Possession and Applicability of Signature Character Strengths: What Is Essential for Well-Being,Work Engagement,and Burnout?

Signature character strengths can foster health-related outcomes in work and private life, thus being particularly important for endangered occupational groups like physicians. However, situational circumstances need to allow character strengths demonstration (applicability) first to enable their application. Therefore, this study addresses the role of (1) applicability of signature character strengths in work and private life beyond their possession and (2) relationships with well-being, work engagement, and burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment). Hospital physicians (N = 274) completed an online survey examining their signature character strengths and applicability, well-being, work engagement, and burnout dimensions. The top-five individual signature character strengths were fairness, honesty, judgment, kindness, and love. Hierarchical multiple linear regressions revealed that the possession as well as the applicability of signature character strengths was important in work and private life, but to different degrees. Possessing fairness, honesty, or kindness indicated significant positive relations with subjective well-being, whereas judgment and kindness seemed to negatively interact with reduced personal accomplishment. Hospital physicians’ applicability of fairness, honesty, judgment, and love was particularly essential for their psychological well-being and work engagement, whereas the applicability of fairness (reduced personal accomplishment) and judgment (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization) at work interacted negatively with the respective outcomes. Therefore, creating awareness for individual signature character strengths as well as providing applicability in hospitals and private life could be a promising approach to improve physicians’ well-being and consequently patient care as well as the performance of the health-care system in general.

     

JOB CHARACTERISTICS AND WELL-BEING AT MIDLIFE Ethnic and Gender Comparisons

Lacking in the research on work and well-being is a focus on the characteristics of the employment role that contribute to well-being and their differential relations across ethnicity and gender. White and Black women and men at midlife (ages 40-64) were studied. The samples were drawn from two national surveys and included 186 White women, 202 White men, 254 Black women, and 169 Black men. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the relation of work commitment, job satisfaction, role stress, occupational status and personal income to perceived control, life satisfaction, and happiness. Marital status, age, and hours worked were included as control variables. Results indicate that job satisfaction is positively related to life satisfaction for all four groups, and to happiness for White women and Black men. Personal income is positively related to perceived control for Black women and White men, and to life satisfaction for White women. Occupational status is positively related to perceived control for White and Black women; role stress is negatively related to life satisfaction among White men, and to happiness among Black women. Among the control variable, being married positively related to well-being for all four race-sex groups.     

Happiness and Regional Segmentation: Does Space Matter?

This paper examines cross-country happiness interdependencies. The sample under study includes 116 countries of diverse characteristics using averaged data for the year 2006. We divide the entire data into six groups of countries, viz., Income domain (developed and developing); Income inequality (equal and unequal); Level of political history (socialist and non-socialist). A spatial econometric technique is used to estimate the spillover effects of one country’s well-being on the well-being of the neighboring countries. Both spatial and non-spatial results indicate that corruption, health and national income serve as the best indicators of happiness for developed and equal countries, whereas unemployment affects the developing, non-socialist and unequal nations. Corruption appears to be the most significant factor, implying that a better quality government makes everybody happy. Furthermore, we find significant happiness spillovers among the above specified groups, thus indicating the importance of group clustering in the studies of happiness. The result suggests that the more homogenous the group is, the higher will be the spillover among them. We observe positive spillover for developed countries and negative spillover for socialist and equal countries. Ignoring such spatial spillover effect may lead to misunderstanding of various policy implications.     

What wealth-happiness paradox? A short note on the American case

Happiness scholars have tried to resolve the seeming paradox that as Americans’ wealth increased substantially over the last few decades, their happiness did not. This article questions whether the paradox is real. Demonstrations of the paradox almost always rely on GDP per capita as the measure of wealth, but that is a poor measure of a people’s well-being. It is heavily and increasingly skewed; it does not account for effort. Using instead measures of household income, male income, and average wages eliminates the paradox; these indicators of affluence have grown only slowly or declined in the same period, paralleling the changes in happiness scores. Moreover, using these indicators reveals a modest but real correlation between material well-being and national happiness.     

