Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska

Harvard University | Harvard · Human Flourishing Program

Purpose Excellent character, reflected in adherence to high standards of moral behavior, has been argued to contribute to well-being. The study goes beyond this claim and provides insights into the role of strengths of moral character (SMC) for physical and mental health. Methods This study used longitudinal observational data merged with medic...

We examine associations between 24 character strengths (CS) and 15 health-related outcomes. We hypothesize that CS are favorably associated with positive health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes, behaviors, purpose in life, and leading to lower disease risk. Data from a large sample of approximately 60,000 respondents from 159 countries were...

Introduction This study examines prospective associations within a 6-year perspective between three mind-stimulating leisure activities (relaxed and solitary: reading; serious and solitary: doing number and word games; serious and social: playing cards and games) and 21 outcomes in (1) physical health, (2) wellbeing, (3) daily life functioning, (4)...

Psychological climate for caring (PCC) is a psychosocial factor associated with individual work outcomes and employee well-being. Evidence on the impacts of various psychological climates at work is based mostly on self-reported health measures and cross-sectional data. We provide longitudinal evidence on the associations of PCC with subsequent dia...

Introduction. Salutogenic effects of volunteering and helping activities have been well recognized in the pre-COVID-19 era. This study examines associations between helping others as well as additional volunteer activities during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and six psychological distress and well-being outcomes one year later. Methods....

The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak prompted significant organizational adjustments in workplaces, necessitating the restructuring of shift schedules and guidelines to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Workplace modifications encompassed ensuring physical distancing, restricting contact beyond the workplace, embracing remote work, and altering work c...

Previous literature has pointed to strong links between religion and economic outcomes. However, little is known about how individual consumers ’ religiosity is related to their financial management outcomes. Using longitudinal data from a national representative survey of households in Poland (more than 90% of believers declaring Roman Catholic re...

Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), this study examines the extent to which financial literacy can mitigate financial distress. Employing a “what if” analysis, we simulate the effect of maximizing financial literacy on the likelihood of experiencing financial distress. We show that raising financial literacy to i...

We examine how childhood predictors, including retrospectively reported familial relationships, socioeconomic status, health, and religious activities, potentially influence satisfaction with the area or city where one lives (i.e., place satisfaction) in adulthood across 22 countries, using data from the Global Flourishing Study (N = 202,898). The...

The recent polycrisis (COVID-19, Ukraine war, climate change, economic crisis) has been associated with mental health through cumulative stress, with young people being particularly vulnerable. We surveyed 403 college students from Poland to examine their psychological responses to the experienced crises. The results showed that polycrisis was asso...

Objective Character strengths are positive personality traits that not only define our core identity, but also yield positive effects for us and those around us. Psychological research has often been one-sidedly focused on tackling health risk factors or maladaptive traits, disregarding the potential of fostering positive resources such as characte...

Background There is substantial evidence on the importance of voluntary activities for the health of middle-aged and older adults. Evidence on the effects of health and well-being on volunteering is more limited. This study examines reciprocal longitudinal associations between voluntary and/or charity activities and 21 indicators related to physica...

Previous studies on the associations between well-being and work outcomes, such as work distraction and job satisfaction, have largely been cross-sectional and typically focused on only one or two aspects of well-being. Using two waves of data from a sample of employees at a United States health insurance company (n = 1,234), the present brief rese...

We examine whether an orientation to promote good serves as a potential buffer against distress and facilitator of well-being outcomes in three non-Western samples with a recent history of conflict (Indonesia, Colombia, Mexico) and across three different time frames (1, 4 and 12 months). Longitudinal surveys provided data for cross-lagged panel mod...

This paper examines the effects of arts-based learning (ABL) on individual well-being and organisational change. Through a literature review, the article explores the research evidence that showcases the various benefits of ABL. These benefits include improvements in physical health, enhanced psychological outcomes, increased employee creativity an...

Growing evidence suggests that environmental attributes of office spaces have significant impacts on human health, well-being and job productivity. Therefore, understanding the associations between environmental and social factors of work and human health is necessary for improving the design and operation of a new type of commercial real estate th...

The origins of financial capability assessed at the country level can be traced back to the socio-economic and quality of life factors. However, the role of national culture should be considered equally important. Hence, differences in national culture are hypothesized to correlate with average financial capability levels at the country level. This...

This paper presents cross-cultural comparisons of well-being among factory work- ers, as measured by the six well-being domains of happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and financial and material stability. Relative ranks of well-being do- mains across exa...

