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The prediction of election outcomes is of widespread interest. Election outcomes are influenced by a variety of factors, but largely unexamined in past research is how psychological characteristics of the electorate influence the results of actual elections. The present study investigated whether the optimism of an electorate predicted the outcomes of the 2010 US House of Representatives elections (N = 435) from measures ascertained in 2009 for congressional districts, controlling for an incumbent's years of service and his or her political party, as well as 2009 median household income in these districts. As expected for midterm election, Republicans and longer-serving incumbents were more likely to win re-election. Districts with higher median household incomes were also more likely to re-elect incumbents. The optimism of a congressional district additionally predicted election outcomes. Districts where people evaluated their own lives in more hopeful terms were more likely to re-elect incumbents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive psychology is the scientific study of a healthy and flourishing life. The goal of positive psychology is to complement and extend the traditional problem-focused psychology that has proliferated in recent decades. Positive psychology is concerned with positive psychological states (eg, happiness), positive psychological traits (eg, talents, interests, strengths of character), positive relationships, and positive institutions. We describe evidences of how topics of positive psychology apply to physical health. Research has shown that psychological health assets (eg, positive emotions, life satisfaction, optimism, life purpose, social support) are prospectively associated with good health measured in a variety of ways. Not yet known is whether positive psychology interventions improve physical health. Future directions for the application of positive psychology to health are discussed. We conclude that the application of positive psychology to health is promising, although much work remains to be done. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth (VIA-Youth) is a self-report inventory assessing 24 character strengths among people 10-17 years of age. This paper describes the adaptation and initial validation of a German version of this measure utilizing several samples (in total N = 2,110 self-reports of participants aged 10-17 years, 56.5% girls; N = 219 parent-reports) from Germany and Switzerland. The 24 scales yielded high reliability and exhibited stability over 4 months. Self-reports and parent-ratings of strengths converged well. An oblique five-factor solution was found to represent the data well. There were small age effects, and small to medium gender effects (e.g., girls scored higher on beauty and kindness). Character strengths of hope, gratitude, love, and zest correlated positively with global life satisfaction. Furthermore, most of the strengths were strong predictors of general self-efficacy. Overall, the German VIA-Youth demonstrated good psychometric properties and promising evidence for validity. The German VIA-Youth is recommended for the assessment of character strengths in German-speaking children and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Psychological well-being (PWB) has a significant relationship with physical and mental health. As a part of the NIH Toolbox for the Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function, we developed self-report item banks and short forms to assess PWB. Study design and setting: Expert feedback and literature review informed the selection of PWB concepts and the development of item pools for positive affect, life satisfaction, and meaning and purpose. Items were tested with a community-dwelling US Internet panel sample of adults aged 18 and above ( N = 552). Classical and item response theory (IRT) approaches were used to evaluate unidimensionality, fit of items to the overall measure, and calibrations of those items, including differential item function (DIF). Results: IRT-calibrated item banks were produced for positive affect (34 items), life satisfaction (16 items), and meaning and purpose (18 items). Their psychometric properties were supported based on the results of factor analysis, fit statistics, and DIF evaluation. All banks measured the concepts precisely (reliability ≥0.90) for more than 98 % of participants. Conclusion: These adult scales and item banks for PWB provide the flexibility, efficiency, and precision necessary to promote future epidemiological, observational, and intervention research on the relationship of PWB with physical and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a speech by the late Dr. Christopher Peterson, leader of the positive psychology movement, delivered in a symposium on "The Strength-Based Revolution" conducted at the Roots and Wings Seminars at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan in September 2008. Peterson shared his personal views on the strengths movement, which is cited to be transforming youth development.

