Argentine validation of the Purpose in Life Test / Validación argentina del Test de Propósito en la Vida

Despite the fact that the Purpose in Life Test developed by James Crumbaugh and Leonard Maholick in the 1960s is considered to be one of the most commonly used measures in positive psychology, there are no validations of it into the Argentine context. This paper aims to assess the psychometric properties of PIL in a sample of 336 university students residing in Buenos Aires. The results suggest that PIL has adequate psychometric properties for the Argentine context. The confirmatory factor analysis presents a good fit of the data as proposed by the authors. These results favour the assessment of psychological well-being in this local context. Future studies should use different samples in order to provide more robust support to the construct.     

Know Thyself and Become What You Are: A Eudaimonic Approach to Psychological Well-Being

In an effort to strengthen conceptual foundations of eudaimonic well-being, key messages from Aristotle’s Nichomacean Ethics are revisited. Also examined are ideas about positive human functioning from existential and utilitarian philosophy as well as clinical, developmental, and humanistic psychology. How these perspectives were integrated to create a multidimensional model of psychological well-being [Ryff, C.D.: 1989a, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57(6), pp. 1069–1081] is described, and empirical evidence supporting the factorial validity of the model is briefly noted. Life course and socioeconomic correlates of well-being are examined to underscore the point that opportunities for eudaimonic well-being are not equally distributed. Biological correlates (cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, immune) of psychological well-being are also briefly noted as they suggest possible health benefits associated with living a life rich in purpose and meaning, continued growth, and quality ties to others. We conclude with future challenges in carrying the eudaimonic vision forward.     

The Moderating Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Distress and Emotional Eating Behaviour

Current evidence and theory suggests that emotional eating resulting from attempts to manage psychological distress, such as anxiety, depression, and stress, is considered to be a major contributor to obesity. Mindfulness has been shown to be related to disordered eating behaviours. Employing a non‐clinical sample of 42 males and 115 females, the present study investigated the contribution of mindfulness as a potential moderator between psychological distress and engagement in emotional eating, while controlling for the effects of gender and general nutrition knowledge. Consistent with predictions, psychological distress was positively associated with engagement in emotional eating, while mindfulness was found to share an inverse relationship. Moreover, after controlling for gender and general nutrition knowledge, the interaction between psychological distress and mindfulness was found to significantly predict the tendency to engage in emotional eating over and above the individual effects of these variables. The findings from the current study add to the current literature supporting the use of mindfulness‐based interventions for treatment of emotional eating practices in individuals experiencing anxiety, stress, and lower levels of depression.     

Dispositional Mindfulness,Psychological Distress,and Posttraumatic Growth in Cancer Patients

Cancer has different psychological and physical outcomes. The present study was conducted to examine psychological distress, posttraumatic growth, and dispositional mindfulness in cancer patients. A total of 109 cancer patients entered the research. The Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) were used for data collection. The regression analysis revealed that dispositional mindfulness can be a significant predictor of psychological distress and posttraumatic growth in cancer patients. The results also showed that mindfulness is related significantly to psychological outcomes and adaptation in cancer patients and should be further addressed in cancer treatment.     

The unbearable lightness of meaning: Well-being and unstable meaning in life

Psychological theories prioritize developing enduring sources of meaning in life. As such, unstable meaning should be detrimental to well-being. Two daily experience sampling studies were conducted to test this hypothesis. Across the studies, people with greater instability of daily meaning reported lower daily levels of meaning in life, and lower global levels of life satisfaction, positive affect, social connectedness and relationship satisfaction, along with higher global levels of negative affect and depression. In addition, instability of meaning interacted with average daily levels of meaning to account for significant variance in meaning in life scores. Relative to people with more stable meaning, people with unstable meaning tended to score near the middle of the distribution of well-being, whether they reported high or low levels of daily meaning. Results are discussed with an eye toward a better understanding of meaning in life and developing interventions to stabilize and maximize well-being.     

The Role of Social Support,Being Present,and Self‐kindness in University Student Psychological Distress

Objective

Self‐kindness, which is thought to be part of self‐compassion, has the potential to contribute to mental health, as well as serve as a focus for interventions. However, little attention has been given to the potential role of self‐kindness specifically, especially in the context of mindful presence and available social support, in buffering distress.

Method

Structural equation modelling was used to test a theoretically based model of how these factors relate to each other and psychological distress. Participants were 592 Australian university students.

