The presence of a calling and academic satisfaction: Examining potential mediators

The present study examined the relation of calling and academic satisfaction with a diverse sample of 312 undergraduate students. The presence of a calling was moderately correlated with academic satisfaction, and a multiple mediation model was utilized to test three potential mediators to this relation: career decision self-efficacy, work hope, and meaning in life. Using bootstrapping techniques, significant indirect effects were found for two of the three mediators, career decision self-efficacy, and work hope. After including the mediators in the model, the relation of calling and academic satisfaction was non-significant. These results indicate that calling relates to greater satisfaction in the academic domain in part because of increased career decision self-efficacy and work hope. Directions for future research are discussed.     

师范生职业使命感与学业满意度及生活满意度的关系：人生意义感的作用

采取职业使命感量表、人生意义感量表、学业满意度量表和生活满意度量表对679名免费师范生进行调查,考察免费师范生的职业使命感与其学业满意度和生活满意度的关系,以及人生意义感在其关系中的作用。结果表明:(1)师范生的职业使命感不存在性别和年级差异。(2)师范生的职业使命感对其人生意义体验、学业满意度和生活满意度均存在显著的预测作用。(3)人生意义体验在职业使命感与学业满意度之间起显著的部分中介作用;人生意义体验也在职业使命感与生活满意度之间起显著的部分中介作用。(4)人生意义寻求在职业使命感与学业满意度、生活满意度之间的调节作用未得到支持;人生意义寻求在人生意义体验与学业满意度、生活满意度之间的调节作用也未得到支持,这可能体现了中西文化的差异。     

Perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction: testing a moderated, multiple mediator model

The current study examined the relation between perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction among a diverse group of employed adults who completed an online survey (N = 201). Perceiving a calling and living a calling were positively correlated with career commitment, work meaning, and job satisfaction. Living a calling moderated the relations of perceiving a calling with career commitment and work meaning, such that these relations were more robust for those with a stronger sense they were living their calling. Additionally, a moderated, multiple mediator model was run to examine the mediating role of career commitment and work meaning in the relation of perceiving a calling and job satisfaction, while accounting for the moderating role of living a calling. Results indicated that work meaning and career commitment fully mediated the relation between perceiving a calling and job satisfaction. However, the indirect effects of work meaning and career commitment were only significant for individuals with high levels of living a calling, indicating the importance of living a calling in the link between perceiving a calling and job satisfaction. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Examining Moderators of Signature Strengths Use and Well-being: Calling and Signature Strengths Level

This study examined the relation between signature strengths use and satisfaction with a sample of diverse undergraduate students. We measured strengths use and satisfaction in both the life and academic domains and identified two possible moderators of this relation: the level of one’s signature strengths and the presence of calling. Results revealed a three way interaction between signature strengths use, signature strengths level, and calling in the prediction of life satisfaction and a two way interaction between signature strengths use and calling in the prediction of academic satisfaction. Contrary to our hypotheses, people low in calling and high in signature strengths level showed the strongest relation between signature strengths use and life satisfaction. For the academic domain, participants low in calling showed the strongest relation between strengths use and academic satisfaction but those high in calling still benefited from using their strengths. Implications for future research and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Does the dark side of a calling exist? Examining potential negative effects

The present studies examined the potential dark side of perceiving and living a calling with diverse samples of employed adults. In Study 1, living a calling and life meaning were found to suppress the relation between perceiving a calling and life satisfaction, resulting in these variables being significantly, negatively related. This suggests that perceiving a calling may predict decreased well-being when it is not lived out and does not provide meaning. In Study 2, participants living a calling did not experience greater burnout, workaholism, or organizational exploitation. Additionally, counter to hypotheses, living a calling was found to be a significant buffer in the relation of burnout/exploitation and job satisfaction. Specifically, the slope of the relation between living a calling and job satisfaction was more pronounced with individuals experiencing high levels of burnout/exploitation. These findings suggest that living a calling may help individuals in difficult working conditions maintain job satisfaction.     

