When is Meaning in Life Most Beneficial to Young People? Styles of Meaning in Life and Well-Being Among Late Adolescents

The purpose of this article was to investigate the relationships between different dimensions of meaning in life and subjective and psychological well-being (PWB) among late adolescents. Three hundred and eighty four Polish participants completed The Personal Meaning Profile scale, The Satisfaction With Life Scale, The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, The PWB scale, and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, the findings revealed that personal meaning had strong relations with subjective well-being (SWB) and PWB. In addition, the dimensions of personal meaning were more strongly associated with the cognitive dimension of SWB than with PWB. In Study 2, search for meaning had positive associations with SWB and PWB among those late adolescents who already had substantial meaning in life. Individuals who were in presence and search style had higher levels of SWB and PWB than those in only search style or presence style. The results demonstrate that purpose embedded in the concept of meaning in life appears central to the formation of adolescent well-being as young people come to establish overarching aims.     

基于整合视角的幸福感内涵研析与重构

幸福感是一个关注个体最佳心理功能和体验的概念, 国内外对幸福感的研究主要分为两个取向——主观幸福感（subjective well-being, SWB）和心理幸福感（psychological well-being, PWB）, SWB关注个体享乐, PWB关注个体潜能实现。在对现有文献研究的基础上, 分析了SWB和PWB的特点及其间的区别与联系, 并在一个系统的视角下, 从主体行为感知角度对幸福感进行整合, 提出了个体幸福感整合模型, 呈现了基于主体同一性的幸福感整合路径及特点。在此基础上, 重新界定了幸福感的概念, 从时间维度分析了个体幸福感的整体变化趋势。     

La Vie en Rose: High Levels of Well-Being and Events Inside and Outside Autobiographical Memory

The present study examined adolescents’ interpretation and memory for stimuli inside and outside autobiographical memory in relation to high and low levels of Subjective (SWB) and Psychological Well-Being (PWB). Participants (69 high school pupils), identified as being either the 5 % upper or the 5 % lower scorers from 687 pupils who self-reported SWB and PWB, were asked to recall and list the most positive and negative life events during the past year. Words in a short story were used to assess events outside autobiographical memory. The high well-being groups remembered more positive than negative life events. Conversely to the other groups, the high PWB group interpreted positive and negative life events equally and had no preference for recognition of positive words. The number of words rated as positive predicted false recognition of positive words among the high well-being groups. Thus, suggesting important cognitive differences and similarities related to SWB and PWB.     

Identifying gender differences in the independent effects of personality and psychological well-being on two broad affect components of subjective well-being

Subjective well-being (SWB) is defined in terms of positive and negative affect whilst psychological well-being (PWB) reflects self-referent attitudes of mastery and self-acceptance. Whilst both SWB and PWB are associated with personality, concurrent analysis is limited. This study (n = 679) reports on a teacher sample in which personality, SWB and PWB were measured. Results indicated moderate correlations between variables. Hierarchical regression controlled for personality and identified PWB as a significant predictor of SWB. Separate predictors of negative and positive affect support the need to assess both SWB affective components. As the most significant predictor of positive affect the inclusion of PWB is needed in future well-being research.     

Optimizing well-being: the empirical encounter of two traditions

Subjective well-being (SWB) is evaluation of life in terms of satisfaction and balance between positive and negative affect; psychological well-being (PWB) entails perception of engagement with existential challenges of life. The authors hypothesized that these research streams are conceptually related but empirically distinct and that combinations of them relate differentially to sociodemographics and personality. Data are from a national sample of 3,032 Americans aged 25-74. Factor analyses confirmed the related-but-distinct status of SWB and PWB. The probability of optimal well-being (high SWB and PWB) increased as age, education, extraversion, and conscientiousness increased and as neuroticism decreased. Compared with adults with higher SWB than PWB. adults with higher PWB than SWB were younger, had more education, and showed more openness to experience.     

Moving beyond the pleasure principle: Within and between-occasion effects of employee eudaimonia within a school organizational climate context

Eudaimonic notions of well-being have increasingly figured in the well-being literature. The impact of such constructs in the organizational psychology literature has been more limited. Within an Organizational Health Research Framework (OHRF), we present findings that demonstrate the importance of eudaimonic, or psychological well-being (PWB), constructs which have been purported to be more temporally stable than affective dimensions of subjective well-being (SWB). Several hypotheses were tested on three school teacher samples from around the globe. Of particular emphasis, both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses indicated that the predictive model demonstrated that individual PWB is the strongest predictor of employees' positive affect while positive organizational climate was the strongest predictor of school morale and distress. In conclusion, we found support for the role of eudaimonic constructs within the OHRF, identifying independent effects for individual and organizational characteristics on employee well-being, and with differential effects on positive and negative domains of SWB.     

