Goal Motives, Well-Being, and Physical Health: Happiness and Self-Realization as Psychological Resources Under Challenge

An integrative model of goal motives, well-being, and physical health was tested within three studies. Study 1 demonstrated that pursuing autonomous goals was positively associated with both happiness and self-realization, whereas pursuing controlled goals was negatively associated with self-realization, but unrelated to happiness. Study 1 further revealed that self-realization was negatively associated with physical symptoms, whereas happiness was unrelated to the symptoms. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 while showing that academic stress mediated the relationship between self-realization and physical symptoms. Finally, Study 3 replicated the findings of Studies 1 and 2 and additionally demonstrated that academic coping mediated the relationship between self-realization and academic stress. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications and directions for future research are proposed.

Work-related stress and well-being: the roles of direct action coping and palliative coping

The purpose of the present study is to analyze the roles of direct action coping and palliative coping in the relationship between work stressors and psychological well-being, as well as their possible interactions, in a sample of 464 bank employees. Hierarchical regression analyses showed main effects of direct action coping on well-being. Palliative coping predicts higher levels of psychological distress. Contrary to what was expected, the interactions between work stressors and direct action coping were not significant. Palliative coping interacted with work stressors when predicting psychosomatic complaints. The interaction between the two types of coping was significant on psychosomatic complaints and psychological distress, but not on job satisfaction. The paper discusses theoretical and practical implications of these results, in order to design intervention strategies to prevent and manage job stress.     

Job-search strategies and reemployment quality: The impact of career adaptability

Past job-search research has focused on how hard unemployed people search for a job, but we still know little about the strategies that people use during their search and how we can predict the quality of the reemployment found. The first aim of this study was to predict the use of different job-search strategies via job-seekers' career adaptability. The second aim was to examine the impact of different job-search strategies on both the number of job-offers and the quality of the obtained job. In a two-wave study, 248 unemployed people indicated their career adaptability and the job-search strategies that they used. The use of a focused and exploratory strategy contributed to the number of job offers, whereas the use of an exploratory strategy reduced the quality of reemployment 8 months later. Moreover, career decision making and career confidence positively predicted reemployment quality. Implications for reemployment practice and further research are discussed.     

初中生学业延迟满足的发展特点及其相关因素研究

用问卷法对194名初中生学业延迟满足的特点及相关因素进行了研究。结果表明:初中学生的学业延迟满足存在年级和性别差异,初二和初三学生的学业延迟满足水平明显低于初一学生,女生比男生的学业延迟满足能力高。课堂目标结构与学业延迟满足有显著关系,任务取向的课堂目标与学业延迟满足呈正相关关系;自我取向的课堂目标与学业延迟满足呈负相关关系。任务价值、自我效能与学业延迟满足呈正相关关系,学业延迟满足与学业成绩呈正相关关系。     

The Influence of Temporal Orientation and Affective Frame on Use of Ethical Decision-Making Strategies

This study examined the role of temporal orientation and affective frame in the execution of ethical decision-making strategies. In reflecting on a past experience or imagining a future experience, participants thought about experiences that they considered either positive or negative. The participants recorded their thinking about that experience by responding to several questions, and their responses were content-analyzed for the use of ethical decision-making strategies. The findings indicated that a future temporal orientation was associated with greater strategy use. Likewise, a positive affective frame was associated with greater strategy use. Future orientation may permit better strategy execution than a past orientation because it facilitates more objective, balanced contemplation of the reflected-upon situation and minimizes potential self-threat associated with past behavior. A positive affective frame likely improves strategy execution because it facilitates active analysis of the experience. Future directions and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Perceived control over personal goals in Russian and American college students

This study investigated cultural variations in perceived control over personal goals in Russian and American college students. Several appraisal dimensions of personal goals were studied including goals’ importance, their attainability, and sources of control over goal attainment, such as self, others, luck, and fate. The association between assimilative (tenacious goal pursuit) and accommodative (flexible goal adjustment) control strategies and perceived attainability of goals was also examined. The results indicated that both Russian and American students gave higher priority to work‐ and education‐related goals and lower priority to the familial goal. In both samples, the familial goal was the most influenced and health was the least influenced by luck/chance and fate. Overall, American students were more optimistic about the perceived probability to attain their goals, which may be affected by a cultural tendency for self‐enhancement and positive outlook. Russian students had a stronger belief in control by luck/chance and fate over personal goals, which coincides with a less agentic orientation of Russian culture. Regardless of culture and goal content, goal importance was associated with greater perceived success in goal attainment. However, control strategies (assimilative and accommodative) as well as internal control differentially predicted perceived attainability of goals depending on the goals’ content. For both Russians and Americans, perceived attainability of education‐related goals was associated with assimilative strategies and internal control; leisure was associated with accommodative strategies and health‐related goals were associated with internal control. Characteristics of cultural contexts accountable for crosscultural differences in perceived control over personal goals are discussed.     

Subjective well‐being in times of social change: Congruence of control strategies and perceived control

This paper investigates the association between perceptions of broader changes in the social‐ecological context and individuals’ subjective well‐being (SWB). Macro‐level societal changes such as globalization or demographic change give rise to new demands for individual functioning at work and/or in the family. Such new demands associated with social change are stressful and likely to be related to lower levels of SWB. Being active agents, individuals attempt to deal with social change and its increasing demands to protect their SWB. The present study investigates which kinds of control strategies are most effective in protecting one's SWB. Specifically, we predicted that control strategies of goal engagement will be most effective under conditions of perceived high control, and control strategies of goal disengagement will be most effective under conditions of perceived low control. In a large sample of 2537 German adults, work‐ and family‐related demands associated with social change were found to be negatively linked to SWB. Moreover and in line with the motivational theory of lifespan development, control strategies of goal engagement and disengagement were beneficial for SWB to the extent that they matched the perceived control of the demands associated with social change.     

Opening up Openness to Experience: A Four‐Factor Model and Relations to Creative Achievement in the Arts and Sciences

Openness to experience is the broadest personality domain of the Big Five, including a mix of traits relating to intellectual curiosity, intellectual interests, perceived intelligence, imagination, creativity, artistic and aesthetic interests, emotional and fantasy richness, and unconventionality. Likewise, creative achievement is a broad construct, comprising creativity across the arts and sciences. The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between openness to experience and creative achievement. Toward this aim, I factor analyzed a battery of tests of cognitive ability, working memory, Intellect, Openness, affect, and intuition among a sample of English Sixth Form students (N = 146). Four factors were revealed: explicit cognitive ability, intellectual engagement, affective engagement, and aesthetic engagement. In line with dual‐process theory, each of these four factors showed differential relations with personality, impulsivity, and creative achievement. Affective engagement and aesthetic engagement were associated with creative achievement in the arts, whereas explicit cognitive ability and intellectual engagement were associated with creative achievement in the sciences. The results suggest that the Intellectual and Openness aspects of the broader openness to experience personality domain are related to different modes of information processing and predict different forms of creative achievement.     

Stability of Emotion Talk in Families from the Toddler to the Preschool Years

A substantial disparity exists for academic achievement in science between Black and White primary-school children. A similar gap exists between boys and girls. The extent to which secondary education influences these achievement gaps has not been established. The authors report analyses showing how these science achievement gaps change as a function of secondary education. Analyses of data from a large, nationally representative longitudinal study of academic achievement showed that racial disparities and disparities associated with gender continue to increase throughout high school.