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This research examined affect and health behaviours over four weeks during consecutive COVID-19 lockdowns in the United Kingdom (UK), and the impact of expressing gratitude (EG) and visualising one's best possible self (BPS) on these outcomes compared to a control condition. Participants (N = 145) took part in a 4-week intervention during lockdown and completed an EG, BPS, or control exercise and measures of affect and health behaviours once per week for four weeks. Results showed that participants reported increased positive affect and decreased negative affect, reduced food consumption, and lower levels of moderate and vigorous exercise, but no change in alcohol consumption and walking. There were, however, no significant effects of the interventions vs. control condition on any of the outcomes; these findings were also supported by Bayes factors. This research suggests that people changed their health behaviours and affect during the COVID-19 lockdown, but that BPS and EG interventions may not be viable interventions to promote these outcomes during intense crises such as COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to classical management theory, material need motivation is a critical driver of work effort. In social practice, the state and society encourage minimalist lifestyles and reduction of material desires. Therefore, does reducing individual material demands result in less work effort? Based on the Hierarchy of Needs theory, this paper examines why and when minimalists work hard and explores the influencing mechanisms and boundary conditions between minimalism and work effort through a questionnaire. The results demonstrate that minimalism positively influences work effort, meaning in life plays a partial mediating function in minimalism and work effort, and the influence of minimalism on work effort is moderated positively by subjective social status. This research reveals minimalism's mediating mechanism and boundary conditions on work effort, which enriches the related studies of the Hierarchy of Needs Theory, Meaning of Life Theory, and Minimalism. This study has a guiding value for companies on how to improve employees' work effort and enhance corporate sfficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has created pervasive upheaval and uncertainty in communities around the world. This investigation evaluated associations between discrete dimensions of personal meaning and psychological adjustment to the pandemic among community residents in a southern US state. In this cross-sectional study, 544 respondents were assessed during a period of reopening but accelerating infection rates. Validated measures were used to evaluate theoretically distinct dimensions of perceived global meaning (Meaning-in-Life Questionnaire) and pandemic-specific meaning (Meaning in Illness Scale). Adjustment outcomes included perceived stress, pandemic-related helplessness, and acceptance of the pandemic. In multivariate models that controlled for demographic and pandemic-related factors, stronger attained global meaning (i.e., perceptions that life is generally meaningful) and attained situational meaning (i.e., perceptions that the pandemic experience was comprehensible) were related to better adjustment on all three outcomes (all p's <.001). In contrast, seeking situational meaning (i.e., ongoing efforts to find coherence in the situation) was associated with poorer adjustment on all indices (all p's <.001). Results offer novel information regarding theoretically salient dimensions of meaning, which may have direct relevance for understanding how community residents adapt to the challenges of a major public health crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As longevity increases, understanding how a person maintains well-being and builds resilience to adversity becomes increasingly important. The present work (a) composes main cognitive elements into a universal psychological multisystem and (b) explains the factors that contribute to the function of this multisystem within physical space and across time. Drawing on established theories and previous findings, a theoretical reconstruction of a universal architecture serves to identify the principles a person needs to satisfy as a dynamic system that is governed by physical laws. A novel conceptual model generates testable hypotheses regarding how a universal cognitive multisystem, which is aided by a universal embodied emotional system, facilitates endless behavioral patterns in response to the environment. This theoretical framework compliments previous models and proposes that the nomothetic parameters of consistency, flexibility, self/others ratio and speed of meaning can explain inter- and intra-individual differences in psychological stability and resilience. The present work provides a comprehensive theory and methodological guidelines for the systematic assessment of well-being. This new approach to investigating well-being may open a new research direction and inform preventive and therapeutic interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School is an important setting for adolescents to develop connectedness to peers, teachers and school, and this connection has the potential to play a protective role in promoting and enhancing their psychological well-being. The meta-analytic study described here used a random-effect model to examine previous studies that explored school connectedness in relation to psychological well-being in adolescents. Subgroup analyses and multiple meta-regression analyses were conducted to explore the potential moderators of any relationship between school connectedness and psychological well-being. The variables were gender, age, culture, and four dimensions of school connectedness. Results support a view that in this adolescent age group stronger school connectedness is associated with higher levels of psychological well-being. Gender was not found to be a moderator of the association, but moderation was evident from age and from a cultural tendency towards individualism or collectivism. Subgroup analyses found different effect sizes for the association between each dimension of school connectedness and psychological well-being. Findings strengthen the view that secondary schools should make effort to foster and encourage adolescents' school connectedness. Most importantly, findings emphasize the value of the four key dimensions of the connectedness construct and offer important implications for future research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: PERMA model of well-being proposed by Seligman (2011) includes hedonic and eudaimonic components to assess well-being: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment. Butler and Kern (2016) have proposed a measuring instrument based on this model which has not yet been validated in the Spanish older adult population. The aim of this study is to explore the psychometric properties of the PERMA-Profiler in a sample of Spanish older adults. Method: 330 elderly people (Mage = 70.21; SDage = 4.75; 61.5% men) participated at baseline, of whom, 142 were measured at the second wave after 6 months. Results: The five factor structure obtained in the original scale and in other validation studies was replicated. The instrument offered good rates of internal consistency and test-retest reliability as well as good concurrent, predictive and criterion validity. Conclusions: PERMA-Profiler instrument has good psychometric properties to evaluate well-being Spanish older adults. The main limitations of the study are the use of self-reports, the absence of institutionalized participants, the relatively modest sample size or not including a measure of hedonic well-being to explore the scale concurrent validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that the field of work-family conflict is overwhelmingly Western-focused and that the process of work-family conflict might change under a different cultural background, the aim of the present study was to