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Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic gastrointestinal conditions that significantly impact patients' quality of life. Previous research indicates that patients with IBD have a higher prevalence of anxiety compared to the general population and other chronic diseases. This pilot study aimed to investigate the relationships between goal integration, positive and negative emotions, goal self-efficacy, and trait anxiety as the outcome variable, focusing on patients' self-management strategies. Drawing from the Self-Concordance Model (SCM) of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the study explored how goal integration is associated with more fulfilling and enjoyable experiences and fewer negative emotions, ultimately improving psychological well-being. Health-related goals were evaluated using the Personal Project Analysis technique, while the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was utilized to measure general anxiety levels. Among the 141 participants with inflammatory bowel disease, 96 reported having health-related goals. Of these, 66 were female (68.75%), and 30 were male participants (31.25%). Path analysis revealed a moderate negative association between self-concordance (SC) and negative emotions, which, in turn, predicted higher levels of trait anxiety. Furthermore, the alternative model tested indicated that trait anxiety predicted a lower level of self-concordance. Setting well-integrated health goals involves an internal capacity, enabling patients to experience less negative emotions during self-management activities. Anxiety can hinder individuals from accessing their inner needs, resulting in less self-concordant aspirations and more negative emotions. These findings may contribute to developing prevention and intervention programs to enhance IBD patients' adherence to lifestyle changes, ultimately improving their overall well-being., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Horvát, Dávid, Sallay, Rafael, Njers, Orbán, Molnár, Csabai and Martos.)

Relational accounts of goal striving have barely considered dyadic coping as an element of the process, nor has dyadic coping research utilized the unique advantages of the goal construct (e.g., in form of personal project assessment) so far. Therefore, the primary aim of the present study was to explore stress and dyadic coping experiences associated with the personal projects of partners in a close relationship. Moreover, we approached data analysis in a pattern-oriented way, instead of using variable-centered linear models. We used cross-sectional data from 270 married and cohabiting Hungarian heterosexual couples (mean age 40.1 ± 11.2 and 37.8 ± 10.9 years for male and female partners, respectively). Partners individually completed an adapted version of the Personal Project Assessment procedure. First, they named an important but stressful personal project. Respondents appraised their experiences with the chosen personal project along several predefined aspects. These included: (1) stress experiences; (2) dyadic coping, using the adapted Dyadic Coping Inventory; (3) positive emotions; and (4) sense of community. The Relationship Assessment Scale was also assessed. Cluster analysis of both partners' stress experiences, positive and negative dyadic coping strategies in their own personal projects revealed six relationship-level clusters. Cluster solutions represented typical variations of the stress and dyadic coping patterns of the couples, and could be arranged in a three- (lower, medium, and higher stress) by-two (positively vs. negatively balanced dyadic coping pattern) array. Further analyses indicated the general trend that couples with lower (vs. higher) stress together with more positively (vs. negatively) balanced dyadic coping may have experienced better functioning in projects (more positive emotions and higher sense of community) and higher relationship satisfaction. Results confirm that the partners' pursuit of their personal projects is embedded in their relationship, and their functioning in these projects may partly depend on dyadic coping with the stress that arises during the accomplishment of the project. By using a pattern-oriented approach to dyadic data, we were able to distill stress and coping patterns that capture the specific types of couples' relationships and indicate the non-linear and multidimensional nature of stress and dyadic coping processes.

Environmental and emotional self-regulation skills play a critical role in promoting well-being of individuals and in encouraging healthy relationships. However, occurrence of chronic illness in one family member complicates routine dyadic coping processes for the couple. Additionally, according to environmental psychologists, self-regulation processes are influenced by individuals' perceptions of their socio-physical environments, and during times of chronic illness, the family home is frequently the primary site of dyadic coping. To date, few researchers have investigated the complex relationship among dyadic coping, the family home, and self-regulation processes in the context of chronic illness. The purpose of this paper is to report the results of qualitative research conducted to explore these relationships by analyzing participants' emotionally significant experiences within the family home. We purposively sampled and conducted in depth semi-structured interviews with 23 adults representing 10 families with one chronically ill adult family member. Representative illnesses included epilepsy (4) and chronic back pain (6). We used the Emotional Map of the Home Interview method (EMHI), an elicitation process in which participants are initially asked to place predefined positive and negative experiences on drawn diagrams of their homes. We analyzed the data through grounded theory coding methods, including open, axial and selective coding. Results of data analysis suggest that the family home operated as a critical socio-physical environment and had a profound impact on environmental and emotional self-regulation as well as on dyadic coping when one partner experienced chronic illness. Key selective codes derived from the data that reflect the variation and nuance within this impact included: "stress communication through the home space," "coping by spatial separation" and "coping by joint striving for at-homeness." These results reveal formerly hidden aspects of dyadic coping with chronic illness: the role of environmental cues, represented by the family home in this study, in perceptions of stress; the coordinated use of spatial-environmental contexts to engage the appropriate self-regulatory strategies for coping with illness-related stress. These findings demonstrate the utility of EMHI as an assessment tool and provide meaningful theoretical and practical information about dyadic coping among couples living with chronic disease.

In well-being research the term happiness is often used as synonymous with life satisfaction. However, little is known about lay people's understanding of happiness. Building on the available literature, this study explored lay definitions of happiness across nations and cultural dimensions, analyzing their components and relationship with participants' demographic features. Participants were 2799 adults (age range = 30-60, 50% women) living in urban areas of Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, and United States. They completed the Eudaimonic and Hedonic Happiness Investigation (EHHI), reporting, among other information, their own definition of happiness. Answers comprised definitions referring to a broad range of life domains, covering both the contextual-social sphere and the psychological sphere. Across countries and with little variation by age and gender, inner harmony predominated among psychological definitions, and family and social relationships among contextual definitions. Whereas relationships are widely acknowledged as basic happiness components, inner harmony is substantially neglected. Nevertheless, its cross-national primacy, together with relations, is consistent with the view of an ontological interconnectedness characterizing living systems, shared by several conceptual frameworks across disciplines and cultures. At the methodological level, these findings suggest the potential of a bottom-up, mixed method approach to contextualize psychological dimensions within culture and lay understanding.