Subjective Well-Being and Hedonic Editing: How Happy People Maximize Joint Outcomes of Loss and Gain

Hedonic editing refers to the decision strategy of arranging multiple events in time to maximize hedonic outcomes (Thaler in Market Sci 4:199–214, 1985). The present research investigated the relationship between subjective well-being and hedonic editing. In Study 1, we gave participants pairs of social or financial events and asked them to indicate their preferences regarding the sequence and interval length between the two events. Compared to participants with lower subjective well-being, those with higher subjective well-being preferred to experience a social gain (e.g., chatting with a close friend) temporally closer to a financial loss, suggesting that happy individuals are more inclined than less happy individuals to use positive social events as cross-domain buffers against loss. In Study 2, participants were asked to select the type of positive event they would want to experience after a negative event. Happy individuals displayed a stronger preference for social events. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Financial aspirations,financial success,and overall life satisfaction: who? and how?

Nickerson et al. (2003, Psychological Science 14, pp. 531–536) demonstrated in a longitudinal study that the negative relation between aspirations for financial success and subjective well-being found by other researchers was mitigated by high household income. The present study first refined the analysis in Nickerson et al. (2003) and then explored two additional issues: (a) who aspires to financial success? and (b) how is financial success achieved? Analysis indicated that individuals with strong financial aspirations are socially inclined, confident, ambitious, politically conservative, traditional, conventional, and relatively less able academically, but not psychologically distressed. Financial success is achieved via the job and, for women only, via marriage. Financial aspirations influence job income both by influencing choice of occupation and by influencing job income within occupation; however, achieving financial success depends on having the personal resources to do so. Women with strong financial aspirations tend to marry for money (or money-making potential) regardless of their work status; men with strong financial aspirations do not.     

Psychological well-being and scholastic achievement among university students in a Canadian Prairie City

This article reports the findings from a questionnaire survey of university students’ scholastic achievement and psychological well-being in a Canadian prairie city. Multiple ordinary least-squares regression analyses revealed that sex, educational aspirations, hours spent on studying, father’s education, physical health, financial stress, and stress due to balancing work, school, and social life were found to be significantly associated with academic performance. More specifically, female students and those who reported higher educational aspirations, indicated better physical health, experienced less financial stress or stress due to finance or to balancing work, school, and social life, spent more time on studying, and those whose father had a higher level of education were found to perform better academically. On the other hand, income, physical health, relationship with significant other, relationship with family, relationships with friends, self image, and academic stress were found to be significantly related to psychological well-being. Put succinctly, respondents who had a higher family income, reported better physical health, expressed a higher degree of satisfaction with their relationships with family, friends, and significant other, indicated a more positive self-image, and experienced less academic stress were found to exhibit a significantly higher level of psychological well-being.     

Gratitude and mental health: differences between religious and general gratitude in a Muslim context

The present study examined the relation of religious gratitude and dispositional gratitude with mental health, subjective well-being and personality among a sample of 256 Iranian students. The two types of gratitude were associated with higher levels of mental health and well-being. Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were the strongest personality correlates of both types of gratitude. Dispositional gratitude showed stronger relationship with mental health, subjective well-being and personality factors. Dispositional gratitude also out-predicted the religious gratitude in relation with mental health and subjective well-being, showing that religious gratitude compared to dispositional gratitude has less effect on mental health and well-being.     

Is age-related stability of subjective well-being a paradox? Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence from the Berlin Aging Study

Subjective well-being is thought to remain relatively stable into old age despite health-related losses. Age and functional health constraints were examined as predictors of individual differences and intraindividual change in subjective well-being, as indicated by positive and negative affect, using cross-sectional (N = 516) and longitudinal (N = 203) samples from the Berlin Aging Study (age range 70-103 years). In cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, age and functional health constraints were negatively related to positive affect but unrelated to negative affect. Cross-sectionally, controlling for functional health constraints reversed the direction of the relationship between age and positive affect and produced a negative association between age and negative affect. Findings suggest two qualifications to the average stability of overall subjective well-being: Only some dimensions of subjective well-being remain stable, while others decline; age per se is not a cause of decline in subjective well-being but health constraints are.     

