Life Transitions and Life Satisfaction During Young Adulthood

In Sweden the overall life satisfaction trajectory between ages 22 and 40 is slightly hill-shaped and dominated by life transitions, especially those relating to one’s family situation. Among persons in their twenties, partnership formation and birth of a child typically lead to a slight increase in overall satisfaction with life. Between ages 30 and 40 average life satisfaction declines, chiefly due to the increasing strains of family life and the breakup of couples. These strains are evident in data relating to specific aspects of family life. After age 30 satisfaction with one’s partner declines, and so does satisfaction with both one’s mother and father. Also, despite rising income, satisfaction with one’s economic situation lessens. Considered as a whole, the evidence suggests that even in a welfare state the strains on young adults of balancing work and family life are substantial. The analysis is based on panel data, 1999–2009, that focus especially on family life.     

Spirituality in Older Adulthood: Existential Meaning,Productivity, and Life Events

The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship of spirituality and older adulthood, especially focusing on factors that may result in an increased spirituality among the elderly. Older adulthood, as the accumulation of insight gleaned from difficult lessons learned through life, offers the opportunity to embrace human finitude, to recognize life’s continuity and to grow in clarity about God and God’s presence. Wisdom gained through the experiences of vulnerability and transition serves as a resource to self and others. This article draws on the reflections of William M. Clements, Ph.D., Edna and Lowell Craig Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at the Claremont School of Theology.     

Informal Support from a Pastor and Change in Hope During Late Life

The purpose of this study is to see if informal emotional support from a pastor is associated with a greater sense of hope over time. Data from a nationwide longitudinal survey of older adults are used to test a conceptual model that contains the following relationships: (1) older people who encounter more stressful life events will seek out more informal emotional support from a member of the clergy, (2) older people who receive more support from a pastor will experience a stronger sense of God-mediated control (i.e., the belief that it is possible to work together with God to solve problems), and (3) increases in God-mediated control over time will be associated with increases in hope over time. The data provide support for each of these relationships.     

Patterns of Change in Prayer Activity,Expectancies, and Contents During Older Adulthood

Prayer is the most common form of religious practice and a central part of religious experience, yet little is known about whether individuals’ prayer activities and beliefs tend to remain stable or develop over the life course. This study examines change during the course of older adulthood in a range of dimensions of prayer, including total frequency of private prayer, specific beliefs and expectancies regarding prayer, and the contents of prayers. Data come from four waves of an ongoing longitudinal survey of Christian older adults, covering a period of seven years. Growth curve analysis was used to model patterns of within‐person change in these factors. Linear increase was observed in total prayer frequency and in beliefs about prayer emphasizing placing trust in God over expecting immediate rewards. Frequency of prayer increased for all types of prayer contents, including prayers for others, for God's will, in thanksgiving, for guidance, for health, and for material goods. Only the belief that one's prayers are answered remained stable during the course of the study. Results highlight the dynamic nature of prayer beliefs and behaviors in late life, and partially support a pattern of growing faith maturity.     

Religion and Health: Anxiety,Religiosity, Meaning of Life and Mental Health

We examined the association among anxiety, religiosity, meaning of life and mental health in a nonclinical sample from a Chinese society. Four hundred fifty-one Taiwanese adults (150 males and 300 females) ranging in age from 17 to 73 years (M = 28.9, SD = 11.53) completed measures of Beck Anxiety Inventory, Medical Outcomes Study Health Survey, Perceived Stress Scale, Social Support Scale, and Personal Religiosity Scale (measuring religiosity and meaning of life). Meaning of life has a significant negative correlation with anxiety and a significant positive correlation with mental health and religiosity; however, religiosity does not correlate significantly anxiety and mental health after controlling for demographic measures, social support and physical health. Anxiety explains unique variance in mental health above meaning of life. Meaning of life was found to partially mediate the relationship between anxiety and mental health. These findings suggest that benefits of meaning of life for mental health can be at least partially accounted for by the effects of underlying anxiety.     

Meaning in Life in Emerging Adulthood: A Person‐Oriented Approach

The present study investigated naturally occurring profiles based on two dimensions of meaning in life: Presence of Meaning and Search for Meaning. Cluster analysis was used to examine meaning‐in‐life profiles, and subsequent analyses identified different patterns in psychosocial functioning for each profile. A sample of 8,492 American emerging adults (72.5% women) from 30 colleges and universities completed measures on meaning in life, and positive and negative psychosocial functioning. Results provided support for five meaningful yet distinguishable profiles. A strong generalizability of the cluster solution was found across age, and partial generalizability was found across gender and ethnicity. Furthermore, the five profiles showed specific patterns in relation to positive and negative psychosocial functioning. Specifically, respondents with profiles high on Presence of Meaning showed the most adaptive psychosocial functioning, whereas respondents with profiles where meaning was largely absent showed maladaptive psychosocial functioning. The present study provided additional evidence for prior research concerning the complex relationship between Presence of Meaning and Search for Meaning, and their relation with psychosocial functioning. Our results offer a partial clarification of the nature of the Search for Meaning process by distinguishing between adaptive and maladaptive searching for meaning in life.     