Core self-evaluations and job and life satisfaction: the role of self-concordance and goal attainment

The present study tested a model explaining how the core self-evaluations (i.e., positive self-regard) concept is linked to job and life satisfaction. The self-concordance model, which focuses on motives underlying goal pursuit, was used as an explanatory framework. Data were collected from 2 samples: (a) 183 university students (longitudinal measures of goal attainment and life satisfaction were used) and (b) 251 employees (longitudinal measures of goal attainment and job satisfaction were utilized). In both studies, the core self-evaluations concept was positively related to goal self-concordance, meaning that individuals with positive self-regard were more likely to pursue goals for intrinsic and identified (value-congruent) reasons. Furthermore, in both studies, goal self-concordance was related to satisfaction (job satisfaction in Study 1 and life satisfaction in Study 2).     

Calling, vocational development, and well being: A longitudinal study of medical students

The present study investigated the relation of calling to the vocational development and well-being of a sample of medical students. Students were surveyed at two time points: prior to beginning the first year of medical school and prior to beginning the third year of medical school. At each time point, calling moderately correlated with positive vocational development and life meaning. At Time 2, participants had higher levels of vocational development relative to Time 1 and lower levels of calling and life satisfaction relative to Time 1. Calling at Time 1 did not significantly predict vocational development or life meaning at Time 2. However, vocational development and life meaning at Time 1 each significantly predicted calling at Time 2. Students who were able to view their lives as more meaningful and advanced in their vocational development over time also endorsed higher levels of a career calling. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Calling in retirement: A mixed methods study

This mixed methods study aimed to examine the experiences of a calling in retirement with a sample of 196 retired adults. First, a qualitative analysis explored the types of activities participants experienced as a calling as well as the types of barriers that participants perceived as keeping them from living their calling. ‘Helping Others’ emerged as the largest category of calling that participants endorsed and ‘No Resources to Live Calling’ emerged as the most frequently endorsed barrier. Building on our qualitative findings, we conducted a quantitative analysis to examine the relation of perceiving a calling with well-being. Consistent with prior research with working adult populations and in support of our hypotheses, perceiving a calling related to life meaning and life satisfaction, and structural equation modeling demonstrated that life meaning and living a calling (via life meaning) fully mediated the perceiving calling–life satisfaction relation. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Perceiving a calling and well-being: Motivation and access to opportunity as moderators

The current study examined moderator variables that may accentuate the effect of perceiving a calling on well-being amongst a large and diverse sample of working adults (N = 746). Drawing from Self Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) and the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT: Duffy, Blustein, Diemer, & Autin, 2016), perceiving a calling was hypothesized to have greater effects on wellbeing for individuals with greater calling motivation and access to vocational opportunity, as assessed by income and work volition. Three moderated, multiple mediator models using structural equation modeling were run to test these hypotheses. Specifically, life meaning and living a calling were positioned as mediator variables in the relation of perceiving a calling to life satisfaction and the paths from perceiving a calling to the mediators were proposed to be significantly moderated. Calling motivation was found to be a significant moderator for both paths, supporting propositions of SDT. As the motivation to pursue one's calling increased, the direct effects on life meaning and living a calling and the indirect effects on life satisfaction were stronger. Income was also found to be a significant moderator, supporting propositions of the PWT, but only in the relation of perceiving a calling to living a calling. It was proposed that work volition—a variable related to the perception of vocational opportunity—may be better positioned as correlate of calling variables versus a moderator variable affecting the impact of having a calling. Practical implications are discussed.     

A Psychometric Evaluation of the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire among Students from Poland and Chile

This study verifies the psychometric properties of the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSORFQ). This measure consists of 10 items regarding strength of religious faith, regardless of religious denomination or affiliation. Participants were 177 students from Chile and 393 students from Poland. The SCSORFQ method is a reliable measure with good internal consistency evaluated by the α-Cronbach coefficient. Factor analysis statistically confirmed the unidimensional structure of the SCSORFQ. The strength of religious faith in both student groups was moderate to strong correlated with public or private aspects of religiousness and strong correlated with spiritual experiences. It was weakly correlated with the cognitive indicator of well-being as satisfaction with life as well as with existential variables like hope and meaning of life. The results confirm that the SCSORFQ is psychometrically sound and is therefore recommended for use by researchers studying the construct of religiousness.     

