Journal of Happiness Studies最新文献

Contentment and affect are substrates of information people use when making an overall assessment of satisfaction with life. Most studies assume homogeneity across people in the relevance of affect and contentment. This paper studies the existence of heterogeneity across people in the relationship between life satisfaction and affect and contentment. In addition, the paper postulates that, due to the complexity of factors intervening in the relationship, this heterogeneity is unobserved. A technique to study unobserved heterogeneity in the relationship between life satisfaction and affect and contentment is implemented. Based on a large worldwide sample, three groups are identified; these groups have different profiles regarding the role of affect and contentment in explaining life satisfaction. The groups are meaningful, as different relationships between life satisfaction and affect and contentment have implications; for example, income’s relevance in explaining life satisfaction varies across groups.

Affective well-being, as an important component of well-being, is related to an individual’s mental health and quality of life. Previous studies have found that some psychological variables of employees at work can affect their well-being, but most studies use cross-sectional design, and the exploration of the potential psychological mechanism of the relationship between the two is unclear. This study adopted a longitudinal design to explore the dynamic bidirectional relationship between the thriving at work and affective well-being among the primary and secondary school teachers, and further investigated the mediating mechanism of work-family enrichment between them. Thriving at Work Questionnaire, Work-Family Enrichment Questionnaire, and Affective Well-being Questionnaire are used to conduct a three-wave longitudinal study design which with a sample of 778 teachers at an interval of one year. The results of the cross-lagged analysis showed that: (1) There was an interactive and mutually predictive association between teachers’ affective well-being and thriving at work. (2) The relationship between the positive and negative affective dimensions of teachers’ affective well-being and thriving at work was different; the positive affective dimension rather than the negative affective dimension at the former time point significantly predicted thriving at work at the latter time point; and the thriving at work at the former time point significantly predicted the negative affective dimension rather than the positive affective dimension at the latter time point. (3) Teachers’ work-family enrichment mediated the effect of their thriving at work on their affective well-being, but did not mediate the effect of their affective well-being on their thriving at work. (4) For the relationship between positive affective dimension or negative affective dimension and work-family enrichment and thriving at work, only work-family enrichment was found to play a mediating role in the process of thriving at work affecting positive affective. The study revealed the relationship and mechanism between teachers’ thriving at work, work-family enrichment, and affective well-being, and provided empirical research basis for educational administration and school organizations to explore effective measures to improve the working experience and well-being of teachers.

There is a gap in our understanding of people’s longitudinal emotional reactions before and during an ongoing war. The paper analyzes the impact of the Iron Swords War between Israel and Hamas on measures of Israelis’ subjective well-being, including fear and anxiety. Two questions are probed: (1) How are the affective components—negative and positive emotions—which tend to fluctuate, and the more stable components—global life evaluation and meaning in life—affected by war? (2) What protects people’s subjective well-being in wartime? Unique longitudinal data from 1189 individuals who reported their subjective well-being before and during the war is employed. The participants reported their pre-war investments in hedonic capital, including efforts in six life domains—health, friends, community, active leisure, the value of work per se, and work-life balance—as well as their religiosity level. Both our questions are addressed by the results. First, all subjective well-being components worsened significantly during the war compared to pre-war measures. Evaluation of life decreased by 9.6%; meaning decreased by 2.8%, positive emotions decreased by 25.5%, and negative emotions increased by 85.9%. Second, regression analysis demonstrates that all of the pre-war efforts investigated, except those allocated to improving work-life balance and active leisure, have a longitudinal effect on at least one component of subjective well-being during war. Effort at work significantly affects both meaning (p < 0.01) and positive emotions (p < 0.05). Effort within the community significantly affects negative emotions (p < 0.01). Effort in friendships significantly affects positive emotions (p < 0.01), while effort in health significantly affects meaning (p < 0.05). The results are robust for unmet expectations, socio-demographics and objective war-related control factors. Pre-war religiosity longitudinally affects all war-time subjective well-being components, a result which was also found in a difference-in-difference analysis.

Universal Basic Income (UBI) might cause different effects in happiness depending on a person’s individual characteristics. In an online panel study of 573 basic income recipients in Germany, we examined whether personality traits (NEOAC) and certain personal values (self-direction, stimulation, hedonism, power, achievement, universalism, benevolence) predicted trajectories in happiness. Latent Growth Curve Analysis revealed that overall, most individuals experienced similar changes in happiness over time. For personality traits as predictors, higher neuroticism and openness to new experience were linked to growth in well-being. Additionally for personal values, significant growth in life satisfaction appeared to be associated with lower hedonism at the beginning of the study, and growth in well-being was related to higher levels of self-direction. In fact, none of the subgroups suffered in happiness. We conclude with implications and some important directions for further research regarding the effect of basic income on happiness.

Philosophers provide excellent resources for developing a science of virtues, and an interdisciplinary collaboration between philosophers and psychologists seems ideal. This suggestion is not new, but there has been little guidance for psychologists about how philosophical work can be useful in developing a science of virtue. This article provides some guidance by dividing the contributions of philosophers into three categories. First, many philosophers provide theories of virtue’s nature or value, but these are generally not useful for psychological scientists and can be safely ignored. Second, awareness of the range of philosophic positions can enable scientists to recognize contentious theoretical assumptions that they are making. Psychologists need not try to resolve these debates; they can choose to only identify which position(s) they are taking. Third, awareness of the range of philosophic positions and the competing conceptual analyses of various virtue concepts and traits can help psychologists to identify and test new empirical hypotheses.