Character Strengths – Stability,Change, and Relationships with Well-Being Changes

Character strengths are positively valued personality traits that are assumed to be stable across time and situations, but also malleable due to cultivation or deliberate intervention. Also, studies showed that character strengths are robustly related to well-being. Consequently, character strengths have often been used in interventions aimed at increasing well-being. However, the stability of character strengths and the longitudinal relationships with well-being are widely unexplored: First, previous reports on the stability of character strengths have mainly focused on one assessment instrument only and second, they did not consider other indicators of stability (and malleability) besides rank-order stability, (i.e., mean-level stability). In this longitudinal study, we assessed character strengths and well-being at two time points and examined the stability and malleability of character strengths and the convergence of changes in character strengths and well-being by means of correlation analyses. Two samples (n₁ = 601, n₂ = 1162) completed different measures of character strengths and instruments for the assessment of well-being, ill-being, and health within up to three and a half years. Results showed that character strengths are stable over longer time periods (test-retest reliabilities ranging from r_tt = .60–.83) and that relationships between changes in strengths and well-being are highly parallel to what has been reported in cross-sectional studies (strongest relationships for zest, hope, curiosity, and love). Furthermore, results suggest that some strengths, most predominantly humor, but also spirituality and prudence might be more amenable for change than others. These results might bear important information for selecting character strengths in interventions.

     

Correlates of Happiness Among Older Spanish Institutionalised and Non-Institutionalised Adults

The overall objective of this study was to explore the current (i.e., at the time of the study) and past (i.e., over their lifetimes) happiness of 65-year-old and older men and women who had different personal and socio-demographic characteristics. We also investigated the role of affect balance and life satisfaction as sources of participants’ subjective well-being, as well as the contribution of other psychosocial variables, including self-efficacy, optimism, health and quality of life, stress, social support and leisure, and of socio-demographic conditions. Further, we examined the influence of institutionalisation on happiness and on the aforementioned psychosocial variables. Participants voluntarily completed self-reports regarding all of these variables. Participants’ current happiness (M = 6.6 on a 0–10 scale) was significantly lower than their past happiness (M = 7.7). The happiness of the institutionalised participants did not differ from that of the non-institutionalised participants, although significant differences were found for a number of psychosocial variables. Affect balance and life satisfaction were significant correlates and predictors of current happiness, which was also associated with many psychosocial variables and was further predicted by past happiness, health indicators and some life dimensions assessed as perceived sources of one’s own happiness, such as a sense of autonomy and independence. Our results highlight the importance of establishing both happiness and its correlates to develop interventions aimed at promoting subjective well-being in older people, given that, compared to earlier periods in life, happiness may be reduced in late adulthood.     

Middle School Transition from the Strengths Perspective: Young Adolescents’ Character Strengths, Subjective Well-Being, and School Adjustment

The study examined the longitudinal associations of adolescents’ character strengths with subjective well-being and school adjustment during the pivotal period of the transition to middle school. The study followed 417 students and 13 teachers from four public middle schools in the center of Israel during seventh and eighth grade. Students completed questionnaires about their character strengths, life satisfaction, and positive and negative affects. Students’ school adjustment was measured through grade point average and questionnaires given to the students’ teachers. Findings provided extensive support for the associations among character strengths, subjective well-being (SWB), and middle school adjustment. Intellectual and temperance strengths were central in the prediction of students’ school performance and achievements. Interpersonal strengths were significantly related to social functioning at school. Temperance and transcendence strengths were robust positive predictors of students’ SWB. The findings extend existing knowledge about character and its relation to optimal functioning and well-being among young adolescents, and have important practical implications for applying strengths-building practices at middle schools.     

Towards Youth Happiness and Mental Health in the United Arab Emirates: The Path of Character Strengths in a Multicultural Population

Happiness, good mental health and the possession of character strengths have been proposed in the context of positive psychology as important conditions for achieving a life full of gratification. However, there is a scarcity of studies examining those conditions in Eastern cultural contexts, in order to replicate findings from the Western countries. In this vein, the present study aims to explore the influence of strengths on happiness and mental health in the multicultural context of United Arab Emirates and it is hypothesised that certain strengths are better predictors of happiness and mental health than others, also after controlling for potential sociodemographic confounders. A sample of young university students, in the majority coming from eastern countries was assessed through the Global Happiness Scale, the GHQ-12 and the VIA-IS-120. The results of the regression analyses revealed that the group of character strengths under the denomination of Transcendence together with being young was associated with higher levels of happiness and better mental health. In addition, the possession of strengths of Restraint was associated with less happiness, whilst being a man indicated a better mental health. Such results have important implications regarding the replication of previous results from Western contexts in the context of UAE, highlighting the need for implementation of culturally context-tailored strategies for achieving happiness and mental health through the use of character strengths.     