Results

Results confirmed our hypotheses, showing that: (a) receiving social support is important to the capacity for self‐kindness both directly and indirectly through the ability to “be present,” and (b) the relationship between social support and psychological distress is partially mediated by the practices of self‐kindness and being present. The model of social support, being present, and self‐kindness accounted for half the variance in psychological distress. With the addition of stressors, a regression model explained a total of 62% of the variance.

Conclusions

These findings have implications for understanding the construct of self‐kindness and its role in the development of interventions to improve student success.     

Is a life without meaning satisfying? The moderating role of the search for meaning in satisfaction with life judgments

Results from two studies revealed that the relation between meaning in life and life satisfaction was moderated by the extent to which the rater was searching for meaning in his or her life. In Studies 1a and 1b, the presence of meaning was more strongly related to life satisfaction for those who were actively searching for meaning in life than for those who were not. Study 2 extended the finding to judgments concerning a fictitious target's life satisfaction based on experimentally manipulated information regarding meaning in life. Thus, the role of meaning in life satisfaction judgments varies across individuals, depending on the level of search for meaning in life. These results suggest that search for meaning behaves like a schema increasing the salience of meaning-relevant information, and provides new ways of understanding people's efforts to establish meaningful lives.     

心理学视角下的人生目标

从心理学视角对人生目标予以研究非常重要。目前, 对此的一系列研究进展显示：在概念上, 尽管不同研究者对人生目标的认识存在差异, 但却一致同意它是一种能持续地赋予人生以方向和意义的动机性概念; 在对人生目标的测量上, 主要关注于“人生目标感”的高低程度及人生目标的内容两方面; 对人生目标功能的研究显示, 高人生目标感与更好的压力应对、健康行为及身心状态相联系, 但不同内容类型的人生目标是否存在功能差异尚需探讨; 在影响因素上, 影响人生目标感高低和人生目标内容的因素十分复杂, 大体可划分为个体因素和环境因素两类。进一步的研究需继续澄清概念、完善测量体系并系统化相关研究, 并应考虑相关文化差异问题, 以更好服务于人生目标的培育工作。     

Pathways of Economic Influence on Adolescent Adjustment

An important part of a science aimed at the prevention of human dysfunction involves the development of empirically based models that identify processes of risk for or protection from emotional distress or behavioral problems over time. The present study developed and evaluated such a model that proposed two pathways through which family economic pressure was expected to influence change in adolescent internalizing symptoms (depression and anxiety) during the period from the eighth to the tenth grades. A total of 377 rural families in a midwestern state provided data for the analyses. The results were generally consistent with the conceptual model in that family economic pressure increased adolescent perceptions of family economic hardship, which, in turn, reduced the adolescent's sense of control or mastery over time. Lowered mastery was associated with increases in emotional distress. Also consistent with the model, prior levels of mastery appeared to reduce the magnitude of economic stress experienced by the adolescent, whereas prior emotional distress intensified the economic stress process. Although gender differences were found in these processes, the overall pattern of results suggests that girls and boys are both at risk for internalizing problems when families experience economic pressure. Implicatios of the findings for the dvelopment of effective preventive interventions with financially stressed families in rural areas are discussed.     

Disordered eating and self-objectification in college women: clarifying the roles of spirituality and purpose in life

Spirituality and purpose in life have been associated with positive mental health outcomes. This study examined the effects of spirituality, religiousness, and purpose in life on self-objectification and disordered eating. An ethnically diverse sample of college women (N?=?161), aged 18–25, who were enrolled in the undergraduate level psychology courses, participated by completing a survey assessing relational spirituality, intrinsic religiousness, and purpose in life, as well as self-objectification and disordered eating. Results supported a relationship between self-objectification and disordered eating. Intrinsic religiousness was also associated with self-objectification after controlling for religious affiliation. In addition, women who had less purpose in their lives displayed more disordered eating. These findings suggest that a sense of purpose in life may be a key dimension of spirituality that is associated with eating disturbance.     

Meaning in life across the life span: Levels and correlates of meaning in life from emerging adulthood to older adulthood

Meaning in life is thought to be important to well-being throughout the human life span. We assessed the structure, levels, and correlates of the presence of meaning in life, and the search for meaning, within four life stage groups: emerging adulthood, young adulthood, middle-age adulthood, and older adulthood. Results from a sample of Internet users (N = 8756) demonstrated the structural invariance of the meaning measure used across life stages. Those at later life stages generally reported a greater presence of meaning in their lives, whereas those at earlier life stages reported higher levels of searching for meaning. Correlations revealed that the presence of meaning has similar relations to well-being across life stages, whereas searching for meaning is more strongly associated with well-being deficits at later life stages.