Did COVID-19 really change our well-being? It's up to meaning in life: Evidence from two longitudinal studies

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, copious studies have explored whether and how COVID-19 has changed individuals' well-being. However, research has revealed mixed and inconsistent findings on this topic, with some suggesting that the pandemic hampered well-being, and others showing non-significant or even opposite patterns. Yet, little is known about what psychological factors could explain such discrepancies. The present study aims to fill this gap by proposing meaning in life (MIL) as a key moderator of the changes in well-being following the pandemic. Two studies reported here (total N = 19,828), which took within-person longitudinal approaches comparing subjective well-being (SWB; hedonic well-being) and psychological well-being (PWB; eudaimonic well-being) before and during COVID-19 (Study 1: 2018, 2019 vs. 2020, 2021; Study 2: 2019 vs. 2021), provided empirical evidence supporting our theoretical claims. Specifically, we found significant moderative effects of MIL in both studies, such that individuals who held a higher MIL amidst COVID-19 experienced an increase in SWB as well as PWB. In stark contrast, the two indicators of well-being declined over time among those who possessed a lower MIL during the pandemic. Overall, our results suggest that MIL serves as one of the significant moderators of the changes in well-being following COVID-19, which may address the previous conflicting findings in this field.     

Affect Balance as Mediating Variable Between Effective Psychological Functioning and Satisfaction with Life

Well-being is a multidimensional construct which includes hedonic and eudaimonic aspects. Hedonic well-being is focused on happiness, while eudaimonic well-being is focused on developing of human potential. Most hedonic psychologists have used measures of subjective well-being (SWB), which have two components: a cognitive evaluation of the satisfaction with one’s life as a whole, and an affective component that refers to predominance of positive over negative affect (or affect balance). Eudaimonic well-being, sometimes labelled psychological well-being (PWB), includes subjective evaluations of effective psychological functioning. Ryff’s (1989a) model of PWB, which is included within the eudaimonic perspective, conceives well-being as a multidimensional construct made up of life attitudes like self-acceptance, positive relation with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. Research has revealed that SWB and PWB are related, but, they are also distinguishable, since they were differentially related to various criteria. The main goal of the present study was to explore how these two different aspects of well-being are related. Two hundred and fifty-five individuals (114 male and 141 female, mean age = 36.46, standard deviation = 10.83) participated in the study. All the components of well-being were strongly interrelated, and mediational analysis showed that affect balance mediated the relationships between some positive life attitudes and satisfaction with life. Future research, using longitudinal designs, should clearly establish the causal relationships between the different aspects of well-being.     

Why do I feel this way? Attributional assessment of happiness and unhappiness

ABSTRACT

Much research has shown that how people explain events affects subjective well-being (SWB), in particular when they explain positive events as being due to internal, stable, and global factors, and negative events as being due to external, unstable, and local factors. In the current research, we asked: how do people explain their SWB itself, and how do such attributions in turn relate to SWB? In repeated measures studies 1 (N = 281) and 2 (N = 169) participants viewed happy feelings as more personally controllable, stable, and internally caused compared to unhappy feelings. In Study 3 (N = 142) participants made causal attributions about accurate SWB feedback, or about randomly assigned false (low or high) SWB feedback. Those in the false low-SWB feedback condition attributed their SWB to external and unstable factors controlled by others compared to those in the high-level feedback condition. In all three studies, attributing SWB to stable, personally controllable factors was positively associated with SWB.     

自我实现的幸福——心理幸福感研究述评

心理幸福感是基于实现论的幸福感研究范式,研究者认为幸福并不只是情感上的体验,而更应该关注个人潜能的实现,从理论出发建构幸福感的结构,指导幸福感测量的发展。已有的研究表明,人口学变量、人格变量和生活事件等内外因素可以较为有效地预测心理幸福感水平。近年来,心理幸福感与主观幸福感之间呈现出整合的趋势。此外,中国人的幸福感研究在借鉴西方成果的同时,仍然需要立足于本土文化,做进一步的理论探讨和实证检验     

Well-being on campus: testing the effectiveness of an online strengths-based intervention for first year college students

The present research examined the effectiveness of an 8-week online strengths-based intervention in promoting subjective and psychological well-being of first year university students. The intervention was composed of five modules pertaining to (a) finding and cultivating on character strengths, (b) regulation of emotions and increasing positive emotions, (c) constructive communication, establishing social connectedness and positive relationships (d) effective decision-making and problem solving and (e) achieving flow and practicing gratitude. A total 92 students volunteered to participate in the study. They were randomly assigned to either the intervention or a control group. Students’ quality of life (psychological health and social relations domains), life satisfaction, subjective happiness and ontological well-being were measured before and after the intervention. Significant improvements in well-being of intervention group participants were observed over an 8-week period whereas control group participants did not show a significant increase in any of these well-being variables.     

