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Who self-initiates gratitude interventions in daily life? An examination of intentions, curiosity, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction
Abstract
Despite a variety of interventions to increase well-being, little is known about who is interested in and initiates exercises on their own. We explored individual differences that predict who is most likely to participate in a voluntary gratitude intervention. College students (n = 229) completed measures of curiosity, depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and intentions to change their lifestyle. Afterwards, participants received a personalized invitation to take part in a web-based intervention to enhance their well-being (anonymous and strictly voluntary). Results suggested that 11.5% of participants started the gratitude intervention. Individuals endorsing strong intentions to change their lifestyle (+1 SD above mean) were 2.2 times more likely than their peers to start the gratitude intervention. People with greater trait curiosity endorsed greater intentions to start this intervention; people with greater depressive symptoms endorsed weaker intentions. Both curiosity and depressive symptoms indirectly influenced initiation of the gratitude intervention via intentions. These findings provide support for particular paths that lead to the initial behavioral effort towards healthy change. We discuss the implications for attempting to increase and sustain people’s well-being.
... The Curiosity and Exploration Inventory II, developed by Kashdan and colleagues [55] and adapted into Polish language by Kaczmarek, Bączkowski and Baran [21,62], is a self-report instrument comprising 10 items. It consists of two subscales: Stretching (willingness to seek out knowledge and new experiences) and Embracing (willingness to embrace the novel, uncertain, and unpredictable nature of everyday life). ...
... The Curiosity and Exploration Inventory II, developed by Kashdan and colleagues [55] and adapted into Polish language by Kaczmarek, Bączkowski and Baran [21,62], is a selfreport instrument comprising 10 items. It consists of two subscales: Stretching (willingness to seek out knowledge and new experiences) and Embracing (willingness to embrace the novel, uncertain, and unpredictable nature of everyday life). ...
... People who are curious and use cognitive reappraisal strategies present a higher sense of meaning in life. The role of emotional regulation and emotional flexibility in mental and social well-being has been emphasized [57,62]. People who can successfully cope with negative emotional feelings and are able to regulate negative emotions present a higher sense of well-being and meaning in life [59,62,63]. ...
An existential vacuum is experienced as a kind of crisis that one can cope with using his/her strengths. The related literature suggests that the important determinants of coping with existential emptiness include positive emotional and personality resources, and among these—Curiosity Behaviors. The purpose of this study is to describe the role of curiosity as an important factor in relation to emotional resources in individuals experiencing an existential vacuum. A survey was conducted using online tools (n = 484). The hypotheses about the direct and indirect relationships between Curiosity Behaviors and existential vacuum were tested using multiple regression analyses and mediations. The study involved a sample of adult participants representing the general population. The participants completed five questionnaires, the first one focusing on Curiosity Behaviors, such as seeking out novel and challenging experiences and engagement in activities that capture one’s attention (The Curiosity and Exploration Inventory), and the other tools being the Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale, the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire, the Flourishing Scale, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. The results indicate that Curiosity Behaviors characteristically negatively predict existential vacuum. In addition, other variables, such as Flourishing, seem to be useful in explaining the relationships between these factors. Flourishing along with Curiosity increases a sense of Meaning in Life. Our results present evidence showing the importance of Curiosity Behaviors in coping with the existential vacuum.
... Moreover, since highly curious individuals are more confident about their capabilities, they are more motivated to initiate new behaviors or engage in novel, uncertain, and challenging activities that stretch their skills and potential. These, in turn, enhance their personal resources for greater well-being (e.g., greater self-efficacy, adaptability, resilience, energy, and positive emotions; Fredrickson, 2013;Jovanovic & Brdaric, 2012;Kaczmarek et al., 2013;Wang & Li, 2015). Finally, studies in neuroscience also added that curiosity is implicated in noradrenergic, dopaminergic, and other mechanisms that are beneficial to individuals' mental health (Richman et al., 2005;Sakaki et al., 2018). ...
... A few studies also examined the relationships between epistemic curiosity and other types of well-being. For instance, Kaczmarek et al. (2013) found that a high level of epistemic curiosity is likely to protect against various physical diseases (e.g., hypertension and diabetes) via the rewarding hormone effects. Moreover, epistemic curiosity is likely to enhance academic well-being through its association with information-retrieving (Gruber et al., 2014) and problem-solving skills (Di Leo et al., 2019). ...
... On the one hand, joyous exploration can stretch adolescents' personal strengths for a broader state of being well, including grit, adaption, stress resilience, and emotional stability (Kashdan et al., 2020;Litman, 2008;Litman et al., 2010). These personalities are crucial facilitators for their positive emotions, as well as good physical and psychological functioning, and thus, joyous exploration is one of the main factors to explain the overall curiosity benefits on wellbeing in prior studies (e.g., Jovanovic & Brdaric, 2012;Kaczmarek et al., 2013;Lydon-Staley et al., 2020). On the other hand, there remains some argumentation in curiosity-related risk-taking. ...
The role of epistemic curiosity in achievement has been widely acknowledged. In recent years, research has started to understand the broad effect of curiosity, and thus the association between curiosity and well-being is of special interest. Yet, studies so far have found both beneficial and detrimental effects of curiosity on well-being, leaving inconclusive findings. The present study aimed to understand the associations between epistemic curiosity and well-being from a multidimensional perspective. We further examined whether there were individual differences (i.e., gender and grade) among those associations. For those purposes, 315 adolescents in 4–6th grades were surveyed, and their two epistemic curiosity (i.e., joyous curiosity and deprivation curiosity) and five well-being (i.e., physical, dietary, emotional, psychological, and academic well-being) indicators were measured. Results indicated that (1) joyous curiosity was unanimously associated with five well-being domains while deprivation was not; (2) among five well-being indicators, the closest association to curiosity is academic well-being, whereas dietary well-being was the least close; and (3) neither gender nor grade moderated the association between epistemic curiosity and well-being. In conclusion, we found that joyous curiosity was a consistent beneficial factor for well-being, and the effects were not related to gender or grade among early adolescents.
... Indeed, previous research has adapted this framework to scrutinize personality factors and their translational pathways contributing to people's voluntary initiation of a gratitude journal. This line of studies found two respective pathways starting from two individual difference factors-curiosity and depression-to people's behavioral intention to initiate a gratitude journal, which in turn predicted actual initiation (Kaczmarek et al., 2013(Kaczmarek et al., , 2014. Specifically, the research found that curiosity predicted intention via a favorable attitude, strong subjective norm and high perceived behavioral control, while depression did not predict intention because of an enabling path via high subjective norm and an inhibiting path via low perceived behavioral control. ...
... In addition, writing a gratitude journal has been shown to be popular among those who intentionally seek happiness (Parks et al., 2012). However, despite the extensive documentation of the benefits of writing a gratitude journal, the reason people decide to engage, or not to engage, in this positive activity intervention in the first place has received little empirical attention (Kaczmarek et al., 2013(Kaczmarek et al., , 2014. Even less is known about the sources of such intentions and how they influence the outcomes of the activity. ...
... For instance, previous research has examined cultural differences in the effects of gratitude interventions and the role of personality factors in the efficacy of positive activity interventions in controlled settings (Senf & Liau, 2013). Moreover, research has documented the motivational mechanisms linking individual difference factors to the acceptance and initiation of gratitude interventions (Kaczmarek et al., 2013(Kaczmarek et al., , 2014Walsh et al., 2018). By identifying the sources of the intention and examining their effects on the outcomes of an activity, researchers and interventionists can promote, adjust, and increase the specificity of their program and maximize its effectiveness in the real-world settings 1 . ...
Writing a gratitude journal is an effective way to boost positive affect. However, little is known about what factors drive people to engage in this activity and whether such factors are related to the outcomes of the activity. This investigation attempted to answer these two questions. We proposed that two beliefs about emotion—desirability of happiness and uncontrollability of negative emotion—motivate people’s engagement in a gratitude journal. We recruited 311 participants online and examined whether and via what paths people’s beliefs about emotion translated to their voluntary initiation of a gratitude journal. We further tested (among those who initiated a journal) whether the emotional outcomes of writing a journal could be predicted by their beliefs about emotion (n = 101). The results showed that the desirability of happiness belief predicted the initiation of a gratitude journal via both the attitude-intention and the subjective norm-intention paths. Furthermore, this belief was positively related to the change in people’s ideal positive affect after writing the journal. In contrast, the uncontrollability of negative emotion belief did not predict journal initiation because the negative effect through the perceived behavioral control-intention path and the positive effect through the intention-only path canceled each other out. Furthermore, this belief was positively related to the change in people’s actual positive affect after writing the journal. Together, the findings delineate an emotion belief-to-emotion regulation behavior link and the consequences of such behavior. Implications for the design of gratitude journals specifically and positivity activity interventions generally are discussed.
... In terms of individual predictors, research shows that trait curiosity, female gender, and trait self-control (Kaczmarek et al., 2013;2014a) increase the intention to use gratitude journals. ...
... In addition, the intention to change a lifestyle also increases gratitude journal use (Kaczmarek et al., 2013). Depressive symptoms decrease the initiation and use of gratitude journals (Kaczmarek et al., 2013;2014b) despite this population's potential for benefitting the most from their use. ...
... In addition, the intention to change a lifestyle also increases gratitude journal use (Kaczmarek et al., 2013). Depressive symptoms decrease the initiation and use of gratitude journals (Kaczmarek et al., 2013;2014b) despite this population's potential for benefitting the most from their use. ...
Though gratitude research in organizational behavior (OB) is nascent, this emotion has a rich history in the social sciences. Research has shown gratitude to promote prosocial behaviors, encourage personal well-being, and foster interpersonal relationships. However, gratitude research has been siloed among these three outcomes of gratitude (moral, wellness, and relational). Similarly, past reviews of gratitude have focused on only one group of outcomes, one of its forms (trait, state, or expressed), or empirical findings without emphasis on the theoretical underpinnings. In contrast, this review recognizes that each type of gratitude, its functions, and outcomes are part of a single process model of gratitude. As such, in the current review we provide a comprehensive assessment of gratitude in the social sciences by distilling and organizing the literature per our process model of episodic gratitude. Then, we translate the insights for management scholars, highlighting possible differences and synergies between extant research and workplace gratitude thereby helping advance “gratitude science” in the workplace. In all, this review (a) examines definitions and operationalizations of gratitude and provides recommendations for organizational research; (b) proposes a process model of episodic workplace gratitude as a conceptual map to guide future OB research on gratitude; (c) reviews empirical gratitude research through the lens of our process model; and (d) discusses the current state of the literature, important differences for workplace gratitude, and future directions for organizational scholars.
... Individuals who are capable of mobilizing sufficient levels of effort to engage in a positive intervention report greater gains in well-being than those who perform interventions superficially (Sin and Lyubomirsky 2009;Lyubomirsky et al. 2011). Research has begun to identify personality characteristics (Kaczmarek et al. 2013), and how they interact with motivational belief systems about the intervention (Kaczmarek et al. 2014a), to predict self-initiation of a gratitude intervention. ...
... All three components predict intention to perform the gratitude intervention and intention predicts actual intervention self-initiation. Compared to less motivated peers, individuals with strong intentions to change are twice as likely to perform an intervention (Kaczmarek et al. 2013(Kaczmarek et al. , 2014a. ...
... Forced gratitude expression can be excessively demanding for some individuals, causing low effectiveness of interventions. For example, while meta-analysis by Sin and Lyubomirsky (2009) showed that clinical groups (e.g., individuals with depression) benefit from positive interventions, individuals from such groups might lack the motivational resources necessary to initiate and continue an intervention on their own (Kaczmarek et al. 2013). This might explain why interventions are more effective when applied in psychotherapy settings that are likely to provide sufficient motivational assistance compared to self-help interventions. ...
