Body satisfaction, sexual self-schemas and subjective well-being in women

The objectification of women's bodies in western culture creates special emphasis on women's representations of embodied aspects of themselves. I argue that women's satisfaction with their bodies is likely to have particularly strong implications for other embodied aspects of self: in this case, representations of their sexual selves. This paper examines the relationships between women's body satisfaction, their sexual self-schemas, and components of subjective well-being in a sample of 91 Australian women aged between 18 and 68. Body satisfaction and dimensions of women's actual sexual self-schemas predicted satisfaction with life, positive and negative affect. The relationships between body satisfaction and both positive affect and satisfaction with life were partially mediated by the positive dimensions of sexual self-schemas. This finding suggests that at least some of the negative consequences associated with body dissatisfaction are due to the negative implications of body dissatisfaction for women's beliefs about their sexual selves.     

Cultural orientation,ego resilience,and optimism as predictors of subjective well-being in African Americans

Kashdan, Biswas-Diener and King (2008 Sen, A. 1999. Development as freedom, New York: Knopf.  [Google Scholar]) debated with Waterman (2008 Waterman, AS. 2008. Reconsidering happiness: A eudaimonist's perspective. Journal of Positive Psychology, 3: 234–252. [Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) the value of eudaimonic perspectives in well-being research. In this invited response we discuss problems associated with reducing the conceptualization of well-being to subjective well-being (SWB). Although we like and use SWB ourselves as an indicator of well-being, the value of eudaimonic thinking, both in the generation of hypotheses concerning how goals and lifestyles link with wellness, and in broadening and differentiating the outcomes considered to be reflective of wellness. We agree that eudaimonic research in psychology is young and varied, but suggest that preemptively constraining the field to a “big one” (SWB) conceptualization of wellness would be less generative.     

Adaptation to divorce and ego development in adult women

The purpose of this study was to assess how the experience of stressful life changes might provide an opportunity for ego development in adulthood. The sample included 104 women in the early stage of the separation and divorce process; 91% of the sample was recontacted after 1 year had elapsed. Longitudinal analyses of the adaptation process supported the hypothesis that marital separation and divorce might be a disequilibrating life change, but one that might foster ego development. Those women who experienced this life change as disequilibrating but who made a successful adaptation by Time 2 showed a significant increase in ego level. Furthermore, those women who were high in adjustment at Time 1 but low in adjustment at Time 2 showed a theoretically consistent regression in ego level. Patterns of adaptation to life changes, their relationship to ego development, and the theoretical implications for Loevinger's model are discussed.     

Loneliness, optimism, and well-being among married, divorced, and widowed individuals

The study explored feelings of loneliness and dispositional optimism and their unique contribution to well-being. The sample included 196 women and men (M age = 45.94 years; 54% were women; 34% were married, 34% were divorced, and 32% were widowed) who completed inventories assessing feelings of loneliness, dispositional optimism, and well-being measured by life satisfaction and negative affect. Widows and widowers scored higher than married respondents on loneliness and negative affect and lower on life satisfaction and optimism. Divorced persons scored lower on life satisfaction than married respondents but higher than widows and widowers on optimism. Loneliness was negatively correlated with optimism. Multiple regression analyses using demographics, family status, loneliness, and optimism as independent variables showed that loneliness contributed negatively to well-being, while optimism contributed positively to well-being. A Structural Equation Modeling analysis and mediation tests showed that both loneliness and optimism mediated the effects of widowhood on well-being. The findings are in support of Conservation of Resources (COR) theory (S. E. Hobfoll, 1989, 2001).     

Culture,identity consistency,and subjective well-being

All individuals have multiple views of themselves. Whereas the consistency among the different aspects of identity is emphasized in Western cultures, the "multiple selves" are often viewed as coexisting realities in East Asian cultures. This research revisits the classic thesis in psychology that identity consistency is a prerequisite condition of psychological well-being. Between individuals (Study 1), people with a more consistent self-view had a more clear self-knowledge, were more assertive, and, most notably, had self-experiences that were less affected by the perspectives of others. Compared with North American participants (Study 2), Koreans viewed themselves more flexibly across situations, and their subjective well-being was less predictable from levels of identity consistency. Also, consistent individuals received positive social evaluations from others in the United States but not in Korea.     