Frequent working from home (WFH) may stay as a new work norm after the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior observational studies on WFH and work outcomes under non-pandemic circumstances are mostly cross-sectional and often studied employees who worked from home in limited capacity. To provide additional insights that might inform post-pandemic work policies,...

Ill-being and mental ill-health have been on the rise in both Europe and the United States, especially among middle-aged and older adults. Although financial security has been shown to play a protective role in emotional well-being, little is known about the protective role of different types of family assets on mental health and well-being. Using...

Prior cross-sectional research suggests that the importance assigned to well-being domains may be associated with actual self-reported well-being in these same domains. However, cross- sectional data cannot discern directionality, leaving an open question as to whether valuing well-being leads to higher actual well-being or the other way around—hig...

Suffering is an experiential state that every person encounters at one time or another, yet little is known about suffering and its consequences for the health and well-being of nonclinical adult populations. In a pair of longitudinal studies, we used two waves of data from garment factory workers (Study 1 [T1: 2017, T2: 2019]: n = 344) and flight...

Background There has been agrowing interest in using artistic interventions as a method of developing interpersonal competence. This paper presents a meta-analysis evaluating the impact of theatre interventions on social competencies. Methods Twenty-one primary studies totaling 4064 participants were included, presenting evidence available since 1...

Purpose Preserving sufficient financial assets is crucial for maintaining the standard of living. The lack of adequate financial cushion can translate into financial hardship at any age, but its effects can be especially severe in later adulthood. The authors evaluate whether financial literacy can prevent individuals from depleting the stock of li...

This paper examines demographic differences in flourishing, defined as “complete well-being” and consisting of six domains: emotional health, physical health, purpose, character strengths, social connectedness, and financial security. Results are based on a random, cross-sectional sample of 2363 survey respondents drawn from employees of a large, n...

Depression and the subjective experience of suffering are distinct forms of distress, but they are sometimes commingled with one another. Using a cross-sectional sample of flight attendants (n = 4,652), we tested for further empirical evidence distinguishing depression and suffering. Correlations with 15 indices covering several dimensions of well-...

Personal factors, such as character strengths, have been shown to be favorably associated with concurrent and future well-being. Positive associations have also been reported between purpose in life and concurrent and subsequent health and well-being. Evidence on antecedents of purpose in life is, however, limited. This study examines whether the a...

Numerous studies in the field of international migration focus on utilizing migrant networks in migration process, outlining their role in the choice of destination country as well as in the job search process. However, relatively few of the studies discuss migrant networks’ role in the choice of a specific location within destination cities. This...

Objective: Meaning and purpose in life are recognised health determinants. Evidence on the factors contributing to the experi- ence of meaning and purpose in life is limited. The bidirectional associations between the experience of meaning in life and phys- ical health, emotional ill-being and daily life functioning from a 6-year perspective are ex...

The article presents empirical evidence for a significant role of stated credit purpose for the level of interest rates paid by the end users of non-mortgage credit (households). Data for the analysis was drawn from two waves of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey. The results of median regression show that, with the exception of credit fo...

Objectives: Evidence on social stimuli associated with mental health is based mostly on self-reported health measures. We aimed to examine prospective associations between social connectedness and clinical diagnosis of depression and of anxiety. Methods: Longitudinal observational data merged with health insurance data comprising medical informatio...

PurposeRecognition for work—an act of conveying non-financial appreciation for an outstanding accomplishment or performance—is the top motivator of employee performance and important contributor to psychologically healthy work.Employee recognition programs are offered by many companies and have been shown to retain top talent, increase job satisfac...

The longitudinal interrelationships between domains of human well-being or flourishing remain understudied empirically. While different aspects of flourishing may be sought as their own end, it is also the case that well-being in one domain may influence well-being in other domains. Using longitudinal data form a sample of employees from a large na...

Psychological traits, such as character strengths, have been already established in experimental studies as factors playing a favorable role for well-being and potentially reducing the risk of depression. Positive associations have been also reported between character strengths and physical fitness, self-reported physical and mental health. Yet, ev...

For decades, the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model has been used in a plethora of studies about the psychosocial and physical conditions associated with job stress or strain, resulting in disability, disease, and/or poor job performance. Simply, job strain occurs in a situation of overwhelming demand in the face of resource scarcity. Many of these...

Financial fragility is recognized as a substantial issue for individual well-being. Various estimates show that between 46 and 59% of American adults are financially fragile and thus vulnerable in terms of their well-being. We argue that the role of financial control in shaping well-being outcomes-despite being less recognized in the literature tha...