develop and test an integrated work-family conflict model that is applicable in China. Using a sample of 520 Chinese participants and structural equation modelling in R studio, the differences between the present study and previous Western findings were spotted. The results revealed that family support was positively related to time spent on family responsibilities and negatively related to life satisfaction; only work-to-family conflict, but not family-to-work conflict, had three forms of unique antecedent (time-, strain-, behavioural-based); and more surprisingly, work-family conflict was positively related to life satisfaction in China. This study refined our understanding of work-family conflict and enriched our knowledge of how work-family conflict acted in China's work-family interface, providing directions for future cross-cultural work-family conflict studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social support and ikigai (making life worthwhile) have positive effects on problematic smartphone use and are seen to be related to each other. However, what mediates these relationships has not been adequately analyzed. This study aims to examine how the effect between social support and problematic smartphone use occurs by suggesting the mediator role of ikigai. The study was designed as quantitative and cross-sectional, and 1189 university participants aged 18 and over were reached online. The multidimensional scale of perceived social support, ikigai-9 scale, smartphone application-based addiction scale and sociodemographic information form were used as data collection tools in the study. The data obtained were carried out using SPSS 24 and Amos 25 statistical programs. Established hypotheses were tested with correlation, multiple regression and mediation analyzes. The results confirmed that social support was positively associated with ikigai, and ikigai was negatively associated with problematic smartphone use. In addition, interaction analyzes found that ikigai had a mediating effect. These findings show the importance of implementing specific applications based on the meaning and purpose of life (ikigai), especially for vulnerable groups, to minimize the problems that may arise with the excessive use of smartphones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed at examining assumptions from Frankl's (1946/1998) logotherapy and existential analysis. Using an online questionnaire with N = 891 U.K. residents, meaning in life was associated with higher life satisfaction, even when controlling for positive and negative affect. Furthermore, meaning in life intensified the positive effects of family role importance and work role importance on life satisfaction. Lastly, meaning in life neutralised the combined effect of high family strain and high family role importance on lower life satisfaction, but lack of meaning in life aggravated the combined effect of high work strain and high work role importance on lower life satisfaction. This study provides evidence of meaning in life as a source, a contributing factor, and a protective factor of life satisfaction. Helping people to find meaning through fulfilling creative, experiential, and attitudinal values (Frankl, 1950/1996), in personal and/or professional life, is likely to improve life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents' life satisfaction is currently a hot topic in positive psychology research. Working from the broaden‑and‑build theory, this article aims to reveal the relationship between dispositional awe and life satisfaction, as well as the potential mediating roles of mindfulness and meaning in life (i.e., presence of meaning, search for meaning). Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate this model in a sample of 610 adolescents who completed a series of self-report measures quantifying dispositional awe, mindfulness, meaning in life, and life satisfaction. The results demonstrate that mindfulness, presence of meaning, and search for meaning independently mediate the positive association between dispositional awe and life satisfaction, supporting the broaden‑and‑build theory of life satisfaction. Serial mediation analysis further indicated that "mindfulness-presence of meaning" constitute chain mediators in the dispositional awe-life satisfaction relationship. These findings effectively extend the broaden‑and‑build theory and indicate for the first time that dispositional awe may promote adolescents' life satisfaction through mindfulness and the importance of presence of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many studies have found the effect of group counseling on enhancement of meaning in life, few studies have employed the class group counseling in life education. The present study assessed the effect of class group counseling on life education for undergraduate students. Two classes from a Chinese university were randomly allocated into the intervention and control groups. The intervention group received class group counseling for 1.5 months. The intervention and control groups completed the meaning in life questionnaire (MLQ), the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS), and the positive affect and negative affect scales (PANAS) before and after the intervention. The results showed that the intervention improved students' life satisfaction, positive affect, and presence of meaning, and decreased negative affect. These findings indicated that class group counseling could play an important role in the life education of undergraduate students. The current study extends our understanding of improving mental health and preventing suicide for undergraduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim was to test the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the PIL-SF in a sample of people from seven Latin American countries. Additionally, the characteristics of the PIL-SF items were evaluated and to assess the relationship between purpose in life, as measured by the PIL-SF, and fear of COVID-19. A total of 4306 people from seven Latin American countries participated in the study. The results indicated that the PIL-SF is invariant in the seven participating countries and, therefore, there is evidence that the items reflect the purpose of life in the same way in all countries. This allows comparisons of purpose in life between countries that are free of bias, reflecting the true differences in how countries respond to items. From IRT, the discrimination parameters are adequate and indicate that the items cover a wide range of the purpose in life construct. The difficulty parameters are adequate and increase monotonically. This indicates that people would need a higher level of purpose in life to respond to the higher response categories. Thus, the PIL-SF items would be useful in determining people with a relatively high degree of purpose in life. Identifying people with different levels of purpose in life would allow them to be part of intervention programs, either to support those with low levels or to maintain and reinforce their purpose in life. The evidence of cross-country measurement invariance of the PIL-SF provides a measure to be used in cross-cultural studies about the meaning of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated the association between positive emotion expression in children's writing at age 11, as indicated by objective raters, and age 50 self-reported well-being outcomes—positive emotions, optimism, life satisfaction, meaning in life, social well-being, and physical health. Using a representative sample (N = 436) from the United Kingdom who participated in the National Child Development Study (NCDS), we found that positive emotion expression at age 11 was related to greater optimism, life satisfaction, meaning in life, and social well-being, but not positive emotions or physical health, at age 50 after controlling for socioeconomic status (SES) in adulthood. The associations between positive emotion expression in childhood and well-being in adulthood remained significant when accounting for