Acculturation, social connectedness, and subjective well-being

This study examined social connectedness in mainstream society as a mediator between acculturation and subjective well-being (SWB), and social connectedness in the ethnic community as a mediator between enculturation and SWB. Survey data from 188 Korean immigrants in the Midwest were subject to path analyses. Results partially supported the study hypotheses. Social connectedness in mainstream society tended to partially mediate the relationship between acculturation and SWB although the standardized mediating effect did not reach statistical significance. Social connectedness in the ethnic community fully mediated the relationship between enculturation and SWB. About 49% of the variance in SWB was explained by acculturation, social connectedness in the ethnic community, and social connectedness in mainstream society, in a descending order of their unique contribution. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

The social and emotional well-being of divorced residential parents

Social and emotional well-being of 141 divorced mothers and 36 divorced fathers were examined. All parents had children living in their households. There were no differences between mothers' and fathers' reports of psychosomatic symptomatology, life satisfaction, life-area rankings, family cooperation, social support from relatives, and satisfaction with the contact with their former spouses. Mothers reported more health improvements since the divorce and higher levels of family esteem than fathers did. These findings are discussed in relation to the expectations associated with and the enactment of social and familial roles.This study was partially funded by the University of Minnesota Experiment Station. The author would like to thank M. J. Hogan for her support of this project and Jo Lynn Cunningham for her helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Personality dimensions and subjective well-being

This work examines the association between personality dimensions (extraversion and neuroticism) and subjective well-being. Subjective well-being is associated both with extraversion and neuroticism, and currently, neuroticism is generally considered the more important. A total of 368 students from the University of Rovira i Virgili completed the Extraversion and Neuroticism subscales of the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck, Eysenck, and Barrett, 1985), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin, 1985), and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (Watson, Clark, and Tellegen, 1988). Regression analyses revealed the personality variable of neuroticism as one of the most important correlates of subjective well-being. Regression analyses also showed that 44% of the variance of subjective well-being was accounted for by neuroticism, whereas extraversion only explained 8% of the variance.     

Recent changes in sex-role ideology among divorced men and women: Some possible causes and implications

Data from two Virginia Slims Surveys of American Women (1974 and 1979) are analyzed to test the hypotheses that sex-role value differences between men and women are greater in the divorced population than among married adults and that those differences have increased in recent years. The hypotheses are generally supported, and implications are drawn for the explanation of remarriage probabilities of divorced men and women. The explanation of the growing gender gap among the divorced is linked to recent changes in the position of women in the general economic structure.Revised version of a paper presented at the 1983 annual meetings of the Southwestern Social Science Association, Houston, Texas.     

Possible selves and academic outcomes: How and when possible selves impel action

Puzzled by the gap between academic attainment and academic possible selves (APSs) among low-income and minority teens, the authors hypothesized that APSs alone are not enough unless linked with plausible strategies, made to feel like "true" selves and connected with social identity. A brief intervention to link APSs with strategies, create a context in which social and personal identities felt congruent, and change the meaning associated with difficulty in pursuing APSs (n = 141 experimental, n = 123 control low-income 8th graders) increased success in moving toward APS goals: academic initiative, standardized test scores, and grades improved; and depression, absences, and in-school misbehavior declined. Effects were sustained over a 2-year follow-up and were mediated by change in possible selves.     

Enhancing possible selves in Mexican American students

This project assessed the modifiability of possible selves in young Mexican American children. Three intervention conditions were compared in a pre- and posttest design: child-only intervention, parent and child intervention, and a no-intervention control. Following eight intervention sessions, children in the two intervention groups showed significant gains in understanding the characteristics associated with becoming a good student and in recognizing the value of education in bringing about future occupational goals. Children in the intervention conditions also reported greater interest in becoming a physician, judge, or pilot — occupations they had directly experienced during training. The parent intervention phase contributed little to augmenting the positive results attributable to the child intervention component.This research was conducted under the auspices of NIH Grant HD-24003. We wish to thank Maritza Robles and the staff of the Bilingual program of the South Bend, IN, Corporation for their support.     