Religion,Spirituality, and Positive Psychology in Adulthood: A Developmental View

For decades, psychologists have been interested in the question whether, and how, religious and spiritual behavior, in terms of beliefs, attitudes, practices, and belonging, could be scientifically studied and assessed in terms of their relative good, or ill, for human well-being. This article considers contributions of religious commitment and spiritual practice to well-being and cognitive-developmental theoretical models and related bodies of empirical and clinical research regarding religious and spiritual development across the life cycle, with particular attention to questions related to positive adult development.     

Linking Religion and Spirituality with Psychological Well-being: Examining Self-actualisation, Meaning in Life, and Personal Growth Initiative

Research largely shows that religion and spirituality have a positive correlation to psychological well-being. However, there has been a great deal of confusion and debate over their operational definitions. This study attempted to delineate the two constructs and categorise participants into different groups based on measured levels of religious involvement and spirituality. The groups were then scored against specific measures of well-being. A total of 205 participants from a wide range of religious affiliations and faith groups were recruited from various religious institutions and spiritual meetings. They were assigned to one of four groups with the following characteristics: (1) a high level of religious involvement and spirituality, (2) a low level of religious involvement with a high level of spirituality, (3) a high level of religious involvement with a low level of spirituality, and (4) a low level of religious involvement and spirituality. Multiple comparisons were made between the groups on three measures of psychological well-being: levels of self-actualisation, meaning in life, and personal growth initiative. As predicted, it was discovered that, aside from a few exceptions, groups (1) and (2) obtained higher scores on all three measures. As such, these results confirm the importance of spirituality on psychological well-being, regardless of whether it is experienced through religious participation.     

Praying for Others, Financial Strain, and Physical Health Status in Late Life

The purpose of this study is to see if praying for other people buffers the effects of financial strain on the physical health status of the person who offers the prayer. In the process, race differences in the frequency of praying for others are evaluated. Three main findings emerge from the nationwide survey of older people that was conducted for this study. First, the data suggest that the deleterious effects of chronic financial problems on physical health are reduced significantly for older people who pray for others often. In contrast, the findings further reveal that praying for material things fails to offset the pernicious effects of economic difficulty on health. Finally, the results indicate that older African Americans are more likely to pray for others than older whites.     

Personality Trait Change Across Late Childhood to Young Adulthood: Evidence for Nonlinearity and Sex Differences in Change

We explored patterns of self‐reported personality trait change across late childhood through young adulthood in a sample assessed up to four times on the lower order facets of Positive Emotionality, Negative Emotionality (NEM), and Constraint (CON). Multilevel modelling analyses were used to describe both group‐ and individual‐level change trajectories across this time span. There was evidence for nonlinear age‐related change in most traits, and substantial individual differences in change for all traits. Gender differences were detected in the change trajectories for several facets of NEM and CON. Findings add to the literature on personality development by demonstrating robust nonlinear change in several traits across late childhood to young adulthood, as well as deviations from normative patterns of maturation at the earliest ages. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Pro- and Retrospective Memory in Late Adulthood

Everyday tasks, such as getting groceries en route from work, involve two distinct components, one prospective (i.e., remembering the plan) and the other retrospective (i.e., remembering the grocery list). The present investigation examined the size of the age-related performance declines in these components, as well as the relationship between these components and age-related differences in processing resources. The subjects were 133 community-dwelling adults between 65 and 95 years of age. They completed a large battery of tests, including tests of pro- and retrospective memory as well as tests for indexing processing resources. The results showed similar age-related declines in pro- and retrospective memory. There was only a weak relationship between pro- and retrospective memory, and the age-related decline in processing resources was related more strongly to retro- than prospective memory.     

Habermas,Religion, and Public Life

Abstract

Although many scholars view Jürgen Habermas as the most important philosopher and social theorist since Weber, his account of religion has been relatively neglected. This may be a reflection of the fact that he appears to offer quite distinct views of religion, but it may also reflect the strong secularist assumptions of his early work. In this paper, Habermas’s early and later views of religion are outlined and the change in his understanding of religion is mapped—from being one of the sources of modernity’s inner problems to being a principal source of the passions and motivations underpinning cultural life today. I argue that the relative neglect of Habermas’s work on religion is unfortunate, as it offers a creative and important attempt to move beyond the secular assumptions that have characterised much modern study of religion, providing it with a central role in the mediation of the costs and benefits of modernity.     