Gratitude-based interventions are effective in facilitating positive relationships and increasing life satisfaction. However, for some individuals (e.g., with high levels of depression and low trait-gratitude) gratitude expression is threatening and rarely undertaken spontaneously. In this study, we expected to replicate this gratitude expression threat effect. Moreover, we aimed to understand psychophysiological mechanisms of this effect by accounting for cognitive, motivational, and physiological responses to gratitude expression in line with the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat. One hundred ninety-six students (51% women) between the ages of 18 and 31 years old (M = 21.20, SD = 2.08) reported personality measures and completed a laboratory session where they expressed gratitude via text messages after reporting evaluation and motivation towards the task. Their cardiovascular reactivity was monitored continuously. After the session, participants were invited to continue a gratitude intervention for the next three weeks. We found that individuals with higher depression and lower trait-gratitude were less likely to initiate gratitude intervention. This effect was mediated by a cardiovascular marker of threat (total peripheral resistance) that inhibited motivation and behavior. In summary, we replicated and provided further evidence for the role of personality traits in predicting aversive responses to gratitude expression via interventions. These findings contribute to the person-activity fit recommendations.
... Other studies have explored those who self-select into PPIs albeit not completely in an online environment. For example, Kaczmarek and colleagues [21] allowed college students to, voluntarily and anonymously, self-initiate a web-based gratitude intervention after they completed a separate study. The 11.5% of participants who started the online happiness intervention were more likely than their peers to express high levels of trait curiosity and endorse strong intentions to change their lifestyle. ...
... The 11.5% of participants who started the online happiness intervention were more likely than their peers to express high levels of trait curiosity and endorse strong intentions to change their lifestyle. However, whereas Parks and colleagues' [19] found that the prevalence of depression symptoms was higher in online happiness seekers than those found in the general population, Kaczmarek and colleagues [21] found that depressive symptoms were related to a reduced tendency to start the intervention. Lyubomirsky and colleagues [18] also conducted a similar study on positive interventions in which participants self-selected into either a study advertised as consisting of cognitive exercises or a study advertising as consisting of happiness exercises, with all participants were randomly assigned to receive either a positive intervention or a control exercise. ...
... Lyubomirsky and colleagues [18] also conducted a similar study on positive interventions in which participants self-selected into either a study advertised as consisting of cognitive exercises or a study advertising as consisting of happiness exercises, with all participants were randomly assigned to receive either a positive intervention or a control exercise. In this study, they found no initial differences between the conditions on well-being, which would seem to be more in line with the findings of Parks and colleagues [19] than Kaczmarek and colleagues [21]. They did, however, find that the only people to significantly experience and increase in well-being after the intervention were those who sought out a happiness exercise in the first place and were administered a positive psychology intervention (rather than a control exercise). ...
Background:
A critical issue in understanding the benefits of Web-based interventions is the lack of information on the sustainability of those benefits. Sustainability in studies is often determined using group-level analyses that might obscure our understanding of who actually sustains change. Person-centric methods might provide a deeper knowledge of whether benefits are sustained and who tends to sustain those benefits.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to conduct a person-centric analysis of longitudinal outcomes, examining well-being in participants over the first 3 months following a Web-based happiness intervention. We predicted we would find distinct trajectories in people's pattern of response over time. We also sought to identify what aspects of the intervention and the individual predicted an individual's well-being trajectory.
Methods:
Data were gathered from 2 large studies of Web-based happiness interventions: one in which participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 14 possible 1-week activities (N=912) and another wherein participants were randomly assigned to complete 0, 2, 4, or 6 weeks of activities (N=1318). We performed a variation of K-means cluster analysis on trajectories of life satisfaction (LS) and affect balance (AB). After clusters were identified, we used exploratory analyses of variance and logistic regression models to analyze groups and compare predictors of group membership.
Results:
Cluster analysis produced similar cluster solutions for each sample. In both cases, participant trajectories in LS and AB fell into 1 of 4 distinct groups. These groups were as follows: those with high and static levels of happiness (n=118, or 42.8%, in Sample 1; n=306, or 52.8%, in Sample 2), those who experienced a lasting improvement (n=74, or 26.8% in Sample 1; n=104, or 18.0%, in Sample 2), those who experienced a temporary improvement but returned to baseline (n=37, or 13.4%, in Sample 1; n=82, or 14.2%, in Sample 2), and those with other trajectories (n=47, or 17.0%, in Sample 1; n=87, or 15.0% in Sample 2). The prevalence of depression symptoms predicted membership in 1 of the latter 3 groups. Higher usage and greater adherence predicted sustained rather than temporary benefits.
Conclusions:
We revealed a few common patterns of change among those completing Web-based happiness interventions. A noteworthy finding was that many individuals began quite happy and maintained those levels. We failed to identify evidence that the benefit of any particular activity or group of activities was more sustainable than any others. We did find, however, that the distressed portion of participants was more likely to achieve a lasting benefit if they continued to practice, and adhere to, their assigned Web-based happiness intervention.
... Other studies have explored those who self-select into PPIs albeit not completely in an online environment. For example, Kaczmarek and colleagues [21] allowed college students to, voluntarily and anonymously, self-initiate a web-based gratitude intervention after they completed a separate study. The 11.5% of participants who started the online happiness intervention were more likely than their peers to express high levels of trait curiosity and endorse strong intentions to change their lifestyle. ...
... The 11.5% of participants who started the online happiness intervention were more likely than their peers to express high levels of trait curiosity and endorse strong intentions to change their lifestyle. However, whereas Parks and colleagues' [19] found that the prevalence of depression symptoms was higher in online happiness seekers than those found in the general population, Kaczmarek and colleagues [21] found that depressive symptoms were related to a reduced tendency to start the intervention. Lyubomirsky and colleagues [18] also conducted a similar study on positive interventions in which participants self-selected into either a study advertised as consisting of cognitive exercises or a study advertising as consisting of happiness exercises, with all participants were randomly assigned to receive either a positive intervention or a control exercise. ...
... Lyubomirsky and colleagues [18] also conducted a similar study on positive interventions in which participants self-selected into either a study advertised as consisting of cognitive exercises or a study advertising as consisting of happiness exercises, with all participants were randomly assigned to receive either a positive intervention or a control exercise. In this study, they found no initial differences between the conditions on well-being, which would seem to be more in line with the findings of Parks and colleagues [19] than Kaczmarek and colleagues [21]. They did, however, find that the only people to significantly experience and increase in well-being after the intervention were those who sought out a happiness exercise in the first place and were administered a positive psychology intervention (rather than a control exercise). ...
BACKGROUND
A critical issue in understanding the benefits of online interventions is a lack of information on the sustainability of those benefits. Sustainability in studies is often determined using group-level analyses which might obscure our understanding of who actually sustains change. Person-centric methods might provide a deeper knowledge of whether benefits are sustained and who tend to sustain those benefits.
OBJECTIVE
We conducted a person-centric analysis of longitudinal outcomes, examining wellbeing in participants over the first three months following an online happiness intervention. We predicted we would find distinct trajectories in people’s pattern of response over time. We also sought to identify what aspects of the intervention and the individual predicted an individual’s wellbeing trajectory.
METHODS
Data were gathered from two large studies of online happiness interventions: one in which participants were randomly assigned to one of fourteen possible one-week activities (N = 912) and another wherein participants were randomly assigned to complete zero, two, four, or six weeks of activities (N = 1,318). We performed a variation of k-means cluster analysis on trajectories of Life Satisfaction (LS) and Affect Balance (AB). After clusters were identified, we used exploratory ANOVAs and logistic regression models to analyze groups and compare predictors of group membership.
RESULTS
Cluster analysis produced similar cluster solutions for each sample. In both cases, participant trajectories in LS and AB fell into one of four distinct groups. These groups were: those with high and static levels of happiness (42.8-52.8%), those who experienced a lasting improvement (18.0-26.8%), those who experienced a temporary improvement but returned to baseline (13.4-14.2%), and those with other trajectories (15.0-17.0%). The prevalence of depression symptoms predicted membership in one of the later three groups. Higher usage and greater adherence predicted sustained rather than temporary benefits.
CONCLUSIONS
We revealed a few common patterns of change among those completing online happiness interventions. Noteworthy were that many individuals began quite happy and maintained those levels. We failed to identify evidence that the benefit of any particular activity or group of activities was more sustainable than any others. We did find, however, that the distressed portion of participants were more likely to achieve a lasting benefit if they continued to practice, and adhere to, their assigned online happiness intervention.
... Only a fraction of individuals who are given an opportunity to initiate a free gratitude intervention program translate their intentions into practice (Kaczmarek et al., 2013). Yet, individuals with high intentions to change are about twice as likely to initiate a gratitude intervention successfully. ...
... We examined whether 2D:4D predicts motivation in and actual performance of a self-initiated gratitude intervention. Based on prior studies (Kaczmarek et al., 2013;Kaczmarek, Goodman, et al., 2014) we examined whether women, and in particular women exposed to lower prenatal androgen levels (higher 2D:4D) show greater participation in gratitude interventions. We expected less masculinized (higher 2D:4D) men and more feminized women to be more likely to initiate a gratitude intervention. ...
... In this study we found that participants' 2D:4D provided additional information above that conveyed by their sex. As was the case in previous studies (Kaczmarek et al., 2013), women were more likely to self-initiate and complete a gratitude intervention. Yet contrary to our expectations more masculinized men and less feminized women (lower 2D:4D) perceived this intervention as more useful and socially endorsed. ...
Men are less grateful than women and less likely to intentionally enhance gratitude via interventions. Yet, little is known if sex differences in gratitude result from biological influences such as prenatal testosterone and estrogen levels – hormones that control the development of sex-specific characteristics. In two studies, we examined how sex and second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) – an indicator of prenatal sex hormones exposure – predicts gratitude intervention use. In the first study, we tested whether lower 2D:4D (i.e., higher masculinization) would suppress gratitude intervention use. Contrary to expectations, after controlling for sex, women and men with more male-type fingers were more motivated and likely to complete the intervention. In the second study, we replicated these findings using a larger sample and different 2D:4D metric. Our research suggests that motivation towards gratitude interventions is facilitated by female sex and masculinity. These findings provide initial evidence for the biological grounding of individual differences in gratitude behavior.
... Despite studies that document the efficacy of gratitude interventions, whether focused on personal experiences or the behavioral expression (Emmons & McCullough, 2003;Lambert et al., 2010;Toepfer, Cichy, & Peters, 2012), little is known how these activities are self-initiated in everyday life (Kaczmarek et al., 2013;Parks et al., 2012). ...
... This is one of several recent studies that have moved beyond the efficacy of gratitude interventions to understand who self-initiates them in everyday life (Kaczmarek et al., 2013;Parks et al., 2012). Our findings point out the importance of this approach to understanding positive psychological interventionsgiven an opportunity actually start an intervention on their own, only 5.6% of individual do so. ...
... In prior work, we found that women are more likely to participate in gratitude interventions (Kaczmarek et al., 2013). Extending these findings, we found that women were more likely to expect positive responses from others in reference to taking part in gratitude activities (social norm beliefs), and this effect was a function of their greater dispositional gratitude. ...
Gratitude interventions can be divided into those that explicitly cultivate appreciative feelings (gratitude journaling) and those that strengthen relationships (gratitude letter). There is an absence of research on the motivation to participate in different gratitude interventions. Using an experimental approach, we compared two gratitude interventions on underlying motivations for starting and completion. We provided students (N = 904) with an opportunity to start a web-based intervention (gratitude journaling or letter). Subsequently, we measured the perceived usefulness of the intervention, social norms related to using this intervention, their self-control, and intention to start the intervention. Results showed that keeping a gratitude journal and writing a gratitude letter to someone were perceived as equally useful and socially acceptable. Yet participants felt less efficacious in writing a gratitude letter, which in turn decreased self-initiation and the actual completion of the intervention. As for individual differences, people with greater dispositional gratitude expected the intervention to be easier, more beneficial, and socially acceptable; meaningful sex differences also emerged. Our findings provide new insights into underlying motivations and individual differences that influence the initiation and efficacy of gratitude interventions.