The study identified the principal professional domains leading to success in legal professions. Based on a sample of 300 Polish attorneys, with the use of confirmatory factor analysis and 22 specific items, four principal domains of success were discerned—professional skills, marketing skills, reputation, and ethics. The evolution of these domains...

Background Both theory and empirical evidence suggest that financial conditions are influential for mental health and might contribute to physical health outcomes. Methods Using longitudinal survey data and health claims data from 1,209 employees in a large U.S. health insurance company, we examined temporal associations between measures of finan...

Measures of well-being have proliferated over the past decades. Very little guidance has been available about which measures to use in particular contexts. This chapter provides a series of recommendations, based on the present state of knowledge and the existing measures available, of which measures might be preferred in which contexts. The recomm...

This study evaluated the short-term links between different forms of household debt – credit card debt, student debt, debt from relatives, mortgage debt, car debt, and debt arrears – and life satisfaction. To this end, a longitudinal dataset for the US population from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) was used and the propensity score diffe...

This edited volume explores conceptual and practical challenges in measuring well-being. Given the bewildering array of measures available and ambiguity regarding when and how to measure particular aspects of well-being, knowledge in the field can be difficult to reconcile. Representing numerous disciplines including psychology, economics, sociolog...

In this article, we develop a measure of complete well-being. The framework is derived from the theoretical model of human flourishing understood as a state in which all aspects of a human life are favorable. The approach extends beyond psychological well-being and reflects the World Health Organization definition of health that not only considers...

The evidence for a correlation between life satisfaction and job satisfaction is strong; however, it is mostly based on cross-sectional results, which precludes establishing valid causal links between work and well-being. Limited longitudinal research suffers from relatively small sample sizes, narrow focus on a particular professional or national...

There is a strong belief that in addition to making a profit, companies should act for the benefit of the society. This research has evaluated a novel cooperation model between a non-profit financial institution and a community service provider (a local YMCA) with the overarching aim of advancing customers’ well-being. By offering a financial incen...

This study evaluated the link between financial literacy and household mortgage decisions. To this end, the longitudinal dataset for the US population from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) was used. Evidence for links between financial literacy levels and (1) mortgage uptake, (2) mortgage interest rates, and (3) mortgage refinancing decisi...

This article seeks to explain why households decide to simultaneously hold both credit and savings products. Beyond the arguments of ignorance or behavioural biases commonly used in the literature, our analysis demonstrates that co-holders might be rationally seeking lower interest rates on their consumer credit products. Our analysis reveals that...

Purpose: We examined the impact of an orientation to promote good—one aspect of strengths of character, understood as having consistent thoughts and taking actions that contribute to the good of oneself and others—on flourishing outcomes. Design: We used data from 2 longitudinal observational studies. The primary study used 2 waves of data collect...

The current literature's focus on unidirectional effects of psychological and organizational climates at work on work outcomes fails to capture the full relationship between these factors. This article examines whether a psychological climate for caring contributes to specific work outcomes and investigates whether work outcomes support the climate...

This study presents the results of meta-analyses evaluating the effects of active theater on empathy and self-esteem. The effect size of the impact of theater-making on empathy showed that theater has a positive, although moderate influence on empathic abilities. The meta-analysis concerning self-esteem did not confirm the impact of active theater...

Background The scale and scope of experience of sexual harassment at work among male and female flight attendants was examined. Flight attendants are a predominantly female workforce with an occupational heritage of female and male sexualized stereotypes. Method Data represented perception and prevalence of sexual harassment related to hostile wor...

Purpose The article aims to study the relationship between the assignments of financial management responsibilities and the level of financial literacy within married and cohabitating couples. Design/methodology/approach The link between household financial management and the financial literacy of union partners was examined using dyadic survey da...

Understanding reciprocal relationships between specific arenas in life and at work is critical for designing interventions to improve workplace health and safety. Most studies about the links between dimensions of well-being in life and at work have been cross-sectional and usually narrowly focused on one of the dimensions of the work-life well-bei...

Employer-sponsored health insurance is the most widely spread form of medical coverage in the United States. Substantial portion of the premiums’ costs is covered by employers, thus contributing to labor costs for organizations. Although worker health and well-being have become increasingly important for businesses, most of them do not see a direct...

