiness levels do

change, and adaptation is not inevitable.

4. Retirement and Subjective Well-Being written by Eric Bonsang and Tobias J.

Klein.

This papers provide an explanation for the common finding that the effect of

retirement on life satisfaction is negligible. The researchers for this purpose have used

subjective well-being measures for life and domains of life satisfaction that are available

in the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) and have shown that the effect of

voluntary retirement on satisfaction with current household income is negative, while the

effect on satisfaction with leisure is positive. At the same time, the effect on health

satisfaction is positive but small. Following the life domain approach they then argue that

these effects offset each other for an average individual and that therefore the overall

effect is negligible. They also show that it is important to distinguish between voluntary

and involuntary retirement. The effect of involuntary retirement is negative because the

adverse effect on satisfaction with household income is bigger, the favorable effect on

satisfaction with leisure is smaller, and the effect on satisfaction with health is not

significantly different from zero. These results turn out to be robust to using different

identification strategies such as fixed effects and first differences estimation, as well as

instrumental variables estimation using eligibility ages and plant closures as instruments

for voluntary and involuntary retirement.

5. Psychopathy and Subjective Wellbeing was written by Ashley Love and Mark D.

Holder.

Psychopathy is a personality construct characterized by shallow affect, lack of

empathy, and impulsiveness. We investigated the relations between psychopathy,

subjective well-being and personality in 427 undergraduates. Prevalence rates for

psychopathy, based on participants who endorsed eight or more primary psychopathy

items, were 22.6% of males and 7.5% of females. Psychopathy was associated with high

levels of depression and negative affect, and low levels of life satisfaction, happiness

and positive affect. Psychopathy accounted for significant portions of the variance in

depression (16.6%), negative affect (16.9%), life satisfaction (13.7%), happiness (14.4–

18.3%) and positive affect (9.8%). However, psychopathy failed to account for variance

in either ill-being or well-being above and beyond t he variance accounted for by

personality. These results support the position that psychopathy can be thought of as a

constellation of extreme levels of normative personality traits.

6. Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults is

written by Ethan Kross et. al.

Over 500 million people interact daily with Facebook. Yet, whether Facebook use

influences subjective well-being over time is unknown. Ethan Kross et. al addressed this

issue using experience-sampling, the most reliable method for measuring in-vivo

behavior and psychological experience. They text-messaged people five times per day

for two-weeks to examine how Facebook use influences the two components of

subjective well-being: how people feel moment-to-moment and how satisfied they are

with their lives. The results indicated that Facebook use predicts negative shifts on both

of these variables over time. The more people used Facebook at one time point, the

worse they felt the next time we text-messaged them; the more they used Facebook over

two-weeks, the more their life satisfaction levels declined over time. Interacting with

other people “directly” did not predict these negative outcomes. They were also not

moderated by the size of people's Facebook networks, their perceived supportiveness,

motivation for using Facebook, gender, loneliness, self-esteem, or depression. On the

surface, Facebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling the basic human need

for social connection. Rather than enhancing well-being, however, these findings

suggest that Facebook may undermine it.

7. Well being in Nations and Wellbeing of Nations: Is there conflict between

Individual and Society? Written by Ruut Veenhoven.

Human societies cannot exist without human beings and human beings cannot exist without a

society. Still there can be a conflict of interest between the individual and society and there are

historical examples of societies prospering at the cost of its members, and examples of people

thriving at the cost of society. The degree of conflict or synergy will vary over time. This begs

the question: How it is today? To what extent does the well-being of contemporary nations go

together with the well-being of their inhabitants? In a system theoretical perspective one can

distinguish four kinds of being ‘well’: 1) good external conditions, 2) appropriate internal

functioning, 3) positive external effects and 4) system maintenance. At the level of nations

these aspects of well-being cannot be meaningfully combined in one measure, hence each

aspect is measured separately. At the level of individuals a fairly comprehensive measure is

how long and happily people live. Data were available for 92 nations in the early 2000s.

Analysis of these data shows much correspondence between the well-being of contemporary

nations and average wellbeing of citizens in these nations. The well-being of citizens, as

measured with Happy Life Years, appears to be strongly correlated with: a) the position of the

nation in the world system, b) the functioning of public institutions in the nation, c) the

productivity of the nation, and d) the stability of the system. There are plausible explanations

for this connection, one is that modern society fits human nature fairly well and another that

happy citizens make a better society. So, there is no great conflict between the individual and

society, at least not at this moment.

Coronavirus

1. Human Coronaviruses: Insights into Environmental Resistance and Its

Influence on the Development of New Antiseptic Strategies written by Chloé

Geller, Mihayl Varbanov and Raphaël E. Duval.