... People endorsing greater dispositional curiosity experience a higher probability of pleasurable and meaningful moments in their life ( Gallagher & Lopez, 2007;Kashdan, Sherman, Yarbo, & Funder, 2013;Kashdan & Steger, 2007;Peterson, Ruch, Beerman, Park & Seligman, 2007;Vittersø, 2003). A subset of these moments of well-being result from curious people expending greater effort toward exploration, discovery, and personally meaningful goal pursuits (e.g., Kaczmarek et al., 2013;Mussel, 2013b;Sheldon et al., 2015). The results in the current study offer nuances to prior work by showing that Joyous Exploration and Stress Tolerance appear to be the curiosity dimensions most relevant to well-being. ...
... This dimension had the second highest positive associations with indices of well-being, from happiness to meaning in life to satisfying the need for competence, autonomy, and relatedness; of all the dimensions, Joyous Exploration had the strongest links to believing that a good life is a function of personal growth and contributing to others-a belief system that is about caring for the development of the self and one's tribe. This belief system provides evidence that curiosity is an intrapersonal motive and with some manifestations, a commerce for social good ( Kashdan, Dewall, et al., 2013;Kashdan, McKnight, Fincham, & Rose, 2011;Kashdan et al., 2013). People scoring high on Deprivation Sensitivity were shown to be intellectually engaged to think about abstract or complex ideas, solve problems, and seek necessary information to eliminate knowledge gaps. ...
Since the origins of psychology, curiosity has occupied a pivotal position in the study of motivation, emotion, and cognition; and disciplines as far-ranging as biology, economics, robotics, and leadership. Theorists have disagreed about the basic tenets of curiosity; some researchers contend that the rewards arise when resolving ambiguity and uncertainty whereas others argue that being curious is an intrinsically pleasurable experience. Three studies were conducted to consolidate competing theories and isolated bodies of research. Using data from a community survey of 508 adults (Study 1), 403 adults on MTurk (Study 2), and a nationally representative household survey of 3,000 adults (Study 3), we found evidence for five distinct factors: Joyous Exploration, Deprivation Sensitivity, Stress Tolerance, Social Curiosity, and Thrill Seeking - forming The Five-Dimensional Curiosity Scale (5DC). Each factor had substantive relations with a battery of personality, emotion, and well-being measures. Taking advantage of this multidimensional model, we found evidence for four distinct types of curious people in Study 3 referred to as The Fascinated (28% of sample), Problem Solvers (28%), Empathizers (25%), and Avoiders (19%). Subgroups differed in their passionate interests, areas of expertise, consumer behavior, and social media use; challenging an assumption that there is a homogenous population to be discriminated on a single dimension from incurious to very curious. With greater bandwidth and predictive power, the 5DC offers new opportunities for research on origins, consequences, life outcomes, and intervention strategies to enhance curiosity.
... For instance, people high in trait curiosity reported more frequent growth-oriented behaviors and searching for meaning in life on days when they were more curious (Kashdan & Steger, 2009). Curious individuals have more eagerness to self-initiate life-enhancing activities (Kaczmarek et al., 2013) because they perceive them as easy, socially approved, and beneficial (Kaczmarek, Kashdan, Drążkowski, Bujacz, & Goodman, 2014). Moreover, curious individuals pay more attention to their activities and invest more cognitive resources into information processing (Kashdan et al., 2009). ...
... (Kashdan, Gallagher, Silvia, Winterstein, Breen, Terhar, & Steger, 2009) in Polish (Kaczmarek et al., 2013) comprises 5 items for stretching (e.g. 'Everywhere I go, I am out looking for new things or experiences') and 5 for embracing (e.g. ...
Curiosity is a personality trait that is inversely related to depression and positively related to subjective wellbeing. However, the relationship between curiosity and these two outcomes is still unclear which hampers our general understanding of well-being. Based on research within positive psychology that showed character strengths such as curiosity can indirectly decrease depression, we hypothesized that the inverse relationship between curiosity and depression would be mediated by subjective well-being. Two hundred and fifty seven participants, between 18 and 64 years old (M = 24.50, SD = 8.33) completed a web-based survey comprising: The Curiosity and Exploration Inventory - II, Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression and the Steen Happiness Index. We found that well-being mediated the relationship between curiosity and depression. The results indicate that curious individuals tend to report higher levels of subjective well-being which, in turn, is associated with lower levels of depression. Our findings contribute to the understanding of positive results obtained from clinical samples that underwent positive psychotherapy of depression.
... For instance, people high in trait curiosity reported more frequent growth-oriented behaviors and searching for meaning in life on days when they were more curious (Kashdan & Steger, 2009). Curious individuals have more eagerness to self-initiate life-enhancing activities (Kaczmarek et al., 2013) because they perceive them as easy, socially approved, and beneficial (Kaczmarek, Kashdan, Drążkowski, Bujacz, & Goodman, 2014). Moreover, curious individuals pay more attention to their activities and invest more cognitive resources into information processing (Kashdan et al., 2009). ...
... (Kashdan, Gallagher, Silvia, Winterstein, Breen, Terhar, & Steger, 2009) in Polish (Kaczmarek et al., 2013) comprises 5 items for stretching (e.g. 'Everywhere I go, I am out looking for new things or experiences') and 5 for embracing (e.g. ...
Curiosity is a personality trait that is inversely related to depression and positively related to subjective wellbeing. However, the relationship between curiosity and these two outcomes is still unclear which hampers our general understanding of well-being. Based on research within positive psychology that showed character strengths such as curiosity can indirectly decrease depression, we hypothesized that the inverse relationship between curiosity and depression would be mediated by subjective well-being. Two hundred and fifty seven participants, between 18 and 64 years old (M = 24.50, SD = 8.33) completed a web-based survey comprising: The Curiosity and Exploration Inventory – II, Center for Epidemiological Studies – Depression and the Steen Happiness Index. We found that well-being mediated the relationship between curiosity and depression. The results indicate that curious individuals tend to report higher levels of subjective well-being which, in turn, is associated with lower levels of depression. Our findings contribute to the understanding of positive results obtained from clinical samples that underwent positive psychotherapy of depression.
... Curiosity often fosters our innate inclination to explore and understand the world around us, make meaning, and get a sense of purpose. The study by Kaczmarek et al., (2013) found that individuals who experience higher levels of curiosity tend to engage more often in behaviours that promote personal growth. They reported a heightened sense of meaning, an increased inclination to search for meaning, and greater overall life satisfaction. ...
Various factors contribute to the success and life satisfaction of individuals. Grit, however, becomes the most important one in the long run. Grit, described as commitment to long-term goals and perseverance, can be crucial for personal development. This study aims to investigate the relationship between grit, curiosity, and life satisfaction through a correlational research design. Through purposive sampling, a sample of 390 participants (181 women, 208 men, and one unspecified gender) was recruited and administered the Grit scale, Curiosity and Exploration Inventory-II, and Life satisfaction scale. The study's results were analyzed using SPSS 23 and AMOS 21, illuminating the substantial indirect influence of grit on life satisfaction, mediated by curiosity, and a direct, positive impact of grit on life satisfaction. These findings reinforce the idea that well-being is a complex interplay of psychological traits and experiences. Encouraging a holistic approach to personal development and well-being, considering factors like grit and curiosity, can lead to more fulfilling and satisfying lives.
... However, most existing studies focus on gratitude interventions for individuals, predominantly within controlled experimental settings. In addition, a few mixed effects of gratitude intervention have been noticed by psychologists, including negative socially oriented emotions (e.g., indebtedness and guilt [37]), the pressures of filling a daily dairy [21], and personal characteristics (e.g., depression [22], motivation [41]) which may affect self-initiated gratitude interventions. Most importantly, there is limited research on gratitude interventions at the group, community, or societal level. ...
... Individuals with curiosity personality attributes were seen as willing to participate in gratitude intervention programs (Kaczmarek et., 2013). Active participation in gratitude exercises has been also found to improve the subjective well-being (Dickens, 2017) and social wellbeing (O'Connell et al., 2018) of the respondents. ...
The said piece of work is based on the concept behind gratitude and its various facets.
... Epistemic curiosity is also associated with well-being (Kashdan et al., 2018;Lydon-Staley et al., 2020), life satisfaction (Peterson et al., 2007), and job performance (Mussel, 2010). The lack of epistemic curiosity, however, is associated with depression (Kaczmarek et al., 2013;Lydon-Staley et al., 2020). Some researchers regard epistemic curiosity as an antecedent construct that initiates learning in children. ...
... Their unique lives in the seminary ignite them to see and wonder what life is behind the formation. Curious individuals are more likely to notice and seek out new information and experiences (Kaczmarek et al., 2013;Loewenstein, 1994). An internal neural network that has been trained to forecast the person's future state, given its current state and behavior, is quantified using the straightforward yet effective method of curiosity-driven exploration (Delos Reyes et al., 2022). ...
This narrative inquiry aims at how the former seminarians describe their marriage experiences after shifting from seminary life. The research participants are five former seminarians who had been in the seminary formation for five years or more and have been married for five years or more also. The participants, who are former seminarians, shared their life journey about the contribution of the seminary formation to their lives, reasons why they left the seminary formation, reasons why they shifted to married life vocation, influences of seminary formation on them in raising a family, their parenting styles, challenges of their married life, and on how they manage their married life challenges. Each factor produces various themes that are being presented in the results and discussion. The journey of human life is constantly changing, and there are a lot of life experiences that are seemingly interesting.
... Approximately 21%-88% of users engaged minimally (completing at least one module or assessment) in digital self-help interventions for depression and anxiety [52]. Specifically, studies on digital mental health treatment interventions for university students have reported that 11% of participants started a web-based gratitude intervention [61], 68% opened at least one web session of a web-based therapist-assisted-acceptance-based behavioral intervention targeting anxiety [62], 74% used at least some of the unguided web-based self-help interventions (MoodGYM) [63], 76% began a web-based stress management intervention [64], and 85% completed lesson 1 of a web-based acceptance and commitment therapy prevention program [65]. ...
Background:
The mental health of international students is a growing concern for education providers, students, and their families. Chinese international students have low rates of help seeking owing to language, stigma, and mental health literacy barriers. Web-based help-seeking interventions may improve the rate of help seeking among Chinese international students.
Objective:
This study aimed to describe the development of a mental well-being web app providing personalized feedback and tailored psychoeducation and resources to support help seeking among international university students whose first language is Chinese and test the web application's uptake and engagement.
Methods:
The bilingual MindYourHead web application contains 6 in-app assessments for various areas of mental health, and users are provided with personalized feedback on symptom severity, psychoeducation tailored to the person's symptoms and information about relevant interventions, and tailored links to external resources and mental health services. A feasibility study was conducted within a school at the University of Sydney to examine the uptake and engagement of the web application among Chinese international students and any demographic characteristics or help-seeking attitudes or intentions that were associated with its engagement.
Results:
A total of 130 Chinese international students signed up on the web application. There was an uptake of 13.4% (122/908) in the schools' Chinese student enrollment. Most participants (76/130, 58.5%) preferred to use the web application in Chinese and used informal but not formal help for their mental health. There was considerable attrition owing to a design issue, and only 46 students gained access to the full content of the web application. Of these, 67% (31/46) of participants completed 1 or more of the in-app mental well-being assessments. The most commonly engaged in-app assessments were distress (23/31, 74%), stress (17/31, 55%), and sleep (15/31, 48%), with the majority scoring within the moderate- or high-risk level of the score range. In total, 10% (9/81) of the completed in-app assessments led to clicks to external resources or services. No demographic or help-seeking intentions or attitudes were associated with web-application engagement.
Conclusions:
There were promising levels of demand, uptake, and engagement with the MindYourHead web application. The web application appears to attract students who wished to access mental health information in their native language, those who had poor mental health in the past but relied on informal support, and those who were at moderate or high risk of poor mental well-being. Further research is required to explore ways to improve uptake and engagement and to test the efficacy of the web application on Chinese international students' mental health literacy, stigma, and help seeking.