Implicit Theories of Well-Being Predict Well-Being and the Endorsement of Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes

The current studies investigated whether beliefs concerning the malleability or immutability of well-being (i.e., incremental and entity implicit theories of well-being, respectively) are predictive of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being and of the endorsement of activities conducive to well-being. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that, relative to entity theory endorsement, the endorsement of an incremental theory of well-being predicted greater hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Moreover, regression analyses showed that these associations remained when including scores on measures of socially desirable responding, implicit theories of ability, and related variables of striving for personal growth, hope, and character strengths usage. Study 3 showed that greater endorsement of an incremental theory of well-being predicted greater perceived utility of well-being activities. Study 4 showed that an experimentally-induced incremental theory of well-being caused greater endorsement of well-being activities than an experimentally-induced entity theory of well-being. These findings suggest that amenability toward, and responsiveness to, existing well-being interventions may be fostered by an incremental theory of well-being. Furthermore, they suggest that cultivating an incremental mindset regarding well-being may facilitate adaptive functioning and, thereby, serve as a well-being intervention.     

Positive Feelings at School: On the Relationships Between Students’ Character Strengths,School-Related Affect,and School Functioning

The present study was designed to examine the relationships between students’ character strengths, school-related affect, positive school functioning (i.e., motivation to learn, interest, and engagement at class), and school achievement following the “engine model of well-being” that is focusing on inputs (e.g., personality traits), processes (e.g., moods, emotions), and outcomes (e.g., engagement, accomplishments) within the context of well-being research. A sample of 196 children completed the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth, which assesses 24 character strengths, and the PANAS-C that assesses school-related positive and negative affect. Additionally, homeroom teachers rated students’ positive school functioning (i.e., motivation, engagement, and interest at school) and their overall school achievement. The character strengths of zest, love of learning, perseverance, and social intelligence showed the strongest positive correlations with school-related positive affect. Teamwork, hope, self-regulation, and love were substantially negatively correlated with school-related negative affect. Certain character strengths showed positive relationships with positive school functioning and overall school achievement. A path model, testing the “engine model of well-being”, found—additionally to direct effects—indirect relationships between character strengths and positive school functioning (through school-related positive affect), which in turn leads to higher school achievement. The presented findings show character strengths as meaningful resources in the schooling context. Character strengths emerge to be crucial for students to experience school-related positive affect, which in turn supports students’ positive school functioning and their overall school achievement. The results demonstrate the complex interplay between students’ personality traits, affect, school functioning, and achievement at school.     

The Influence of Abnormal Sex Differences in Life Expectancy on National Happiness

Countries with better health, as indexed by life expectancy, score higher on subjective well-being (SWB). It was predicted that deviations from the average sex difference in life expectancy (reflecting reproductive competition among males and discrimination against females) would be inversely related to happiness. Regression analysis of SWB for 178 countries found that deviations from the average sex difference in life expectancy were predictive of unhappiness controlling for life expectancy, national wealth, and income inequality. Countries with a relative scarcity of female children (used as an index of parental bias) were less happy. Societies in which there is an undue burden on the health and survival of either sex are thus unhappy ones due to gender-specific disadvantage and associated gender conflict.     