The Coronaviridae family, an enveloped RNA virus family, and, more

particularly, human coronaviruses (HCoV), were historically known to be responsible

for a large portion of common colds and other upper respiratory tract infections.

HCoV are now known to be involved in more serious respiratory diseases, i.e.

bronchitis, bronchiolitis or pneumonia, especially in young children and neonates,

elderly people and immunosuppressed patients. They have also been involved in

nosocomial viral infections. In 2002–2003, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory

syndrome (SARS), due to a newly discovered coronavirus, the SARS-associated

coronavirus (SARS-CoV); led to a new awareness of the medical importance of the

Coronaviridae family. This pathogen, responsible for an emerging disease in humans,

with high risk of fatal outcome; underline the pressing need for new approaches to the

management of the infection, and primarily to its prevention. Another interesting

feature of coronaviruses is their potential environmental resistance, despite the

accepted fragility of enveloped viruses. Indeed, several studies have described the

ability of HCoVs (i.e. HCoV 229E, HCoV OC43 (also known as betacoronavirus 1),

NL63, HKU1 or SARS-CoV) to survive in different environmental conditions (e.g.

temperature and humidity), on different supports found in hospital settings such as

aluminum, sterile sponges or latex surgical gloves or in biological fluids. Finally,

taking into account the persisting lack of specific antiviral treatments (there is, in fact,

no specific treatment available to fight coronaviruses infections), the Coronaviridae

specificities (i.e. pathogenicity, potential environmental resistance) make them a

challenging model for the development of efficient means of prevention, as an

adapted antisepsis-disinfection, to prevent the environmental spread of such infective

agents. This review summarizes current knowledge on the capacity of human

coronaviruses to survive in the environment and the efficacy of well-known

antiseptic-disinfectants against them, with particular focus on the development of new

methodologies to evaluate the activity of new antiseptic-disinfectants on viruses. This

paper concludes briefly that besides the absence of specific treatment and vaccine,

HCoVs are now known to show a significant environmental resistance. Their survival

in different biological fluids such as respiratory secretions or feces has been proved.

Furthermore, some parameters seem of benefit for HCoVs such as the stabilizing

effect of low temperature and high relative humidity or the protective action of

organic materials. This protective effect should be carefully considered when

developing antiseptic disinfection strategies. Indeed, this often involves a higher

quantity and/or concentration of the antiseptic-disinfectant product and so, a higher

toxicity. Thus, an efficient disinfection process should include a precleaning step to

get rid of these organic materials. The old well-known principle of antisepsis-

disinfection that only clean things can be efficiently disinfected is still valuable.

2. The Effect of COVID-19 on Youth Mental Health by Leilei Liang & Hui Ren &

Ruilin Cao & Yueyang Hu & Zeying Qin & Chuanen Li & Songli Mei. (2020).

The purposes of this study is to assess the youth mental health after the coronavirus

disease 19 (COVID-19) occurred in China two weeks later, and to investigate factors

of mental health among youth groups. A cross-sectional study was conducted two

weeks after the occurrence of COVID-19 in China. A total of 584 youth enrolled in

this study and completed the question about cognitive status of COVID-19, the

General Health Questionnaire(GHQ-12), the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-

C) and the Negative coping styles scale. Univariate analysis and univariate logistic

regression were used to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on youth mental health. The

results of this crosssectional study suggest that nearly 40.4% the sampled youth were

found to be prone to psychological problems and 14.4% the sampled youth with Post-

traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Univariate logistic regression revealed

that youth mental health was significantly related to being less educated (OR = 8.71,

95%CI:1.97–38.43), being the enterprise employee (OR = 2.36, 95%CI:1.09–5.09),

suffering from the PTSD symptom (OR = 1.05, 95%CI:1.03–1.07) and using negative

coping styles (OR = 1.03, 95%CI:1.00–1.07). Results of this study suggest that nearly

40.4% of the youth group had a tendency to have psychological problems. Thus, this

was a remarkable evidence that infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, may have an

immense influence on youth mental health. Therefor, local governments should

develop effective psychological interventions for youth groups, moreover, it is

important to consider the educational level and occupation of the youth during the

interventions. (Liang, et. al. 2020)

3. Covid-19 Impact on Students by Andria Pragholapati (2020).

Although so far there has not been a systematic review of the effects of COVID 19

on mental health, a number of studies related to pandemics (including bird flu and

SARS) have shown a negative impact on the mental health of sufferers. Research

conducted in mainland China aims to explore the cognition, psychological state,

anxiety and depression level of students during the 2019 coronavirus epidemic

(COVID 19), so as to understand the psychological dynamics of students. 509

students were collected with an internet questionnaire. The Self Assessment

Anxiety Scale and the Depression Scale Epidemiological studies are used to

value each anxiety and depression symptom. Findings during the COVID 19

epidemic, the majority of students strongly agreed to reduce going out

and gathering. There were statistical differences between the different sexes of

students in anxiety and panic risk exposure. Moreover, his anxiety and

depression levels of students in China during the COVID 19 epidemic were

higher than the level of the national Norm. In addition, logistic regression

analysis shows that the panic situation is epidemic. During the COVID- 19

epidemic, student anxiety and depression levels increased significantly, which

was also related to many factors. Therefore, according to the study, it is very

important to conduct psychological interventions that are needed on students.

