Measuring Lay Conceptions of Well-Being: The Beliefs About Well-Being Scale

A number of explicit conceptions of well-being have been provided by philosophers and psychologists, but little is known about laypersons’ conceptions of well-being. Two studies investigating the content and measurement of lay conceptions of well-being are presented. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures, the 16-item Beliefs about Well-Being Scale (BWBS) was developed to measure lay conceptions of well-being along four theoretically-meaningful dimensions: (1) the Experience of Pleasure, (2) Avoidance of Negative Experience, (3) Self-Development, and (4) Contribution to Others. Initial evidence concerning the reliability and validity of the BWBS indicated that this new scale has acceptable psychometric properties. In both studies, associations between each subscale, representing the above four dimensions, and multiple self-report measures of experienced well-being were also examined. Each subscale was significantly associated with well-being, with Self-Development and Contribution to Others indicating stronger associations with measures of well-being than either Experience of Pleasure or Avoidance of Negative Experience. Implications for future research using this economical new scale are discussed.     

Emotional Well-Being Related to Time Pressure,Impediment to Goal Progress,and Stress-Related Symptoms

We propose that emotional well-being in everyday life is partially related to the balance of positive and negative affect associated with everyday routine activities. Factors that interfere with positive affect associated with such activities would therefore have negative impacts on emotional well-being. Supporting that time pressure is one such factor, we find in Study 1 for a representative sample of Swedish employees (n = 1507) answering a survey questionnaire that emotional well-being has a negative relationship to time pressure. In Study 2 we test the hypothesis that the negative effect of time pressure on emotional well-being is jointly mediated by impediment to goal progress and time stress. In another survey questionnaire a sample of Swedish employees (n = 240) answered retrospective questions about emotional well-being at work and off work, experienced impediment to goal progress, experienced time pressure, and stress-related symptoms. Statistical mediation analyses supported the proposed hypothesis.     

Happiness Revisited: Ontological Well-Being as a Theory-Based Construct of Subjective Well-Being

The current model of subjective well-being (SWB) has been operationalized as the unity of affective and cognitive dimensions concerning the evaluation of one’s life, called emotional well-being and life satisfaction, respectively. There has been no theoretical framework, however, by which the unity is explained. The present paper offers a new construct of subjective well-being in an attempt to show that the cognitive and affective dimensions of SWB can be unified using the concept of goal. The concept of goal refers to the life as a project when the concern is the evaluation of life as a whole. The evaluation of the whole life, moreover, should take a whole-time perspective into account if it is supposed to be ‘whole’. Ontological well-being (OWB) construct is structured in a theoretical framework by which the cognitive and affective components of the current conceptualization of SWB are reframed and interpreted in a whole time perspective. By taking as base the historical and philosophical resources of the affective and cognitive dimensions of subjective well-being, this new construct defines subjective well-being as one’s evaluation of life in both past and future time perspectives in addition to the present.     

Role of Religiosity in Psychological Well-Being Among Medical and Non-medical Students

Religion has been generally considered as a protective factor for the psychological health of the people. As many studies have publicized a high prevalence of psychological morbidities among the medical students during their academic stages of medical schools, it is significant to investigate whether religiosity functions as a protective factor, to explore religiosity as a predictor of psychological well-being in a sample of medical students, and to compare the results of medical students as well as non-medical students with respect to religiosity and psychological well-being. The study is carried out in Federal Medical and Dental College and International Islamic University, Islamabad. The present study examined a sample of 120 medical students from Federal Medical and Dental College and 120 non-medical students from International Islamic University, Islamabad. Purposive sampling was used. The respondents completed religious orientation scale and scale of psychological well-being scale along with a demographic data sheet. In order to measure the study variables, linear regression and t test were used. The findings revealed that religiosity is a strong predictor of psychological well-being. Extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity predicts psychological well-being among the students. The results indicated a significant difference in psychological well-being between medical and non-medical students. No significant difference was found in religiosity of medical and non-medical students. The gender differences in religiosity and psychological well-being were found to be insignificant. The results emphasize that psychological well-being is prophesied by religiosity. The present research suggests further investigations and also endows with trends for psychological evaluation, development of religious beliefs, and interventions for augmenting psychological well-being among the medical students.     