Research on flourishing has advanced despite limited knowledge about the extent to which flourishing domains are actually valued. This paper examines support for six flourishing domains – emotional health, physical health, purpose, character strengths, social connectedness, and financial security. A survey of 2,370 randomly sampled employees of a l...

Workers' mistreatment is a serious problem, particularly for disadvantaged populations in the global garment supply chain who are often subjected to human and labor rights violations. Workplace abuses are believed to originate from human resource management practices, which aim to reduce production costs and achieve inflated production targets. Imp...

Measures of well-being have proliferated over the past decades. Very little guidance has been available as to which measures to use in what contexts. This paper provides a series of recommendations, based on the present state of knowledge and the existing measures available, of what measures might be preferred in which contexts. The recommendations...

The link between financial attitudes and consumer financial market behaviour is well documented. However, little is known about the role of financial knowledge and skills – the main components of the financial literacy construct – in shaping debt attitudes. This link is especially absent from the gender perspective. This study focuses on consumer d...

Background One of the reported causes of high malnutrition rates in Burundi and Rwanda is children's inadequate dietary habits. The diet of children may be affected by individual characteristics and by the characteristics of the households and the communities in which they live. We used the minimum dietary diversity of children (MDD-C) indicator as...

This paper investigates human flourishing in five culturally distinct populations. Empirical differences in human flourishing were examined using the recently proposed Flourish Index (FI) and Secure Flourish Index (SFI). Five domains for human flourishing are proposed for FI: (D1) happiness and life satisfaction; (D2) physical and mental health; (D...

A growing body of research links working environment with employee health and well-being. We argue that greater employee well-being is associated with positive work outcomes, benefits likely vital to business performance. We have expanded the literature on this topic by evaluating these questions within a population of factory workers. To date, stu...

Background: Previous studies of relationship between religiosity, health behaviors and well-being have showed mainly positive relationships, however, are very often limited to results of associative nature and subject to unmeasured confounding. This study focused on evaluating evidence for a positive association between religious service attendanc...

Objectives This study evaluated decisions related to debt and savings on physical health, emotional health and health behaviours. Methods The longitudinal data from the Polish biennial household panel—Social Diagnosis Survey—were used. Evidence for a link between credit/savings and health/health behaviours was presented using three waves of the da...

Psychometric properties of the Flourish Index (FI) and Secure Flourish Index (SFI) were examined in the workplace setting. Psychometric properties for two instruments were already assessed on a community sample of 4200 respondents and initial evidence on the validity, reliability, and applicability was provided. This current paper is thus focused o...

INTRODUCTION. Medical studies and practicing the medical professions involve considerable psychological distress. Health risks associated with distress may be greater in people with health problems, especially in the case of insufficient self-care for health. AIM. Investigating the frequency of positive health behaviours and avoiding risky behaviou...

Most factory studies focus only on minimal safety and health at work or on “compliance audits with minimal standards”. Compliance audits typically aim for achieving minimum standards versus striving for excellence. The audit criteria are set to tackle violations only rather than to understand process of improvement, efficiencies, and the effectiven...

Following the rising cost of real estate and a desire to increase collaboration and communication among employees, the open-plan office has been trending over the past decades. Research about the impact of the open-plan office on humans is equivocal in endorsing this trend. The mixed results are further confounded following the specific job require...

Although there is strong advocacy for uptake of both the arts and creative activities as determinants of well-being, longitudinal studies evaluating causal links between attendance to arts and culture events or participation in creative activities and well-being are scarce. If available, results are mostly of an associative nature confirming an int...

The link between financial attitudes and financial market behaviour is well-documented. Yet, little is known about the role of financial knowledge and skills – i.e. main components of financial literacy – for shaping financial attitudes, especially from a gender perspective. Our study focuses on debt literacy and debt attitudes. We conducted a comp...

For decades, the focus of cultural, social, and economic policies has been shifting to cities. Cities with the highest concentration of creative employment have demonstrated the greatest resilience in the post-2008 economic recovery. Although, over the last few years, there has been an explosion of cultural or creative related indices for cities, n...

It is commonly agreed that excessive household financial debts are detrimental to psychological and physical health. Research also demonstrates that housing instability, mortgage indebtedness and mortgage foreclosure negatively influence subjective well-being. In Poland at the beginning of 2015, homeowners with Swiss franc denominated mortgages su...

The country-specific conditions for work and family reconciliation (family policies, labour market structures and gender norms) are believed to influence tensions between paid employment and childbearing. So far there have been very few attempts to quantify these conditions into a single measure which would allow for comparisons across countries of...