(Pragholapati, 2020.)

NEED FOR STUDY

Binge Watching has become a topic of interest among many researchers in the

field of media and social science specifically since there has been a rise in the usage of

on-demand channels like Netflix and Amazon prime in the past decade. This deadly

virus, known as coronavirus or Covid-19, has taken a toll on the mental health of people

in various ways and so binge watching TV shows and movies has become a coping

mechanism during these trying and stressful times, and also since commercialized cinema

halls have been shut down. College students are going through a lot of stress with exams,

placements, etc being postponed due to which most of them are shifting to binge

watching shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, etc as coping mechanism amidst

Covid-19 or Coronavirus lockdown. Along with its benefits come certain limitations.

Useful habits like reading, cooking, gardening, exercising are now being replaced by

watching exciting shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime since watching shows releases a

chemical called dopamine (a feel good hormone) and can have health effects.

Psychological investigation of Binge Watching has remained half-baked and the usage of

digital platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hotstar are increasing among college

students during this ongoing pandemic. Therefore, this current research aims to study

how Binge Watching affects the overall Quality of Life and Subjective Wellbeing among

college students during a pandemic.

CHAPTER III

Methods

AIM

To find out whether there is correlation between Binge Watching, Quality of Life and

Subjective Well Being among college students during a pandemic.

OBJECTIVE

To study the relationship among Binge Watching, Quality of Life and Subjective

Wellbeing among college students during a pandemic.

VARIABLES

Binge Watching, Subjective Wellbeing and Quality of Life.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Is there a relationship between Binge Watching, four domains of Quality of Life and

Subjective Wellbeing during a pandemic?

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design used in this present study is the Ex-post facto.

HYPOTHESES

The following hypotheses are formulated for the present study:

H1: There is no significant correlation between Binge Watching and Subjective-Wellbeing.

H2: There is no significant correlation between Binge Watching and Physical Health.

H3: There is no significant correlation between Binge Watching and Psychological Health.

H4: There is no significant correlation between Binge Watching and Social Relationship.

H5: There is no significant correlation between Binge Watching and Environment.

H6: There is no significant correlation between Subjective Wellbeing and Physical Health.

H7: There is no significant correlation between Subjective Wellbeing and Psychological Health.

H8: There is no significant correlation between Subjective Wellbeing and Social Relationships.

H9: There is no significant correlation between Subjective Wellbeing and Environment.

H10: There is no significant correlation between Physical Health and Psychological Health.

H11: There is no significant correlation between Physical Health and Social Relationships.

H12: There is no significant correlation between Physical Health and Environment.

H13: There is no significant correlation between Psychological Health and Social Relationships.

H14: There is no significant correlation between Psychological Health and Environment.

H15: There is no significant correlation between Social Relationships and Environment.

SAMPLE AND SAMPLING PROCESS

The method of sampling chosen for the study is Convenient sampling. It is a type of

sampling where the first available primary data source will be used for the research without

additional requirements which provides ease of access, readiness to form part of the sample,

availability at a given timing slot or any other practical requirements of a given item. (These are

also called the availability samples). In this paper, the researcher will therefore select members

only based on their proximity and not whether they comprise the whole population. This

approach makes it easy to observe patterns and points of view. It also helps in saving time and is

relatively simple.

The sample chosen for this research are college students, undergraduate and postgraduate

and the sample size is 60.

INCLUSION CRITERIA

Undergraduate and Postgraduate college students.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA

Anybody who is not an Undergraduate or Postgraduate college student.

TOOLS USED

WHO-QOL BREF

With the WHOQOL-100, every single aspect of quality of life can be evaluated in

detail. In certain cases, the WHOQOL-100 may, however, be too long for practical use.

Therefore, the WHOQOLBREF Field Trial Version was planned to include a brief

quality life evaluation, using WHOQOL pilot data and all the available details from the

WHOQOL-100 Field Trial version. For those purposes, 20 field centers in 18 countries

included their information. There are 26 questions in the WHOQOL-BREF. For a

thorough and detailed assessment, one item has been included, out of each of the 24

facets of the WHOQOL-100. In addition, two elements were included from the overall

quality of life and health. The 26 items have been divided among four domains- Physical

Health, Psychological Health, Social Relationship and Environment, which are being

used as sub-variables for tabulation of scores.