age 11 academic ability and SES. By using an observational measure of positive emotion during childhood and accounting for relationships among well-being outcomes in adulthood, our findings offer important insights regarding the long-term correlates of children's positive emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Positive psychological variables, such as meaning in life and the capacity for enjoyment, are important resilience factors against negative behaviors and symptoms. These constructs are related to better emotional regulation strategies, a greater perception of control over one's life, and better mental health in general. Adjustment disorder (AjD) is a prevalent condition defined as the failure to adapt to a stressful event. Objective: This study presents secondary analysis data on the effect of an Internet-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention (iCBT) for AjD on meaning in life and capacity for enjoyment, compared to a control group. Method: The sample consisted of 68 participants with AjD. 34 in the iCBT condition and 34 in the control group). Meaning in life was assessed by the Purpose-in-Life Test-10, and the Environmental Rewards Observation Scale was used to assess the capacity for enjoyment. The iCBT intervention focused on acceptance and processing of the stressful event. Intent-to-treat mixed-model analyses without any ad hoc imputations and using Cohen's d effect comparisons were conducted. Results: The results revealed a significant main effect of time and a significant group x time interaction in all the measures. Significantly higher pre-post score differences were found in the treatment condition. Discussion: Meaning in life and capacity for enjoyment can change after an iCBT intervention for AjD. Therapeutic implications of the results and future lines of research about the role of meaning in life in AjD are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender roles operate as a social schema through which people learn how they must behave and make decisions; that is, socially, what women and men are expected to do is pre-established. This gender socialization is such a deep-rooted process that people may not aware of how they have been socialized, which is thus often is difficult to analyze in people's discussions of their own decision-making. On this basis, this research examines whether endorsing gender roles could be related to women's decisions (regret), as well as the possible consequences for their well-being. Moreover, we analyzed the content of the most important decisions that people make throughout their lives. Therefore, this research aimed to understand the meaning of gender and how its internalization seems to be related to sex differences in decision-making and well-being. In a sample of the Spanish general population (N = 203; Mage = 41.70, SD = 10.93; range from 20 to 65 years old), results showed that women (vs. men) had a greater internalization of gender roles (i.e., femininity), which was associated with higher fear of negative evaluation. This, in turn, was associated with experienced regret in decision-making, which finally seemed to lead to lower well-being. Analysis of the content of decisions showed that women's decisions were based mainly on work and family domains, whereas men's decisions were based on work to a greater extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultimate goal of life is happiness, according to Plato. Perhaps the most critical questions in the life of human beings have been on happiness and processes that affect happiness. The present study was planned during the COVID-19 pandemic; perhaps human beings are most needed for happiness. The original hypothetical model and the findings constitute the powerful and different aspects of the present study. This study determined a hypothetical model to examine the relationships among happiness, forgiveness, emotional reactivity, and emotional security. The participant group of the study consists of a total of 916 individuals from Turkey, 617 women, and 299 men. The age scale of the participants is between 18-25. Participants completed the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, the Emotional Security Scale, the Emotional Reactivity Scale, and the Oxford Happiness Scale. Mediation analysis was conducted using Hayes' (2017) process macro. According to the proposed model in the study, emotional reactivity mediates the relationship between forgiveness and happiness. As the individual's forgiveness increases, their emotional reactivity decreases, and as the emotional reactivity decreases, the individual's level of happiness increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated the relationship between social dominance orientation (SDO), aggression, sense of superiority, external value and meaning in life (MIL) in a sample of 291 college students. Results showed that SDO and aggression positively correlated with sense of superiority and external value. Mediating effect analysis revealed that SDO could satisfied an individual's external value through the mediating role of sense of superiority or the chain mediating role of aggression and sense of superiority, thus enabling people to experience MIL. These results play an important role in understanding MIL. External value may be the most important source of an individual's MIL. All behaviors that help individuals obtain external values can enable them to acquire MIL, even if some of these behaviors violate the moral rules that society upholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Core self-evaluations (CSE) is conceptualized as a higher-order personality construct underpinned by locus of control, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and neuroticism. Studies have shown that CSE predicts a variety of well-being outcomes. Yet, little is known on how CSE relates to well-being in different settings. This study addresses extant research gaps through examining the moderating role of relational mobility on the relationship between CSE and psychological well-being (PWB) among undergraduate students in the U.S. and the Philippines. Results showed that both CSE and relational mobility were positively associated with PWB in both contexts. However, the association between relational mobility and psychological well-being was stronger in the Philippines than in the United States. Across the Filipino and U.S. samples, relational mobility moderated the associations of CSE with PWB such that for those who had higher perceptions of relational mobility, CSE may be linked to higher PWB. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon the stress buffering model of social support, this study investigated how perceived social support (PSS), defined as the amount of support individuals think they can mobilize from their network, and received social support (RSS), defined as the level of support individuals have received, moderated the direct and indirect relationships between COVID-19 news exposure (i.e., stressor) and stress via social trust. An online survey from six major cities in China (N = 636) revealed that PSS rather than RSS moderated the direct relationship between COVID-19 news exposure and stress such that this relationship was stronger at a low level of PSS than a high level. Additionally, RSS rather than PSS moderated the relationship between COVID-19 news exposure and social trust such that this relationship was stronger at a low level of RSS than a high level. These findings reveal the differential mechanisms by which PSS and RSS function to buffer against stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nosographic structure of the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains unclear and this extends to younger age groups. Previous research has shown that adolescents express symptoms of PTSD differently in comparison with adults, highlighting potential differences and particularities of the nosographic structure of PTSD across different developmental stages. The network perspective of mental disorders is a promising