Family obligation and the transition to young adulthood

Changes in a sense of obligation to assist, support, and respect the family were examined among an ethnically diverse group of 745 American individuals as they began to move from secondary school into young adulthood. A sense of family obligation increased for all young adults, with slight variations according to ethnic and financial backgrounds. Young adults from Filipino and Latin American families reported the strongest sense of familial duty during young adulthood, which partially explained their tendency to live with and contribute financially to their families. The implications of family obligation for employment and educational persistence depended on age and academic performance in high school. Finally, a sense of family obligation was associated with more positive emotional well-being.     

Why are Wise People Happier? An Explanatory Model of Wisdom and Emotional Well-Being in Older Adults

This research investigated the relation between wisdom and emotional well-being in older adults, with an aim to elucidate pathways of positive development in adulthood. Three-hundred and sixty recently retired individuals completed a series of questionnaires including measures of wisdom, dispositional coping, perceived control, life engagement, and positive and negative affect. Structural equation modeling controlling for social desirability, health, and sociodemographic variables revealed that problem-focused coping, positive reappraisal coping, perceived control and life engagement mediate the positive relation between wisdom and positive affect. In addition, perceived control and life engagement, but not dispositional coping, were found to mediate the negative relation between wisdom and negative affect. The results demonstrate that higher levels of perceived control and life engagement in conjunction with an increased use of problem-focused and positive reappraisal coping account for the enhanced emotional well-being associated with wisdom. Findings are discussed in terms of the characteristics of wise individuals that promote positive aging.     

老年人乐观、领悟社会支持与主观幸福感的关系—控制策略的中介作用

基于毕生控制理论，方便选取杭州市60~95岁的老年人320名，采用问卷法考察了老年人控制策略使用的现状和特点，并在控制了年龄、健康状况、日常活动数量后，探讨了老年人的乐观、领悟社会支持与主观幸福感的关系，以及控制策略的中介作用。结果发现：低龄的老年男性和女性更偏好选择初级和补偿初级策略，而高龄老年女性更偏好补偿初级策略；乐观和领悟社会支持不仅可以直接影响老年人的主观幸福感，还可以通过选择初级策略间接影响主观幸福感。初级控制在老年人中依然具有首要性地位，老年人的资源越丰富，越有可能采用积极的控制策略（选择初级），进而提高主观幸福感，实现成功老龄化。     

Professional Financial Advice and Subjective Well-Being

In this paper, we examine the relationship between professional financial advice (PFA) and subjective well-being (SWB). Utilizing the Dutch Household Survey 1995–2018, we find that regarding a professional financial advisor as most important source of financial advice is associated with higher levels of SWB. This association is stronger for households that experienced an increase in income, individuals who do not consider themselves financially knowledgeable, and individuals that have a weaker internal locus of control and have a lower degree of conscientiousness.

     

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.     

Resources and life-management strategies as determinants of successful aging: on the protective effect of selection, optimization, and compensation

In this research, the authors investigated the specific and shared impact of personal resources and selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) life-management strategies (A. M. Freund & P. B. Baltes, 2002) on subjective well-being. Life-management strategies were expected to be most relevant when resources were constrained, particularly in very old age. In Study 1 (N=156, 71-91 years), age-differential predictive patterns supported this assumption: Young-old individuals' well-being was predicted independently by resources and SOC, whereas SOC buffered the effect of restricted resources in old-old individuals. Study 2 replicated the findings longitudinally with resource-poor and resource-rich older individuals (N=42). In both studies, specific SOC strategies were differentially adaptive. Results confirm that resources are important determinants of well-being but that life-management strategies have a considerable protective effect with limited resources.     