变革型领导对教师职业倦怠的影响:社会情感能力和幸福感的链式中介作用

为了探讨变革型领导、教师社会情感能力、教师幸福感和教师职业倦怠之间的关系,研究采用变革型领导量表、社会情感能力量表、幸福感量表和职业倦怠量表对北京791名教师进行调查。结果显示：（1）变革型领导与教师职业倦怠显著负相关;（2）教师社会情感能力在变革型领导和教师职业倦怠之间起独立中介作用;（3）教师幸福感在变革型领导和教师职业倦怠之间起独立中介作用;（4）教师社会情感能力和教师幸福感在变革型领导和教师职业倦怠间起链式中介作用。变革型领导不仅是直接预测教师职业倦怠的重要外部环境因素,而且变革型领导还能通过教师社会情感能力和教师幸福感这两个内部因素的中介作用间接预测教师职业倦怠。     

Mindfulness and Self-Compassion: Exploring Pathways to Adolescent Emotional Well-Being

Adolescents today are confronted with the compounded stressors of life in our high-pressured society and the cognitive, physiological, and emotional changes characteristic of this stage of development. To explore ways to promote well-being in this population, mindfulness, defined as paying attention in the moment in an intentional and purposeful way, was examined in terms of its associations with aspects of emotional well being. It has been reported to have positive effects on emotional well-being in adults, and shows promise for similar results in research with youth. Moreover, the mechanisms through which being mindful may influence positive outcomes have only recently been explored, and have not been investigated with adolescents. Self-compassion, defined by the three components of self-kindness, sensing oneself as part of a common humanity, and maintaining perspective in challenging circumstances, was examined as a potential mediator of the relationship of mindfulness to various outcome measures. Measures assessing mindfulness, self-compassion, and aspects of emotional well-being comprised an online survey that was administered to 67 adolescents in an urban high school. Path analysis was utilized to explore relationships among the variables. An alternate model with self-compassion as the predictor and mindfulness as the mediator was also investigated. Results suggested that both mindfulness and self-compassion functioned as mediators in the pathway to emotional well-being. A theorized model is presented which depicts a reciprocal relationship between mindfulness and self-compassion and describes an iterative process that takes place between these two constructs, promoting emotional well-being. Implications for research and practice include conducting longitudinal studies, which assess constructs at three time points to definitively establish mediation, and developing a self-compassion program tailored for adolescents to facilitate improvements in emotional well-being.     

Antecedent-Focused Emotion Regulation,Response Modulation and Well-Being

The aim of the research was to examine the full range of emotion regulation strategies proposed by the Gross and John (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85:348–362, 2003; John, O. P., & Gross, J. J. (2007). Individual differences in emotion regulation. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 351–372). New York: Guilford) process model of emotional regulation. Seventy-three participants from Australia provided information on their use of emotion regulation strategies, well-being, and emotional intelligence. As predicted by the process model of emotional regulation, antecedent focused regulation strategies were associated with greater well-being. Response-modulation strategies predicted no additional variance in well-being beyond antecedent-regulation strategies. In contrast to past research on the selected response modulation strategy of suppression, in the present research response modulation was not associated with negative well-being outcomes. Individuals higher in emotional intelligence showed more antecedent-focused regulation, a finding congruent with model-based predictions.     

Effects of Spiritual Well-Being on Subsequent Happiness,Psychological Well-Being,and Stress

Recently, Gomez and Fisher (Gomez R and Fisher JW (2003) Pers Individ Dif 35: 1975–1991) proposed that four facets of spiritual well-being exist, namely, personal, communal, environmental, and transcendental spiritual well-being. Based on data from three independent studies, the present research effort tested the validity of a German version of (Gomez R and Fisher JW (2003) Pers Individ Dif 35: 1975–1991) of the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire (SWBQ-G). It was found that the SWBQ-G was factorially valid and that each of the four SWBQ-G scales was discriminant to mental, physical, and emotional well-being. Also, it was found that the SWBQ-G predicted levels of subsequent happiness, psychological well-being (positive relationship), and stress (negative relationship). These results add to our knowledge about the validity of the construct of spiritual well-being.     

Emotional Intelligence,Life Satisfaction,and Psychological Well-Being in Graduates: the Mediating Effect of Perceived Stress

This study investigated the mediating role of perceived stress in the relationship between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction and psychological well-being when controlling for personality traits. The sample included 400 graduates (278 women, 122 men) from the University of Deusto with ages ranging from 22 to 60 years. Data on emotional intelligence, perceived stress, life satisfaction, psychological well-being, and personality factor scales were collected, and bootstrap methods were used to explore the multiple mediator effects. As expected, emotional intelligence was positively associated with life satisfaction and psychological well-being. The final model revealed a significant path from emotional intelligence through perceived stress to life satisfaction and psychological well-being even controlling for personality traits as covariables. Our findings suggest an underlying process by which high emotional intelligence increases well-being in graduates by reducing the experience of stress. Limitations of the results and implications of these findings for future research are discussed.     