approach to clarify the structure of PTSD. This study aims to identify the hierarchical modular structure of the network of PTSD symptoms in adolescents and the role of the different symptoms in that network. A sample collected in a previous study (Guo et al., 2015) of 662 adolescents (Mage = 13.05, SDage = 0.83) exposed to a pipeline explosion was reanalyzed. The PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) was used to assess symptoms of PTSD. The network of symptoms was estimated with a non-regularized method, and the characterization of the modular structure and the role of symptoms in that network was performed using the ModuLand algorithm. A structure of two levels was found with a first level with 17 symptoms and five high-order modules. The module encompassing the reexperiencing symptoms showed the highest centrality values. Symptoms transversal to various disorders have high values of overlap between modules. Our findings suggest that a modular structure encompassing five modules captures the best representation of the PTSD structure in adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the mediating role of hope in the relationship between university students' sense of coherence and subjective well-being (life satisfaction, negative affect, positive affect). The study sample consisted of 556 university students, 358 females and 198 males in Turkey. Data were collected through the "Sense of Coherence Scale", "Life Satisfaction Scale", "Positive and Negative Affect Scale" and "Special Living Areas Hope Scale". The bootstrapping regression method was conducted to determine the mediating role of hope in the relationship between university students' sense of coherence and subjective well-being. As a result of the correlation analysis, a positive relationship was detected between sense of coherence and hope, subjective well-being, life satisfaction, and positive affect, and a negative and significant relationship was found with negative affect. The results of the bootstrapping that was performed to analyze the mediating role of hope showed that hope had a partial role in the relationship between sense of coherence and subjective well-being and its sub-scales (life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect). The findings were discussed in light of previous studies, and recommendations were made for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meaningful work is the subjective experience that work has meaning and is understood as an avenue for personal development, from a eudaimonic point of view. The aim of this study is to adapt the WAMI scale of meaningful work to Spanish, as well as to explore its relationship with job and life satisfaction. Two independent studies were developed. A first study analyzed the consistency of the original factorial model using a sample of Spanish varied workers (N = 350) through a confirmatory factor analysis. Results show an adequate replication of the original model and the validity of the Spanish version. A second study addressed the predictive capacity of the scale in relation to two satisfaction measures in a sample of Spanish health workers (N=312), through a mediation analysis. The relationship between meaningful work and job satisfaction is mediated by life satisfaction. The idea of meaningful work as a eudaimonic construct discards it as a variable resulting from or consequence of work, as it is an inherent part of occupational activity itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Purpose in Life test (PIL) is the best-known measure of meaning in life and has attracted widespread attention for decades. The current study aimed to determine the optimal version of the PIL and to investigate its psychometric properties in the Chinese context. This study was conducted with a Chinese college student sample (N = 986) using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item response theory (IRT). The results indicated that Morgan and Farsides' two-factor solution (PIL-10) showed the best fit to the data among all fifteen PIL versions. In addition, the PIL-10 was demonstrated to be a cross-culturally sound measure with good reliability and validity and has high precision over most of the latent trait range. However, the findings from category response curves showed some problematic options in some items. These findings may serve as references for revision of the PIL-10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 crisis has drastically affected organizations worldwide, thereby influencing the employees' psychological wellbeing. Since it is a new pandemic, research is sparse in the domain of employees' psychological wellbeing in relation to the phenomenon. Drawing on social support and job demand-resource perspectives, this research adds to the factors affecting employees' wellbeing due to the coronavirus outbreak. Specifically, this study is an investigation of co-workers' instrumental support in predicting employees' emotional exhaustion via employees' perceived uncertainties experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, we tested for the contextual specificity of family support on uncertainties and its link with employees' emotional exhaustion. With data drawn from two universities (n = 275), the findings reveal a negative association between co-worker task support and an employee's emotional exhaustion, and an employee's perceived uncertainties mediate this relationship. Moreover, the moderating analysis exhibits that family support mitigates the negative effect of uncertainty perception on emotional exhaustion. Our study reveals that coworker and family support are extremely important during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings are equally valuable for organizations and society to mitigate the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on employees' wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Two studies investigated whether thinking about the best possible future self might be an individual-difference characteristic. In Study 1325 adults rated themselves on items derived from the Best Possible Self activity and completed measures related to the validity of the proposed characteristic. Exploratory factor analyses suggested a one-factor structure for the proposed characteristic. A measure of the proposed trait of thinking about the future self (TOPS) was created. In Study 1, the scale had an internal consistency of.95. Associations between thinking about the best possible future self with positive affect, optimism and life satisfaction contributed information regarding construct validity. Associations with the Big Five personality dimensions contributed information regarding discriminant validity. In Study 2, 224 adults completed the TOPS scale and a measure of state positive affect. After completing the pre-test measures, participants were randomly assigned to a Best Possible Self activity or a control condition, after which they completed a state-level TOPS measure and again completed the state measure of positive affect. A confirmatory factor analysis showed a marginally acceptable fit to the results of the exploratory factor analysis of Study 1, and in Study 2 both the trait and state TOPS measures showed good internal consistency at.95 and.98 respectively. Compared to participants in the control condition, those in the Best Possible Self exercise condition scored higher on state-level thinking about the possible self and state positive affect. State-level thinking about the possible self mediated the effect of condition on positive affect. The results suggest that the proposed new characteristic of thinking about the best possible future self may be a psychological strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to develop and psychometrically test the Mindfulness Breastfeeding Scale among postnatal women. Cross-sectional data were collected during 2017–2018 in Antalya Education and Research Hospital. The total sample comprised 500 post-partum women who met the inclusion criteria: (1) Women older than 18 years, who were