Do You Need to Have Them or Should You Believe You Have Them? Resources, Their Appraisal, and Well-Being in Adulthood

How young, middle-aged, and young-old adults use individual resources to cope with challenges and changes in their lives is likely to influence the ways they will approach late life. One of the most important barriers to using available resources is the subjective appraisal of the situation, of the available resources, and of the potential use of these resources. The present study based on 2,313 individuals (25–74 years) from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) examines the structural relations between available social, financial, and health resources, the subjective appraisal of these resources, and well-being in young, middle-aged, and young-old adults. The results indicate that the subjective appraisal of resources mediates the effects of available social, financial, and health resources on well-being irrespective of age groups. The discussion focuses on the importance of the appraisal of available resources as a precondition to successfully cope with stress, and points out avenues for intervention research.     

Cognitive emotion regulation in adulthood and old age: positive gaze preferences across two strategies

While positive emotional functioning may be enhanced across adulthood and old age, research is mixed as to the types of regulatory strategies that are more or less beneficial for facilitating well-being. The goal of the present study was to examine how specific cognitive emotion regulation strategies assumed to rely on varying levels of effortful processing (selective attention vs. reappraisal) would impact regulatory behaviors (via eye gaze deployment) and resultant affective outcomes. Participants viewed a series of positive, negative, and neutral film clips while their eyes were tracked across three conditions: passive viewing, selective attention, and reappraisal. Results revealed that (a) both younger and older adults displayed positive fixation preferences and showed mood improvement across both regulatory conditions and (b) there was a marginal association between positive fixation and post-regulation mood. Implications for linking positivity to emotion regulation and well-being across adulthood are discussed.     

Age differences in life stories and neuroticism mediate age differences in subjective well-being

We examined whether age differences in life stories and personality traits mediated age differences in subjective well-being. One hundred one young, 77 middle-aged, and 81 older participants completed measures of subjective well-being and personality traits. They described chapters and specific memories in their life stories and rated these on emotional tone and positive and negative self-event connections. Older participants scored higher on subjective well-being, rated their life stories as more positive, and scored lower on neuroticism compared with both young and middle-aged participants. Age differences in subjective well-being were mediated by life stories and neuroticism, with neuroticism being the strongest mediator. We suggest that changes in personality may enable older individuals to interpret events and themselves in a positive light, which help enhance their subjective well-being.     

Stratégies de contrôle adaptatives au fil de l’âge adulte et rôle des ressources cognitives dans leur déploiement

The current study investigated the age-related differences in control strategies deployment, and examined the relations of control strategies with indicators of well-being and cognitive efficiency. Eighty-five participants aged from 18 to 93 years old completed measures of control strategies and anxiety, and were administered several cognitive tests designed to assess processing speed, reasoning and episodic memory. Results showed that (1) middle-aged individuals use more control strategies based on emotional regulation and goal disengagement than younger and older individuals, (2) individuals who deploy more control strategies focused on emotions report lower levels of anxiety, and (3) cognitive resources moderate the relation between age and control strategies deployment. That is, although increased age is associated with lower deployment of control strategies, the current project showed that age effects in control strategies were weaker for people with higher levels of cognitive resources than for people with lower levels of cognitive resources.     

Individual Differences in Cognitive Emotion Regulation: Implications for Subjective and Psychological Well-Being

Although research has extensively examined the link between cognitive emotion regulation and psychopathological symptoms, scant attention has been given to the relationship between dispositional use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies and individuals’ positive functioning. In a cross-sectional study on 470 adults, we examined whether individual differences in the use of nine cognitive strategies were associated with subjective and psychological well-being. Results show that positive reappraisal and refocus on planning are positively related to both subjective and psychological well-being. Rumination, catastrophizing and self-blame are linked to poorer well-being, while positive refocusing, putting into perspective, and acceptance show few significant associations. These results suggest that cognitive emotion regulation strategies may be differently effective in promoting individual’s well-being.     