核心自我评价和生活满意度对澳门中学生学业倦怠的影响

采用问卷调查法,以336名澳门中学生为被试,探讨澳门中学生的核心自我评价、生活满意度与学业倦怠的关系。结果发现,(1)澳门中学生的核心自我评价、生活满意度对学业倦怠有负向影响作用。(2)生活满意度在核心自我评价与学业倦怠间起调节作用:高生活满意度的个体,核心自我评价越高,学业倦怠程度越低;低生活满意度个体,无论核心自我评价的高低,学业倦怠程度都较高。     

Presence of meaning,search for meaning,religiousness, satisfaction with life and depressive symptoms among a diverse Israeli sample

The present study explored the structure and correlates of meaning in life (MIL) among an Israeli sample. The sample consisted of 559 adults. The average age of participants was 48.24 and 61.3% of them were females. Participants provided demographic information and completed measures of MIL, satisfaction with life, and depressive symptoms. The MIL Questionnaire showed a very good fit for the proposed 2-factor model (i.e. presence of meaning, search for meaning) to the data collected from the current sample. Presence of meaning correlated positively with both search for meaning and satisfaction with life, and negatively with depressive symptoms. Search for meaning was positively and weakly tied to satisfaction with life, but was unrelated to depressive symptoms. Religiousness appeared as a significant moderator between the two meaning factors, and between them and life satisfaction. Specifically, as religiousness became stronger: (a) the link between presence of meaning and search for meaning became weaker; (b) the link between presence of meaning and life satisfaction became stronger and (c) the link between search for meaning and life satisfaction became weaker. The findings suggest that there are differential implications of presence search for meaning on the health and well-being, and the important role religiousness plays in this regard.     

The Future Work Self and Calling: The Mediational Role of Life Meaning

Research on calling prevailingly focuses on the positive effects on well-being and career development. However, explorations of the predictors and emergence of callings are sparse. We tested a model in which clarity about the future work self promotes one’s sense of calling through increased life meaning. We sampled 473 Chinese college students with a three-wave panel design over 1 year. Using time-lagged analysis, we found that the future work self at T1 significantly predicted increased life meaning at T2, which, in turn, significantly predicted increased calling at T3. This indirect effect was significant and supported the hypothesized longitudinal mediation model. The reverse effects of one’s calling as a predictor of self-clarity about one’s future work life or life meaning were not confirmed. Our findings suggest that among Chinese college students, self-clarity about one’s future work life and understanding one’s life meaning are two important steps in the development of one’s calling.     

An Exploration of the Associations Among Multiple Aspects of Religiousness,Body Image,Eating Pathology,and Appearance Investment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of positive and negative aspects of religiousness on eating pathology, body satisfaction, and appearance investment beyond previously established variables (age, BMI, exercise frequency, weight stability, and self-esteem). Data collected from 168 adult females at a Catholic-affiliated university were analyzed using hierarchical linear regressions. As expected, some religiousness variables (spirituality and seeing one’s body as having sacred qualities) were associated with eating pathology, body satisfaction, and appearance investment in potentially beneficial ways, and others (negative interaction with one’s religious community) were associated in potentially harmful ways. Interestingly, greater religious meaning, or the importance of religion in one’s life, was associated with greater eating pathology, and some variables (religious coping, participation in and support from one’s religious community) expected to be associated with greater body satisfaction were unrelated. Results are discussed in terms of mechanisms through which the aspects of religiousness may influence body satisfaction, appearance investment, and eating pathology.     

