Does personality moderate reaction and adaptation to major life events? Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

A nationally representative panel study of British households was used to examine the extent to which Big Five personality traits interact with the experience of major life events (marriage, childbirth, unemployment, and widowhood) to predict increases and decreases in life satisfaction following the event. Results show that major life events are associated with changes in life satisfaction, and some of these changes are very long lasting. Personality traits did not have consistent moderating effects on the association between stressful life events and life satisfaction over time.     

Is Searching for Meaning in Life Associated With Reduced Subjective Well-Being? Confirmation and Possible Moderators

Meaning in life has been identified as an important element of well-being. Recently attention has been directed to examining the differences between having meaning in life and searching for meaning in life. Theory has speculated that if an individual is searching for meaning in life, he/she may be distressed. Researchers of late have begun to focus on the process of searching for meaning in life to gain a better understanding of the individual differences which may exist. Interest has also been directed towards exploring whether any moderators of the possible negative effects of the searching process may exist. This research investigated the hypothesised negative link between high levels of searching for meaning in life and subjective well-being and the positive moderating effects of presence of meaning in life while also exploring the influence of the demographic variables which were treated as control variables. From an exploratory stance further analysis examined the hypothesised positive moderating effects of self-actualisation, self-efficacy and achievement motives on the relationship between searching for meaning and subjective well-being. One study (n?=?500) was conducted to assess the hypothesized relationships. The study confirmed the negative relationship between high levels of searching for meaning in life and subjective well-being and positive moderating effects that presence of meaning in life and self-actualisation have on happiness scores when individuals are searching for meaning in life. Self-efficacy and achievement motives were shown to have no significant moderating effects on searching for meaning in life and subjective wellbeing. Overall the results suggest that individuals who record high levels of searching for meaning in life are protected from the negative outcomes of this process by holding high levels of presence of meaning in life and self-actualisation.     

Adaptation and the Set-Point Model of Subjective Well-Being: Does Happiness Change After Major Life Events?

ABSTRACT— 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.     

Small and negligible? Evidence on the Relation Between Individuals’ Power in the Job Situation and their Satisfaction with Life and Job

Experimental research suggests that high power and leadership result in the experience of more positive and less negative emotions. Extending these findings of experimental manipulations, we investigated relations between power and subjective well-being in a representative national survey. Defining power as the capability to administer resources or punishments, we inferred power from the number of people whom respondents supervise in their job. The results reflect a very small relation between this operationalization and individuals’ life and job satisfaction. The results suggest that prior experimental findings on the relation between power and satisfaction judgments cannot be applied directly to job situations.     

Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being and Memory for Life Events: Influences on Life Satisfaction with Respect to Temperamental Dispositions

The aim of the present study was to explore how the number of recalled life events (positive and negative) predicts psychological well-being (PWB) and how PWB predicts life satisfaction (LS). In addition, participants were categorized into one of four different affective temperaments (self-actualizing, high affective, low affective, and self-destructive). One hundred and thirty-five high school students participated in completing the SWLS (LS), PWB (short-version), PANAS (to create affective temperaments), and the life events recollection task. Results indicated that adolescents with high positive affect also had high PWB; adolescents with low affective profiles also had high PWB. Positive and negative life events predicted PWB for self-destructive temperaments, whereas positive life events predicted PWB for low affective temperaments. PWB predicted LS for all temperaments except the self-actualizing group. In conclusion, the temperament combinations may allow the individual to achieve PWB and LS. Even more importantly, selfacceptance may foster LS regardless of temperament and may have more impact on LS than life events.     

Marriage and Children as a Key to Happiness? Cross-National Differences in the Effects of Marital Status and Children on Well-Being

This research examines the relationship between family structure and subjective well-being and the extent to which cultural differences across 24 countries/regions may condition that relationship. Using the 2002 ISSP data, we examine how the effects of marriage status and the presence of children on happiness and satisfaction with family life differ according to the perceived importance of marriage and parenthood in society. We find significant cross-country differences in the relationship between presence of young children and the happiness of men, and in the relationship between the marital status of women and their happiness and satisfaction with family life.     

Is Happiness Good for Your Personality? Concurrent and Prospective Relations of the Big Five With Subjective Well‐Being

The present research examined longitudinal relations of the Big Five personality traits with three core aspects of subjective well‐being: life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. Latent growth models and autoregressive models were used to analyze data from a large, nationally representative sample of 16,367 Australian residents. Concurrent and change correlations indicated that higher levels of subjective well‐being were associated with higher levels of Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, and with lower levels of Neuroticism. Moreover, personality traits prospectively predicted change in well‐being, and well‐being levels prospectively predicted personality change. Specifically, prospective trait effects indicated that individuals who were initially extraverted, agreeable, conscientious, and emotionally stable subsequently increased in well‐being. Prospective well‐being effects indicated that individuals with high initial levels of well‐being subsequently became more agreeable, conscientious, emotionally stable, and introverted. These findings challenge the common assumption that associations of personality traits with subjective well‐being are entirely, or almost entirely, due to trait influences on well‐being. They support the alternative hypothesis that personality traits and well‐being aspects reciprocally influence each other over time.     

