Effect of Parenting Interventions on Perinatal Depression and Implications for Infant Developmental Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - Considering the significant impact of perinatal depression on both maternal wellbeing and infant development, it is important to examine the...     

Systematic Review of Self-Report Measures of General Mental Health and Wellbeing in Adolescent Mental Health

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - The assessment of general mental health and wellbeing is important within child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) for both clinicians and...     

A Systematic Review of Self-Report Measures of Negative Self-Referential Emotions Developed for Non-Clinical Child and Adolescent Samples

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - The crisis in child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing has prompted the development of school and community-based interventions to tackle...     

Old Age as a Stage of Life

The objective list account of wellbeing is usually taken to say that the same set of goods is relevant to wellbeing for any person, regardless of age. Coupled with reasonable assumptions about how goods are distributed over the lifespan, that leads to a picture of wellbeing as higher in midlife and lower in childhood and old age. I argue that a stage-relativized objective list theory is more plausible, after exploring several ways to understand the concept of a life stage. On the stage-relativized view, lists of goods that define wellbeing vary in the sense that there are shifting thresholds and subcategories relevant to different stages of life, but also because there are goods that count at one stage and count less or not at all at others. After exploring the list of goods for old age, I argue that the old age form of wellbeing can be welcomed even if the goods it offers are not superior to midlife goods.     

Inter-State Internal Migration: State-level Wellbeing as a Cause

The relationship between subjective wellbeing and in-migration is explored in this paper. The wellbeing of a state is considered an incentive for in-migration to that state as the wellbeing in that state increases. A cross-sectional, multiple regression on the contiguous states in the United States was used to determine if there is any relationship. A significant and positive relationship was found between state-level subjective wellbeing and net in-migration when controlling for economic and non-economic variables typically associated with in-migration. The positive relationship indicates that as a state’s wellbeing increases its appeal as a destination for internal migrants increases as well. It is recommended for policymakers to focus on improving the subjective wellbeing of their state’s residents not only to retain and attract new residents, but as a general measure of successful administration. Future studies are needed to verify the link between a state’s wellbeing and in-migration to that state. This study serves as a first step in this literature.     

The Anomalous Wellbeing of Disabled People: A Response

Disabled people frequently find themselves in situations where their quality of life and wellbeing is being measured or judged by others, whether in decisions about health care provision or assessments for social supports. Recent debates about wellbeing and how it might be assessed (through subjective and/or objective measures) have prompted a renewed focus on disabled people’s wellbeing because of its seemingly ‘anomalous’ nature; that is, whilst to external (objective) observers the wellbeing of disabled people appears poor, based on subjective assessments, people with disabilities report a good quality of life. In this paper, I examine an article by the philosopher Dan Moller in which he seeks to explain this ‘disability paradox’. Despite agreeing with his analysis that there is more to what people value than happiness, his explanation reflects some of the difficulties presented in philosophical accounts which seek to understand the lives of disabled people: this includes an analysis which fails to problematise definitions of wellbeing and who has the ‘voice’ to do the defining; which negates the multiple identities and subject positions that disabled people occupy; and which lacks recognition of the social contexts which mediate disabled people’s lives. I suggest that there is a need to incorporate disabled people’s voices into research which deepens our empirical knowledge about the relationship between impairment and wellbeing, including the social circumstances that shape disabled people’s agency.     

Beneficence,Interests, and Wellbeing in Medicine: What It Means to Provide Benefit to Patients

Abstract

Beneficence is a foundational ethical principle in medicine. To provide benefit to a patient is to promote and protect the patient’s wellbeing, to promote the patient’s interests. But there are different conceptions of wellbeing, emphasizing different values. These conceptions of wellbeing are contrary to one another and give rise to dissimilar ideas of what it means to benefit a patient. This makes the concept of beneficence ambiguous: is a benefit related to the patient’s goals and wishes, or is it a matter of objective criteria that constitute wellbeing? This paper suggests a unified conception of wellbeing for use in medicine to determine what counts as a benefit. Two components of wellbeing are identified: (1) objective functioning/health and (2) the patient’s view of her own good. The paper explores how to apply, balance, and weigh these components in clinical situations to determine what counts as a benefit to a patient.     