... The limited evidence in this regard indicates that as a state, curiosity facilitates the coordination of physiological states that are associated with concentration and action-oriented focus [48,49], in addition to increasing motivation to acquire new skills and knowledge [50], which could facilitate college students' greater willingness to acquire the skills needed to eat healthily. As a trait, curiosity is positively associated with higher levels of well-being and life satisfaction [51][52][53] and is negatively associated with depression [54,55]. ...
This study aims to identify the relationships between eating habits and psychological adjustment and health perception, and to analyze potential mediating role of healthy and unhealthy foods in the relationship between adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and the psychological constructs and health perception. The sample was selected through stratified random cluster sampling and was composed of 788 university students. The participants responded to a MedDiet adherence screener and food consumption inventory to assess the eating habits, instruments measuring self-esteem, life satisfaction, curiosity and sense of coherence to assess the psychological adjustment, and single item measuring perceived health. The results revealed 41.9% of the participants had a high consumption of vegetables and 85.1% a low consumption of energy drinks, while 29.9% showed a high adherence to the MedDiet which was positively associated to each psychological variable and healthy foods and negatively with unhealthy foods. In conclusion, a higher adherence to the MedDiet, and the consumption of fruits and vegetables is related to higher psychological adjustment and health perception. However, the relationships between MedDiet and the psychological variables and health perception were fully or partially explained because of the consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods.
... For children and adults alike, studies show how curiosity has been linked with psychological, emotional, social, and even health benefits. Curiosity is one of the five character strengths that show a positive and robust relationship with life satisfaction, meaning in life, and overall subjective well-being (Park et al., 2004;Peterson et al., 2007) and negatively associated with depression (Kaczmarek et al., 2014;Kaczmarek et al., 2013). Curiosity has also been linked to creativity, satisfying intimate relationships, and increased personal growth after traumatic experiences (Kaufman, 2017). ...
Curiosity is a universal and malleable positive character strength. It has been linked to physical, social, emotional, and psychological well-being, academic success, and success in adulthood. Curiosity is especially important in early childhood because this is a critical stage of development when children’s curiosity is still abundant and organic. But for all its value, curiosity remains under-recognized and under-studied. There is no universally agreed upon definition of curiosity in adults or children. As a result, the research community has varying opinions on how to define, measure, and enhance curiosity. And in many current day classrooms, an overly rigid top-down structure contributes to a disconcerting trend of diminishing curiosity as children grow older. Reviewing the scientific research across various fields, I describe seven psychological constructs (attention, novelty, solitude, inquiry, exploration, surprise, and awe) that can foster curiosity behaviors. I designed a Curiosity Toy Kit incorporating these seven curiosity components to be used as positive interventions for enhancing curiosity in early childhood, when children are 5-6 years old and entering formal education. Adults can use the Curiosity Toy Kit to encourage children to develop positive curiosity behaviors, helping them to flourish in school and beyond.
... In needs assessment studies, participants were more willing to use DMHIs if their symptoms were more severe [38,53,62,71,81,82]. However, evaluation studies have shown that more severe symptoms hamper actual engagement with digital interventions [51,56,[83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101]. Depending on the type and severity of a person's mental health symptoms, studies that involved health care providers supporting digital intervention use reported that there was sometimes a need for face-to-face contact, as issues could be difficult to address remotely via a digital platform [102][103][104]. ...
https://www.jmir.org/2021/3/e24387
Background
Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs), which deliver mental health support via technologies such as mobile apps, can increase access to mental health support, and many studies have demonstrated their effectiveness in improving symptoms. However, user engagement varies, with regard to a user’s uptake and sustained interactions with these interventions.
Objective
This systematic review aims to identify common barriers and facilitators that influence user engagement with DMHIs.
Methods
A systematic search was conducted in the SCOPUS, PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases. Empirical studies that report qualitative and/or quantitative data were included.
Results
A total of 208 articles met the inclusion criteria. The included articles used a variety of methodologies, including interviews, surveys, focus groups, workshops, field studies, and analysis of user reviews. Factors extracted for coding were related to the end user, the program or content offered by the intervention, and the technology and implementation environment. Common barriers included severe mental health issues that hampered engagement, technical issues, and a lack of personalization. Common facilitators were social connectedness facilitated by the intervention, increased insight into health, and a feeling of being in control of one’s own health.
Conclusions
Although previous research suggests that DMHIs can be useful in supporting mental health, contextual factors are important determinants of whether users actually engage with these interventions. The factors identified in this review can provide guidance when evaluating DMHIs to help explain and understand user engagement and can inform the design and development of new digital interventions.
... In needs assessment studies, participants were more willing to use DMHIs if their symptoms were more severe [38,53,62,71,81,82]. However, evaluation studies have shown that more severe symptoms hamper actual engagement with digital interventions [51,56,[83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101]. Depending on the type and severity of a person's mental health symptoms, studies that involved health care providers supporting digital intervention use reported that there was sometimes a need for face-to-face contact, as issues could be difficult to address remotely via a digital platform [102][103][104]. ...
BACKGROUND
Digital mental health interventions, that deliver mental health support via technologies such as a mobile apps, can increase access to mental health support, and many studies have demonstrated their effectiveness in improving symptoms. However, user engagement, referring to a user’s uptake and sustained interactions with these interventions, varies.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this systematic review is to identify common barriers and facilitators influencing user engagement with digital mental health interventions.
METHODS
A systematic search was conducted of the SCOPUS, PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases. Empirical studies reporting qualitative and/or quantitative data were included.
RESULTS
208 articles met the inclusion criteria. Included articles used a variety of methodologies including interviews, surveys, focus groups, workshops, field studies, and analysis of user reviews. Factors extracted for coding were related to the end user, the program/content offered by the intervention, and the technology and implementation environment. Common barriers included severe mental health issues that hampered engagement, technical issues, and a lack of personalization. Common facilitators were social connectedness facilitated by the intervention, increased insight into health, and a feeling of being in control of one’s own health.
CONCLUSIONS
While previous research suggests that digital mental health interventions can be useful in supporting mental health, contextual factors are important determinants as to whether users actually engage with these interventions. The factors identified in this review can provide guidance when evaluating digital mental health interventions to help explain and understand user engagement, and can inform the design and development of new digital interventions.
... Research has shown that curiosity is associated with resilience against aggression and promotes personal growth . It can be a source of pleasure and meaning (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999) and supports motivation toward change (Kaczmarek et al., 2013). The trait and state curiosity variables seem to us to be interesting, especially in the prison context: are inmates curious at all? ...
The aim of the present study was to identify and analyze the determinants of prison inmates’ psychosocial quality of life (PQol) as a positive and negative correlates. Three hundred ninety prison inmates were recruited from the correctional facilities administered by the Warsaw District Inspectorate of Prisons. Data were collected
by means of the SQLQ, SOC-29, SWS, SPI/TPI, SIPR, COPE, GSES questionnaires and analyzed by means of SEM. The positive correlates for prison inmates’ PQol are: sense of coherence, self-efficacy, intensity of religious attitude, social support, and trait curiosity. Among the strategies of coping with stress, only seeking social support for emotional reasons is a significant factor that directly predicts PQol. Substance use and planning play only a mediating role in PQol prediction. The negative correlate for inmates’ PQol is trait depression. Contrary to predictions, anxiety is not a negative correlate—as noted above, it is associated with a positive
score on PQol.
... Such differences might be due to particular characteristics of depression, such as negative thought patterns, fatigue, or social isolation. For example, although a large percentage of happiness seekers presents with symptoms of depression, Kaczmarek et al. (2013) observed that persons with depression showed a lower intention to start PPIs, which marginally impacted their actual initiation of the intervention. Kaczmarek, Kashdan, Drążkowski, Bujacz, and Goodman (2014) found that persons with depression seemed to be less convinced of the potential benefits of PPIs. ...
Objective
Previous research suggests that online positive psychology interventions (PPI) are frequently used by individuals with symptoms of depression. We aimed to investigate differences in the way depressed and nondepressed users react to the content of an existing online PPI, originally designed for the general public.
Method
In a retrospective online survey, we assessed discontinuation parameters, aspects of satisfaction with the program, and negative reactions among users of an online PPI.
Results
Bivariate and multivariate analyses showed that, overall, reactions between depressed and nondepressed individuals were similar. Differences were observed concerning reasons for using and for discontinuing the program, the perception of exercises, and negative reactions.
Conclusions
Although satisfaction with the program was high, it did not seem to fully meet users’ expectations and might be more difficult to complete during episodes of depression. Implications of this study for the adaptation of online PPIs addressing depressed individuals are discussed.
... Participants rated how much each of ten items accurately reflected their general feelings and behavior. While the authors of the CEI-II presented evidence that it captures two different dimensions of curiosity, stretching and embracing , these dimensions are highly related and thus, we take an approach commonly used in the literature and form a composite of all 10 items (e.g., Kaczmarek et al., 2013;Kashdan, Afram, Brown, Birnbeck, & Drvoshanov, 2011;. Two sample items are: I actively seek as much information as I can in new situations and everywhere I go, I am out looking for new things or experiences. ...
Objective:
Guided by a functional account of awe, we aimed to test the hypothesis that people who often feel awe are also more curious (Studies 1 and 2), and that this relationship in turn related to academic outcomes (Study 3).
Method:
In Study 1 (n = 1,005), we used a self-report approach to test the relationship between dispositional awe and curiosity. In Study 2 (n = 100), we used a peer-report approach to test if participants' dispositional awe related to how curious they were rated by their friends. In Study 3, in a sample of 447 high school adolescents we tested if dispositional awe predicted academic outcomes via curiosity.
Results:
We found that dispositional awe was positively related to people's self-rated curiosity (Study 1) and how curious they were rated by their friends (Study 2). In Study 3, we found that dispositional awe was related to academic outcomes via curiosity.
Conclusions:
We conclude that among the seven positive emotion dispositions tested, awe was related to unique variance in curiosity, and this link in turn predicted academic outcomes. This work further characterizes awe as an epistemic emotion and suggests that activities that inspire awe may improve academic outcomes.
... States of curiosity are functional; they facilitate the coordination of physiological states as sociated with concentration and approach-oriented action (Libby, Lacey, & Lacey, 1973;Reeve & Nix, 1997) and they are associated with increased motivation to expand one's knowledge and skills (Ainley, Hidi, & Berndorff, 2002). Trait curiosity is positively associated with life satisfaction and well-being (Park, Peterson, & Seligman, 2004;Peterson, Ruch, Beermann, Park, & Seligman, 2007) and negatively associated with depression (Kaczmarek, Bączkowski, Enko, Baran, & Theuns, 2014;Kaczmarek et al., 2013). Curiosity's association with well-being has been interpreted within the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998;Fredrickson & Cohn, 2008), which proposes that pos itive emotions function to build lasting resources. ...
Objective:
Curiosity promotes engagement in novel situations and the accruement of resources that promote well-being. An open question is the extent to which curiosity lability, the degree to which curiosity fluctuates over short timescales, impacts well-being.
Method:
We use data from a 21-day daily diary as well as trait measures in 167 participants (mean age = 25.37 years, SD = 7.34) to test (i) the importance of curiosity lability for depression, flourishing, and life satisfaction, (ii) day-to-day associations among curiosity and happiness, depressed mood, anxiety, and physical activity, and (iii) the role of day's mood as a mediator between physical activity and curiosity.
Results:
We observe positive associations among curiosity lability and depression, as well as negative associations among curiosity lability and both life satisfaction and flourishing. Curiosity is higher on days of greater happiness and physical activity, and lower on days of greater depressed mood. We find evidence consistent with day's depressed mood and happiness being mediators between physical activity and curiosity.
Conclusions:
Greater consistency in curiosity is associated with well-being. We identify several potential sources of augmentation and blunting of curiosity in daily life and provide support for purported mechanisms linking physical activity to curiosity via mood.
