Search

Positive developmental outcomes among youth living in poverty have rarely been studied. Despite numerous risk factors, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to positive developmental outcomes among youth in poverty. Using the Self-Determination Theory framework, this two-wave longitudinal study investigated the contribution of basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness to positive developmental outcomes of prosocial behavior and positive affect among 225 youth living in poverty in Italy. Results suggest that overall, prosocial behavior was positively predicted by autonomy, while positive affect was positively predicted by competence. Moderator analyses showed that the satisfaction of the need of relatedness predicted prosociality for girls and immigrants. For girls, the fulfilling of this need also predicted positive affect. The importance of each psychological need to different positive outcomes was shaped by adolescents' economic condition, immigrant background, and gender. The implications for further research and practices are discussed.

Studies have shown that kind school climates are linked to positive psychological outcomes. Yet, there is scant evidence on how school kindness relates to subjective and objective measures of academic success. This research addresses this gap by examining the associations of school kindness with academic achievement and engagement using cross-sectional (Study 1) and longitudinal (Study 2) designs among Filipino high school students. Study 1 demonstrated that school kindness positively predicted agentic, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement after controlling for demographic covariates and dispositional kindness. School kindness marginally predicted subjective academic performance. Study 2 showed that Time 1 school kindness positively predicted Time 2 behavioral engagement even after controlling for demographic covariates and auto-regressor effects. Results suggest that fostering kindness in school can be a potential route to facilitate students' active participation in academic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceptions of kindness at school have been linked to a few positive psychological outcomes including optimism, happiness, life satisfaction, and social goals. However, limited evidence has been generated on how kindness relates to academic-related outcomes. This study explored the association of perceived school kindness with different domains of academic engagement. It also examined whether school kindness would have indirect effects on engagement outcomes via the intermediate variables -- achievement goal orientations (i.e., mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals). Results showed that school kindness was positively correlated to agentic, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement. Bias-corrected bootstrapping analyses demonstrated that perceived school kindness had indirect effects on behavioral engagement and cognitive engagement via the intermediate variables, approach goals. While mastery-approach goals mediated the link between perceived school kindness and emotional engagement, performance-approach goals mediated the association of perceived school kindness with agentic engagement. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

This quantitative research explores the resource needs, challenges, and strengths of teachers and their influence on teacher wellbeing. Adopting a descriptive design with surveys as the primary instrument, the study aims to shed light on teacher well-being from a strengths-based perspective, a departure from the prevailing focus on stress and burnout in existing literature. Teachers operate in environments characterized by high stress and potential burnout, stemming from the demanding nature of their profession and encountering stressors across interpersonal, organizational, and institutional levels. Despite these challenges, most teachers demonstrate resilience and commitment to their work. However, there is a noticeable gap in research focusing on how teachers thrive and experience positivity within their school environments. Utilizing the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model as a theoretical framework, this study examines the relationship between resources and teacher well-being. The findings offer valuable insights into teacher resource needs and their overall well-being, which have practical implications for teacher training, professional development programs, and policy-making. These implications are aimed at mitigating teacher attrition, stress, and burnout while fostering resilience and well-being among educators. Furthermore, the study contributes to the refinement of the JD-R model and the broader understanding of teacher well-being. By providing a deeper insight into the mechanisms underlying teacher resilience, the findings serve as a foundational basis for future research in this critical domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychology and the U.S. military have a long history of collaboration. The U.S. Army Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program aims to measure the psychosocial strengths and assets of soldiers as well as their problems, to identify those in need of basic training in a given domain as well as those who would benefit from advanced training, and then to provide that training. The goals of the CSF program include the promotion of well-being as well as the prevention of problems. Assessment is the linchpin of the CSF program, and the Global Assessment Tool (GAT) is a self-report survey that measures psychosocial fitness in emotional, social, family, and spiritual domains. We review the history of psychological assessment in the military and the lessons taught by this history. Then we describe the process by which the GAT was developed and evaluated. We conclude with a discussion of pending next steps in the development and use of the GAT. (Contains 1 figure and 1 footnote.)

Psychology has neglected the study of variation across cities. An urban psychology is needed that takes seriously such variation and focuses on strengths and assets contributing to the good life as much as on problems of urbanization. To illustrate the value of an urban psychology, we describe studies of character strengths among residents in the 50 largest U.S. cities (N = 47,369). Differences in character strengths were found to exist across cities, were robustly related to important city-level outcomes such as entrepreneurship and 2008 presidential election voting, and were associated in theoretically predicted ways with city-level features. We propose a framework that distinguishes between strengths of the "head," which are intellectual and self-oriented, and strengths of the "heart," which are emotional and interpersonal. Cities whose residents had higher levels of head strengths were those rated as creative and innovative. Head strengths predicted the likelihood of a city voting for Barack Obama, whereas heart strengths predicted voting for John McCain. More than half of the world's population now resides in cities, and urban psychology deserves greater attention. (Contains 1 footnote, 1 table, and 2 figures.)