literate in Turkish, (2) women without a disease or drug treatment that would prevent breastfeeding, and (3) mothers with a healthy baby. Missing was low in frequency (5.4%). A unidimensional solution has been observed as a result of exploratory and confirmative factor analyses. Low reliability and validity were obtained in seven of the original 16 items; excluding these items, the one-dimensional 9-items measurement model revealed good model fit, indicating good internal consistency and validity. Significant factor loadings, goodness-of-fit indices and a significant correlation in the expected direction with breastfeeding self-efficacy supported reliability and validity of the Mindfulness Breastfeeding Scale. Exploring the essence of mindfulness in breastfeeding and its health-promoting potential is highly warranted. Such knowledge and a well-adapted scale are beneficial and important for the further development of health-promoting postnatal care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the COVID-19 outbreak, the population was suddenly forced to "stay at home". Although research suggests that social isolation affects health and wellbeing, reactions may vary depending on individuals. The current study assessed the relationships between personality variables (preference for solitude and Big Five personality), mental health (anxiety, stress, loneliness), and creativity, and tried to determine whether the identified personality profiles affect individuals' mental health and creativity. French respondents (N = 430) filled in an online questionnaire during the first lockdown in Spring 2020. The results showed that the preference for solitude and personality variables of the Big Five predicted individuals' mental health and creativity. Moreover, a cluster analysis revealed three profiles of individuals: "Affiliation", "Emotionally Stable Lonely" and "Emotionally Unstable Lonely". Results showed that individuals with "Affiliation" and "Emotionally Unstable Lonely" profiles expressed higher stress and anxiety, and the latter performed better on a divergent creative thinking task. By contrast, those with an "Emotionally Stable Lonely" profile expressed a lower level of loneliness, and performed better on a creative insight task. These findings reveal the importance of personality profiles in psychological reactions during lockdowns. With this knowledge, health professionals could develop appropriate interventions to accompany high-risk individuals in situations of social isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through linear transformations of raw item scores, the paper converts 3-ponit, 4-point, 5-point and 7-point items to continuous, monotonic, normally distributed scores ranging between 1 to 5. This provides a platform for meaningful comparisons of scales with different number of response categories with respect to parameters like reliability, validity, discriminating power, and undertakes analysis in parametric set up. The method makes no assumption of continuous nature or linearity or normality for the observed variables or the underlying variable being measured. Thus, the assumption-free simple method can have wide applicability. Use of such methods of converting scores of Likert items is recommended for clear theoretical advantages and easiness in calculations. Inverse relationship derived between new measures of test discriminating value in terms of co-efficient of variation (CV) and theoretically defined test reliability. Empirically, such inverse relationship was observed for the scales. Number of response categories did not show much influence on discriminating value, reliability and factorial validity, even for the transformed normalized scores in the range 1 to 5. Thus, the study could not find optimum number of response categories which maximize validity, reliability or discriminating value. Future studies with multi-data set for generalization of findings are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have identified the positive relationship between Internet altruistic behavior (IAB) and psychological health. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between IAB and self-consistency and congruence (SCC), and less is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship. The current study explored the association between IAB and SCC, and examined the mediating role of self-efficacy and the moderating role of self-esteem. A total of 1037 college students (Mage = 20.16 years, SD = 1.57) completed anonymous questionnaires regarding IAB, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and SCC. Results indicated that IAB was positively related to college students' SCC, and self-efficacy partially mediated this relationship. The direct relation between IAB and SCC, and the relationship between IAB and self-efficacy, were both moderated by self-esteem. The relationships between IAB and SCC, as well as between IAB and self-efficacy were stronger for college students with high levels of self-esteem. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how and when IAB may be associated with college students' SCC, and provide new perspectives for the promotion of college students' mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little research has been done to examine how different personality traits (both "positive" and less desirable attributes) contribute to various aspects of creativity from a domain-specific point of view. The present study thus aimed to investigate the relationships between two types of personality traits (the Big Five and the Dark Triad traits) and three types of indicators of creativity (divergent thinking, creative activities, and creative achievements) among 559 university-level Chinese students. Results indicated that Openness served as a common core of both creative potential (divergent thinking) and real-life creativity (creative activities and achievements) at almost all levels and domains. Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness were found to be significant predictors of real-life creativity in specific domains and levels (i.e., literature and sports). No significant relationship was found between Neuroticism and any indicator of creativity after controlling for the other Big Five traits. Compared to the Big Five traits, the Dark Triad traits had limited influence on creativity, with only Machiavellianism being a significant and positive predictor of literary and performance activities, and Narcissism being a significant and positive predictor of originality. Implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the model of proactive motivation and the conservation of resources (COR) theory, the current study examines how workplace ostracism as a negative relational context influences feedback-seeking behavior (FSB) and whether personal (i.e., loss-focused coping orientation) and condition resources (i.e., supervisor and spousal support) can buffer the detrimental impacts of workplace ostracism on employees. Using a sample of 506 employees from China, we employed the PROCESS macro to examine our hypotheses. The results showed that workplace ostracism had a negative indirect impact on FSB by reducing vitality. Employees' personal and condition resources also weakened the direct detrimental impact of workplace ostracism on vitality as well as its indirect impact on FSB (i.e., moderated mediation effects). This study extends the relational antecedents of FSB by examining workplace ostracism. More importantly, we provide a resource perspective to interpret how and when workplace ostracism influences FSB, moving beyond the dominant cost-value framework in the FSB literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is believed that about 90% of the land area in the Philippines was once covered with forests. Today, Philippine forests have decreased to <20% due to deforestation and urbanization, and it is projected that the near annihilation of the forests in the country could happen within the next decades if the present rate of deforestation continues. Consequently, changes in people's values brought about by urbanization and the national drive for economic progress were associated with surges in mental health problems and reduced well-being. Drawing from the Eco-Existential Positive Psychology Perspective and the Biophilia Hypothesis, the present study examined the mediating role of meaning in life as a mechanism that facilitates the influence of nature connectedness and materialism on well-being among persons from the Philippines. Parallel mediation models were tested using 589 participants. Results showed that both presence of meaning and search for meaning in life mediated the positive association between nature connectedness and well-being. On the other hand, presence of meaning, but not search for meaning, mediated the negative association between materialism and well-being. The results of the present study advanced our understanding of how satisfaction of one's need to affiliate with nature and materialism contribute to well-being in the Philippine context. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals that possess and utilize their strengths have higher reports of subjective and psychological well-being. However, it remains unclear as to whether certain domains of strengths (e.g., strengths at home, at school, within the community) are more strongly associated with certain indices of well-being (e.g., stress management, social connectedness). This information is important given the complex presentation of strengths and idiosyncratic ways in which individuals place value on different aspects of well-being. High school students (N = 236, 51% female) from a rural northern community completed a set of online questionnaires while in class: The Strength Assessment Inventory-Youth Version (Rawana & Brownlee, 2010); Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983); and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988). Together, the measures examined different domains of strengths (character and environmental) and subjective and psychological well-being (i.e., perceived stress and relatedness adequacy, respectively). Bivariate correlations were used to identify strength domains that would be further analyzed through hierarchical regression modeling. Results showed that the strength of self-knowledge was relevant for both subjective and psychological well-being, whereas strengths at home, strengths at school, and strengths from having goals and dreams were relevant for only psychological well-being. Adolescents with a sense of self-knowledge (i.e., positive self-concept, confidence in abilities, sense of right from wrong when making decisions) may be better equipped to manage daily stresses and form connections to others. By examining specific domains and indices, a more refined understanding can be gained of the association between strengths and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is theoretically recognized that cognitive distortions take part in the aetiology and prognosis of depression and anxiety disorders. Expressing emotions is contribute that to maintaining the mental health. This study was designed to investigate the relationship of cognitive distortions with emotional expression and the levels of anxiety and depression. The study was designed as a "Descriptive Cross-Sectional" trial. For this purpose, data were collected between September–November 2019 by applying face-to-face questionnaires from 200 first and second grade university students. Data analysis were performed using appropriate statistical analysis. In the analysis of the data, it was found that as emotional reasoning subscale score increased, intimacy expression subscale decreased. As mind reading and catastrophizing subscale scores increased, negative emotional expression subscale score increased. It was observed that as the total score of the Cognitive Distortions Scale increased, the total score of the Beck Depression Scale and the total score of the Beck Anxiety Scale increased. This study found that cognitive distortions of individuals affect their way of expressing emotions and their depression and anxiety levels. The results of our work in helping the individual psychologically can be guiding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, various restrictions forced people around the world to socially isolate. People were asked to stay at home and were largely unable to do many of the activities that they derived meaning from. Since meaning is often related to mental health, these restrictions were likely to decrease mental health. The current study aimed to examine these effects and additionally benefit individuals' mental health by making their meaning salient. Specifically, the goal of the research was to design an intervention that could counter the potential negative effects of social distancing. We recruited a total of 96 U.S.A. residents (Mage = 34.45, 92.7% Female) and assigned them to either the control group or to a meaning salience intervention. That is, participants either focused on the meaning of their daily activities (n = 45) or did not participate in any study-related activities during the week (n = 51). They completed various measures of mental health before and after this experimental period. Results suggested that the control group reported significantly greater anxiety, depression, and stress at the end of the week. In contrast, the experimental group reported less anxiety and trended toward less depression and stress at the end of that same week. In all, results suggest that simply focusing on one's daily activities and the meaning found in them protected people from the otherwise detrimental effects of the restrictions. This provides a promising and simple intervention that may assist both individuals and practitioners aiming to improve mental health, especially in challenging times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine whether life meaning mediates the effect of trait gratitude on career calling in a Chinese sample. Further, we explored the moderating role of moral elevation on trait gratitude's direct and indirect effect on career calling. Using a cross-sectional design, a sample of five hundred and twelve Chinese undergraduates participated and completed measures of trait gratitude, life meaning, moral elevation, and career calling. The results showed that trait gratitude positively predicted a career calling, and life meaning mediated this pathway from trait gratitude to career calling. Moral elevation significantly moderated the mediation effect of life meaning and the direct effect of trait gratitude on career calling. Among undergraduates with low moral elevation, the indirect effect via life meaning and the direct effect of trait gratitude on career calling were significantly positive but weaker than those with high moral elevation. These results offer implications for experiencing a career calling and highlight the importance of moral elevation for grateful people to perceive their career calling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-discipline pervasively impacts most aspects of human life. It also promotes numerous human behaviors with positive psychological outcomes. Two studies were conducted within the scope of this research. The aim of the first study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the self-discipline scale (SDS) for adults. Validity and reliability analyses were conducted on two different samples attending different universities in Turkey. As a result of the analyses, a valid and reliable scale was developed consisting of the two-dimensional construct and 13 items. The aim of the second study was to test the sequential mediating roles of grit and life-satisfaction in the relationship between self-discipline and peace among college students. The results revealed that self-discipline is positively related to grit, life-satisfaction, and peace. Path analysis showed that the sequential mediating effect is significant for grit and life satisfaction on the relationship between self-discipline and peace. Overall, these results demonstrated that