... Pese a esto, se ha visto que para maximizar el efecto de las intervenciones en gratitud es recomendable que la persona se encuentre motivada a realizarla, realice una actividad con efectividad demostrada e, idealmente, vaya realizando variaciones a la actividad para disminuir la adaptación hedónica, por lo que probablemente la frecuencia, tiempo dedicado, longitud, horario y forma de la actividad deban ajustarse, al menos parcialmente, a cada persona 53 . Además, se ha visto que poblaciones específicas podrían obtener un mayor beneficio, como aquellas con mayores niveles de sintomatología depresiva y menores niveles de gratitud basales 54,55 . ...
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health not only as the absence of disease but as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. Gratitude is one of the concepts most commonly associated with well-being from the empirical point of view. Despite of this, we seldom use the concept, possibly due to the lack of dissemination of its scientific bases and possible clinical applications. At an anatomical level, it is related consistently with the medial prefrontal cortex and at molecular level, with the neuropeptide oxytocin. It has been associated with better physical and mental health parameters, both in healthy and sick populations. It is usually measured using scales, being the most used worldwide the Gratitude Questionnaire-6 item (GQ-6). There are exercises that can enhance gratitude and its benefits, such as the gratitude letter and the gratitude journal. Given the current state of knowledge about gratitude, and considering its potential benefits, low risks, ability to complement other treatments, the simple and cost-effectiveness of gratitude interventions, a continuing research on this topic and its practical implementation is warranted.
... States of curiosity are functional; they facilitate the coordination of physiological states as sociated with concentration and approach-oriented action (Libby, Lacey, & Lacey, 1973;Reeve & Nix, 1997) and they are associated with increased motivation to expand one's knowledge and skills (Ainley, Hidi, & Berndorff, 2002). Trait curiosity is positively associated with life satisfaction and well-being (Park, Peterson, & Seligman, 2004;Peterson, Ruch, Beermann, Park, & Seligman, 2007) and negatively associated with depression (Kaczmarek, Bączkowski, Enko, Baran, & Theuns, 2014;Kaczmarek et al., 2013). Curiosity's association with well-being has been interpreted within the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998;Fredrickson & Cohn, 2008), which proposes that pos itive emotions function to build lasting resources. ...
Curiosity promotes focused engagement in novel and challenging situations and the accruement of resources that promote well-being. A critical open question is the extent to which curiosity lability, the degree to which curiosity fluctuates over short timescales, impacts well-being. We use data from a 21-day daily diary protocol as well as trait measures collected prior to the daily diary in 167 participants (mean age = 25.37 years, SD = 7.34) to test (i) the importance of curiosity lability for depression, flourishing, and life satisfaction, (ii) day-to-day associations among curiosity and happiness, depressed mood, anxiety, and physical activity, and (iii) the extent to which day’s mood acts as a mediator between day’s physical activity and day’s curiosity. Regression analyses indicate positive associations among curiosity lability and depression, as well as negative associations among curiosity lability and life satisfaction, above and beyond trait curiosity. No evidence for an association between curiosity lability and flourishing emerge when controlling for trait curiosity. Multilevel model results indicate that curiosity is higher on days of greater happiness and physical activity, and that curiosity is lower on days of greater depressed mood. We observe no association between curiosity and anxiety. Multilevel mediation models indicate evidence consistent with day’s depressed mood and happiness as mediators between physical activity and curiosity. In sum, we find that greater consistency in curiosity is associated with well-being, identify several sources of augmentation and blunting of curiosity in daily life, and provide support for purported mechanisms linking physical activity to curiosity via mood.
... These researchers suggested that participants might have been dissatisfied with the intervention content, and felt unable to complete it, or that the intervention may have lacked suitably attractive design. Others have suggested that people with depression may find positive psychology interventions inappropriate or unattractive [16] as, by its nature, depression is associated with reduced interest in previously enjoyable activities and deficits in motivation [17]. ...
Background
Positive psychology interventions are brief self-adminstered exercises designed to promote positive emotions, behaviours, or thoughts. They are potentially effective for reducing depression and are considered suitable for online dissemination to people with depression and related conditions, as they are assumed to be more acceptable than traditional symptom-focused approaches. However, there is little investigation into perceived acceptability and potential factors that might affect it. This might limit the development and evaluation of effective interventions. Methods
Semi-structured interviews with patients with depression and/or anxiety (n = 18) and professionals, including GPs and psychologists (n = 5) were conducted on their perceptions of a proposed online intervention using positive psychology. Thematic analysis, according to Braun and Clarke, was used to identify meaningful patterns in the data. ResultsFour key themes were identified. The fit between the positive psychological approach and the patient’s context, including their personality, symptoms and other treatments, was important in determining acceptability. Social aspects of interventions were thought to facilitate acceptability, as long as these were balanced. Support was identified as important in facilitating intervention suitability, although it was not without limitations. Finally, participants identified how design features can enhance acceptability. Conclusions
The findings suggest that positive psychology interventions might not be acceptable to all and that specific exercises might be more or less appropriate to deliver online. Design aspects can help to facilitate acceptability, beyond the psychological content. These findings may inform the design of future online psychology interventions for people with depression and anxiety, which can then be evaluated in future research.
... Such online dissemination is a strategy to sustainably improve access to mental health interventions (Bolier, Haverman, Kramer, et al., 2013;Bolier & Abello, 2014) (Seligman et al., 2006). However, others have suggested that people with depression may find positive psychology interventions inappropriate or unattractive (Kaczmarek et al., 2013) as, by its nature, depression is associated with reduced interest in previously enjoyable activities and deficits in motivation (Bylsma, Morris, & Rottenberg, 2008). It has also been argued that for people experiencing psychosocial difficulties a focus on the positive might be exhausting and stressful (La Torre, 2007) and may not help people cope with the real and complex issues they face (Moskowitz et al., 2012). ...
Background
Positive psychology interventions may usefully treat depression and can be delivered online to reduce the treatment gap. However, little is known about how acceptable patients find this approach. To address this, the present study interviewed recent users of a positive psychology self-help website.
Methods
In-depth semi-structured interviews explored the experiences of twenty-three participants from a larger feasibility study. A stratified purposive sampling strategy selected participants with varying intervention experience according to their intervention logins, as well as varying age, gender and depressive symptoms. Framework analysis was used to explore patterns and linkages within and between participants' accounts.
Results
Acceptability varied between participants. Those who found it more acceptable felt it was relevant to their depression and reported feeling empowered by a self-help approach. Conversely, participants for whom it was less acceptable perceived the positive focus irrelevant to their depression and found the emphasis on self-action unsupportive.
Conclusions
The acceptability of an online positive psychology intervention may be facilitated by a patients' preference for a psychological focus on the positive. However, patients may also have distinct preferences for online self-help. Future research should investigate the importance of the therapeutic orientation of online self-help interventions and whether patients' preferences for these can be reliably identified. This could help to target online self-help in clinical practice.
... Thus, developing curiosity is assisted by the development of control. While curious individuals tend to choose activities that will stretch them and they approach activities with equivocal outcomes ( Kaczmarek et al., 2013), it may be more helpful to have children grow their curiosity by initially contextualizing experiences. Ferrari et al. (2015) studied Italian children in the 4th through 7th grades and found that career exploration predicted children's perception of their own knowledge related to Holland's (1996) Investigative occupations and predicted their actual occupational knowledge related to Realistic, Investigate, Artistic, and Enterprising occupations. ...
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/5ISnVBvUpVzEYdUs8JM3/full
Today's children, more than ever, will live their life trajectories with indistinct and/or elusive maps, and must find their own ways of being in this world. While finding one's way of being in the world is difficult enough, it is even more challenging for children experiencing barriers and lack of opportunities, often resulting from oppressive forces. Nurturing children's hope and career adaptability can help support, sustain, and prepare them for successful lives as they navigate this ever-changing world. In this article, the author explores hope theory and the construct of career adaptability from career construction theory to inform and stimulate the promotion of childhood career development and life design, while also identifying potential avenues to help deconstruct and mitigate oppressive messaging and forces that can be absorbed early in life, often unconsciously.
... Recognizing negative emotions and reinterpreting to reduce negativity or alter to a more positivity O'Toole et al. (2014); Tamir et al. (2007); Zhang & Wang (2015), Empathy Understanding and sharing in another's emotional state or context (Cohen & Strayer, 1996) Sharkin et al. (2013); Wei et al. (2011) Self-Regulation Effectively expressing and managing one's behavior within with future goals in mind (Hofer et al., 2011) Bembenutty (2010); Ramdass & Zimmerman (2011); Sohl & Moyer (2009) ENGAGED LIVING Gratitude Sensing thankfulness that arises in response to one's benefitting from some kind of transactional means (Froh et al., 2008) Kaczmarek et al. (2013); Mofidi et al. (2014) Zest Experiencing one's life in the present moment as exciting and energizing (Park & Peterson, 2006) Doerksen et al. (2014); Yang et al. (2012) Optimism Expecting the occurrence of good events and beneficial outcomes in one's future (Utsey et al., 2008). ...
We report on the development of the Social Emotional Health Survey-Higher Education (SEHS-HE), a multidimensional measure of covitality (the combinatorial effects of multiple positive psychological constructs). Scale development was carried out over 18 months involving five phases: conceptual grounding and item pool generation; cognitive interviews and item refinement; pilot survey and item reduction; structural validation survey and analyses; and, validity and stability survey and analyses. Starting with a pool of 72 items, item selection and reduction was carried out using a sample of 771 college students. A second sample of 1,413 students (63.5% female, mean age 20.0 years) completed the refined 48-item measure. Confirmatory factor analyses found acceptable fit for the SEHS-HE higher-order covitality latent structure. A final set of 36 items consisted of four latent traits (each comprised of three measured subscales): belief-in-self (subscales: self-efficacy, persistence, self-awareness), belief-in-others (subscales: family support, institutional support, peer support), emotional competence (subscales: cognitive reappraisal, empathy, self-regulation), and engaged living (subscales: gratitude, zest, optimism). Complete invariance was found for males and females with small effect size differences on latent mean scores. Evidence supported the SEHS-HE total score’s concurrent and predictive validity for students’ subjective well-being (r = .72, r = .65, respectively) and psychological distress (r = -.56, r = -.45, respectively). The four-month stability coefficient for the SEHS-HE total score was .82, indicating it measures trait-like psychological constructs. The discussion focuses on the uses of the SEHS-HE in support of mental health programs, and refinement of the conceptual understanding of the covitality construct
... As research on positive psychology gained momentum (Seligman 2008;Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000;Sheldon and King 2001), it has been found that positive traits, emotions, and behaviors serves to contribute to individual's well-being, including life satisfaction. Of which, gratitude-a generalized tendency to recognize and respond with grateful emotion to the roles of other people's benevolence in the positive experiences and outcomes that one obtains (McCullough et al. 2002, p. 112)-was found to promote life satisfaction reliably (Chan 2013;Froh et al. 2010;Kaczmarek et al. 2013), and is the construct of interest in the current study. ...
Since the positive psychology was emerged in the past decade, positive constructs contribute to athlete’s well-being had received considerable attention in sport. However, the parent of all virtues, gratitude is rarely discussed in sport psychology, not to mentioned its psychological mechanisms. In this regard, the aim of current study was to investigate the relationship between adolescent athlete’s gratitude and life satisfaction. In addition, we proposed team cohesion to be a potential mediator based on reciprocally-altruistic relationships induced by gratitude. Three hundred adolescent athletes were recruited for the current study and they completed a set of questionnaire. Structure equation modeling was used to examine our hypothesis. It was found gratitude positive related to athlete’s life satisfaction. More important, we found team cohesion partially mediated the relationship between gratitude and athlete’s life satisfaction which supported our hypothesis. This study contribute to the literature by identifying the essential psychological process behind the relationship. Implications and applications were discussed in term of gratitude literature.
... This study was unable to explore the mechanism(s) accounting for the stronger inverse relationship between gratitude and negative affective and cognitive symptoms compared with other symptom domains of PTSD. Continued investigation of proposed mediators (e.g., Wood et al., 2010;Kaczmarek et al., 2013Kaczmarek et al., , 2014 may further elucidate this relationship. In this study, the correlation between gratitude and depression's nonsomatic factor appears to be higher than the correlation between gratitude and depression's somatic factor. ...