Happiness is not Well-Being

This paper attempts to explain the conceptual connections between happiness and well-being. It first distinguishes episodic happiness from happiness in the personal attribute sense. It then evaluates two recent proposals about the connection between happiness and well-being: (1) the idea that episodic happiness and well-being both have the same fundamental determinants, so that a person is well-off to a particular degree in virtue of the fact that they are happy to that degree, and (2) the idea that happiness in the personal attribute sense can serve as a “proxy” for well-being, i.e., that a person’s degree of deep or robust happiness approximates their degree of well-being. It is argued that happiness in both these senses is conceptually, metaphysically, and empirically distinct from well-being. A new analysis of welfare, well-being as agential flourishing, can explain welfare’s real connection to happiness in both the episodic and personal attribute senses. It predicts that such happiness is only directly beneficial when it is valued, when it is a form of valuing, or when it underwrites (i.e., serves as the causal basis for) the disposition to realize one’s values. It is therefore a necessary—but not sufficient—condition for especially high levels of well-being. This analysis of welfare integrates many insights from the eudaimonic tradition of welfare and happiness research in psychology, and also addresses common criticisms of these eudaimonic models.     

Institutional Origins of Subjective Well-Being: Estimating the Effects of Economic Freedom on National Happiness

We exploit the cross-country differences in economic freedom to examine the link between the quality of institutions and subjective well-being. Using Veenhoven’s happiness dataset, the evidence suggests countries with better economic institutions and higher level of economic freedom, captured by the security of property rights, open markets and more limited government, are significantly more likely to experience greater subjective well-being after controlling for structural confounders of national subjective well-being such as income, unemployment, inequality, social capital and life satisfaction. The effect of institutions on cross-national happiness is both significant and robust to different model specifications, estimation techniques and possible sources of endogeneity. Furthermore, our panel data analysis reveals that over time higher levels of economic freedom are associated with decreasing subjective well-being after controlling for state dependence and income.     

Perceived Socio-moral Climate and the Applicability of Signature Character Strengths at Work: a Study among Hospital Physicians

Previous research demonstrated that the applicability of signature character strengths at work is associated with employee well-being. However, there is a lack of research on possible antecedents of the applicability of signature character strengths in the occupational domain. In this study we examined whether the perceived socio-moral climate of medical departments has a positive impact on the applicability of hospital physicians’ signature character strengths and whether it relates to work engagement, hedonic subjective well-being (SWB) and eudaimonic psychological well-being (PWB). Based on cross-sectional data of N = 165 hospital physicians in Austria, we tested mediation models with perceived socio-moral climate as predictor, applicability of signature character strengths as mediator, and work engagement, SWB and PWB as outcomes. Additionally, we collected longitudinal data (time-lag T1-T2: 6 months) from a subsample (n = 69) for testing the relationship between the perceived socio-moral climate and the applicability of signature character strengths over time. The cross-sectional results showed indirect effects of the perceived socio-moral climate on work engagement and eudaimonic well-being via the applicability of signature character strengths at work. Results from a cross-lagged panel analysis suggested an impact of socio-moral climate at T1 on the applicability of signature character strengths 6 months later (T2), but also an even stronger reversed effect of the applicability of signature character strengths at T1 on perceived socio-moral climate at T2.

     

Measuring Socio-economic Factors and Sensitivity of Happiness

There is significant variation in average subjective well-being across countries. What makes people in some countries happier or more miserable than others? In this study, we decompose the difference in average subjective well-being across countries into a comprehensive set of socio-economic factors along with cross-country difference in sensitivity of happiness in order to answer the question. While an individual’s subjective well-being is affected by socio-economic status, every individual does not necessarily draw the same level of subjective well-being from a given condition of life because of different personal characteristics. Sensitivity of happiness is an umbrella term capturing such factors that are not reflected by socio-economic conditions. We introduce Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to estimate a happiness function and specify the sensitivity score for each country in a sample. We draw on a comprehensive set of well-being indicators released by the Better Life Initiative of the OECD, along with measures of income inequality. We find that the health factor and sensitivity term play the largest role in generating variation in subjective well-being. Even within countries, the average level of subjective well-being varies between different population groups. Drawing on a set of indicators that assess the life circumstances of different groups within each country, our decomposition formulation allows for a full explanation of the differences in average life satisfaction between the groups. We investigate the differences between men and women, and high income earners and low income earners.     