Do Positive Psychology Interventions Impact on the Subjective Wellbeing and Depression of Clients? A Systematic Methodological Review

Mental health services are placing a greater emphasis on wellbeing and recovery. The current research investigated if positive psychology interventions (PPIs) increase peoples’ subjective wellbeing and reduce clinical depression. A systematic methodological review was conducted on randomized-control-trials with people attending clinical services. Five databases were searched. A hand search was then completed on the reference lists of the identified articles and the associated journals. Eleven research interventions were reviewed. PPIs were found to significantly increase wellbeing, relative to controls and there were fewer studies indicating a difference in decreasing depression. However, subsequent analysis revealed that the interventions were heterogeneous which limits the drawing of definitive systematic conclusions. A methodological evaluation also found that there were recurring issues: in delivering the interventions, measuring subjective wellbeing, and applying the design. Thus, the methodological quality of the research interventions, as measured by the current review was low. There is emerging evidence that PPIs improve peoples’ mental health. However, there is scope to standardize and to improve the quality of the research interventions.

     

The spatial contours of wellbeing: A content analysis of metaphor in academic discourse

Abstract

In thinking and talking about wellbeing, people often deploy spatial metaphors, such as identifying positive and negative affect with ‘up’ and ‘down’ respectively. However, there has not yet been a systematic investigation of how wellbeing is represented through metaphor. To shed light on this topic, a content analysis was conducted of spatial metaphors in academic discourse on wellbeing, focusing on recent editions of two leading journals, the Journal of Positive Psychology, and the British Journal of Clinical Psychology. Across 28 papers, 54 spatial metaphors were identified, grouped into four main categories: verticality; horizontality; configuration; and dynamism. Above all, wellbeing is associated with interior expansiveness, with positive valence usually attaching to vertical metaphors of height and depth, horizontal metaphors of width and breadth, and configuration metaphors of size and growth. The analysis thus offers valuable insights into the subjective dynamics of wellbeing.     

Attitudes towards credit and finances among college students in China and the United States

Although there is growing concern about the issue of credit card debt among college students in China, little research has examined attitudes to money and debt among that group. The present study compared financial self‐confidence, perceived financial wellbeing, attitudes to debt, and parent education about money and debt in 410 college students from the US and China. Although college students in China reported fewer credit cards and less debt, they also reported lower levels of financial self‐confidence and financial wellbeing. In both cultures, delay of gratification and parental education predicted both self‐confidence and financial wellbeing.     

Mediterranean diet and wellbeing: evidence from a nationwide survey

Objective: Although there is some evidence of the association between specific food groups, such as plant foods, and subjective wellbeing, this is the first study to assess the relationship between adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern and subjective wellbeing. Design: Data were collected in 2014–2015, within the Edad con Salud project, a follow-up study of a multistage clustered survey on a representative sample of the population of Spain. The final sample comprised 2397 individuals with ages ranging from 21 to 101 years. Main outcome measures: Experienced wellbeing (positive and negative affect) was measured using the Day Reconstruction Method, and evaluative wellbeing was assessed with the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale. Results: A higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet showed a small but statistically significant inverse relationship with negative affect (β?=??0.076, p=.001), and direct with evaluative wellbeing (β?=?0.053, p=.015), whereas it was not related to positive affect. Several components of the Mediterranean diet were independently associated with wellbeing. Conclusion: The results suggest that adherence to a dietary pattern such as the Mediterranean diet, and not only the isolated consumption of its components, is associated with a better subjective wellbeing.     

Psychometric Properties of the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends Scale: Data from an Adolescent Sample in Ghana