... The data collection was conducted in two waves: first (N = 197) with the full 9-item version of the scale, and second (N = 189) with the short 8-item version (see the Supplementary Material for the list of items included in both versions). The assessment was based on a structured, anonymous questionnaire investigating a number of lifestyle-related variables (see Kaczmarek et al., 2013). Participation was on a voluntary basis and administration took place during the respondents' free time. ...
Two major goals of this paper were, first to examine the cross-cultural consistency of the factor structure of the Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities (HEMA) scale, and second to illustrate the advantages of using Bayesian estimation for such an examination. Bayesian estimation allows for more flexibility in model specification by making it possible to replace exact zero constraints (e.g., no cross-loadings) with approximate zero constraints (e.g., small cross-loadings). The stability of the constructs measured by the HEMA scale was tested across two national samples (Polish and North American) using both traditional and Bayesian estimation. First, a three-factor model (with hedonic pleasure, hedonic comfort and eudaimonic factors) was confirmed in both samples. Second, a model representing the metric invariance was tested. A traditional approach with maximum likelihood estimation reported a misfit of the model, leading to the acceptance of only a partial metric invariance structure. Bayesian estimation—that allowed for small and sample specific cross-loadings—endorsed the metric invariance model. The scalar invariance was not supported, therefore the comparison between latent factor means was not possible. Both traditional and Bayesian procedures revealed a similar latent factor correlation pattern within each of the national groups. The results suggest that the connection between hedonic and eudaimonic motives depends on which of the two hedonic dimensions is considered. In both groups the association between the eudaimonic factor and the hedonic comfort factor was weaker than the correlation between the hedonic pleasure factor and the eudaimonic factor. In summary, this paper explained the cross-national stability of the three-factor structure of the HEMA scale. In addition, it showed that the Bayesian approach is more informative than the traditional one, because it allows for more flexibility in model specification.
Higher education institutions implement purposeful change to improve their performance or impose changes in response to their external environments. To deal with these changes, students are expected to develop their coping capacity – the emotional and cognitive ability to manage the demands of adverse situations. Student coping is composed of four interdependent core elements – self-efficacy, engagement, resilience and anxiety. This article synthesizes the evidence on the effect of higher education changes on student’s ability to cope. Using Polanin et al.’s (2017) overview process, our search generated 551 articles, and after three rounds of screening, the remaining 12 reviews were analyzed using the narrative descriptive synthesis approach. We found that the quality assessment within the included reviews were inconsistent and, sometimes not clearly defined. From the analysis of the reviews, four key themes emerged: (1) change is complex; (2) the nature of change is varied; (3) there is an interdependent relationship between the coping elements; and (4) the measurement of change is not sophisticated. Our findings highlight the need for higher education institutions to adopt a principle-based approach to purposefully develop students’ coping capacity, by improving their self-efficacy, engagement, and resilience, and reducing anxiety. Limitations and future research directions are outlined.
Previous research demonstrated that both spirituality and curiosity were positively associated with life satisfaction. However, limited research investigated the relationship between spirituality and curiosity. One hundred eight Chinese Christian teachers participated in an online questionnaire that measured their spirituality, curiosity, and life satisfaction. Results showed that three dimensions of curiosity, namely, joyous exploration, deprivation sensitivity, and stress tolerance, were significantly associated with spirituality. Deprivation sensitivity was found to be a significant competitive mediator (suppressor) of the relation between spirituality and life satisfaction, indicating the anxiety embedded in deprivation sensitivity might interfere with Christian teachers’ life satisfaction. The finding provides support for the importance of fostering psychological capital and developmental assets for Christian teachers’ positive development.
Abstrakt Relacje młodych osób z rodzicami ulęga-ją zmianie na przestrzeni wspólnego ży-cia rodzinnego. Młode osoby gotowe do opuszczenia domu rodzinnego zazwy-czaj posiadają już wypracowane wzorce komunikacji z rodzicami. Czas pandemii COVID-19 zmienił naturalny bieg wielu Abstract Young adults' relationships with their parents change throughout their shared family life. Young adults who are ready to leave the family home usually have developed communication patterns with their parents. The COVID-19 pandemic time changed the natural course of
Gratitude is an emotion and state of being that recognizes a positive outcome as the result of external factors, thereby prompting internal and external responses of appreciation. As a positive psychology intervention (PPI), gratitude not only encourages positive affect and savoring of positive life experiences, it is associated with a reduction in psychological distress, improved sleep, better relationships, more engagement at work, and fewer physical ailments. In Islam, shukr (gratitude) is a fundamental virtue which, along with sabr (patience), provides a formula for Muslim wellbeing. In this chapter, we review the positive psychology literature on gratitude and define the concept of shukr from an Islamic perspective. We also provide suggestions for increasing gratitude through Islamically-integrated PPIs and discuss how such interventions can provide useful tools for Muslim wellness.
This chapter focuses on children in mixed-status families. The authors provide demographic data and the definition of a mixed-status family, then outline the challenges experienced by these families. The authors delineate developmental, educational, and psychological risk factors for these children. Intervention and advocacy initiatives in which school counselors can engage are examined. Authors provide practical solutions, suggestions for future research, a glossary of terms, and further readings. Finally, each topic discussed includes application strategies for school counselors.
El sufrimiento aparece de manera natural y espontánea cuando no tenemos recursos para hacer frente a una situación que se convierte en una amenaza. Acompañar el sufrimiento no es tarea fácil y requiere destrezas, habilidades y conocimientos, así como desarrollo personal. Identificar y abordar el sufrimiento es una de las principales funciones de la práctica clínica. Poder identificar cómo esta experiencia afecta a los profesionales sanitarios, así como generar estrategias para hacerle frente podría protegernos y facilitar el ejercicio de la ayuda. Este artículo tiene como objetivo principal realizar una revisión teórica, acompañada de claves prácticas, para presentar cinco cuestiones previas que configuran un conocimiento esencial para el acompañamiento. Se pretende estimular la reflexión y el aprendizaje de habilidades que nos permitan desarrollar nuestras acciones desde la consciencia y en coherencia con nuestros valores y objetivos.
Background:
College students are increasingly reporting common mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, and they frequently encounter barriers to seeking traditional mental health treatments. Digital mental health interventions, such as those delivered via the Web and apps, offer the potential to improve access to mental health treatment.
Objective:
This study aimed to review the literature on digital mental health interventions focused on depression, anxiety, and enhancement of psychological well-being among samples of college students to identify the effectiveness, usability, acceptability, uptake, and adoption of such programs.
Methods:
We conducted a systematic review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (registration number CRD42018092800), and the search strategy was conducted by a medical research librarian in the following databases: MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Elsevier), PsycINFO (EbscoHost), the Cochrane Library (Wiley), and Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) from the date of inception to April 2019. Data were synthesized using a systematic narrative synthesis framework, and formal quality assessments were conducted to address the risk of bias.
Results:
A total of 89 studies met the inclusion criteria. The majority of interventions (71/89, 80%) were delivered via a website, and the most common intervention was internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (28, 31%). Many programs (33, 37%) featured human support in the form of coaching. The majority of programs were either effective (42, 47%) or partially effective (30, 34%) in producing beneficial changes in the main psychological outcome variables. Approximately half of the studies (45, 51%) did not present any usability or acceptability outcomes, and few studies (4, 4%) examined a broad implementation of digital mental health interventions on college campuses. Quality assessments revealed a moderate-to-severe risk of bias in many of the studies.
Conclusions:
Results suggest that digital mental health interventions can be effective for improving depression, anxiety, and psychological well-being among college students, but more rigorous studies are needed to ascertain the effective elements of these interventions. Continued research on improving the user experience of, and thus user engagement with, these programs appears vital for the sustainable implementation of digital mental health interventions on college campuses.
The current chapter presents an overview of psychological conceptualizations of gratitude, and the existing evidence base regarding the association between gratitude and suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. The text discusses the possible mechanisms of the beneficial effects of gratitude on psychosocial and physical well-being, and presents research on the effectiveness of gratitude interventions and activities in clinical and non-clinical populations, including individuals at risk for suicide. It also explores stumbling blocks to experiencing and cultivating gratitude, and factors which contribute to effective engagement in gratitude interventions. The chapter concludes with possible directions in future research on gratitude as a protective factor against suicidality.
Development of a New Measure of Curiosity about Self: The Self Curiosity Attitude Interest Scale - SCAI.
Self curiosity is a new concept. Theoretical underpinnings and measurement issues are presented
The notion of career development as a lifespan process has a long history. Numerous leaders in the career development field have included childhood in their theories (e.g., Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, & Herma, 1951; Gottfredson, 1981; Roe, 1956; Super, 1957), but the majority of career development literature and research remains focused on adolescents and adults (Watson & McMahon, 2008).
Even though introspection, reflection, and mentalization are important processes in clinical prac- tice, no self-report measure has been developed to address the psychological construct of self-curiosity. This paper addresses this disparity, and provides a new self-report measure on this topic and data on its nomological network. Curiosity about self was initially conceptualized as the desire that people have to explore and understand themselves and their psychological functioning beyond what they already know about themselves. The manuscript presents data from three independent samples used to build the Self- Curiosity Attitude-Interest (SCAI) scale. Data show that the SCAI comprises two dimensions: attitude toward self-curiosity (cognitive propensity toward exploring one’s own inner world) and interest in in- creasing knowledge of self (emotional/motivational pull to understand oneself better). An independent sample shows good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and evidence of construct validity of the SCAI. This paper discusses the utility of the SCAI in clinical practice and research.
In a three-wave, year-long, large-sample dataset (N = 755), 10 candidate "personality strengths" (Grit, Gratitude, Curiosity, Savoring, Control Beliefs, Meaning in Life-Presence, Strengths Use, and Engagement, Pleasure, and Meaning-Based Orientations Toward Happiness) were compared as predictors of 6-month increases in goal attainment, and as moderators of goal attainment effects upon boosted subjective well-being (SWB). Seeking internal replication, we tested our models twice, both during T1-T2 and during T2-T3. We also examined whether any Personality × Attainment moderator effects upon change in SWB at T2 still persisted at T3. Grit was the only candidate strength that predicted increased goal attainment from T1 to T2 and from T2 to T3, and Curiosity was the only candidate strength that moderated attainment effects on well-being from T1 to T2 and from T2 to T3. T2 Goal attainment effects on SWB were best sustained at T3 when Meaning Orientation increased from T1 to T2. Implications for identifying keystone constructs in personality (and positive) psychology are discussed.
© 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
Research dealing with various aspects of* the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985,
1987) is reviewed, and some unresolved issues are discussed. In broad terms, the theory is
found to be well supported by empirical evidence. Intentions to perform behaviors of different
kinds can be predicted with high accuracy from attitudes toward the behavior, subjective
norms, and perceived behavioral control; and these intentions, together with perceptions of
behavioral control, account for considerable variance in actual behavior. Attitudes, subjective
norms, and perceived behavioral control are shown to be related to appropriate sets of salient
behavioral, normative, and control beliefs about the behavior, but the exact nature of these
relations is still uncertain. Expectancy value formulations are found to be only partly
successful in dealing with these relations. Optimal rescaling of expectancy and value
measures is offered as a means of dealing with measurement limitations. Finally, inclusion of
past behavior in the prediction equation is shown to provide a means of testing the theory*s
sufficiency, another issue that remains unresolved. The limited available evidence concerning
this question shows that the theory is predicting behavior quite well in comparison to the
ceiling imposed by behavioral reliability.
Interest is a positive emotion associated with increased approach motivation, effort, attention, and persistence. Although experiencing interest promotes behaviors that demand cognitive resources, interest is as a coping resource in frustrating learning situations and is central to self-regulation and sustained motivation. Positive affect, in general, tends to replenish resources, but based on the functions of interest and what interest promotes we suggest that interest, in particular, promotes greater resource replenishment. Across three experiments, experiencing interest during activity engagement (Studies 1 and 2), even when interest is activated via priming (Study 3), caused greater effort and persistence in subsequent tasks than did positive affect. This effect occurred only when participants' psychological resources were previously depleted (Study 1). Paradoxically, engaging an interesting task replenished resources (vs. positive and neutral tasks) even though the interesting task was more complex and required more effort.