Doing Well: A SEM Analysis of the Relationships Between Various Activities of Daily Living and Geriatric Well-Being

An existing large data set, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) with the subsequent addition of the Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (CAMS) data, provides a rich data set for the examination of the activities of older adults. In this study HRS and CAMS data are used to examine relationships between various activities of daily living (ADLs) and well-being in older adults. Using structural equation modeling, influences of direct and indirect factors that affect older individuals' cognitive and emotional well-being are analyzed. The data suggest ability to perform ADLs has little to do with cognitive well-being, but is an influential factor in determining emotional well-being.     

Italian validation of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale

ABSTRACT

Spiritual well-being is a multidimensional construct that includes both existential and religious dimensions. It is associated with several indicators of well-being, as self-esteem and assertiveness. The study presents the adaptation of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale to the Italian context. The participants are 531 Italian adults. The survey includes: Hope State Scale, Adult Hope Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Vision about Future Scale, and Satisfaction with Life Scale. The measures selected aim to verify the external validity of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Data analysis shows good psychometric properties of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale: the good external validity is confirmed by the significant correlations with the other measures, while the confirmatory factor analysis highlights some differences in the structure of the scale respect to the original version, probably due to cultural differences among US and Italian samples, that required a new factorial solution for the Italian version of the scale.     

Structure and Continuity of Well-Being in Mid-Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study

The present study analyzed whether the tripartite model of well-being (Keyes in J Health Soc Res 43:207–222, 2002; Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 73:539–548, 2005a) and low depression can be captured by a core factor. Furthermore, it examined whether well-being shows continuity from early middle adulthood to middle adulthood. The study was based on the Finnish Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (Pulkkinen 2006), where the same participants (initial N = 369; 53% males) have been followed from age 8 until middle age. Data gathered at ages 36 and 42 were used. Well-being was indicated by (a) emotional well-being (including positive mood and low negative mood, satisfaction with different life-domains, and happiness); (b) Scales of Psychological Well-Being (Ryff in J Pers Soc Psychol 57:1069–1081, 1989); (c) Scales of Social Well-Being (Keyes in Soc Psychol Q 61:121–140, 1998); and (d) low level of depression. These measures were administered at both ages (except for social well-being, which was available only at age 42). The results, based on structural equation modeling, showed that a latent factor consisting of the above dimensions of well-being fit the data and that the structure of well-being was the same across genders and time. Well-being showed a high continuity from age 36 to 42 (standardized coefficient 0.84). As a conclusion, the different dimensions of well-being had only little variance of their own and a core factor of well-being was empirically established.     

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.     

Factor Structure of Subjective Well-Being in Iran

Subjective well-being is predominantly conceived as having 3 components: life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. This article reports 2 studies that seek to investigate the factor structure of subjective well-being in Iran. One-, two-, and three-factor models of subjective well-being were evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). The results of Study 1 (N = 2,197) and Study 2 (N = 207) show that whereas the 1- and 2-factor models do not fit the data well, the 3-factor model provides an adequate fit. These results indicate that the 3 components of subjective well-being constitute 3 interrelated, yet distinct, factors. The analyses demonstrate how traditional CFA and ESEM can be combined to obtain a clear picture of the measurement model of subjective well-being and generate new insights about individual items and cross-loadings needed to derive more parsimonious measures. Nuances relating to the assessment of subjective well-being in more collectivist and Muslim countries are discussed.     

Domains of spiritual well-being and development and validation of the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire

Fisher (1998) proposed a spiritual well-being model, comprising the domains of personal, communal, environmental and transcendental well-being, and a single global spiritual well-being dimension. This paper reports on four studies aimed at testing Fisher’s theoretical model, and establishing the validity and reliability of a new self-rating questionnaire (Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire; SWBQ), developed to reflect this model. All four studies supported Fisher’s model. The SWBQ showed good reliability (Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability and variance extracted), and validity (construct, concurrent, discriminant, predictive and factorial independence from personality). The SWBQ has the advantage over other existing spiritual well-being measures in that it is based on a broader and more empirically based conceptualization of spiritual well-being, and has well established psychometric properties.     

Relationships Between Locus of Control, Coping Strategies and Emotional Well-Being in Persons with Spinal Cord Lesion

Relations between locus of control, coping strategies and emotional well-being in persons with traumatically acquired spinal cord lesion (SCL) were examined. The sample included 132 community-residing adults. Structural equation modelling, including confirmatory factor analysis, was used. A model was hypothesized based on the transactional theory of stress and coping where coping strategies mediated the relation between locus of control and emotional well-being. The model showed acceptable fit to the data and was compared with five alternative models. The alternative models fitted the data less well or were difficult to interpret. In the preferred model, persons indicating internal control reported more coping strategies (Acceptance, Fighting spirit) related to increased well-being, whereas persons indicating external control reported a coping strategy (Social reliance) related to poorer well-being. The findings support the stress and coping framework in medical rehabilitation and illustrate why some persons need coping effectiveness training to enhance emotional adjustment.     