SATISFACTION WITH LIFE SCALE.

The subjective well-being system has been conceived as containing two key

elements, emotional and affective and judgmental and cognitive (Diener, 1984;

Veenhoven, 1984). The decision was also designed to fulfill life (Andrews & Withey,

1976). While researchers have given considerable attention to the influencing aspect of

subjective well-being, its judgment is somewhat overlooked. As a measure of the

subjective well-being decision component (SWLS), Satisfacción With Life Scale

(SWLS, Diener, Emmnos, Larsen and Griffin, 1985) has been developed. There are two

studies to further confirm the SWLS. The main requirements for evaluation are peer

reviews, a memory test and clinical scores. Proof is given for SWLS to be accurate and

predictive and its efficiency compares to other similar scales. The SWLS has proved its

usefulness and effectiveness as a life satisfaction measure, suitable for use in a wide

range of age groups and applications, allowing time and money saved for interviews in

contrast with other life satisfaction measures.

Moreover, a strong convergence of self-reported measures of subjective well-

being and life satisfaction provides evidence of a relative global and stable pattern of

subjective well-being rather than a momentary judgment based on transient factors.

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) has been built to measure satisfaction with the

whole life of the respondent. The scale does not assess satisfaction with life fields like

health or finance, but allows subjects to combine these fields and measure them in

whatever manner they choose. Normative scale data are presented that show a good

degree of consistency with other scales and other forms of subjective well-being

assessments. A degree of temporal consistency demonstrate SWLS's life satisfaction

(e.g., 0.54 for 4 years). However the SWLS has shown appropriate sensitivity to detect

changes in the quality of life during the process of clinical practice. Furthermore, the

scale indicates that the social health indicators are discriminatory.

SWLS is recommended as an alternative to measures based on psychopathology or

emotional well-being, because they measure a deliberate evaluation of a person's life

using the parameters of the person.

BINGE WATCHING ENGAGEMENT AND SYMPTOMS QUESTIONNAIRE

The two original instruments were developed and checked by Maèva Flayelle,

Natale Canaleb, Claus Vögelec, Laurent Karilad, Pierre Mauragee and Joël Billieux,

which assessed TV series watching motives and binge watching engagement and

symptoms respectively. For each questionnaire preliminary items were generated and a

focus group was performed and examined for the final instruments with TV series views.

Thus questionnaires, along with complementary intervention, problem internet usage and

drug usage, were administered using an online survey (N= 6556). Structural and external

validity of scales is examined for exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and

correlation analyses. Factorial analyzes culminated in the Binge Watching Involvement

and Symptoms Questionnaire (BWESQ) in a 4-factor model ( i.e. enhancements of the

emotional, enrichment, coping-scaping and social), for watching the television show

Motives Questionnaire (WTSMQ) and a 7-factor model for binge viewing and binge

streaming. The results indicate that both scales have outstanding psychometric

properties.The current study is using Binge Watching Engagement and Symptoms

Questionnaire (BWESQ).

Procedure

The three tools, WHO QOL BREF, Binge Watching Engaging Symptoms

Questionnaire and Subjective Wellbeing Life Scale, were given out as link of Google form

through online mediums with proper instructions. Online mediums used to transmit here were

Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook. There were certain doubts conveyed through personal

messages which were cleared immediately.

After collecting data from 60 voluntary participants, raw scores were tabulated using the

SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). At first Shapiro-Wilk normality test was

conducted and according to results, Spearman’s Correlation was done on the scores.

CHAPTER IV

Results and Discussion

The aim of the study is to find out whether there is correlation between Binge Watching,

Quality of Life and Subjective Well Being amidst Covid-19 lockdown. The procedure involved

distributing three questionnaires to students from Under-graduation and Post-graduation (N= 60).

The tools used were Quality of Life BREF by World Health Organization, Satisfaction

with Life Scale by Ed Diener and Binge Watching Engagement and Symptoms Questionnaire by

Maeva Flayelle et. al. The four domains of QOL BREF are used as sub variables for tabulation

of the scores. These tools were distributed through google forms during the pan India lockdown

to see how TV shows and other entertainment affected their mental health.

The data was collected using Convenient Sampling (N= 60), after which Shapiro-Wilk

normality test was done and finally tabulated using Spearman’s Correlation.

Table 1 showing distribution of participants according to education level:

Education level Size Percentage

Undergraduate 20 33%

Postgraduate 40 67%

Education level

Undergraduate Postgraduate

Figure A: Pie chart showing distribution of participants according to education level.

The figure given above is a pie chart representing the distribution of participants where the

Undergraduates are 20 at a percentage of 67% and the Postgraduates are 40 at a percentage of

33%.