Individual differences related to emotions are typically represented as emotion traits. Although important, these descriptive models often do not address the psychological dynamics that underlie the trait. Appraisal theories of emotion assume that individual differences in emotions can be traced to differences in patterns of appraisal, but this hypothesis has largely gone untested. The present research explored whether individual differences in the emotion of interest, known as trait curiosity, consist of patterns of appraisal. After completing several measures of trait curiosity, participants read complex poems (Experiment 1) or viewed simple and complex pictures (Experiment 2) and then gave ratings of interest and interest's appraisal components. The effect of trait curiosity on interest was fully mediated by appraisals. Multilevel analyses suggested that curious people differ in the amount of appraisal rather than in the kinds of appraisals relevant to interest. Appraisal theories can offer a process-oriented explanation of emotion traits that bridges state and trait emotional experience.
Research on curiosity has undergone 2 waves of intense activity. The 1st, in the 1960s, focused mainly on curiosity's psychological underpinnings. The 2nd, in the 1970s and 1980s, was characterized by attempts to measure curiosity and assess its dimensionality. This article reviews these contributions with a concentration on the 1st wave. It is argued that theoretical accounts of curiosity proposed during the 1st period fell short in 2 areas: They did not offer an adequate explanation for why people voluntarily seek out curiosity, and they failed to delineate situational determinants of curiosity. Furthermore, these accounts did not draw attention to, and thus did not explain, certain salient characteristics of curiosity: its intensity, transience, association with impulsivity, and tendency to disappoint when satisfied. A new account of curiosity is offered that attempts to address these shortcomings. The new account interprets curiosity as a form of cognitively induced deprivation that arises from the perception of a gap in knowledge or understanding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Gratitude is conceptualized as a moral affect that is analogous to other moral emotions such as empathy and guilt. Gratitude has 3 functions that can be conceptualized as morally relevant: (a) a moral barometer function (i.e., it is a response to the perception that one has been the beneficiary of another person's moral actions); (b) a moral motive function (i.e., it motivates the grateful person to behave prosocially toward the benefactor and other people); and (c) a moral reinforcer function (i.e., when expressed, it encourages benefactors to behave morally in the future). The personality and social factors that are associated with gratitude are also consistent with a conceptualization of gratitude as an affect that is relevant to people's cognitions and behaviors in the moral domain.
Five studies tested the hypothesis that gratitude is linked to lower levels of aggression. Although gratitude increases mental well-being, it is unknown whether gratitude mitigates against aggression. Gratitude motivates people to express sensitivity and concern for others and stimulates prosocial behavior. Aggression, defined as intentionally harming another person who is motivated to avoid the harm, runs counter to the motivation to increase others’ welfare and should be reduced among grateful people. Cross-sectional, longitudinal, experience sampling, and experimental designs yielded converging evidence to show that gratitude is linked to lower aggression. Higher empathy mediated the relationship between gratitude and lower aggression. These findings have widespread applications for understanding the role of emotion on aggression and can inform interventions aimed at reducing interpersonal aggression.
Although the last decade has witnessed mounting research on the development and evaluation of positive interventions, investigators still know little about the target population of such interventions: happiness seekers. The present research asked three questions about happiness seekers: (1) What are their general characteristics?, (2) What do they purposefully do to become happier?, and (3) How do they make use of self-help resources? In Study 1, we identified two distinct clusters of online happiness seekers. In Study 2, we asked happiness seekers to report on their use of 14 types of happiness-seeking behaviors. In Study 3, we tracked happiness seekers' usage of an iPhone application that offered access to eight different happiness-increasing activities, and assessed their resulting happiness and mood improvements. Together, these studies provide a preliminary portrait of happiness seekers' characteristics and naturalistic behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
Conceptual models and recent evidence indicate that neural response to reward is altered in depression. Taking a developmental approach to investigating reward function in adolescent depression can elucidate the etiology, pathophysiology and course of depression, a disorder that typically begins during adolescence and has high rates of recurrence. Methods: This conceptual review describes the what, when and how of altered reward function in adolescent depression. With the goal of generating new, testable hypotheses within a developmental affective neuroscience framework, we critically review findings and suggest future directions. Peer-reviewed empirical papers for inclusion in this critical review were obtained by searching PubMed, PsycInfo and ScienceDirect for the years 1990-2010.
A pattern of low striatal response and high medial prefrontal response to reward is evident in adolescents and adults with depression. Given the salience of social stimuli for positive affect and depression, reward function might be especially disrupted in response to social rewards. Because of changes in the dopamine system and reward function with aging, altered reward function in depression might be more evident during adolescence than later in life; however, low reward function may also be a stable characteristic of people who experience depression. Mechanisms of altered reward function in depression could include disrupted balance of corticostriatal circuit function, with disruption occurring as aberrant adolescent brain development.
Future studies should examine responses to social rewards; employ longitudinal and prospective designs; and investigate patterns of functional connectivity in reward circuits. Understanding altered reward function in depression has potential implications for treatment development. A more rigorous approach to investigating anhedonia, threat-reward interactions and comorbid anxiety will be valuable to future progress in describing the role of reward function in the pathophysiology of depression.
An 8-month-long experimental study examined the immediate and longer term effects of regularly practicing two assigned positive activities (expressing optimism and gratitude) on well-being. More important, this intervention allowed us to explore the impact of two metafactors that are likely to influence the success of any positive activity: whether one self-selects into the study knowing that it is about increasing happiness and whether one invests effort into the activity over time. Our results indicate that initial self-selection makes a difference, but only in the two positive activity conditions, not the control, and that continued effort also makes a difference, but, again, only in the treatment conditions. We conclude that happiness interventions are more than just placebos, but that they are most successful when participants know about, endorse, and commit to the intervention.
Why are certain character strengths more associated with life satisfaction than others? A sample of U.S. adults (N = 12,439) completed on-line surveys in English measuring character strengths, orientations to happiness (engagement, pleasure, and meaning), and life satisfaction, and a sample of Swiss adults (N = 445) completed paper-and-pencil versions of the same surveys in German. In both samples, the character strengths most highly linked to life satisfaction included love, hope, curiosity, and zest. Gratitude was among the most robust predictors of life satisfaction in the U.S. sample, whereas perseverance was among the most robust predictors in the Swiss sample. In both samples, the strengths of character most associated with life
satisfaction were associated with orientations to pleasure, to engagement, and to meaning, implying that the most fulfilling character strengths are those that make possible a full life.
This paper presents a new model of gratitude incorporating not only the gratitude that arises following help from others but also a habitual focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life", incorporating not only the gratitude that arises following help from others, but also a habitual focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life. Research into individual differences in gratitude and well-being is reviewed, including gratitude and psychopathology, personality, relationships, health, subjective and eudemonic well-being, and humanistically orientated functioning. Gratitude is strongly related to well-being, however defined, and this link may be unique and causal. Interventions to clinically increase gratitude are critically reviewed, and concluded to be promising, although the positive psychology literature may have neglected current limitations, and a distinct research strategy is suggested. Finally, mechanisms whereby gratitude may relate to well-being are discussed, including schematic biases, coping, positive affect, and broaden-and-build principles. Gratitude is relevant to clinical psychology due to (a) strong explanatory power in understanding well-being, and (b) the potential of improving well-being through fostering gratitude with simple exercises.
Action planning is assumed to mediate between intentions and health behaviours. Moreover, intentions are assumed to moderate the planning-behaviour relation, because people with high intentions are more likely to enact their plans. The present studies extend these suppositions by integrating both assumptions to a novel and parsimonious model of moderated mediation: the mediation effect is hypothesised to be stronger in individuals who report higher intention levels. In two longitudinal studies on physical activity (N = 124) and interdental hygiene (N = 209), intentions and action planning were assessed at baseline, and behaviour was measured four (Study 1), and respectively, three (Study 2) months later. The moderated mediation hypothesis was tested with continuously measured intentions using regression analyses with non-parametric bootstrapping. Results from both studies suggest that levels of intentions moderate the mediation process: The strength of the mediated effect increased along with levels of intentions. Planning mediates the intention-behaviour relation, if individuals hold sufficient levels of intentions. Implications for theory advancement and intervention development are discussed.
The transtheoretical model posits that health behavior change involves progress through six stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination. Ten processes of change have been identified for producing progress along with decisional balance, self-efficacy, and temptations. Basic research has generated a rule of thumb for at-risk populations: 40% in precontemplation, 40% in contemplation, and 20% in preparation. Across 12 health behaviors, consistent patterns have been found between the pros and cons of changing and the stages of change. Applied research has demonstrated dramatic improvements in recruitment, retention, and progress using stage-matched interventions and proactive recruitment procedures. The most promising outcomes to date have been found with computer-based individualized and interactive interventions. The most promising enhancement to the computer-based programs are personalized counselors. One of the most striking results to date for stage-matched programs is the similarity between participants reactively recruited who reached us for help and those proactively recruited who we reached out to help. If results with stage-matched interventions continue to be replicated, health promotion programs will be able to produce unprecedented impacts on entire at-risk populations.
In four studies, the authors examined the correlates of the disposition toward gratitude. Study I revealed that self-ratings and observer ratings of the grateful disposition are associated with positive affect and well-being, prosocial behaviors and traits, and religiousness/spirituality. Study 2 replicated these findings in a large nonstudent sample. Study 3 yielded similar results to Studies I and 2 and provided evidence that gratitude is negatively associated with envy and materialistic attitudes. Study 4 yielded evidence that these associations persist after controlling for Extraversion/positive affectivity. Neuroticism/negative affectivity, and Agreeableness. The development of the Gratitude Questionnaire, a unidimensional measure with good psychometric properties, is also described.
The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions (hassles, gratitude listing, and either neutral life events or social comparison); they then kept weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) records of their moods, coping behaviors, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals. In a 3rd study, persons with neuromuscular disease were randomly assigned to either the gratitude condition or to a control condition. The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits.
Relative to other emotions, interest is poorly understood. On the basis of theories of appraisal process and structure, it was predicted that interest consists of appraisals of novelty (factors related to unfamiliarity and complexity) and appraisals of coping potential (the ability to understand the new, complex thing). Four experiments, using in vivo rather than retrospective methods, supported this appraisal structure. The findings were general across measured and manipulated appraisals, interesting stimuli (random polygons, visual art, poetry), and measures of interest (self-reports, forced-choice, behavioral measures). Furthermore, the appraisal structure was specific to interest (it did not predict enjoyment, a related positive emotion), and appraisals predicted interest beyond relevant traits (curiosity, openness). The appraisal perspective offers a powerful way of construing the causes of interest.
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 article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is Suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.
Three alternative views regarding how Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) alters emotional reactivity have been featured in the literature: positive attenuation (reduced positive reactivity), negative potentiation (increased negative reactivity), and emotion context insensitivity (ECI; reduced positive and negative reactivity). Although empirical studies have accumulated on emotional reactivity in MDD, this report is to our knowledge the first systematic quantitative review of this topic area. In omnibus analyses of 19 laboratory studies comparing the emotional reactivity of healthy individuals to that of individuals with MDD, MDD was characterized by reduced emotional reactivity to both positively and negatively valenced stimuli, with the reduction larger for positive stimuli (d=-.53) than for negative stimuli (d=-.25). Results were similar when 3 major emotion response systems (self-reported experience, expressive behavior, and peripheral physiology) were analyzed individually. The ECI view of emotional reactivity in MDD is well supported by laboratory data. Implications for the understanding of emotions in MDD are discussed.