Peterson, Park. and Seligman (2005) developed the Orientations to Happiness (OTH) questionnaire to measure three routes to happiness: lift, of pleasure (hedonism). life of engagement (flow) and life of meaning (eudemonia). The questionnaire was translated into German in several steps (independent translations by five experts, creation of the initial version by committee approach, retranslation, modification, and final version). Data were collected in paper-pencil (N = 1,152) and Internet samples (N = 4,174). The OTH scales showed satisfactory internal consistencies (.63 ≤ α ≤ .76) and stability across 6 months (all ≥ .63). The factorial structure of the German OTH was analyzed (RMSEA ≤ .074 and SRMR ≥ .043 for the 3-factor solution) in both samples. Tucker's Phi coefficients for factorial congruence between the two samples were .99. The three scales were positively intercorrelated. The endorsement of the life of pleasure was higher in younger, unmarried, and nonreligious participants. The life of meaning was more pronounced among the religious participants. There was a good convergence (all > .49) between homologous scale of the self- and peer-form, and the OTH predicted behavior in prototypical pleasure, engagement, and meaning situations. Most importantly, high scores in each of the orientations to happiness corresponded to higher degrees of overall satisfaction with life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many languages and cultures have labels for individuals who have achieved a superior state of functioning, sometimes referred to as enlightenment or wisdom. This conceptualization of optimal functioning as a distinct state is implicit to several well-known psychological models, as well. This study evaluated whether self-reported strengths of character revealed evidence of such a state. A sample of 83,576 US residents completed the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). On the basis of multiple statistical tests, the results consistently indicated that level of functioning is dimensional, rather than categorical. The findings do not provide support for the existence of a distinct state of superior functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life meaning is important for psychological and physical health and well-being. Researchers have only recently looked at the presence of life meaning and the search for life meaning as separate constructs. In the current study, 731 adult respondents from the United States completed the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, which separately assesses the presence of meaning and the search for meaning, and measures of well-being. Presence and search for life meaning showed different relationships with well-being. Consistent with past research, the presence of meaning was positively associated with life satisfaction, happiness, and positive affect and negatively associated with depression and negative affect, whereas the search for meaning overall had the opposite pattern of correlates. However, the search for meaning was positively associated with well-being—greater life satisfaction, more happiness, and less depression— among those who already had substantial meaning in their life. The search for meaning is not only morally worthy but as it succeeds, eventually satisfying. Implications of these results for interventions to promote mental health and well-being are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on positive psychology and its role in reclaiming the youth. It notes that positive psychology was intended as a careful correction to problems focused by psychology and social sciences for decades. It also offers a historical context of positive psychology in which it was focused with the remediation and occasional prevention of psychological problems in the U.S. after the World War II. Moreover, it emphasizes that positive psychology reframes the social perception on children and youth.

The basic premise of positive psychology is that the happiness and fulfillment of children and youth entail more than the identification and treatment of their problems. This article provides an overview of positive psychology and the Values in Action (VIA) project that classifies and measures 24 widely recognized character strengths. Good character is multidimensional, made up of a family of positive traits manifest in an individual's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Recent research findings are presented concerning the correlates and the consequences of the VIA character strengths for positive youth development. Character strengths are related to achievement, life satisfaction, and well-being of children and youth. Further, the implications and specific techniques informed by positive psychology are discussed for school counselors in the context of a strengths-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive psychology is a newly-christened field concerned with what makes life most worth living. At first glance, it would seem to have little to say about the post-9/11 world, but its central concerns�positive emotions, good character, and enabling institutions�are all pertinent to how people rise to the occasion of challenge and threat. What is good in life is not the mere absence of what is bad, and any attempts to create security must go beyond the minimization of danger to address how people can flourish in any and all circumstances. The present article discusses some of the implications of positive psychology for understanding and achieving post-9/11 security and flourishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Moral competence among adolescents can be approached in terms of good character. Character is a multidimensional construct comprised of a family of positive traits manifest in an individual''s thoughts, emotions and behaviours. The Values in Action Inventory for Youth (VIA-Youth) is a self-report questionnaire suitable for adolescents that measures 24 widely valued strength of character. Data from several samples bearing on the internal consistency, stability, and validity of the VIA-Youth are described, along with what is known about the prevalence and demographic correlates of the character strengths it measures. Exploratory factor analysis revealed an interpretable four-factor structure of the VIA-Youth