self-discipline makes a significant contribution to a peaceful life, also grit and life-satisfaction have a remarkable role in this contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between psychological hardiness, basic psychological need (BPN) satisfaction (Self-Determination theory, Deci & Ryan, 2000), soldiers' engagement, and general self-reported health. We hypothesized that the effect of psychological hardiness on soldiers' engagement and general health is mediated by the satisfaction of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness). Data from a questionnaire survey was collected among soldiers of the Lithuanian Armed forces (N = 506) using The Hardiness – Resilience Gauge (HRG), Basic Need Satisfaction at Work Scale, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES – 9) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ – 12). Structural equation modelling was used to evaluate the hypothesis of a mediating role of BPN satisfaction within the relationship between hardiness and soldier's engagement and general health. The results showed mediating effects of satisfaction of BPN on psychological hardiness and health, and engagement relationship, thus providing support for our hypothesis. Implications of the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has consistently linked social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) to numerous forms of prejudice, but little research has examined how these personality and ideological variables interact in their associations with various attitudinal outcomes. The present study explored the interactions of SDO and RWA in predicting a wide range of social attitudes (i.e., modern racism, modern sexism, traditional gender role beliefs) and feeling thermometers toward racial/ethnic minorities, women, and other socially stigmatized groups in a cross-sectional survey of 1244 U.S. college students (Mage = 21.54; SD = 5.17). Moderation analyses found significant independent associations of SDO, RWA, or both with all attitudinal or ideological outcome variables. We found a hypothesized synergistic interaction of SDO x RWA in predicting attitudes toward women scores, but the results did not support other hypothesized SDO x RWA interactions. Findings provide further support of the Dual Process Model and suggest that SDO and RWA may employ largely independent pathways in predicting attitudes toward marginalized groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moral sensitivity of individuals plays a crucial role in the prediction of moral behavior, but the moral values of Chinese culture are different from the west, and we need a simple way to measure the moral sensitivity of Chinese people. This study puts forward a method for measuring the moral sensitivity of Chinese individuals from the perspective of the levels of the moralization model. The sample in the study 1 included 21,054 Chinese persons aged between 18 and 95. Through exploratory factor analysis, we established a model of the scale and verified the stability and invariance of the model across gender and age through confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. Study 2 included a sample of 1951 primary, middle and high school students between the ages of 8 and 19. By means of confirmatory factor analysis, we again verified the factor structure of this questionnaire, and used a series of moral emotion questionnaires (Three Domains of Disgust Scale, Gratitude Questionnaire, Dispositional Positive Emotion Scales, Dispositional Greed Scale) to verify the structural validity. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the goodness-of-fit indices fits well. The multi-group confirmatory factor analysis suggested that configural, metric, scalar, and error variance invariance holds across genders and age groups. The results of the latent mean difference test showed that the latent mean scores were comparable between genders and age groups. The results of correlational analysis show that the scale has a high structural validity. In conclusion, the results of this study showed that the moral sensitivity scale has high reliability and validity in Chinese people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study sought to investigate the mediating effect of the affective balance and resilience on the association between meaningful living and psychological health problems among Turkish young adults in the context of COVID-19. The participants were 359 Turkish young adults, comprising of primarily female (68.2%), and their age ranged between 18 to 43 (age M = 20.67, SD = 3.62). Findings from this study indicated that meaningful living had a positive predictive effect on resilience and positive affect, as well as a negative predicative on psychological health challenges and negative affect. Resilience and affective balance also mediated the effect of meaningful living on psychological health of young adults. These results suggest that resilience and affective balance are important aspects of meaning-focused preventions and interventions designed to build up resilience, positive affectivity, and psychological health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People make choices among different options for different reasons. We hypothesized that people will choose the options that they believe will make them happier and that this effect of anticipated happiness on decision-making will be moderated by style of thinking (i.e., intuitive or deliberative). In a two-phase online experiment, 15 pairs of options were randomly presented one at a time, and participants indicated the extent to which each option would contribute to their happiness (i.e. anticipated happiness of a choice option). One week later, participants were randomly assigned to make choices on similar pairs of options either by using deliberative thinking or intuitive thinking. Results of a linear mixed-effects model analysis revealed that anticipated happiness influenced choices significantly. However, this occurred independent of whether participants made the choice in a deliberative or in an intuitive mindset. The implications of these findings for understanding the association between decision-making and happiness are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine how authentic leadership (a source external to the individual) and self-efficacy (an internal resource) shape experiences of meaning in work. In addition to examining the individual impact of the above factors on work meaningfulness, the study examines the role of self-efficacy as a mediator and a moderator of the relationship between authentic leadership and work meaningfulness. The sample comprised 350 employees from public and private sector manufacturing firms in India. Process (Hayes 2013) was used to test the hypotheses with the aid of SPSS 24. Self-efficacy and authentic leadership proved to be important predictors of employees' perceived sense of meaningfulness in work. In addition to the direct pathway, authentic leadership was found to infuse meaning in work indirectly through self-efficacy. Further, self-efficacy moderated the influence of authentic leadership on work meaningfulness in a way that the effect strengthened with decreasing values of self-efficacy. By accommodating multiple sources and mechanisms, representing both situational and personal factors, the study contributes to comprehensive understanding of how and under what conditions work meaningfulness can be increased. Identifying, selecting, and developing employees with authentic leadership qualities is likely to benefit organizations in terms of fostering positive psychological capacities of employees and improving perceived meaningfulness of work. However, leadership goes unnoticed for the employees with high self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are credible data that the indirect relationship of sense of coherence with well-being can involve potential mediation and moderation mechanisms related to emotional and meaning-oriented factors. The self-concordance model provides a theoretical