Several studies have found that perceived social support plays a crucial role in the psychological and physical wellbeing of young people. A number of instruments measuring perceived social support have been developed and validated, including the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends subscales. The psychometric properties of the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends subscales have been demonstrated in a range of samples, although not in Ghana. The purpose of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties of the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends subscales in Ghanaian adolescents using data from a school-based survey (N?=?770; 14–21 years). Participants completed a self-report questionnaire containing the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends subscales, the Adolescent Stress Questionnaire, and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis in addition to simultaneous confirmatory factor analyses with structural equation modelling were performed to evaluate the factor structure and factorial validity of the subscales along with Cronbach’s α and intercorrelations. Three factors and two factors were extracted for the Friends and Family subscales respectively. While the unidimensional model of the friends subscale had a better fit with the data than the three-factor model, the two-factor model of the family subscale had a better fit than the unidimensional model, even though the unidimensional models of both subscales produced higher internal consistency coefficients. With respect to construct validity, the family subscale demonstrated some evidence of convergent and discriminant validity, but the friends subscale demonstrated some evidence of only discriminant validity, in terms of the association between social support and common mental illness and perceived stress. It appears that the Perceived Social Support subscales are useful instruments for assessing social support from family and friends and could therefore be used to further our understanding about the role of social support in stressful life events and psychological functioning of Ghanaian adolescents, although further research is required for the friends subscale.     

The Validity of Subjective Wellbeing Measurement for Children: Evidence Using the Personal Wellbeing Index—School Children

Research is scarce concerning the validity of subjective wellbeing measures for children aged 12 years and less. There are even fewer subjective wellbeing data for children with complex backgrounds and personal circumstances and those experiencing socio-demographic disadvantage. This study compares the psychometric properties of the child and adult versions of the Personal Wellbeing Index. Participants were 1761 ‘at-risk’ children aged 10–12 years, and 2000 geographically representative Australian adults. While there was sufficient fit with a one-factor structure, the reliability estimates were lower in the child sample and the incidence of response bias was significantly higher. Collectively, these findings suggest caution in the use of subjective wellbeing measures with children.     

新时代青少年价值观的构成特征与适应功能研究

在中国改革开放和社会变迁的新时代背景下,分析青少年价值观构成特征,形成有效的测量工具,并对初、高中共780名学生的价值观结构及价值观的学校和社会适应功能进行调查。结果发现：中国青少年价值观由社会平等、集体取向 、遵纪守则、亲情、友情、上进竞争、时尚、享受快乐 8个维度构成,问卷具有良好的信、效度;男生相对女生更认同友情,初中生相比高中生更认同社会公平和亲情,高中生更认同享受快乐;青少年价值观各维度对学校和社会适应的某些指标具有预测作用：对上进竞争的认同可以正向预测学业成绩和学校能力;对时尚的认同负向预测学业成绩和亲社会行为,正向预测学习问题;对亲情的认同正向预测社会能力和亲社会行为;对友情的认同正向预测同伴偏好。总体而言,新时代青少年价值观构成特征受到自身发展阶段、社会经济文化等因素的影响,研究结果有助于理解现阶段青少年健康心理发展与价值观教育之间的关系,对未来的青少年价值观教育提供了心理学的实证依据。     

Social class and wellbeing among staff and students in higher education settings: Mapping the problem and exploring underlying mechanisms

Within Higher Education (HE), staff and students from lower social class backgrounds often experience poorer wellbeing than their higher social class counterparts. Previous research conducted outside educational contexts has linked social class differences in wellbeing with differences in the extent to which low and high social class individuals feel respected (i.e., status), in control (i.e., autonomy), and connected with others (i.e., inclusion). However, to our knowledge, there has been no research that has investigated these psychosocial needs within HE settings. Furthermore, inclusion, status and autonomy are correlated, yet little is known about how these psychosocial needs contribute to wellbeing simultaneously, and independently, of one another. To fill these gaps, we report the results of two studies; firstly with HE students (Study 1; N = 305), and secondly with HE staff (Study 2; N = 261). Consistently across studies, reports of poor wellbeing were relatively common and more than twice as prevalent amongst lower social class staff and students compared to higher social class staff and students. Inclusion, status and autonomy each made a unique contribution and accounted for the relationship between social class and wellbeing (fully amongst students, and partially amongst staff members). These relationships held across various operationalizations of social class and when examining a range of facets of wellbeing. Social class along with inclusion, status and autonomy explained a substantial 40% of the variance in wellbeing. The present research contributes to the literature exploring how social class intersects with psychosocial needs to impact the wellbeing of staff and students within HE.     