Gender Differences in Psychological Well-Being in Emerging Adulthood

Gender is recognized as an important social determinant of health, but past research on gender differences in psychological well-being have not produced conclusive results. This study investigated gender differences in eudaimonic well-being and life satisfaction in emerging adulthood. A cross-sectional study with a sample of 1990 emerging adults (50% males) from the Spanish general population was conducted. Participants were assessed through five questionnaires. Results showed that women scored higher than men in purpose in life and personal growth. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that the most important predictors of emerging adult men’s and women’s eudaimonic well-being and life satisfaction were higher self-confidence and lower negative self-evaluation. Other significant variables in the eudaimonic well-being of both women and men were higher score in the masculine/instrumental trait, higher emotional social support, higher educational level, and higher score in the feminine/expressive trait. Furthermore, higher instrumental social support was associated with eudaimonic well-being in females. Other predictors of women’s and men’s life satisfaction were higher score in the feminine/expressive trait, less age, higher educational level and higher instrumental social support. In addition, higher emotional social support was associated with life satisfaction in males. The results suggest that gender is important in the psychological well-being of people in emerging adulthood, although self-esteem and instrumental social support are, in both emerging adult women and men, the most important predictors of psychological well-being.

     

Incremental Validity of Alexithymia, Emotional Coping and Humor Style on Happiness and Psychological Well-Being

This study attempts to ascertain whether alexithymia, suppression and reappraisal coping, and humor styles account for incremental variance in happiness (Lyubomirsky’s scale) and psychological well-being (Ryff’s scale), after controlling for Big Five traits and emotional positivity ratio of previous day’s mood. A total of 355 psychology undergraduates (72 % women) responded to measures of each construct, and two hierarchical multiple regressions were carried out for happiness and psychological well-being. The Big Five were entered in the first regression block, alexithymia was entered in a second block, and affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive and self-defeating humor style, reappraisal and suppression coping were entered in the third block, and previous day’s mood in the last step. Alexithymia accounted for a small proportion of variance in psychological well-being, controlling for the Big Five traits. Suppression and affiliative, self-enhancing and self-defeating humor explained a complementary amount of variance in happiness and psychological well-being, controlling for the previous day’s mood, confirming the association of emotional regulation and affect with judgments of happiness and well-being. Taking into account humor and suppression, the multivariate association of alexithymia disappears. Results suggest that low suppression, low self-critical use of humor and affiliative humor are correlates of psychological well-being, whereas self-enhancing humor and low suppression are correlates of happiness, playing a mediational role between personality traits and well-being.     

Direct versus Indirect Well-Being Measures: Using Partially Structured Stimuli to Evaluate Well-Being

Given the important limitations of direct (explicit) measures, the study of indirect (implicit) measures of psychological constructs has received increased attention of social researchers. However, in the field of well-being the measures that have traditionally been used have tried to capture people’s well-being in an explicit and direct way, with some exceptions that are based mainly on adaptations of the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Given the critics that the IAT has received, the first aim of the present research was to develop a new life satisfaction measure using partially structured stimuli (PSWBS). The second goal was to examine the relation between direct and indirect well-being measures. In the first study, PSWBS showed good internal consistency, test–retest reliability and construct validity. Factorial analyses indicated that this measure acted as an indirect measure. In addition, direct and indirect well-being showed a significant but weak relation. To explain this result, in a second study we analyzed the moderating role of social comparison orientation on the relation between direct and indirect well-being measures. As expected, more social comparison tendency implied a stronger relation. In a third study we analyzed the criterion validity of both kind of measures. The PSWBS, the Personal Wellbeing Index-Adults and the Satisfaction With Life Scale significantly correlated with a criterion validity coefficient in terms of a semi-structured interview made by an external experimenter. Finally, in a fourth experiment we analyzed the influence of social desirability on direct and indirect measures of well-being. In contexts of high desirability, partially structured stimuli seemed to be more resistant to response factors (e.g., control of impressions) than traditional direct measures.

     

青少年学校幸福感量表的编制

本研究提出了青少年学校幸福感的概念并进行了理论构建,以此为基础自行编制了青少年学校幸福感量表。对中学生进行问卷调查的结果进行了探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析,研究结果如下:(1)在中国青少年学生学校生活背景下,学校幸福感由学校满意度、在校积极情感和在校消极情感三种成分组成;(2)学校满意度是一个由成就感、学校管理、师生关系、同学关系、教学和课业学习组成的六维结构,在校积极和消极情感均为单维结构;(3)本研究所编制的青少年学校幸福感量表(Adolescents’ School Well-Being Scale)具有较好的信度与效度,可供同类研究使用。