Retrospective Predictors of Successful Career Change Among Older Workers: Perceived Objective Success Versus Perceived Subjective Success

An increasing number of older workers are attempting career changes; however, little is known about the antecedents or outcomes of these changes. Results indicate that perceived objective and perceived subjective career‐change success are predicted by different combinations of variables. Implications for both future research and practice are discussed.     

大学生人格特质与主观幸福感的关系:儒家心理资产的中介作用

以308名大学生为被试,以《大五人格问卷》、《儒家心理资产问卷》、《生活满意度量表》和《积极消极情感量表》为工具,考察人格特质、儒家心理资产与主观幸福感的关系。结果表明:(1)五种人格特质与儒家心理资产的八个维度存在不同程度的相关;(2)儒家心理资产八个维度与主观幸福感的不同指标相关不同;(3)爱人、务民、崇德、学等儒家心理资产维度在人格特质与主观幸福感总分之间起部分中介作用。本研究是对《论语》管理智慧实证化的创新性尝试。     

Parents’ adjustment following the death of their child: Resilience is multidimensional and differs across outcomes examined

We examine whether the previously reported commonness of resilience to significant adversity extends to parents’ death of a child. To examine our research questions, we apply growth mixture models to longitudinal data from 461 parents in the HILDA study who had experienced child loss. The proportion of parents manifesting resilience were 44%, 56%, 21%, 32%, and 16% for life satisfaction, negative affect, positive affect, general health, and physical functioning, respectively. Only 5% were resilient across all five indices, whereas 28% did not show a resilient trajectory across all outcomes. Social connectedness, anticipating comfort when distressed, and everyday role functioning were the strongest predictors of resilient adaptation. Findings underscore that resilience is not a unidimensional construct.Words: 115.     

Change in subjective social status following HIV diagnosis and associated effects on mental and physical health among HIV-positive gay men in Australia

Objective: This study investigates the impact of HIV diagnosis on subjective social status and if changes are linked to health outcomes.

Design: Two measures of subjective social status, socio-economic and standing in the community were examined in 342 Australian HIV-positive gay men in 2014. Participants recalled ratings at diagnosis were compared with current ratings.

Main outcome measures: Self-reported mental (psychological distress, self-esteem, positive mental health and satisfaction with life) and physical health (self-rated health, CD4 count, viral load).

Results: Half of the participants reported improvements in subjective socio-economic status (59%) or standing in the community (52%) since diagnosis, yet one quarter reported socio-economic status (25%) or standing in the community had decreased (23%). Increases in either measure of subjective social status were linked to higher self-esteem, positive mental health, satisfaction with life and better self-rated health. Decreases in subjective social status, however, were strongly linked to poorer outcomes on all mental health measures. Decreases in standing in the community were also associated with poorer physical self-rated health.

Conclusion: Most participants reported their subjective social status were the same or better since diagnosis. Changes in subjective social status following diagnosis were strongly linked to mental health outcomes. Those who reported a decrease in subjective social status were particularly vulnerable to mental health problems.     

Subjective age and sleep in middle-aged and older adults

Objective: Chronological age is commonly used to explain change in sleep. The present study examines whether subjective age is associated with change in sleep difficulties across middle adulthood and old age.

Design: Participants were drawn from the second (2004–2005) and third (2013–2014) waves of the Midlife in the United States Survey (MIDUS, N = 2350; Mean Age: 55.54 years), the 2008 and 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, N = 4066; Mean Age: 67.59 years) and the first (2011) and fourth (2014) waves of the National Health and Aging Trends Survey (NHATS, N = 3541; Mean Age: 76.46). In each sample, subjective age, sleep difficulties, depressive symptoms, anxiety and chronic conditions were assessed at baseline. Sleep difficulties was assessed again at follow-up.

Main outcome measures: Sleep difficulties.

Results: An older subjective age at baseline was related to an increase in sleep difficulties over time in the three samples, and was mediated, in part, through more depressive symptoms, anxiety and chronic conditions. Feeling older was associated with an increased likelihood of major sleeping difficulties at follow-up in the three samples.

Conclusion: Subjective age is a salient marker of individuals’ at risk for poor sleep quality, beyond chronological age.     