framework through which these associations can be examined. The current research explored whether the relationship between sense of coherence and well-being in people with coronary heart disease can be mediated by affect and simultaneously moderated by meaning in life. A total of 176 patients with coronary heart disease completed four questionnaires. Positive and negative affect turned out to mediate, though differently, the relationship between feelings of coherence and well-being. Furthermore, meaning in life moderated the indirect effect of sense of coherence to well-being only through positive affect. This confirmed the validity of a moderated mediation model of affect and meaning in life in associations between sense of coherence and well-being in people with coronary heart disease problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on personality development (and its linguistic predictors) in the aftermath of a critical life event among depressive patients is relatively limited. The study's aim was to verify two hypotheses: (1) Participants with depression will use concrete rather than abstract language to describe their most recent critical life event and its psychological consequences and (2) The more abstract the language used, the higher the level of personality development. 16 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy patients suffering from depression participated in the study (M = 34 years old; SD = 4.02). Their level of personality development was assessed qualitatively by two independent coders. The coding system was based on the Positive Disintegration Theory (Dąbrowski 1964). We used typology from the Linguistic Category Model (Semin and Fiedler 1991) to analyse the level of abstractness vs. concreteness. Depressed patients were classified as either abstract language speakers or concrete language speakers. There were equal numbers of both types of speakers. Moreover participants consistently used one type of language, regardless of whether they were describing the critical life event itself or its psychological consequences. As expected, using higher levels of language abstractness when speaking correlated with possessing higher levels of personality development. Our findings provide practitioners with useful knowledge on the benefits of using abstract language to improve supportive strategies when dealing with people in crisis and modify the psychotherapeutic protocols used to treat depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meaning in life is an important aspect of wellbeing for young adults transitioning into new roles. While research suggests young adults' quality of family environments is associated with meaning, few studies have examined mechanisms that explain how early parental support may facilitate young adults' sense of meaning. Understanding factors that contribute to the development of meaning can shape helping practices for young adults, particularly those lacking in earlier parental support. The present study explored the relationship between young adults' appraisals of childhood parental support and present meaning in life, through mediation effects of dispositional optimism and identity commitment. A sample of 120 young adults aged 18–25 completed assessments of early parental support, optimism, identity commitment, and meaning in life. Parallel mediation was used to examine the hypothesized model, controlling for neuroticism. Analyses supported the association between early parental support and meaning in life being mediated by optimism and identity commitment. The findings may inform prevention and intervention practices in support of healthy development and wellbeing among youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous literature mainly focuses on the impact of social media support on social trust, emotional effect and life attitude, and affirmed the social governance value of social media support. However, the multidimensional relationship between social media support and social confidence, perceived media credibility and life attitude during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important, yet less explored, research issue. The present research aimed to fill in this gap by a survey of 1343 participants who are permanent residents aged 18 and above in a city through WeChat social networking platform. The results showed that: (1) social media support exerted direct influence on social confidence, perceived media credibility and life attitude; (2) perceived media credibility positively influenced social confidence; (3) social media support not only directly promoted social confidence, but also indirectly influenced social confidence through public's perceived media credibility. These findings suggested that strengthening social media support during the COVID-19 pandemic is not only helpful to reconstitute the public's confidence in prevailing against the pandemic, but also is able to help promote the diversification of the power of public network autonomy. This study highlighted social media support as an effective path to improve the ability of social governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although narrative identity researchers have provided various ways of coding narratives, no previous studies aimed to assess identity formation. The present study aimed to fill this gap in the literature by developing a narrative coding system for identity formation. Young Korean adults completed several self-report measures and wrote a story explaining how they had become the persons they were. These narratives were then coded using our coding system. To test the validity of the coding system, we correlated the coded narratives with other variables. Variables that were positively related to identity formation were psychological well-being, self-concept clarity, exploration in breadth, exploration in depth, commitment making, identification with commitment, growth motivation, satisfaction of psychological needs, problem solving coping, social support seeking coping, and resilience. Variables that were negatively related to identity formation were depression, the importance of extrinsic relative to intrinsic values, and avoidance coping. Identity formation was not related to ruminative exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, performing automatic language analysis to extract meaning from natural language is one of the top-notch directions in social science research, but it can be challenging. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015 (LIWC2015; Pennebaker et al. 2015) is one of the most versatile, yet easy to master instruments to transform any text into data, meeting the needs of psychologists who are not usually proficient in data science. Moreover, LIWC2015 is already available in multiple languages, which opens the door to exciting intercultural quests. The current article introduces the first Romanian version of LIWC2015, Ro-LIWC2015, and thus, contributes to the line of research concerning multilingual analysis. Throughout the paper, we describe the challenges of creating the Romanian dictionary and discuss other linguistics aspects, which could be useful for new adaptations of LIWC2015. Also, we present the results of two studies for assessing the criterion validity of Ro-LIWC2015. The first study focuses on the consistency between the Romanian and the English dictionaries in analyzing a corpus of books. The second study tests whether Ro-LIWC2015 can acquire linguistic differences in contrasting corpora. For this purpose, we analyzed posts from help-seeking forums for anxiety, depression, and health issues, and leveraged supervised learning to address several classification problems. The selected algorithm allows feature ranking, which facilitates more thorough interpretations. The linguistic markers extracted with Ro-LIWC2015 mirrored a number of disorder-specific features of depression and anxiety. Given the obtained results, this research encourages the use of Ro-LIWC2015 for hypothesis testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]