Psychological effects of deep-breathing: the impact of expectancy-priming

Outcome expectancy could mediate the psychological effects of exercise-related interventions, which implies that part of the psychological benefits of physical activity could be ascribed to placebo effects. In this framed field-experiment, 89 healthy participants were studied in three groups, (1) breathing-primed (deep-breathing with an exercise-related expectancy), (2) breathing-unprimed (deep-breathing with no exercise-related expectancy), and (3) control (no intervention). Deep-breathing lasted for three minutes. Before and after deep-breathing, or sitting quietly in the control group, participants completed two questionnaires assessing their positive- and negative affect (NA) and subjective well-being (WB). In contrast to the control group, both the breathing-primed and breathing-unprimed groups showed decreased NA and increased subjective WB. The breathing-primed group reported larger changes in WB than the breathing-unprimed group, in addition to also exhibiting significant increases in positive affect. These findings support the hypothesis of the work that expectations mediate the psychological effects of deep-breathing beyond the intervention’s specific effects. Therefore, future research should control for expectations related to an intervention when gauging psychological changes.     

A Follow-Up Study of a Reminiscence Intervention and Its Effects on Depressed Mood,Life Satisfaction,and Well-Being in the Elderly

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which a reminiscence intervention reduces depressed mood and improves life satisfaction and psychological well-being. 160 healthy elderly people participated in a 10-session intervention. An experimental design with pretest and posttest evaluations was applied, comparing a control group to an intervention group to evaluate the effects of the program. Follow-up measures were also taken to find out whether the intervention's positive effects lasted over time. Mixed Model ANOVAs showed significant increases in the time-group interaction, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being measures, and decreases in depressed mood, after treatment. The effects remained after three months in the case of life satisfaction and some dimensions of psychological well-being, but they were lower on depressed mood. This study provides additional support for the effectiveness of a reminiscence program as a useful intervention to improve the quality of life of older adults.     

Measuring well-being: A comparison of subjective well-being and PERMA

We compared Seligman’s PERMA model of well-being with Diener’s model of subjective well-being (SWB) to determine if the newer PERMA captured a type of well-being unique from the older SWB. Participants were 517 adults who completed self-report measures of SWB, PERMA, and VIA character strengths. Results from four analytic techniques suggest the factor underlying PERMA is capturing the same type of well-being as SWB. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a latent correlation of r = 0.98 between SWB and PERMA. Exploratory structural equation modeling found two highly related factors (r = 0.85) that did not map onto PERMA and SWB. SWB and PERMA factors showed similar relationships with 24 character strengths (average correlation difference = 0.02). Latent profile analyses yielded subgroups of people who merely scored high, low, or mid-range on well-being indicators. Our findings suggest that while lower-order indicators SWB and PERMA have unique features, they converge onto a single well-being factor.     

The effect of contemplation and meditation on ‘great compassion’ on the psychological well-being of adolescents

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of contemplation and meditation (CM) training, with a focus on developing great compassion, on the psychological well-being (PWB) of adolescents. Participants (N = 51, mean age = 15.8) were randomly allocated to either CM training (n = 26) or a comparison group (n = 25). Both groups completed measures of PWB before and after the intervention. Adolescents who received CM training showed statistically significant increases in environmental mastery and personal growth, as well as decreased negative affect compared to the comparison group. Girls in the experimental group also showed a significant decrease in negative affect compared with boys in the experimental group. Both the experimental and comparison groups demonstrated increased life satisfaction, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, autonomy, and purpose in life. There were no changes in positive affect and positive relations with others for both groups.     