Table 2 showing average of Undergraduates and Postgraduates for the four

domains of Quality of Life, which are taken as sub-variables-

Variables Undergraduates Postgraduates

Physical Health 90 98.11

Psychological Health 91.6 98.12

Social Relationship 93.45 98.83

Environment 90.9 100.85

Undergraduates Postgraduates84

86

88

90

92

94

96

98

100

102

Quality of Life

Physical health Psychological Health Social Relationships Environment

Figure B: Column graph showing average of the Undergraduates and Postgraduates

for the four domains of Quality of Life BREF by World Health Organization - Physical

Health, Psychological Health, Social Relationships and Environment.

The column graph given above shows average of the Undergraduates and Postgraduates

for the four domains of WHO QOL BREF with an average of 90 for Physical Health, 91.6 in

Psychological Health, 93.45 in Social Relationships and 90.9 in Environment by

Undergraduates. The Postgraduates shows an average of 98.11 in Physical Health, 98.12 in

Psychological Health, 98.83 in Social Relationships and 100.85 in Environment.

Table 3 showing average of Undergraduates and Postgraduates for the variable

Subjective Wellbeing-

Variable Undergraduates Postgraduates

Subjective Wellbeing 92.05 96.52

Undergraduates Postgraduates89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

Subjective Wellbeing

Subjective Wellbeing

Figure C: Column graph showing average of Undergraduates and Postgraduates of

the variable- Subjective Wellbeing.

The figure above is a graph representation of the average of Undergraduates and

Postgraduates where the bar of Undergraduates show an average of 92.05 and the bar of

Postgraduates show an average of 96.52.

Table 4 showing average of Undergraduates and Postgraduates for Binge Watching-

Variable Undergraduates Postgraduates

Binge Watching 92.85 96.02

Undergraduates Postgraduates91

92

93

94

95

96

97

Binge Watching

Binge Watching

Figure D showing average of Undergraduates and Postgraduates for the variable Binge

Watching.

Above is the graph representing average of Undergraduates and Postgraduates for the variable

Binge Watching where Undergraduates show an average of 92.85 and Postgraduates show an

average of 96.02.

Normality test

Table 5: Table showing tests of normality of the variables:

Shapiro-Wilk Statistic Df Sig.

Binge Watching .979 60 .396

Subjective

Wellbeing

.942

60

.006

Physical Health .973 60 .204

Psychological Health .966 60 .090

Social relationships .939 60 .005

Environment .969 60 .126

The Shapiro-Wilk test of normality was conducted to check the normal distribution of the

variables. As shown in the table, Quality of Life has a significance of .396 which means it is

normally distributed as it is greater than .05. Subjective Wellbeing has a significance level

of .006 which shows that it is not normally distributed. DOM 1 or Physical Health of Quality of

Life has a significance level of .204, Psychological Health (Domain 2) of Quality of Life is at the

significance level of .090 which indicates that it is normally distributed. Then Social

Relationship or Domain 3 of the QOL BREF is at a significance level of .005 which means it is

not normally distributed. Finally, Environment or Domain 4 of the QOL BREF is at the

significance level of .126 which means it is normally distributed.

Since the variables Subjective Wellbeing and Social Relationships (Quality of Life) are

not normally distributed, Spearman’s Correlation was done on the scores.

Table 6: Table showing correlation scores among Binge Watching, Subjective

Wellbeing and the four domains of Quality of Life:

Correlations

N= 60 Binge

Watching

Subjective Wellbeing

Physical

Health

Psychologic-al Health

Social

Relationship-s

Environment

Binge Watching

-

Subjective Wellbeing

-.044 -

Physical

Health -.188 .449** -

Psychologic-al Health

-.250 .290* .436** -

Social

Relationship-s

-.453** .117 .149 .481** -

Environment

-.150 .229 .304* .649** .450

-

As shown in results, there are significant correlation between few variables and no

significant correlation between the rest. Significant correlations of the Table 2 are as follows:

The variable Binge Watching is negatively correlated with Social relationship domain of Quality

of Life [r (2, 58) =-.453, p < .01]. Subjective Wellbeing is positively correlated with Physical

Health [r (2, 58) = .449, p < .01]. Subjective Wellbeing is positively correlated with

Psychological Health [r (2, 58) = .290, p < .05]. Psychological health is positively correlated

with Physical Health [r (2, 58) =.436, p < .01]. Environment is positively correlated with

Physical Health [r (2, 58) =.304, p <.01)]. Social Relationship is positively correlated with

Psychological Health (r (2,58) = .481, p < .01). Environment is positively correlated with

Psychological Health [r (2,58) = .649, p < .01].

(H1) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Binge Watching and

Subjective-Wellbeing is supported. Binge Watching has become a way of life for college

students as well as other people. Due to accessible forums, people can watch any episode or

movie any time of the day. College students have become adjusted to Binge Watching and can

manage several other duties along with it.