subscales: temperance strengths (e.g., prudence, self-regulation), intellectual strengths (e.g., love of learning, curiosity), theological strengths (e.g., hope, religiousness, love), and other-directed (interpersonal) strengths (e.g., kindness, modesty). The uses of the VIA-Youth in research and practise are discussed along with directions for future research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Parents’ written descriptions (average length = 211 words) of children between the ages of 3 and 9 years were collected on a password-protected website ( n = 680). The presence of the 24 character strengths in the VIA Classification and the level of child’s happiness were coded with content analysis. Descriptions were rich in character language (average strengths mentioned per description = 3.09), and coding was reliable. Consistent with previous research with youth and adults, the character strengths of love, zest, and hope were associated with happiness; gratitude was associated with happiness among older children. The early development of character strengths and possible ways of fostering them are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs is one of psychology's genuinely good ideas and has had a sustained impact in and out of psychology. The revision of the hierarchy by Kenrick, Griskevicius, Neuberg, and Schaller (2010, this issue) is overdue and makes an important contribution by grounding the hierarchy in modern evolutionary thought. However, we suggest that it may be premature to remove self-actualization from the hierarchy by reducing it to other needs associated with status and reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in the last three decades has shown that negative neighborhood factors such as neighborhood violence, noise, traffic, litter, low neighborhood socioeconomic status, and poor air quality increase the risk of poor health. Fewer studies have examined the potential protective effect that neighborhood factors can have on health, particularly stroke. We examined whether higher perceived neighborhood social cohesion was associated with lower stroke incidence after adjusting for traditional risk and psychological factors that have been linked with stroke risk. Prospective data from the Health and Retirement Study—a nationally representative panel study of American adults over the age of 50—were used. Analyses were conducted on a subset of 6740 adults who were stroke-free at baseline. Analyses adjusted for chronic illnesses and relevant sociodemographic, behavioral, and psychosocial factors. Over a four-year follow-up, higher perceived neighborhood social cohesion was associated with a lower risk of stroke. Each standard deviation increase in perceived neighborhood social cohesion was associated with a multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (O.R.) of 0.85 for stroke incidence (95% CI, 0.75–0.97, p < 0.05). The effect of perceived neighborhood social cohesion remained significant after adjusting for a comprehensive set of risk factors. Therefore, perceived neighborhood social cohesion plays an important role in protecting against stroke. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: To determine whether purpose in life is associated with reduced stroke incidence among older adults after adjusting for relevant sociodemographic, behavioral, biological, and psychosocial factors. Methods: We used prospective data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative panel study of American adults over the age of 50. 6739 adults who were stroke-free at baseline were examined. A multiple imputation technique was used to account for missing data. Purpose in life was measured using a validated adaptation of Ryff and Keyes' Scales of Psychological Well-Being. After controlling for a comprehensive list of covariates, we assessed the odds of stroke incidence over a four-year period. We used psychological and covariate data collected in 2006, along with occurrences of stroke reported in 2008, 2010, and during exit interviews. Covariates included sociodemographic factors (age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, education level, total wealth, functional status), health behaviors (smoking, exercise, alcohol use), biological factors (hypertension, diabetes, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, BMI, heart disease), negative psychological factors (depression, anxiety, cynical hostility, negative affect), and positive psychological factors (optimism, positive affect, and social participation). Results: Greater baseline purpose in life was associated with a reduced likelihood of stroke during the four-year follow-up. In a model that adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, education level, total wealth, and functional status, each standard deviation increase in purpose was associated with a multivariate-adjusted odds ratio of 0.78 for stroke (95% CI, 0.67–0.91, p =.002). Purpose remained significantly associated with a reduced likelihood of stroke after adjusting for several additional covariates including: health behaviors, biological factors, and psychological factors. Conclusion: Among older American adults, greater purpose in life is linked with a lower risk of stroke. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Positive psychology has flourished in the last 5 years. The authors review recent developments in the field, including books, meetings, courses, and conferences. They also discuss the newly created classification of character strengths and virtues, a positive complement to the various editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (e. g., American Psychiatric Association, 1994), and present some cross-cultural findings that suggest a surprising ubiquity of strengths and virtues. Finally, the authors focus on psychological interventions that increase individual happiness. In a 6-group, random-assignment, placebo- controlled Internet study, the authors tested 5 purported happiness interventions and 1 plausible control exercise. They found that 3 of the interventions lastingly increased happiness and decreased depressive symptoms. Positive interventions can supplement traditional interventions that relieve suffering and may someday be the practical legacy of positive psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]