Age Differences in Perceived Positive Affect, Negative Affect, and Affect Balance in Middle and Old Age

Meta-analysis was used to synthesize findings from 125 studies on age differences in positive affect, negative affect, and affect balance. We found a small age-associated decline of positive affect and affect balance, and a small age-associated increase of negative affect. In addition, a quadratic age trend emerged, showing stronger declines of positive affect and stronger increases of negative affect in older subjects. Looking at changes of specific emotions, we found an age-associated decline of those positive and negative feelings that are associated with high arousal (e.g., feeling excited or upset), and an age-associated increase of positive and negative low-arousal emotions (e.g., feeling relaxed or depressed). Furthermore, older adults from the former communist Eastern European countries showed the strongest age-associated decline of positive affect and the strongest age-associated increase of negative affect. We conclude that age-associated losses in the oldest old and economic hardship make the optimization of subjective well-being increasingly difficult.     

Disentangling the Relations Between Wisdom and Different Types of Well-Being in Old Age: Findings from a Short-Term Longitudinal Study

Wisdom has been shown to be positively related to well-being in past cross-sectional research, but it is not clear whether wisdom affects well-being, well-being affects wisdom, or whether the association is reciprocal. This 10-month two-wave longitudinal study attempted to determine the direction of the relations between old age wisdom and physical, psychological (eudaimonic), and subjective (hedonic) well-being, using a sample of 123 older (M = 72 years) residents from a community in Florida, USA. The analyses of cross-lagged autoregressive models showed that baseline wisdom, assessed by cognitive, reflective, and compassionate (affective) dimensions of the three-dimensional wisdom scale (3D-WS), was significantly related to greater subjective well-being, mastery, purpose in life, and physical well-being at Time 2, but only baseline physical well-being was positively related to composite three-dimensional wisdom at Time 2 after controlling for baseline wisdom and well-being scores and significant control variables. The findings corroborate the hypothesis that wisdom in old age can exert a beneficial impact on physical, psychological, and subjective well-being. Helping individuals grow wiser might pay dividends in later life.     

Tracking the trajectory of shame, guilt, and pride across the life span

The authors examined age differences in shame, guilt, and 2 forms of pride (authentic and hubristic) from age 13 years to age 89 years, using cross-sectional data from 2,611 individuals. Shame decreased from adolescence into middle adulthood, reaching a nadir around age 50 years, and then increased in old age. Guilt increased from adolescence into old age, reaching a plateau at about age 70 years. Authentic pride increased from adolescence into old age, whereas hubristic pride decreased from adolescence into middle adulthood, reaching a minimum around age 65 years, and then increased in old age. On average, women reported experiencing more shame and guilt; Blacks reported experiencing less shame and Asians more hubristic pride than other ethnicities. Across the life span, shame and hubristic pride tended to be negatively related to psychological well-being, and shame-free guilt and authentic pride showed positive relations with well-being. Overall, the findings support the maturity principle of personality development and suggest that as people age they become more prone to experiencing psychologically adaptive self-conscious emotions, such as guilt and authentic pride, and less prone to experiencing psychologically maladaptive ones, such as shame and hubristic pride.     

社会认知基本维度与主观幸福感：未来时间洞察力的中介作用

基于社会认知双视角模型和人类适应机制,探讨能动性和表达性与主观幸福感的关系及其作用机制,采用社会认知基本维度形容词词库、未来时间洞察力问卷和幸福感指数量表对全国21个省市居民进行调查,共回收有效问卷4071份,其中男性1714人（42.1%）,女性2342人（57.5%）。结果表明：（1）能动性、表达性显著正向预测主观幸福,且能动性的预测效力大于表达性;未来时间洞察力显著正向预测主观幸福感;（2）能动性、表达性能通过未来时间洞察力的中介作用间接预测个人主观幸福感。本研究结果有利于揭示能动性、表达性如何影响个体主观幸福感体验,以及能动性、表达性对主观幸福感的影响程度,对于提升个人主观幸福感有一定启示意义。