Journal of Happiness Studies最新文献

Research has contradictory findings because of different definitions of screen time, measures of wellbeing, and the examination of different groups of teenagers. This study distinguishes four types of screen activity using time diaries of UK adolescents: social screen time, internet browsing, playing e-games and video viewing, and examines their associations with adolescents’ happiness in six domains, by gender and parental education. Any form of screen time is associated with lower happiness with looks, but worst for the former two activities. These activities are also associated with lower happiness in other domains, and excessive use equate to worse wellbeing. More screen time is worse for girls’ happiness with their looks than boys, and parental education is not a protective factor.

Social media has emerged as an important part of daily life for many people, with potential implications for subjective well-being. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated whether time spent on social media, social media stress, and social media self-regulation failure are associated with emerging adults’ subjective well-being (positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction) and tested whether these links depended on participants’ Big Five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and autonomy). A representative community sample of emerging adults (N = 343; 42.3% men; M_age = 24.82 years) completed self-report questionnaires. Consistent with the “Goldilocks hypothesis”, both too much and too little time spent on social media were associated with greater negative affect, with 45 minutes per day predicting the lowest negative affect. Moderation analyses revealed that time spent on social media was related to lower positive affect for participants low on extraversion. Social media self-regulation failure was related to lower positive and higher negative affect for participants with low agreeableness. Social media stress related to less negative affect for participants with low emotional stability, and to more negative affect for people with high emotional stability. These findings suggest that the impact of social media on emerging adults’ well-being may depend in part on their personality traits.

In recent scientific debates, eudaimonia and hedonia have been discussed as either complementary or opposing pathways to well-being. If they are opposites, a combination of the two would not have a positive effect. If they are complementary, their combination is of particular interest. Research to date has often been based on correlational designs that do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about causality. Therefore, we used randomized control designs not only to demonstrate the effectiveness of interventions for eudaimoina and hedonia but also to see whether or not a combination of hedonia and eudaimonia will lead to life satisfaction (full-life effectivity) or even outperforms single-component interventions (full-life superiority). Two randomized controlled studies were conducted with pre-, post- and follow-up measurements. In Study 1 (N = 265), we compared four groups: hedonia training, eudaimonia training, combined training and a control group. In Study 2 (N = 76), we compared three groups: eudaimonia training, combined training and a control group. Results showed positive effects on life satisfaction in the eudaimonia and hedonia groups. The combined training worked (full-life effectivity), although not more so than the single-component trainings (no full-life superiority). The expected mediating role of the art-of-living (a set of individual behavioral strategies) for training effects on life satisfaction was also supported. Results are discussed with reference to the synergetic change model, which offers further ideas to improve combined trainings.

There is a paucity of research exploring the potential positive changes in the aftermath of a crisis from the perspective of children. The present study sought to address this gap by examining posttraumatic growth (PTG) among North Tyrolean (Austria) and South Tyrolean (Northern Italy) children aged 8–12 at the final phase of the Covid COVID-19 crisis utilising a convergent parallel mixed methods design. In total, 101 children (50.5% girls) participated in an online study exploring the factor structure of the German Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children and the relationship between posttraumatic growth and distress (as measured by the Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen). Twenty of these children participated in an interview and answered questions about in which ways they are, feel or think differently since the crisis. The results of the principal component analysis indicated a three-factor structure: interpersonal, person-centred, and spiritual change dimension of growth. The total scores of the German PTGI-C-R were positively associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms. The qualitative findings revealed four PTG dimensions that corresponded to the original growth dimensions. The children did not mention spiritual change, however, a new growth dimension emerged “adjustment to new circumstances”. The themes “relationships” and “adjustment to new circumstances” were found to be positive and negative in nature, and were assigned to PTG and PTD, respectively. In conclusion, the results support Tedeschi and Calhoun’s growth model. The children exhibited a holistic perspective of the crisis encompassing both negative and possible positive aspects. The interconnectedness of resilience and the cornerstones of positive psychology underscore the imperative for the promotion of both in non-crisis contexts, thereby enhancing the likelihood of children deriving positive outcomes from such periods.

The present work examined results from preregistered intervention studies to inform the structure of subjective well-being (SWB). In five studies aimed at boosting individuals’ SWB, pre- and post-intervention assessments of life satisfaction (LS), positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA) were examined as separate components in isolated analyses (Model 1), as a causal system in which PA and NA are inputs to LS (Model 2), and as indicators of a latent SWB factor based on a hierarchical conceptualization (Model 3). In each study, robust associations were found among all three SWB components within and across time (contrary to the separate components model); predictive effects were found among all three SWB components across time, rather than unidirectional effects from PA and NA to LS (contrary to the causal system model). In support of a hierarchical conceptualization, all three components had strong loadings on a latent SWB at pre- and post-intervention; in addition, in four studies the intervention had a significant effect on a latent SWB factor, but no unique (residual) effects on LS, PA, or NA. The present work thus provides valuable new insights based on experimental evidence from preregistered intervention studies in support of a hierarchical structure for SWB.