The Role of Positive Psychology Constructs in Predicting Mental Health and Academic Achievement in Children and Adolescents: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study

This longitudinal study presents the first examination of the relation between positive psychology constructs, mental health and academic achievement of students in Portugal. Using a sample of 367 middle-school students, the study revealed that crosssectional and longitudinal patterns of correlations between positive variables were consistent with expectations for the most part and suggested that hope, life satisfaction and self-worth have meaningful relations with mental health and academic achievement. In addition, no significant changes were found between the variables in study across the administrations and throughout the two cohorts, and all the variables in study demonstrate moderate to high stability across a 1- and 2-year time frame. Hope predicts students?? academic achievement, and life satisfaction was the strongest predictor of mental health, over 2-years. The implications of the findings are discussed with reference to prior studies and for future research.     

Research on calling: What have we learned and where are we going?

Work as a calling is an emerging concept for scholars across a variety of psychological disciplines. In the current paper, the extant literature on calling is reviewed, showcasing its salience among college student and adult populations and highlighting consistent links between perceiving a calling and heightened levels of career maturity, career commitment, work meaning, job satisfaction, life meaning, and life satisfaction. These links appear most robust when individuals are actually living out their calling at work. Seven suggestions are proposed for future researchers to better understand what it means to have and live a calling: developing a stronger conceptual understanding, collecting more longitudinal data, studying more diverse cultural groups, focusing on behavioral outcomes, examining the dark side of a calling, building theory, and testing interventions. It is hoped that the promising research base and vast areas of potential growth will continue to make the study of calling attractive to scholars across psychological disciplines.     

Research on calling: What have we learned and where are we going?

Work as a calling is an emerging concept for scholars across a variety of psychological disciplines. In the current paper, the extant literature on calling is reviewed, showcasing its salience among college student and adult populations and highlighting consistent links between perceiving a calling and heightened levels of career maturity, career commitment, work meaning, job satisfaction, life meaning, and life satisfaction. These links appear most robust when individuals are actually living out their calling at work. Seven suggestions are proposed for future researchers to better understand what it means to have and live a calling: developing a stronger conceptual understanding, collecting more longitudinal data, studying more diverse cultural groups, focusing on behavioral outcomes, examining the dark side of a calling, building theory, and testing interventions. It is hoped that the promising research base and vast areas of potential growth will continue to make the study of calling attractive to scholars across psychological disciplines.     

Scientific faith and positive psychological functioning

Much of the past research has linked religiousness to positive psychological outcomes. Recently, it has been shown that scientific faith can replace religion as a source of wellness. In a sample of young Muslims, I examined how religious and scientific faiths differ in their relationships to life satisfaction, happiness, self-esteem, and hope. Religiosity was positively related to all of these indicators of positive psychological functioning. Scientific faith was also positively correlated to happiness and hope, and after controlling for religiosity its relations to positive outcomes have increased; its relation to higher life satisfaction became significant. As expected, hope mediated the relations of scientific faith to happiness, life satisfaction, and self-esteem, but only among women. This research, depicting the independent contributions of religious and scientific beliefs to positive psychological functioning, suggested that believing either in God or science is helpful for living a good, fully functioning life.     

科技干扰对青少年智能手机成瘾的影响:核心自我评价与心理需求网络满足的作用

采用问卷调查法,以4372名中学生为研究对象,考察核心自我评价和心理需求网络满足在亲子间科技干扰与青少年智能手机成瘾之间的中介作用。结果表明:(1)亲子间科技干扰可显著正向预测青少年智能手机成瘾;(2)在控制了性别、年龄之后,科技干扰可分别通过核心自我评价和心理需求网络满足间接地影响青少年智能手机成瘾。     

Examining predictors and outcomes of a career calling among undergraduate students

The current study examined predictors and outcomes of a career calling among 292 undergraduate students at two time points over a three-month period. Using structural equation modeling, a model was tested that examined the extent to which calling, life meaning, the search for life meaning, vocational clarity, and personal growth at Time 1 would predict these same variables at Time 2. Results showed that calling was a significant predictor of personal growth and life meaning and that life meaning, the search for life meaning, and vocational self-clarity significantly predicted the presence of a calling. Although findings demonstrating calling as a predictor variable are consistent with previous research, these results also demonstrate the potential reciprocal relation of calling to proximal work and well-being variables over time. Implications and future research directions are discussed.