Action and emotion in everyday life

This study of naturally occurring behaviour employed a "beeper technique" to investigate the actions carried out by 152 subjects in eight different groups, viz. adult students, employed students who were also parents, unemployed, art students, doctoral students, alcoholics, retired people and a control group. Actions were sampled for seven subsequent days, five times per day between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. at randomly selected occasions. Each action was rated on a number of variables, shortly after it was sampled (median delay approximately 10 min). Some of the findings were: Time allocation corresponded well with national estimates. Being under situational control was highly aversive. Instrumental and consummatory orientations correlated positively. The background variables were, on the whole, only rather weakly related to action ratings, but it was found that women and retired persons tended to report a higher level of well-being.     

A Mixed-Methodological Evaluation of a Subjective Well-Being Intervention Program With Elementary-Age Students

An embedded mixed-methods design was implemented with 34 elementary-age students (mean age = 10.15 years, SD = 0.65) to evaluate salient experiences and improvements in protective factors and life satisfaction associated with a subjective well-being intervention program (SWIP). Analyses resulted in a model of participant experiences in which thematic experiences with SWIP participation (improved emotional expression, enhanced self-discovery, and increased empathy) promoted the emergence of protective factors (self-concept and self-confidence) that contributed to life satisfaction.     

Sacrifice and Relational Well-Being

ABSTRACT

The well-being account of sacrifice says that sacrifices are gross losses of well-being. This account is attractive because it explains the relationship between sacrifice and moral obligation. However, sacrifices made on behalf of loved ones may cause trouble for the account. Loving sacrifices occur in a context where the agent’s well-being and the beneficiary’s well-being are intertwined. They present a challenge to individualism about well-being. Drawing inspiration from feminist philosophers and bioethicists, I argue that a notion of ‘relational well-being’, analogous to ‘relational autonomy’, can help account for loving sacrifices without either undermining the well-being theory of sacrifice or minimizing the very real sacrifices made in caregiving situations.     

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.     

The role of therapist support on effectiveness of an internet-based modular self-help intervention for adjustment disorder: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Adjustment disorder is among the most often diagnosed mental health disorders. Still, there is a lack of specific interventions available for adjustment disorder.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to test if an internet-based self-help intervention for adjustment disorder could be effective without therapist involvement.

Design: A parallel group randomized controlled trial design was used to test the effectiveness of the Brief Adjustment Disorder Intervention (BADI) – an internet-based intervention for adjustment disorder.

Methods: In total 1077 participants were randomized into two conditions: BADI intervention and BADI intervention with therapist support. The main outcome measures were symptoms of adjustment disorder and well-being.

Results: Pre-intervention to post-intervention adjustment disorder effect size for the BADI intervention group was d?=?0.64, and for the BADI with therapist support group the effect size was d?=?0.53.

Conclusions: The present study supported the effectiveness of the BADI intervention. Our findings also indicated that adding therapist support to the standard BADI intervention did not significantly improve the outcomes.     

Impact of Cyber Aggression and Cyber Victimization on Mental Health and Well-Being of Pakistani Young Adults: The Moderating Role of Gender

The present study was conducted to investigate the impact of cyber aggression and cyber victimization on the mental health and well-being of young adults. The sample consisted of 508 young adults, ages ranging from 18 to 25 years (mean±SD = 20.53 ± 1.77 years, 68.5% female). The data were collected from young adults studying at various universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. The participants completed the Cyberbullying and Cyber Victimization Scales, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21), and The Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). The results showed a significant effect of cyber victimization on mental health and well-being. After controlling for the effect of age, gender, and residential status (staying at hostel vs. home), the cyber victimization significantly negatively predicted the well-being and significantly positively predicted mental health (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress). In contrast, cyber aggression appeared to have a nonsignificant impact on both the mental health and well-being of young adults. Furthermore, the moderating role of gender was assessed for the effect of cyber victimization on mental health. The results revealed that the effect of cyber victimization is moderated by gender only on anxiety. Findings suggest that females are more vulnerable to develop anxiety due to cyber victimization as compared to their male counterparts. The findings of the study have important theoretical and practical implications and suggest the inclusion of some gender-specific strategies to develop counseling programs to save young adults from the negative psychological and emotional impacts of cyber victimization.     

Optimism,well-being,depressive symptoms,and perceived physical health: a study among Stroke survivors

The investigation of the relation of positive personality characteristics to mental and physical health among Stroke survivors has been a neglected area of research. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between optimism, well-being, depressive symptoms, and perceived physical health among Stroke survivors. It was hypothesized that Stroke survivors’ optimism would explain variance in their physical health above and beyond the variance explained by demographic variables, diagnostic variables, and mental health. One hundred seventy-six Stroke survivors (97 females, 79 males) completed the Revised Life Orientation Test, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, two items on perceived physical health from the 36-item Short Form of the Medical Outcomes study, and the Identity scale of the Illness Perception Questionnaire. Pearson correlations, hierarchical regression analyses, and the PROCESS approach to determining mediators were used to assess hypothesized relations between variables. Stroke survivors’ level of optimism explained additional variance in overall health in regression models controlling for demographic and diagnostic variables, and mental health. Analyses revealed that optimism played a partial mediator role between mental health (well-being, depressive symptoms and total score on CES-D) variables and overall health.     

Modelling the effect of worship attendance and personal prayer on spiritual well-being among 9- to 11-year-old students attending Anglican church schools in Wales

This study employs a modified form of the Fisher 16-item Feeling Good, Living Life measure of spiritual well-being (assessing quality of relationships across four domains: self, family, nature and God) among a sample of 1,328 students drawn from year five and year six classes within Church in Wales primary schools, alongside measures of frequency of worship attendance and frequency of personal prayer. The data demonstrate frequency of personal prayer is a much stronger predictor than frequency of worship attendance in respect of spiritual well-being. This finding is consistent with the view that personal prayer is a key factor in the formation of individual spirituality.