Ongoing Cumulative Chronic Stressors as Predictors of Well-Being in the Second Half of Life

The main aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between ongoing cumulative chronic stressors (OCCS) and well-being during the second half of life. The sample comprised 7,268 participants who had completed the Health and Retirement Study 2006 psychosocial questionnaire and the full OCCS questionnaire. OCCS were evaluated as a predictor of Subjective Well-Being and Psychological Well-Being (PWB) using two measures: the number of events and the subjective evaluation attributed to the events by the participant. Additionally, the association between OCCS and well-being was evaluated in midlife (50–64), young-old (65–79), and old-old (80–104) participants. The results showed that the participant’s age as well as the number of OCCS perceived as “very upsetting” were strong predictors of well-being. The relationship between OCCS and PWB was weaker among old-old participants than among midlife and young-old participants. Although well-being is considered a stable trait-like personality dimension in the second half of life, the study’s findings suggest that as the number of OCCS was higher, and especially as the subjective evaluations attributed to an event are more upsetting, well-being was lower. Nevertheless, this lower level of well-being is partially moderated in the PWB measures by age. Old-old participants maintain a higher general positive sense of PWB than midlife and young-old participants in what was previously termed the “well-being paradox.” Implications of the results are discussed.     

The Role of Leisure Interest and Engagement for Subjective Well-Being

During the last decades, the association between leisure engagement and subjective well-being (SWB) has been examined. Yet, the role of the interest in specific leisure activities for SWB has been neglected. Thus, we examined whether the pure leisure engagement or the opportunity to realize the longing to pursue a leisure activity is linked to well-being. A sample of 402 participants completed an online survey about interests and the frequency of engagement in diverse leisure activities as well as physical, cognitive, and affective well-being. The study revealed that leisure engagement showed stronger associations with all aspects of well-being than leisure interest per se. More specifically, interest and engagement in social activities and sports showed robust associations with different facets of well-being. Furthermore, a high individual fit between leisure interest and engagement across diverse activities incrementally predicted SWB beyond leisure engagement per se. Analyses of nonlinear associations indicated that too much leisure engagement was associated with lower levels of SWB, but high interest in leisure activities buffered this effect. Thus, the intrinsic motivation to leisure activities may play an important role for well-being in addition to the sheer leisure engagement.     

Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being and Memory for Life Events: Influences on Life Satisfaction with Respect to Temperamental Dispositions

The aim of the present study was to explore how the number of recalled life events (positive and negative) predicts psychological well-being (PWB) and how PWB predicts life satisfaction (LS). In addition, participants were categorized into one of four different affective temperaments (self-actualizing, high affective, low affective, and self-destructive). One hundred and thirty-five high school students participated in completing the SWLS (LS), PWB (short-version), PANAS (to create affective temperaments), and the life events recollection task. Results indicated that adolescents with high positive affect also had high PWB; adolescents with low affective profiles also had high PWB. Positive and negative life events predicted PWB for self-destructive temperaments, whereas positive life events predicted PWB for low affective temperaments. PWB predicted LS for all temperaments except the self-actualizing group. In conclusion, the temperament combinations may allow the individual to achieve PWB and LS. Even more importantly, selfacceptance may foster LS regardless of temperament and may have more impact on LS than life events.     

Job skill discretion and emotion control strategies as antecedents of recovery from work

Recovery from work protects employees’ health and well-being, and therefore it is important to understand its antecedents. The aim of this study conducted among 183 middle-aged participants drawn from the Finnish Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development was to examine whether job skill discretion and emotion control strategies (emotional rumination and emotional inhibition) are related to psychological aspects of recovery from work (subjective recovery evaluation, psychological detachment and relaxation). The results of hierarchical general linear models confirmed the hypothesis that job skill discretion is positively associated with subjective recovery evaluation and relaxation. As expected, high emotional rumination predicted difficulties in psychological detachment and relaxation. Emotional inhibition moderated the relationship between job skill discretion and psychological detachment: where emotional inhibition was at a moderate level, job skill discretion was positively related to psychological detachment. The findings suggest that not only job characteristics but also individual factors contribute to recovery, revealing practical implications for employees, employers and occupational health care professionals seeking to promote employees’ work ability, health and well-being.     

Subjective temporal trajectories for subjective well-being

Based on Diener's (Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 542–575.) tripartite model of subjective well-being (SWB), subjective evaluations of past, present, and anticipated future life satisfaction (LS), positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA) were evaluated in a cross-sectional undergraduate sample. Upward mean trends in subjective trajectories (past?<?present?<?future) were typical, on average, for each SWB component. As predicted, higher levels of present SWB were aligned with greater positive psychological, physical, and interpersonal functioning. In contrast, steeper upward subjective SWB trajectories were associated with greater distress and dysfunction. Of the three SWB components, unique links with indicators of functioning were most consistent for LS trajectories. We conclude that a temporally expanded conceptualization of SWB spanning subjective assessments of past, present, and anticipated future LS, PA, and NA provides a rich framework for studying the structure of SWB and the significance of how people perceive their well-being to be unfolding over time.