Relationships Among Social Policy Factors,National Competitiveness,and Happiness

The aim of this study is to construct a causal relationship model explaining the relationships between social policy factors and national competitiveness and national happiness; and to analyse how the former affect the latter as final dependent variables. In doing this, the study employs data for OECD member countries. Research regarding the determinants affecting national competitiveness and people’s happiness has tended to focus mainly on personal or collective characteristics such as age, gender, economic infrastructure, etc. As a result, social policy factors, including welfare budget, unemployment support budget and income inequality, have rarely been addressed in the analysis of determinants affecting national competitiveness or happiness, which is regarded as the final policy aim to be achieved by government. In particular, there has been little academic research utilizing OECD database statistics on social policy indicators. Against this background, this study uses the Structural Equation Modeling approach (SEM) to identify the direct and indirect effects of social policy factors on national competitiveness and happiness, and puts forward policy suggestions for attaining these two great goals of social policy.     

大学生的性格优势及与主观幸福感的关系

性格优势与主观幸福感是积极心理学的两大核心研究领域,其中,关于性格优势的"价值实践分类体系"被认为是积极心理学发展至今最具影响的成就之一。研究招募115名在校大学生(69女,46男),分别完成优势价值实践调查、牛津幸福体验问卷,以及生活满意度量表。研究发现:(1)在24种优势中,大学生的五大"显著优势"依次为爱与被爱、正直诚实、感恩感激、美的领悟、善良慷慨;(2)希望乐观、爱与被爱、社交智慧、洞察悟性等性格优势与主观幸福感密切相关;(3)希望乐观、爱与被爱、谨慎审慎、洞察悟性对幸福体验的回归方程拟合程度最优,而希望乐观、宽容宽恕、社交智慧、创造才能对生活满意度的回归方程拟合程度最优。     

Self-perceived strengths among people who are homeless

This study examined self-perceived strengths among 116 people who were homeless. Those who had experienced a longer period of current homelessness tended to report fewer personal strengths (r?=??0.23). Nonetheless, in spite of their marginalized position in society, the vast majority of participants (114 out of 116) perceived personal strengths. A prior diagnosis with mental illness was not associated with the number of strengths reported, but self-perception of strengths was associated with altruistic orientation. The Values in Action (VIA) taxonomy of character strengths captured many of the responses generated by this population. The most frequently mentioned character categories included social intelligence, kindness, persistence, authenticity and humour. The most frequently mentioned other strengths included personal skills (e.g. music, sports), job skills, intelligence and education. The results have relevance for efforts to build self-perceptions that facilitate escape from homelessness.     

Prosocial Spending and Subjective Well-Being: The Recipient Perspective

Previous research has demonstrated that people are happier after spending money on others (prosocial spending) rather than spending on themselves (personal spending). This relationship between prosocial spending and well-being has been proved to be reliable across countries and ages. However, the happiness of recipients has been frequently ignored in past prosocial behavior studies, and only a few studies have explored the effect of givers’ voluntary intention on recipients’ well-being and responses. Considering that the purpose of prosocial spending is to benefit both spenders and recipients, this study attempts to investigate the relationships among gift attractiveness, positive perceived intention, willingness-to-accept (WTA) and subjective well-being (SWB) of recipients in prosocial spending. The results of a large scale survey demonstrate that both gift attractiveness and positive perceived intention are positively related to recipients’ willingness-to-accept. And willingness-to-accept is positively associated with recipients’ SWB. More importantly, willingness-to-accept mediates both the relationship between gift attractiveness and SWB, and the relationship between positive perceived intention and SWB. Some implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Authenticity and self-esteem across temporal horizons

This paper addresses the question as to whether previously reported findings on a positive relation between character strengths, satisfaction with life, and orientations to happiness (OTH) can be replicated for peer ratings of character strengths. A sample of 334 Swiss adults completed questionnaires and collected informant ratings by 634 peers. Self- and peer ratings converged well and suggest that, primarily: the strengths of hope, zest, and curiosity – but also gratitude and love – play key roles in the interplay of strengths and satisfaction with life. Peer ratings of strengths also related positively with the endorsement of a pleasurable, engaged, and meaningful life. Further analyses show that the OTH predict satisfaction with life beyond self- and peer-rated character strengths. There, the engaged life (i.e. endorsement of flow) was most relevant. This study supports earlier findings that argue for an important role of character strengths when describing the well-being of a person.