Is Life’s Meaning Ultimately Unthinkable?: Guy Bennett-Hunter on the Ineffable

In this critical notice of Guy Bennett-Hunter’s Ineffability and Religious Experience, I focus on claims he makes about what makes a life meaningful. According to Bennett-Hunter, for human life to be meaningful it must obtain its meaning from what is beyond the human and is ineffable, which constitutes an ultimate kind of meaning. I spell out Bennett-Hunter’s rationale for making this claim, raise some objections to it, and in their wake articulate an alternative conception of ultimate meaning.     

Improving Interdisciplinary Research in Well-Being—A Review with Further Comments of Michael Bishop’s The Good Life: Unifying the Philosophy and Psychology of Well-Being

Journal of Happiness Studies -     

Does Government Make People Happy?: Exploring New Research Directions for Government’s Roles in Happiness

Our study aims to explore new directions for researches on government’s role in enhancing quality of life (QOL). Although government can influence, to the greatest extent, people’s happiness, very few studies have systemically examined the quantitative or qualitative attributes of government in happiness enhancement, compared with the large volume of studies on economic, political, and cultural factors’ impact on QOL. Related to government’s role in happiness, we suggest ‘nine new research directions,’ all of which can generally be related with its’ quantitative and qualitative attributes. Even though much existing researches have focused on a part of quantitative sides of government, there are still many remaining attributes to be highlighted. Moreover, we expect that new, composite and nonlinear quality attributes of government will provide bountiful research topics in the future. Also, cross-boundary comparisons and mixtures between quality and quantity, as well as the conditional macro-context for government’s role, suggest new ideas for QOL studies.     

Impact of a Father Figure’s Presence in the Household on Children’s Psychiatric Diagnoses and Functioning in Families at High Risk for Depression

The consequences of living in single-parent households on children’s wellbeing are well documented, but less is known about the impact of living in single-mother households among children with high familial risk for depression. Utilizing data from an ongoing three-generation study of high-risk families, this preliminary study examined a sample of 161 grandchildren of probands diagnosed with major depressive disorder, comparing those in single-parent households to those in dual-parent households with household status defined as the full-time presence of a resident male in the home. High-risk children were compared across households in terms of psychiatric diagnoses (measured by Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children; K-SADS-PL) and global functioning (assessed by Global Assessment Scale, child version; C-GAS). Results indicated that high-risk children in single-parent households had 4.7 times greater odds for developing a mood disorder and had significantly lower mean C-GAS scores (p = 0.01) compared to those in dual-parent households. Differences remained significant when controlling for household income, child’s age, and either parent’s depression status. There were no significant differences between high-risk children across households when household status was instead defined as legal marital status. This study has several limitations: sample size was small, probands were recruited from a clinical population, and participants had not passed completely through the period of risk for adult psychiatric disorders. These findings point towards the importance of identifying and closely monitoring children at risk for depression, particularly if they reside in households without a resident father figure.     

What Constitutes a Good Life? Cultural Differences in the Role of Positive and Negative Affect in Subjective Well‐Being

ABSTRACT East Asians and Asian Americans report lower levels of subjective well-being than Europeans and European Americans. Three studies found support for the hypothesis that such differences may be due to the psychological meanings Eastern and Western cultures attach to positive and negative affect. Study 1 demonstrated that the desire to repeat a recent vacation was significantly predicted by recalled positive affect—but not recalled negative affect—for European Americans, whereas Asian Americans considered both positive and negative affect. Study 2 replicated this effect in judging satisfaction with a personal friendship. Study 3 linked changes in European Americans' life satisfaction to everyday positive events caused by the self (vs. others) and changes in Japanese life satisfaction to everyday negative events caused by others (vs. the self). Positive affect appears particularly meaningful for European Americans and negative affect for Asian Americans and Japanese when judging a satisfying vacation, friendship, or life.     

Parental Participation in Religious Services and Parent and Child Well-Being: Findings from the National Survey of America’s Families

Using data from the 1999 and 2002 National Survey of America’s Families, a large-scale nationally representative sample, this study finds that parental religious attendance is positively associated with parent self-rated health, parent mental well-being, positive parenting attitudes, child health, and child school engagement. Although the strength of these associations varies to some extent according to socio-demographic factors, the interactive patterns are not consistently predictable. Moreover, parental health and well-being and positive attitudes toward parenting appear to be important pathways linking parental religious attendance to child well-being. These findings suggest that opportunities for participation in local religious services offered by faith-based organizations may be fruitful avenues through which the government and society can help American families enhance parent and child well-being.     

What Matters Most to the Left-Behind Children’s Life Satisfaction and School Engagement: Parent or Grandparent?