H2: The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Binge Watching and

Physical Health is supported. This is in contrast to another study which had mentioned about the

addictive pattern of binge watching and it’s dangerous consequence on the physical health. There

is basically recycling substance abuse habit into addictive watching and replacement with other

hobbies. The available initial evidence suggests that excessive binge-watching impair day-to-day

functioning (De Feijter, Khan, & Van Gisbergen, 2016), sleep hygiene (Brookes &

Ellithorpe, 2017; Exelmans & Van den Bulck, 2017), and social life quality (De Feijter et

al., 2016; Hernández Pérez & Martínez Díaz, 2016).

H3: The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Binge Watching and

Psychological Health is supported. This contrasts with data gathered by a research which

supports their hypotheses which states that binge watching is perceived as

recreational as long as goal conflicts and feelings of guilt can be avoided.

Well-being, on the other hand, is positively affected by binge watching-

induced increases in perceived autonomy. These results confirm the central

role of self-determination as a link between media reception, media

enjoyment, and psychological well-being. (Granow, 2018). Another study investigated

college students’ television-viewing behaviors, including binge-watching television, television

affinity, and television-viewing motivations, and assessed the relationships between these

television-viewing behaviors and relationship attachment, loneliness, depression, and

psychological well-being. Results showed significant positive associations between binge-

watching television and attachment anxiety and depression. Results also showed that binge-

watching behaviours were positively associated with television affinity, instrumental TV

viewing motives, and ritualistic TV viewing motives. These results contribute to our

understanding of the psychological correlates of television viewing behaviours and are relevant

in today’s world with the increased use of television and movie streaming forums such as

Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant Video. (Wheeler, 2015).

(H4) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Binge Watching and

Social Relationship is rejected. A study by Scott E. Caplan explains how the model of

problematic Internet use advanced and tested in the current study proposes that individuals'

psychosocial well-being, along with their beliefs about interpersonal communication (both face-

to-face and online) are important cognitive predictors of negative outcomes arising from Internet

use. The study examined the extent to which social anxiety explains results previously attributed

to loneliness as a predictor of preference for online social interaction and problematic Internet

use. The results support the hypothesis that the relationship between loneliness and preference

for online social interaction is spurious, and that social anxiety is the confounding variable. A

study by Lisa G. Perks also proves the current hypothesis where she sums up how through the

cultivation of social support and social capital, media marathoning experiences helped study

participants buildup and draw from a meaningful social reservoir in their time of enhanced need

for connection. (Perks, 2018). The social reservoir metaphor captures media marathoning’s

embeddedness in a rich social environment of real and fictive others, with relationships that can

both precede and live on beyond the media engagement experience. (Perks, 2018).

(H5) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Binge Watching and

Environment is supported. As people face days of isolation at home, this creates an ideal

condition to engage in online activities and watching television. As recreation sources are limited

at home settings and internet/television are easily accessible, readily available and of course

affordable; it may result in binge-watching. People with binge-watching behavior often watch

multiple episodes in a single go (Umesh, Bose, 2019). Considering this fact, the tele-industry is

spending on making web-series that compel people for binge-watching and to promote this

behavior often all the episodes of a particular season of web-series are released simultaneously

(Umesh, Bose, 2019). In the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic with a global lockdown

state, as people have little to do, there seems to be an increase in binge-watching. (Dixit, et. Al.

2020).

(H6) The hypothesis there is no significant correlation between Subjective Wellbeing and

Physical Health is rejected. Chida and Steptoe (2008) conducted a meta-analysis of the

prospective studies examining the association between positive well-being and mortality in both

healthy and diseased populations. Positive psychological well-being was related to lower

mortality in both healthy and diseased populations, independently of negative affect. Positive

moods such as joy, happiness, and energy, as well as characteristics such as life satisfaction,

hopefulness, optimism, and sense of humor were associated with reduced risk of mortality in

healthy populations, and predicted longevity, controlling for negative states. (Chida, Steptoe,

2008.)

Currently, people are not being able to engage in proper physical activity due to

lockdown which influences their wellbeing.

(H7) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Subjective Wellbeing

and Psychological Health is rejected. A study investigates what kind of role of core self-

evaluations (CSE) plays on the relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and health

functioning. The findings from a sample of 160 undergraduate students revealed that CSE

explains incremental variance in physical and psychological health functioning, above and

beyond the effect of SWB. The results also revealed that CSE moderated the relationship of two

indicators of SWB (PA/NA and satisfaction with life) with physical functioning, suggesting that

individuals who have positive emotions and/or are satisfied with their lives and simultaneously

are high CSE are more likely to demonstrate good physical health functioning. Contrary to

expectations, the results revealed that CSE did not moderate the relationship between SWB and

psychological health functioning. (Nikolaou et. al, 2007).