The Value of Heterogeneous Pleasures

Pleasure is one of the most obvious candidates for directly improving wellbeing. Hedonists claim it is the only feature that can intrinsically make life better for the one living it, and that all of wellbeing derives from the relative pleasantness and unpleasantness of conscious experience. But Hedonism is incompatible with the ‘heterogeneity’ of pleasure: it cannot allow that distinct pleasures can feel completely differently, if experiences count as pleasant due to how they feel. I argue that a pluralistic variant of Hedonism can match its theoretical attractions while also accommodating the heterogeneity of pleasure. This has interesting implications for both the philosophical debate over the nature of wellbeing and psychological theories of how to measure and aggregate positive affect. In particular, my argument implies that there is no single dimension of ‘valence’ or ‘intensity’ on which pleasantness can be measured.     

Why ‘Nonexistent People’ Do Not Have Zero Wellbeing but No Wellbeing at All

Some believe that the harm or benefit of existence is assessed by comparing a person's actual state of wellbeing with the level of wellbeing they would have had had they never existed. This approach relies on ascribing a state or level of wellbeing to ‘nonexistent people’, which seems a peculiar practice: how can we attribute wellbeing to a ‘nonexistent person'? To explain away this oddity, some have argued that because no properties of wellbeing can be attributed to ‘nonexistent people’ such people may be ascribed a neutral or zero level of wellbeing, setting the baseline for comparatively assessing the harm or benefit of coming into existence. However, this line of argumentation conflates the category of having zero wellbeing with the category of having no wellbeing. No Φ, unlike a zero level of Φ, is not comparable to levels of Φ — neutral, positive, or negative. Considering the nature of wellbeing and the fact that ‘nonexistent people’ cannot (metaphysically or conceptually) have wellbeing determinative properties, it follows that ‘nonexistent people’ have no wellbeing rather than zero wellbeing.     

Promoting happiness: The malleability of individual and societal subjective wellbeing

Is it possible to enhance the subjective wellbeing of individuals and societies? If so, what are the mental health interventions and economic mechanisms by which subjective wellbeing could be enhanced? We address these questions in our review of the literature on subjective wellbeing. Research now shows that although subjective wellbeing is heritable and stable, it can change substantially over time. Long‐term changes can be affected by positive or negative life events; subjective wellbeing interventions have also proved to be effective for boosting wellbeing for as long as six months. At the societal level, economic factors matter for the subjective wellbeing of citizens. Economic wealth is shown to be a predictor of societal wellbeing across countries and over time. Also, high unemployment severely lowers the wellbeing of individuals and has spillover effects on other societal members, such as the employed. Given the weight of evidence, we are optimistic that subjective wellbeing can be enhanced. For practitioners, policy makers, and economists interested in the wellbeing of individuals, we propose that these findings have implications for mental health practice and economic policies. Future research and methodological issues are discussed.     

Managing stress or enhancing wellbeing? Positive psychology's contributions to clinical supervision

One of the key functions of clinical supervision as practised by health professionals such as psychologists includes the restoration of wellbeing, but there are few guidelines in the supervision literature on how to go about this. Research into concepts from the field of positive psychology such as work engagement, sense of coherence, self‐efficacy, flow and resilience has begun to provide detailed understanding of workers' happiness, health and betterment. These findings provide possible directions for supervision interventions that go beyond traditional review of self‐care and stress‐management strategies and seek to extend the wellbeing of the supervisee. This article explores the application of positive psychology to enhance the wellbeing of practitioners such as psychologists, who often work in inherently difficult work environments such as the mental health field. Specifically, a narrative approach is proposed as one possible method and practical examples are offered to demonstrate how positive psychology may be applied in the practice of clinical supervision.     

Democratisation of wellbeing: stakeholder perspectives on policy priorities for improving national wellbeing through paid employment and adult learning

Recent policy initiatives in the UK have heightened the degree to which wellbeing can be considered a political construct: The acceptance of different policy options for wellbeing depends on the extent to which those options are responsive to popular wellbeing concerns. Drawing on the views of over 400 people gathered through a variety of methods and across the UK, we outline different stakeholder views of what wellbeing is and the priorities that stakeholders believe should be addressed to improve wellbeing. We draw out the implications for reframing policy debates around wellbeing, the practice of career guidance, academic debates around identified wellbeing priorities, and the best means of developing a policy and a practice-oriented and stakeholder-responsive approach to researching wellbeing.