This study examined the contributions of orientations to happiness (pleasure, engagement and meaning) to subjective well-being. A sample of 12,622 adults from the United States completed on-line surveys measuring orientations to happiness, positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. A sample of 332 adults from Australia also completed these surveys as well as a measure of the big five factor personality traits. Hierarchical regressions generally supported the hypothesis that the three orientations to happiness predict subjective well-being (satisfaction with life, positive affect and negative affect) beyond sociodemographic variables and personality. Meaning and engagement explained the greatest variance in all three components of subjective well-being. Overall, these findings support the importance of a eudaimonic approach in addition to the hedonic approach to achieving happiness. Moreover, findings were relatively consistent in both the Australian and US samples.

Character is vital force for positive development and societal well-being. Character strengths play important roles in positive youth development, not only as broad-protective factors, preventing or mitigating psychopathology and problems, but also as enabling conditions that promote thriving and flourishing. Recent research findings show that character strengths are related to academic success, life satisfaction, and well-being for children and youth. These findings have four significant implications for educators, parents, mental health professionals, and policy makers who concern themselves with promoting positive youth development. First, schools and youth programs should start to measure children's assets, such as character strengths, as much as deficits. Second, educators and policy makers concerned with educating happy, healthy, and successful children and youth will want to pay explicit attention to character strengths. Third, the Values in Action (VIA) classification of strengths provides a vocabulary for people to talk about character strengths in an appropriately sophisticated way. Fourth, given the importance of character to the psychological good life, questions arise about how good character might be cultivated. (Contains 1 table.)

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. (Contains 1 table.)

Although numerous cross-national studies have assessed life satisfaction among adults, similar studies using adolescent samples have been rare. To address this shortage of research, a total of 1338 youth adolescents from two individualistic nations (Ireland, USA) and two collectivistic nations (China, South Korea) were administered the "Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale" (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994) to assesses general life satisfaction and satisfaction with family, friends, school, self, and living environment. Responses were analyzed to assess potential cross-national differences in (a) mean levels of life satisfaction, and (b) response styles, specifically acquiescence and extreme responding. Mean scores revealed positive ratings by adolescents from all four nations across all domains, with the exceptions of satisfaction with school experiences (Ireland, South Korean, USA), living environment (China, South Korea), self (South Korea), and general life satisfaction (South Korea). Results also revealed significant response style differences across all MSLSS domains. Significant gender and gender-by-nation effects were observed for both mean score and response style differences, although the effect sizes were small. The implications of these findings were discussed, particularly with respect to "individualistic" vs. "collectivistic" cultural differences.

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.

A cross-sectional study of developmental differences and similarities in the levels and correlates of life satisfaction was conducted with 716 South Korean students in elementary, middle and high school. With age, global and domain-specific life satisfaction (with family, school, living environment and self) decreased; satisfaction with friends did not change with age. The family domain was an important predictor of global life satisfaction of Korean students of all ages. The importance of the self domain to global life satisfaction increased substantially with age to emerge as the most important contributor for global life satisfaction among high school students. School satisfaction was consistently important for Korean students global life satisfaction across all ages, although its relative importance decreased with age. These findings were discussed with respect to the development of concerns and interests among children and adolescents and in terms of Korean cultural values based on Confucianism.

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.

This study examined whether purpose in life was associated with myocardial infarction among a sample of older adults with coronary heart disease after adjusting for relevant sociodemographic, behavioral, biological, and psychological factors. 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 the subset of 1,546 individuals who had coronary heart disease at baseline. Greater baseline purpose in life was associated with lower odds of having a myocardial infarction during the 2-year follow-up period. On a six-point purpose in life measure, each unit increase was associated with a multivariate-adjusted odds ratio of 0.73 for myocardial infarction (95% CI, 0.57-0.93, P = .01). The association remained significant after controlling for coronary heart disease severity, self-rated health, and a comprehensive set of possible confounds. Higher purpose in life may play an important role in protecting against myocardial infarction among older American adults with coronary heart disease. Keywords Purpose in life * Heart attack * Myocardial infarction * Coronary heart disease * Positive psychology * Meaning in life, Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death among both men and women in the United States--responsible for one in every six deaths (Heron et al., 2009). It imposes [...]

We comment on the article by C.R. Snyder and T.R. Elliott, 'Twenty-First Century Graduate Education in Clinical Psychology: A Four Level Matrix Model' (this issue, pp. 1033-1054). We agree with many of the specific sentiments expressed by these authors but not with their dismissal of the Boulder model. We conclude that the Boulder model is as valuable today as when first articulated and that it provides a sturdy foundation upon which to make the sorts of changes the authors suggest. Keywords: Boulder model: four level matrix model

Cross-cultural differences in the perceived levels and correlates of life satisfaction were investigated with 472 Korean and 543 U.S. adolescents. Korean adolescents reported lower global life satisfaction than U.S. adolescents, as well as lower satisfaction with family, friends, school, self, and living environment. Although satisfaction with family, self, and living environment contributed significant and unique variance to the global life satisfaction of adolescents in both cultures, satisfaction with school contributed significantly to global life satisfaction only for Korean adolescents. Level of satisfaction with self was a stronger correlate of global life satisfaction for U.S. adolescents than it was for Korean adolescents. The findings are discussed in terms of individualistic versus collectivistic culture frameworks within the value as moderator model of subjective well-being. Implications for future research and culturally sensitive well-being interventions are also presented. Keywords: cross-culture study; life satisfaction; Korean and U.S. adolescents; individualism; collectivism; cultural value