This study examines subjective well-being among individuals in Singapore, explores the factor structure of the Personal Well-being Index (PWI), and evaluates its association with socio-demographic characteristics, physical and mental health, and leisure activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondary data analysis was conducted using a cross-sectional nationwide survey (n = 5872). Subjective well-being was assessed using the PWI scale, while depression and anxiety symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) questionnaire, respectively. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, chronic physical health conditions, leisure time and lifestyle activities were also obtained. Multivariable linear regression was used for analysis. The mean (SD) PWI score in the general population was 71.34 (± 16.29) which is comparable to the findings in other studies. Higher PWI scores were observed among individuals aged 50–65 years old (vs. 15–34 years), of Indian ethnicity (vs. Chinese), economically inactive/student (vs. employed/self-employed), and those with an income above SGD$2000 (vs. no income/below SGD$2000). Participants who were male (vs. female), single (vs. married) or separated/widowed/divorced (vs. married), and those with one or more chronic physical health conditions (vs. none) were significantly more likely to have lower PWI scores. Participants with higher PWI scores were less likely to have moderate or severe depressive or anxiety symptoms. Individuals who engaged in physical leisure time activities frequently or sometimes had higher PWI scores compared to those who rarely or never did. The study findings support the significant association between physical and leisure time activities and subjective well-being. Our study results highlight the relevance of adapting the PWI instrument in the population setting to enable the implementation of targeted interventions and holistic programmes for the general population. Additionally, the PWI could be a valuable tool for policymakers to understand the personal well-being of population groups, especially in a multiracial community.

Most studies regarding the effect of social capital on subjective well-being suggest that having friends makes us happier and healthier. However, causal evidence exploiting individual-level national panel data and utilizing rigorous modelling approaches is scarce. In this paper, we pursue three goals. First, we replicate the findings of the previous literature by applying fixed effects (FE) models to three major European panel datasets (German Socio-Economic Panel, Swiss Household Panel, and the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study) following a rigorous modeling approach only controlling for potential confounders. Secondly, we enhance the literature by accounting for the potential influence of unobserved individual time-constant and time-varying heterogeneity by using random trend models (fixed effects with individual slopes (FEIS)). Thirdly, we inspect the impact of feedback by applying first-difference (FD) models. The results of FE, FEIS, and FD models show that the number of friends has a small positive effect on life satisfaction, confirming previous findings. Our study provides robust evidence and may be useful for social and public health policies tailored to the enhancement of social capital to promote subjective well-being.

Psychological detachment from work implies mentally disconnecting from work during off-job time. Using representative longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we identify psychological detachment from work as a key driver of employee well-being. This finding holds for a broad set of well-being indicators, including emotional responses, job satisfaction, life domain satisfactions, and global life satisfaction. Importantly, heterogeneity analyses reveal that detachment affects different subgroups of employees to a similar extent, indicating that the impact of detachment on employee well-being is universal. We further find that detachment mattered for employee well-being before as well as during the Covid-19 pandemic. Overall, organizations and policy makers could foster psychological detachment to increase employee well-being. Given that employees nowadays search for happiness at work, ensuring psychological detachment becomes also relevant in the war for talent.

Recent studies indicate a robust relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and exercise behavior. Past research has successfully uncovered various mechanisms through which exercise boosts SWB. However, little is known about how SWB influences exercise. The present research proposes that SWB affects individuals’ beliefs about exercise benefits, which in turn impact their exercise behavior. In particular, we hypothesize that happier individuals believe in both the psychosocial benefits (i.e., benefiting one’s emotional, cognitive, and social health) and physical benefits of exercise more than less happy individuals, with a larger gap in psychosocial benefits (Hypothesis 1). Furthermore, we hypothesize that beliefs about psychosocial (vs. physical) benefits play a more significant mediating role in the relationship between happiness and exercise (Hypothesis 2). We tested the hypotheses across three studies involving 997 participants from the United States and South Korea. Studies 1 and 2 developed and validated a scale to measure both the psychosocial and physical benefits of exercise. Study 3 tested and confirmed the mediation hypothesis. The findings suggest that happier individuals exercise more, primarily because they perceive psychosocial benefits more. We discuss the implications, limitations, and potential avenues for future research.

Approximately 12–14% of Black adults meet the criteria for PTSD each year. Mindfulness is associated with lower rates of PTSD and lower PTSD symptom severity in Black adults. Hope and mindfulness are associated with higher levels of well-being in Black adults. The present study examines the unique, latent associations of hope and mindfulness with PTSD and three domains of well-being among Black adults. 403 adults who identified as African American/Black and reported experiencing a traumatic event on the Life Events Checklist 5 completed questionnaires on hope, mindfulness, PTSD, and well-being. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) via Mplus were used to quantify the independent associations of hope and mindfulness with PTSD, psychological, subjective, and social well-being. Mindfulness and hope were associated with greater well-being and lower PTSD. Mindfulness and hope were associated with greater well-being when accounting for one another. Hope had unique, significantly larger relationships with psychological and subjective well-being than mindfulness but did not have an independent association with PTSD when accounting for mindfulness. Mindfulness maintained a unique association with PTSD and the three domains of well-being when accounting for hope. Hope and mindfulness were associated with greater well-being and lower PTSD symptom severity in trauma-exposed Black adults. Mindfulness had a unique relationship with PTSD and well-being, whereas hope had independent associations with well-being. Hope had substantially larger associations with psychological and subjective well-being than mindfulness. Additional research on the differential relevance and effectiveness of such traits among Black adults is needed.