(H8) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Subjective Wellbeing

and Social Relationships is rejected. Although research has linked social support to measures of

subjective well-being (Newsom and Schulz 1996; Pinquart and Sörensen 2000; Thomas 2010),

some researchers contrasts the current hypothesis by showing how they have found negative or

no consequences of social support on Subjective Wellbeing (Lakey et al. 2010; Lee et al.

1995; Lepore et al. 2008). In a meta-analysis of subjective well-being correlates, Pinquart and

Sörensen (2000) found that life satisfaction, self-esteem, and happiness showed a stronger

relationship with ratings of social contact quality.

The current study shows no correlation between the two variable due to the fact that

people are not being able to physically meet any relative, friend or acquainstance.

(H9) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Subjective Wellbeing

and Environment is rejected. A study demonstrated that Affective Wellbeing component and

Cognitive Wellbeing component of Subjective Wellbeing are influenced by different factors in a

nationally representative sample in Germany (N=1035). Neuroticism was a stronger predictor of

Affective Wellbeing than Cognitive Wellbeing. Unemployment and regional differences between

East and West Germany were stronger predictors of Cognitive Wellbeing than Affective

Wellbeing. In addition, the study demonstrated that shared evaluative biases in personality and

Subjective Wellbeing ratings inflate estimates of the effect size of personality. After controlling

for this bias, the effects of environmental factors (unemployment, regional differences) on

Cognitive Wellbeing were stronger than the effects of personality (neuroticism).

The current study showed significant correlation between Subjective Wellbeing and

Environment due to the effect of lockdown on the environment in the country.

(H10) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Physical Health and

Psychological Health is supported. A study titled “Exercise and well-being: a review of mental

and physical health benefits associated with physical activity” showed results that said otherwise.

Using cross-sectional and longitudinal method, studies were reviewed which found that physical

activity and physical-activity interventions have beneficial effects on one’s mental health. (Frank

J, Jason, R, 2005).

The current study showed that there is no correlation between physical health and

psychological health due to reasons such as absence of or limited resources to do physical

activity during lockdown.

(H11) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Physical Health and

Social Relationships is rejected. A previously done research confirms it by saying that certain

relationships appear to reduce subsequent mortality: going to church/temple, volunteering, seeing

friends or neighbors, and talking with them on the phone (socioexpressive relationships). The

effect can be seen among healthy and more infirm elders. Helping relationships and household

and kin relationships do not seem to reduce the risk of elder morality. (Sabin, 1993).

(H12) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Physical Health and

Environment is supported. This contrasts with literature reviewed to examined the association

between physical environmental attributes and physical activity behavior. The environmental

attributes were grouped into four categories based on a conceptual framework of environmental

factors that might influence PA and included functionality, safety, aesthetics and destinations.

Positive associations were found between both perceived and objectively measured

environmental factors and PA behaviour. The availability, accessibility and convenience of

destinations and facilities, as well as the general functionality of the neighbourhood (eg, the

presence of sidewalks, traffic conditions) and aesthetics were positively associated with various

levels of PA. The review highlights the need for future studies: to examine behavior-specific

environmental attributes, to collect objectively-measured environmental data and to include both

objective and perceived environmental data in the same studies, and to adopt prospective study

designs to allow causal relationships to be established.

The current study shows no significant correlation between Physical Health and

Environment due to factors such as restricted movements during lockdown and the risky

consequences of doing physical activity outside in an appropriate environment.

(H13) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Psychological

Health and Social Relationships is supported. However, scientific evidence shows that social

relationships affect a range of health outcomes, including mental health, physical health, health

habits, and mortality risk. Sociologists have played a major role in establishing these linkages, in

identifying explanations for the impact of social relationships on health, and in discovering social

variation (e.g., by age and gender) in these linkages at the population level. The unique

perspective and research methods of sociology provide a scientific platform to suggest how

policy makers might improve population health by promoting and protecting Americans’ social

relationships. Recent and projected demographic trends should instill a sense of urgency in

developing policy solutions. Specifically, the confluence of smaller families, high divorce rates,

employment-related geographical mobility, and population aging means that adults of all ages,

and in particular the elderly, will be at increasing risk of social isolation and shrinking family ties

in the future (Cacioppo and Hawkley 2003).

The current study shows no correlation between Psychological Health and Social

Relationship due to factors like social distancing and inability to physically visit any friend or

relative.