This study compared the role of the parent and grandparent in the adjustment of children who had, and who had not, been left behind when their parents moved to urban areas for work, and tested whether self-esteem mediated the association between these family relationships and child adjustment. The sample included 428 middle school students in central China, 204 of whom were left-behind children who were cared for by grandparents and 224 of whom were not left behind. The students responded to five questionnaires measuring parent–child relationships, grandparent–child relationships, self-esteem, life satisfaction and school engagement. Regression analyses showed that self-esteem mediated the association between parent–child and grandparent–child relationships and children’s adjustment, but there were different patterns of association for the non-left-behind children and left-behind children groups. Furthermore, the unique effect of parent–child relationships was higher than that of grandparent–child relationships for the non-left-behind children, but for the left-behind children, grandparent–child relationships played a more important role than grandparent–child relationships in predicting their school engagement, and parent–child relationships played a more important role in predicting their life satisfaction. Parents who are far away and grandparents who are close at hand can shape different psychological and behavioral development outcomes of left-behind children.     

Multiple Variations: Perspectives on the Religious Psychology of Buddhist and Christian Converts in the People’s Republic of China

Based on questionnaires and in-depth interviews, this article describes and systematically analyzes the psychology of the religiosity of contemporary Chinese Buddhist and Christian converts. People convert to a religious faith for a variety of reasons that range from seeking a means of escape to a practical way of coping with life. Religious belief contains subtle and complex factors, such as the interactions between believers and their beliefs, a sense of community among religious believers, conversion of mind and personality, and influence of the religious beliefs on religious believers’ mental health and behavior. This paper seeks to provide an overview of research conducted in the People’s Republic of China about the various motivations and paths to conversion.     

Who is the Hero in the Life of the Traumatized Patient? Reflections on Bodansky’s Work with Mrs. E

The vexed question of how to explain analytic success with traumatized patients like Bodansky’s Mrs. E is considered from a perspective on psychoanalytic history and the specific theory-buttressed assumptions and practices of earlier generations of analysts that led them to conclude that traumatized patients couldn’t be helped via psychoanalytic work. I then consider Mrs. E’s life with an organizing question, Who is its hero?, applying perspectives from Charles Dickens and from Fraiberg and colleagues’ work, and use these perspectives to question the theory-based assumption that Mrs. E must have somewhere had a good object experience to have a life. These perspectives allow contemplation of a saving forceful agency at Mrs. E’s core (perhaps one experienced by her as “animal”) that seems essential to understanding her successes in living. The success of her treatment in assisting her with building a life suggests that her analyst’s helping her with mirroring and, even more important, with mentalizing, contribute importantly to her life improvement. Some potential limitations of his approach to her are also implied in his account; in particular, his limited work with her intimate desires and feelings, both libidinal and aggressive.     

Are Collective Efficacy,Disorder and Social Support Associated with One’s Quality of Life? Evidence from the Multilevel SWING Study in Belgium

The current study assesses the evidence for the association between several neighborhood social processes (collective efficacy and social disorder) and two important individual-level quality of life indicators, which are avoidance behaviour and mental health. In addition to these neighborhood characteristics, the study also assesses the impact of an individual’s social support network on these two outcomes. Hypotheses are derived from a theoretical framework that integrates insights from social capital theory, collective efficacy theory and broken windows theory. Hypotheses about both neighborhood- and individual-level effects are tested by applying multilevel analyses to data from the ‘Social capital and Well-being In Neighborhoods in Ghent’ (SWING) survey of 2011, which consists of face-to-face interviews among the adult population in the second largest municipality of Belgium. Results suggest that individuals living in neighborhoods with lower levels of social trust and higher levels of disorder report more avoidance behaviour. Neighborhood effects on mental health are rather negligible. Individuals who experience more social support report both a better mental health and fewer avoidance behaviour.     

Helping Couples Fulfill the “Highest of Life’s Goals”: Mate Selection,Marriage Counselling,and Genetic Counseling in United States

This article traces the history of modern genetic counseling to mate selection and marriage counselling practices of the early-20th century. Mate selection revolved around a belief that human heredity could be improved and genetic diseases eradicated through better breeding. Marriage counselling, though interested in reproduction, was also concerned with the emotional and psychological well-being of couples. These two practices coalesced most obviously in the work of well-known geneticist Sheldon Reed. Even as marriage and genetic counselling diverged in the post-WWII period, vestiges of these practices remain in contemporary counseling experiences with family planning and genetic screening programs. Emphasizing points of continuity between “positive” eugenic ideologies and modern genetic practices elaborates the diverse origins of genetic counseling. It also exposes how genetic counselors have become involved in genetic enterprises beyond standard clinical settings, and prods at key issues in the interaction between genetic science and social values.     

Development of the Quality of Life in Youth Services Scale (QOLYSS): Content-Related Validity Evidence Based on Adolescents’ and Expert Reviewers’ Perspectives

Applied Research in Quality of Life - Despite increased interest in the quality of life of younger populations, the quality of life of youngsters in vulnerable situations such as those in youth...