The ontological turn in social sciences has revealed the anthropocentrism of earlier literature, but the role of interspecies relations in well-being ideals remains less explored. We examine the role of interspecies relations in well-being conceptions. The study is conducted among Indigenous communities to capture alternative human realities to those mainly reflected in the academic well-being literature. The study asks: what are the perspectives of selected Indian Indigenous communities on interspecies relations and well-being, and what is the role of the interspecies relations in their well-being and happiness conceptions? The research was conducted qualitatively using an immersive study technique, participatory observation and interviews, in eight villages in Central India. The material was analysed by participatory analysis and qualitative coding. The respondents form an ‘interspecies community’ with most of the nonhumans: the respondents had familial, reciprocal and caring relations with nonhumans, and perceived both the humans and nonhumans to similarly depend on a shared ecology. Such caring relations that relate to a sense of connection, and the well-being of the local humans and nonhumans were seen as important for human happiness. The caring relations towards the nonhumans, and sense of interdependency with the interspecies community tie the well-being of nonhumans to the local well-being conceptions. The local perspectives emphasize and respect the well-being of the nonhumans more than the predominant academic well-being conceptions.

Previous research has often demonstrated that liberal values and democratic regimes are associated with higher levels of subjective well-being (SWB). However, consistent results are only found at the country level, while at the individual level the relationship between values, democracy, and SWB is not as clear. This article analyzes recent data from 86 countries and shows that individual SWB depends on whether one’s values match the country’s predominant values and political system. In authoritarian countries, those with more conservative values tend to exhibit higher levels of SWB, reaching a level of happiness comparable to that of an average person in a typical democracy. Conversely, their liberal-minded compatriots often report significantly lower levels of SWB. In democracies, people with more liberal values tend to have higher SWB than do conservatives, although this difference is not as robust as in autocracies. This study emphasizes the importance of political context in the relationship between liberal values and SWB.

This experimental study aimed to determine the effect of psycho-pedagogical intervention on spiritual intelligence, happiness, and spiritual well-being of primary school students in Latvia. Three measurements (pre-intervention, post-intervention, and three month follow up) were administered for 83 children (n = 41 experimental group; n = 42 control group). The experimental group participated in intervention sessions that met once per week for 10 weeks. The results indicated that participation in the intervention programme led to a statistically significant increase in spiritual intelligence, happiness, and spiritual well-being in the experimental group compared to the control group. The intervention had the most significant effect on spiritual intelligence and spiritual well-being. Gender differences in spiritual intelligence, spiritual well-being, and happiness were softened after the intervention. The effectiveness of the intervention was consistent between all participants in the experimental group, regardless of the frequency of church attendance. Children who occasionally attended church showed slightly higher improvements in both groups, although not statistically significant. The given study not only validated the effect of the designed programme for primary school students, but also showed that the given intervention can improve spiritual intelligence, happiness and spiritual well-being irrespective of gender or church attendance. Integrating spiritual development into the primary school curriculum nurtures a harmonious and mentally healthy personality, which is one of the main goals of education.

The availability of childcare services eases parents’ daily lives and research has shown that it positively affects well-being, especially for mothers. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted established childcare arrangements, with school and day care closures adding to parental burdens. Despite extensive discourse on the influence of these closures on parental well-being, few studies have empirically analysed the effects of the increase in childcare responsibilities associated with the closures on the well-being of parents. We seek to address this gap by examining the impact of school and day care reopenings on parental well-being. We expect that parents’ life satisfaction will increase when schools and day care facilities are reopened—and that this effect is particularly strong for mothers. Leveraging the variation in the time of reopenings across Germany’s federal states, we employ a difference-in-differences and a difference-in-difference-in-differences approach to assess changes in well-being. The research design accounts for state-level differences and potential confounding factors related to the pandemic. By using data from the German IAB-HOPP study, which offers timely measures of life satisfaction, we aim to quantify the effects of reopenings on parental well-being. Results show only a small and marginally positive effect of reopenings on average life satisfaction among parents. However, this is due to a strong and significant effect of reopenings on mothers’ life satisfaction and no significant effect for fathers. Our findings contribute to research on the division of unpaid labour and childcare and support the notion that public childcare provision is crucial, particularly for mothers’ life satisfaction.

Well-being in older adults is an important concern as the aging population grows, as is identifying modifiable factors that contribute to well-being over time. The ability to savor the moment (i.e., to notice and upregulate one’s emotional response to positive events) has been linked to greater well-being; however, few studies have examined these relationships longitudinally or in older adults. The current study examined inter- and intra-individual associations between trait savoring ability, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms in older adults. 4491 older adults (M_age = 82.10, SD = 6.23) completed at least two out of four annual surveys. Multilevel modeling was employed to account for within- and between-person differences in associations between savoring and well-being, as well as the role of savoring in moderating trajectories of well-being over time. Covariates included age, gender, health, and stress. Savoring ability was associated with greater well-being, both within- and between-individuals. Individuals with higher savoring ability experienced attenuated declines in well-being over time. Savoring, or noticing and amplifying positive experiences, is a malleable ability that is associated with improved well-being, both on average and within-person. Higher trait savoring ability may also protect against declines in well-being associated with greater age. We discuss implications for savoring interventions in older adults.