Need for Meaning,Meaning Confusion,Meaning Anxiety,and Meaning Avoidance: Additional Dimensions of Meaning in Life

Two aspects of meaning in life have drawn much attention in previous research: presence of meaning and search for meaning. We proposed four additional aspects concerning individuals’ thoughts and feelings about meaning in life: need for meaning, meaning confusion, meaning avoidance, and meaning anxiety. We developed items to measure these dimensions. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the data fit the factors well. Convergent and discriminant validities of the four dimensions were demonstrated though their distinct patterns of correlations with other variables, such as personality traits, need satisfaction, personal aspirations, life satisfaction, anxiety and depression. Moreover, cluster analysis revealed that individuals could be divided into meaningful groups according to these dimensions, with each group demonstrating unique psychological features. Implications for future studies on meaning in life are discussed.     

Personality Trait Change in Adulthood

ABSTRACT— Recent longitudinal and cross-sectional aging research has shown that personality traits continue to change in adulthood. In this article, we review the evidence for mean-level change in personality traits, as well as for individual differences in change across the life span. In terms of mean-level change, people show increased self-confidence, warmth, self-control, and emotional stability with age. These changes predominate in young adulthood (age 20–40). Moreover, mean-level change in personality traits occurs in middle and old age, showing that personality traits can change at any age. In terms of individual differences in personality change, people demonstrate unique patterns of development at all stages of the life course, and these patterns appear to be the result of specific life experiences that pertain to a person's stage of life.     

Personality,Identity Styles,and Fundamentalism During Emerging Adulthood

This study examined the associations among personality, identity style, and fundamentalism. The initial sample included 808 students from 2 state universities (in the upper Midwest and Southeast United States). Of those students, 440 students self-identified as Protestant and were included. Testing mediation effects of identity styles on the relationship between personality and fundamentalism revealed only moderate direct effects between personality and fundamentalism, but 4 distinct patterns of indirect effects supporting the process-oriented model proposed by Duriez and colleagues. Results are discussed in terms of similarities and differences with other studies, with implications for future research outlined.     

Life Meaning and Sign Meaning

Abstract

Philosophers once dismissed questions about meaning in life as conceptually confused. Only language and related phenomena, it was thought, can have meaning; thus, to ask about the meaning of life is to misapply the concept. Recent work by Susan Wolf, Thaddeus Metz, Aaron Smuts, and others has brought new attention and respectability to the topic. However, while talk of life meaning is no longer considered nonsense, most theorists continue to assume that such talk has nothing to do with meaning in the ‘sign’ sense that applies to language. In this paper I argue that this assumption is not well justified and that reflection on the example of Sherlock Holmes's life can help us to see why.     

Family Formation and Returning to Institutional Religion in Young Adulthood

Institutional religious involvement wanes during young adulthood, but evidence suggests life‐course factors such as family formation bring people back to religion. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Waves 1, 3, and 4), we examine how often young adults who were involved in institutional religion as adolescents return—measured by religious service attendance and religious affiliation—after leaving in emerging adulthood, and how this return is patterned by family formation. The majority of young adults who leave do not return to regular religious service attendance, regardless of their family formation. But single parents, married parents, and childless married individuals are more likely, and childless cohabiting couples less likely, to return to religious communities than those who are both single and childless. Only married parents are more likely than childless singles to reaffiliate, though there is marginal evidence that childless married adults may also be more likely. Thus, the institutions of religion and family are still linked, even though overall levels of religious return are not as high as expected.     

Catastrophizing,Depression and Anxiety During Pregnancy: Relation Between Lumbopelvic Pain and Physical/Social Functioning

Catastrophizing, a cognitive behavioral aspect of pain, is defined as an excessively negative orientation against a noxious stimulus. The primary goal of the present study is to assess the association between catastrophizing and lumbopelvic pain intensity during the pregnancy period, the secondary goal is to explore the variation of pain catastrophizing, anxiety and depression, and the tertiary goal is to investigate the relationship between catastrophizing and quality of life. After approval, pregnant women with lumbopelvic pain were invited to join in the study. During admission, participants were asked to complete questionnaires including Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Short Form-36. Age, gravida, parity, number of abortus, number of live-births and the pain intensity score were recorded. A total of 429 women were enrolled in the study. Pain catastrophizing scores showed a fluctuation during pregnancy, and were significantly correlated with the scores of Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Visual Analog Scale, and Short Form-36 sub-scales including social functioning, vitality, physical functioning and mental health. The present study demonstrated that catastrophizing level shows an alteration throughout the pregnancy period, and variation in catastrophizing shows an approximately similar course with pain intensity, depression and anxiety.