(H14) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Psychological Health and

Environment is rejected. One study interviewed five neighbourhoods out of which only one

showed marked change over time with respect to social characteristics. This was an initially

poorly functioning neighbourhood with poor mental health among the residents, where

substantial improvement took place as part of the further development of the area. Parallel with

the improvement in social environment there was a significant improvement in mental health

among those who continued to live in the same area, as opposed to those who continued to live

in the other areas. Selective migration could not explain this finding. The findings support the

environment stress hypothesis, implying that the quality of a neighbourhood has an impact on

mental health. (Dalgard, Tambs, 2018.)

(H15) The hypothesis that there is no significant correlation between Social Relationships

and Environment is rejected. Concerning the relation between green space and social contact,

results of a study show that people with more green space in their living environment feel less

lonely and experience less shortage of social support, but they did not have more contact with

neighbor or friends in the neighborhood and they did not receive more social support. This

suggests that the relation between green space and social contacts has more to do with the fact

that green spaces can strengthen sense of community via place attachment and place identity of

its residents, than with actual contacts with neighbor. (Dillen, et. Al, 2008).

In the current study, there is significant correlation between social relationships and

environment because of how the norm of social distancing is affecting people’s social life. Due

to this, WHO changed the term from social distancing to physical distancing.

CHAPTER V

Summary and Conclusion

The current research aims to study the correlation among Binge Watching, Quality of

Life and Subjective Wellbeing. The researcher took a sample size of 60 from a population of

Undergraduate and Postgraduate students through convenient sampling. Three questionnaires,

QOL BREF, Satisfaction with Life Scale and Binge Watching and Engaging Symptoms

Questionnaire, were distributed through google form to the population out of which 60

participants volunteered. After collecting data, scores were calculated which were then tabulated

using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences).

Binge Watching series and films have become a way of life for the current generation.

With the advent of digital platforms and absence of cinema halls due to lockdown, people have

resorted to Netflix, Amazon prime, etc, where they can watch their favorite content at the

comfort of their home. College students who are facing pressure of exam, familial pressure and

uncertainty of the future due to Covid-19, have resorted to the media world, Netflix and Amazon

Prime to be precise.

Major findings

The study has found significant correlation between Binge Watching and Social

Relationship. It is mostly because how Binge Watching affects the people one is connected to

and ignorance of different social ties due to over-indulgence with the virtual world. It has found

significant correlation between Subjective Wellbeing and Physical Health. Due to restrictive

movement in and around one’s neighborhood, people are not being able to either go to the gym

or go to a public space for any physical activity. This has a strong effect on their subjective

wellbeing. It has found significant correlation between Subjective Wellbeing and Psychological

Health. Subjective Wellbeing which has an affective and cognitive component has a major

influence over one’s psychological health. The present situation of Covid-19 accentuates that

effect.

This study has also found significant correlation between physical health and

psychological health. The lockdown has restricted people’s intensity of physical activity and they

have taken to consuming unhealthy food which in turn affects one’s psychological health. The

study has found significant correlation between environment and physical health since the

quality of environment or the immediate environment is the one which either allows or does not

allow one to engage in physical activity. It has found significant correlation between Social

Relationship and Psychological Health. One’s social ties and peer circle has a major influence on

your mental health.

Finally, it has found significant correlation between environment and Psychological

Health. The kind of environment one lives in, including family members and neighborhood,

influences one’s psychological health.

Implications

Binge watching has become a way of life and is deeply ingrained in today’s culture.

Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Hotstar, etc have made content consumption a cakewalk with

pocket-friendly budget. This has somehow effect on subjective wellbeing and a person’s overall

quality of life. One is invested in web series, movies and documentaries that are showcased in

the comfort of one’s home to the point that watching just one episode is a myth. They tend to

ignore their everyday duties and other responsibilities and watch series or movies, especially

during worldwide lockdown and the fact that they do not need to work right now.

Limitations.

The current research has its own drawbacks that need to be highlighted for the reader’s

awareness. At first, the sample size is a small one and the population is limited to college

students while binge watching content on various digital forums are not limited to just them. It is

the working people, retired ones, housewives, etc, who face immense pressure from their day to

day lives and are resorting to watching content on their mobile phones or laptops. Even small

children are now switching to Netflix which can be evident by the “Children” section on that

platform. Another limitation would be fatigue. Since there were three questionnaires,

respondents experienced fatigue by the time they reached the end which could have affected the

responses. A final limitation would be the standardization of calling consuming a content, binge

watching. There are speculations about how much exactly is binge watching and the minimum

threshold to call it so.

Future research

Binge watching can be studied among various settings in the future. It has become such

an important part of life for many, it might not have effect on one’s overall quality of life. It can,

however, be studied among working youth who resort to series and movies as a coping strategy

and not just limited to college students like the current study has done. It can be studied among

the younger generation who go to primary school and are already aware of these platforms. This

has made a transition from the traditional TV watching to binging on shows on Netflix and

Amazon Prime.

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