Present Bias and Everyday Self‐Control Failures: A Day Reconstruction Study

Everyday life is full of self‐control problems. The economist's favorite explanation for self‐control problems is present bias. This paper tests whether experimentally elicited present bias predicts self‐control problems in everyday life. We measure present bias by using a standard incentivized delay discounting task and everyday self‐control by using the day reconstruction method (DRM). Because this is the first study to measure everyday self‐control by using the DRM, we also validate the method by showing that its data replicate key results from the seminal Everyday Temptation Study. We find that present bias does not predict everyday self‐control. This points to a distinction between decreasing impatience (as measured in delay discounting tasks) and visceral influences (as occurring in everyday life) as determinants of self‐control problems. We argue that decision making research can benefit from the DRM as a cost‐effective tool that complements lab and field experiments to better understand economic preference measures and their correlates in everyday life decision making. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating Effort: Influences of Evaluation Mode on Judgments of Task‐specific Efforts

The claim that humans adapt their actions in ways that avoid effortful processing (whether cognitive or physical) is a staple of various theories of human behavior. Although much work has been carried out focusing on the determinants of such behaviors, less attention has been given to how individuals evaluate effort. In the current set of experiments, we utilized the general evaluability theory to examine the evaluability of effort by examining subjective value functions across different evaluation modes. Individuals judged the anticipated effort of four task‐specific efforts indexed by stimulus rotation, items to be remembered, weight to be lifted, and stimulus degradation across joint (i.e., judged comparatively) and single evaluation modes (i.e., judged in isolation). General evaluability theory hypothesizes that highly evaluable attributes should be consistently evaluated (i.e., demonstrate similar subjective value functions) between the two modes. Across six experiments, we demonstrate that the perceived effort associated with items to be remembered, weight to be lifted, and stimulus degradation can be considered relatively evaluable, while the effort associated with stimulus rotation may be relatively inevaluable. Results are discussed within the context of subjective evaluation, internal reference information, and strategy selection. In addition, methodological implications of evaluation modes are considered. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effectiveness of a peer-helping programme that increases subjective well-being

The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a peer-helping programme in increasing the subjective well-being of a group of university students compared with a control group with the same characteristics who did not receive the intervention. The intervention recipients consisted of 13 male and 17 female participants. The peer helpers were 22 female and 8 male participants. The peer-helping programme consisted of three stages: training in helping skills, implementation and facilitating supervision sessions. The short-term effects of the programme were investigated using the Positive and Negative Affect Scale. The programme's long-term effects were evaluated using the Life Satisfaction Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. The results indicated that the short-term subjective well-being effects of the intervention activities were statistically significant. Additionally, the results revealed statistically significant increases in positive affect and life satisfaction and significant decreases in negative affect in the intervention group compared with that in the control group. Peer-helping programme may be used to increase individuals’ subjective well-being.     

幸福者更适应,还是适应者更幸福?——基于大学新生的追踪研究

本研究对122名大学新生进行了半年追踪,采用交叉滞后分析法考察适应性与幸福感之间的关系。入学三个月时初次测试（T1）,初测半年之后后测（T2）。结果发现：（1）幸福感和适应性之间显著正相关,同时预测的效果高于继时预测;（2）交叉滞后相关分析表明,适应性T1对幸福感T2的预测（r=0.50）高于幸福感T1对适应性T2的预测（r=0.32）;（3）学习适应性T1（18%）和人际适应性T1（11%）共同预测主观幸福感T1中29%的变异;（4）控制初测总体适应性T1（31%）,对大学的认可度T2（21%）和个人情绪适应性T2（3%）还可以解释幸福感T2中24%的变异。因此,本研究发现大学生适应者更幸福,而不是幸福者更适应。该结果对于提升大学生的幸福感具有一定的教育启示意义。     

初中生偶像崇拜及其与生活目标和主观幸福感的关系:性别的调节作用

本研究以3587名初中生为对象,采用问卷测量法,考察了初中生偶像崇拜在性别和年级上的差异,及其与生活目标和主观幸福感的关系,并探究了性别在其中的调节作用。研究发现：（1）女生的偶像崇拜水平显著高于男生的,且偶像崇拜高水平组中女生人数显著多于男生,偶像崇拜低水平组中则相反;初一与初二年级间偶像崇拜的水平及在不同水平上的人数分布均无显著差异。（2）外在生活目标能够正向预测初中生的偶像崇拜水平,其中性别起调节作用,外在生活目标对女生偶像崇拜水平的影响大于男生。（3）性别对偶像崇拜影响初中生主观幸福感上也具有调节作用,即偶像崇拜水平负向预测初中女生的主观幸福感,对男生的主观幸福感则影响不显著。