The possible benefits of difficulty: how stress can increase and decrease subjective well-being

This study explores the effects of stress, trauma, coping and growth orientation on subjective well-being. Based on cognitive stress theory, it was hypothesized that adversity may contribute to increased or decreased well-being, depending on the subsequent meaning these experiences are given. Survey data from Norwegian UN/NATO veterans (N= 142) showed that stress and well-being were negatively associated (r=-0.20, p < 0.05) at the level of zero-order correlations. However, a full structural equation model revealed that the effect of stress on well-being was mediated positively through a problem-focused coping process combined with a growth component. Stress was negatively mediated through an avoidant-focused coping process and a distress component. The effect from stress was fully mediated in the model. The hypothesis that stress can produce both increased and decreased subjective well-being was confirmed.     

Future orientation in the self-system: possible selves, self-regulation, and behavior

Possible selves are representations of the self in the future. Early theoretical accounts of the construct suggested that possible selves directly influence motivation and behavior. We propose an alternative view of possible selves as a component in self-regulatory processes through which motivation and behavior are influenced. We demonstrate the advantages of this conceptualization in two studies that test predictions generated from theoretical models of self-regulation in which the possible selves construct could be embedded. In one study, we show how viewing possible selves as a source of behavioral standards in a control-process model of self-regulation yields support for a set of predictions about the influence of possible selves on current behavior. In the other study, we examine possible selves in the context of an interpersonal model of self-regulation, showing strong evidence of concern for relational value in freely generated hoped-for and feared selves. These findings suggest that the role of possible selves in motivation and behavior can be profitably studied in models that fully specify the process of self-regulation and that those models can be enriched by a consideration of future-oriented self-representations. We offer additional recommendations for strengthening research on possible selves and self-regulation.     

Perceived control over development and subjective well-being: differential benefits across adulthood

The relationship between perceived control over development (PCD) and subjective well-being (SWB) across adulthood was examined in 3 studies. In Study 1, with 480 adults aged between 20 and 90 years, PCD was closely related to SWB. Chronological age moderated the associations between PCD and SWB beyond individual differences in health, intelligence, social support, and socioeconomic status. In the longitudinal Study 2, with 42 older adults, strong PCD was associated with increased positive affect only when desirable events had occurred previously. In Study 3, older adults experienced greater satisfaction when attributing attainment of developmental goals to their ability, whereas younger adults were more satisfied when attributing such successes to their own efforts. Findings point to adaptive adjustments of control perceptions to age-related actual control potentials across adulthood.     

Measuring well-being: A comparison of subjective well-being and PERMA

We compared Seligman’s PERMA model of well-being with Diener’s model of subjective well-being (SWB) to determine if the newer PERMA captured a type of well-being unique from the older SWB. Participants were 517 adults who completed self-report measures of SWB, PERMA, and VIA character strengths. Results from four analytic techniques suggest the factor underlying PERMA is capturing the same type of well-being as SWB. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a latent correlation of r = 0.98 between SWB and PERMA. Exploratory structural equation modeling found two highly related factors (r = 0.85) that did not map onto PERMA and SWB. SWB and PERMA factors showed similar relationships with 24 character strengths (average correlation difference = 0.02). Latent profile analyses yielded subgroups of people who merely scored high, low, or mid-range on well-being indicators. Our findings suggest that while lower-order indicators SWB and PERMA have unique features, they converge onto a single well-being factor.     

Political support for self-determination,wealth, and national subjective well-being

The present paper explored the relation of wealth and support for self-determination to national subjective well-being (SWB). Support for self-determination was considered from both a political and cultural values standpoint. The results confirmed associations between wealth, support for self-determination, and well-being in a large sample of countries. Importantly, political and cultural value supports for self-determination remained significantly associated with national well-being (as measured by happiness reports and life expectancy) even after controlling for national differences in wealth.

Attachment,temperament, and ego development in young adulthood

Attachment and temperament have each been thought to contribute to personality development; however, few empirical studies have examined the relations between the two. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate, in young adulthood, the relations among attachment, temperament, and two aspects of ego development, namely,overall ego development and ego development with respect tointimacy. One hundred and seven college students served as participants. Sixty one percent classified themselves as securely attached and 39% as insecurely attached. A factor analysis of the Emotionality-Activity-Sociability (EAS) Temperament Survey for Adults yielded a primary factor (labeled negative emotionality) that accounted for 41% of the variance. A regression analysis then revealed that both attachment status and temperament predicted overall ego development; however, only attachment status predicted ego development with respect to intimacy. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.