A common concern when faced with multivariate data with missing values is whether the missing data are missing completely at random (MCAR); that is, whether missingness depends on the variables in the data set. One way of assessing this is to compare the means of recorded values of each variable between groups defined by whether other variables in the data set are missing or not. Although informative, this procedure yields potentially many correlated statistics for testing MCAR, resulting in multiple-comparison problems. This article proposes a single global test statistic for MCAR that uses all of the available data. The asymptotic null distribution is given, and the small-sample null distribution is derived for multivariate normal data with a monotone pattern of missing data. The test reduces to a standard t test when the data are bivariate with missing data confined to a single variable. A limited simulation study of empirical sizes for the test applied to normal and nonnormal data suggests that the test is conservative for small samples.
An ACT Approach Chapter 1. What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy? Steven C. Hayes, Kirk D. Strosahl, Kara Bunting, Michael Twohig, and Kelly G. Wilson Chapter 2. An ACT Primer: Core Therapy Processes, Intervention Strategies, and Therapist Competencies. Kirk D. Strosahl, Steven C. Hayes, Kelly G. Wilson and Elizabeth V. Gifford Chapter 3. ACT Case Formulation. Steven C. Hayes, Kirk D. Strosahl, Jayson Luoma, Alethea A. Smith, and Kelly G. Wilson ACT with Behavior Problems Chapter 4. ACT with Affective Disorders. Robert D. Zettle Chapter 5. ACT with Anxiety Disorders. Susan M. Orsillo, Lizabeth Roemer, Jennifer Block-Lerner, Chad LeJeune, and James D. Herbert Chapter 6. ACT with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Alethea A. Smith and Victoria M. Follette Chapter 7. ACT for Substance Abuse and Dependence. Kelly G. Wilson and Michelle R. Byrd Chapter 8. ACT with the Seriously Mentally Ill. Patricia Bach Chapter 9. ACT with the Multi-Problem Patient. Kirk D. Strosahl ACT with Special Populations, Settings, and Methods Chapter 10. ACT with Children, Adolescents, and their Parents. Amy R. Murrell, Lisa W. Coyne, & Kelly G. Wilson Chapter 11. ACT for Stress. Frank Bond. Chapter 12. ACT in Medical Settings. Patricia Robinson, Jennifer Gregg, JoAnne Dahl, & Tobias Lundgren Chapter 13. ACT with Chronic Pain Patients. Patricia Robinson, Rikard K. Wicksell, Gunnar L. Olsson Chapter 14. ACT in Group Format. Robyn D. Walser and Jacqueline Pistorello
This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.
The SWLS consists of 5-items that require a ratingon a 7-point Likert scale. Administration is rarely morethan a minute or 2 and can be completed by interview(including phone) or paper and pencil response. The in-strumentshouldnotbecompletedbyaproxyansweringfortheperson.Itemsofthe SWLSaresummedtocreatea total score that can range from 5 to 35.The SWLS is in the public domain. Permission isnot needed to use it. Further information regardingthe use and interpretation of the SWLS can be foundat the author’s Web site http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/∼ediener/SWLS.html. The Web site alsoincludes links to translations of the scale into 27languages.
Motivational interviewing has become widely adopted as a counseling style for promoting behavior change; however, as yet it lacks a coherent theoretical framework for understanding its processes and efficacy. This article proposes that self-determination theory (SDT) can offer such a framework. The principles of motivational interviewing and SDT are outlined and the parallels between them are drawn out. We show how both motivational interviewing and SDT are based on the assumption that humans have an innate tendency for personal growth toward psychological integration, and that motivational interviewing provides the social-environmental facilitating factors suggested by SDT to promote this tendency. We propose that adopting an SDT perspective could help in furthering our understanding of the psychological processes involved in motivational interviewing.
The CES-D scale is a short self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population. The items of the scale are symptoms associated with depression which have been used in previously validated longer scales. The new scale was tested in household interview surveys and in psychiatric settings. It was found to have very high internal consistency and adequate test- retest repeatability. Validity was established by pat terns of correlations with other self-report measures, by correlations with clinical ratings of depression, and by relationships with other variables which support its construct validity. Reliability, validity, and factor structure were similar across a wide variety of demographic characteristics in the general population samples tested. The scale should be a useful tool for epidemiologic studies of de pression.
A common concern when faced with multivariate data with missing values is whether the missing data are missing completely at random (MCAR); that is, whether missingness depends on the variables in the data set. One way of assessing this is to compare the means of recorded values of each variable between groups defined by whether other variables in the data set are missing or not. Although informative, this procedure yields potentially many correlated statistics for testing MCAR, resulting in multiple-comparison problems. This article proposes a single global test statistic for MCAR that uses all of the available data. The asymptotic null distribution is given, and the small-sample null distribution is derived for multivariate normal data with a monotone pattern of missing data. The test reduces to a standard t test when the data are bivariate with missing data confined to a single variable. A limited simulation study of empirical sizes for the test applied to normal and nonnormal data suggests that the test is conservative for small samples.
Maximum likelihood algorithms for use with missing data are becoming common-place in microcomputer packages. Specifically, 3 maximum likelihood algorithms are currently available in existing software packages: the multiple-group approach, full information maximum likelihood estimation, and the EM algorithm. Although they belong to the same family of estimator, confusion appears to exist over the differ-ences among the 3 algorithms. This article provides a comprehensive, nontechnical overview of the 3 maximum likelihood algorithms. Multiple imputation, which is fre-quently used in conjunction with the EM algorithm, is also discussed. Until recently, the analysis of data with missing observations has been dominated by listwise (LD) and pairwise (PD) deletion methods (Kim & Curry, 1977; Roth, 1994). However, alternative methods for treating missing data have become in-creasingly common in software packages, leaving applied researchers with a wide range of data analytic options. In particular, three maximum likelihood (ML) esti-mation algorithms for use with missing data are currently available: the multi-ple-group approach (Allison, 1987; Muthén, Kaplan, & Hollis, 1987) can be imple-mented using existing structural equation modeling (SEM) software; Amos (Arbuckle, 1995) and Mx (Neale, 1995) offer full information maximum likelihood STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING, 8(1), 128–141 Copyright © 2001, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
To date, nearly half of the work supporting the efficacy of gratitude interventions did so by making contrasts with techniques that induce negative affect (e.g., record your daily hassles). Gratitude interventions have shown limited benefits, if any, over control conditions. Thus, there is a need to better understand whether gratitude interventions are beyond a control condition and if there exists a subset of people who benefit. People high in positive affect (PA) may have reached an 'emotional ceiling' and, thus, are less susceptible to experiencing gains in well-being. People lower in PA, however, may need more positive events (like expressing gratitude to a benefactor) to 'catch up' to the positive experiences of their peers. We examined if PA moderated the effects of a gratitude intervention where youth were instructed to write a letter to someone whom they were grateful and deliver it to them in person. Eighty-nine children and adolescents were randomly assigned to the gratitude intervention or a control condition. Findings indicated that youth low in PA in the gratitude condition, compared with youth writing about daily events, reported greater gratitude and PA at post-treatment and greater PA at the 2-month follow-up.
Personality has been found to be more strongly associated with subjective well-being in many instances than are life circumstances.
In part, this might be due to the fact that temperament and other individual differences can influence people’s feelings and
evaluations of their lives, but also because people’s emotions are an inherent part of personality. This chapter discusses
the heritability of “happiness,” that portion of subjective well-being that is due to genetic differences between individuals.
The stability of subjective well-being over time is substantial, and this is likely due in part to the stability of personality.
Specific personality traits are related to various types of well-being. For example, extroversion appears to be more strongly
related to positive emotions, while neuroticism is more related to negative feelings. Although personality is an important
correlate of subjective well-being, situations and life circumstances can in some cases have a considerable influence as well.
Furthermore, personality can to some degree change over time, and with it, levels of subjective well-being can change.
This study examined curiosity as a mechanism for achieving and maintaining high levels of well-being and meaning in life.
Of primary interest was whether people high in trait curiosity derive greater well-being on days when they are more curious.
We also tested whether trait and daily curiosity led to greater, sustainable well-being. Predictions were tested using trait
measures and 21 daily diary reports from 97 college students. We found that on days when they are more curious, people high
in trait curiosity reported more frequent growth-oriented behaviors, and greater presence of meaning, search for meaning,
and life satisfaction. Greater trait curiosity and greater curiosity on a given day also predicted greater persistence of
meaning in life from one day into the next. People with greater trait curiosity reported more frequent hedonistic events but
they were associated with less pleasure compared to the experiences of people with less trait curiosity. The benefits of hedonistic
events did not last beyond the day of their occurrence. As evidence of construct specificity, curiosity effects were not attributable
to Big Five personality traits or daily positive or negative mood. Our results provide support for curiosity as an ingredient
in the development of well-being and meaning in life. The pattern of findings casts doubt on some distinctions drawn between
eudaimonia and hedonic well-being traditions.
Curiosity is the propensity to recognize and seek out new information and experience, including an intrinsic interest in learning and developing one's knowledge. With few exceptions, researchers have often ignored the social consequences of being curious.
In four studies using cross-sectional (N = 64), daily diary (Ns = 150 and 110, respectively), and behavioral experimental (N = 132) designs, we tested the hypothesis that individual differences in curiosity are linked to less aggression, even when people are provoked.
We showed that both trait and daily curiosity were linked to less aggressive responses toward romantic relationship partners and people who caused psychological hurt. In time-lagged analyses, daily curiosity predicted less aggression from one day to the next, with no evidence for the reverse direction. Studies 3 and 4 showed that the inverse association between curiosity and aggression was strongest in close relationships and in fledgling (as opposed to long-lasting) romantic relationships. That is, highly curious people showed evidence of greater context sensitivity. Intensity of hurt feelings and other personality and relationship variables failed to account for these effects.
Curiosity is a neglected mechanism of resilience in understanding aggression.
Curious people seek knowledge and new experiences. In 3 studies, we examined whether, when, and how curiosity contributes to positive social outcomes between unacquainted strangers. Study 1 (98 college students) showed that curious people expect to generate closeness during intimate conversations but not during small talk; less curious people anticipated poor outcomes in both situations. We hypothesized that curious people underestimate their ability to bond with unacquainted strangers during mundane conversations. Studies 2 (90 college students) and 3 (106 college students) showed that curious people felt close to partners during intimate and small-talk conversations; less curious people only felt close when the situation offered relationship-building exercises. Surprise at the pleasure felt during this novel, uncertain situation partially mediated the benefits linked to curiosity. We found evidence of slight asymmetry between self and partner reactions. Results could not be attributed to physical attraction or positive affect. Collectively, results suggest that positive social interactions benefit from an open and curious mind-set.
Given curiosity's fundamental role in motivation, learning, and well-being, we sought to refine the measurement of trait curiosity with an improved version of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI; Kashdan, Rose, & Fincham, 2004). A preliminary pool of 36 items was administered to 311 undergraduate students, who also completed measures of emotion, emotion regulation, personality, and well-being. Factor analyses indicated a two factor model-motivation to seek out knowledge and new experiences (Stretching; 5 items) and a willingness to embrace the novel, uncertain, and unpredictable nature of everyday life (Embracing; 5 items). In two additional samples (ns = 150 and 119), we cross-validated this factor structure and provided initial evidence for construct validity. This includes positive correlations with personal growth, openness to experience, autonomy, purpose in life, self-acceptance, psychological flexibility, positive affect, and positive social relations, among others. Applying item response theory (IRT) to these samples (n = 578), we showed that the items have good discrimination and a desirable breadth of difficulty. The item information functions and test information function were centered near zero, indicating that the scale assesses the mid-range of the latent curiosity trait most reliably. The findings thus far provide good evidence for the psychometric properties of the 10-item CEI-II.
Do positive psychology interventions-that is, treatment methods or intentional activities aimed at cultivating positive feelings, positive behaviors, or positive cognitions-enhance well-being and ameliorate depressive symptoms? A meta-analysis of 51 such interventions with 4,266 individuals was conducted to address this question and to provide practical guidance to clinicians. The results revealed that positive psychology interventions do indeed significantly enhance well-being (mean r=.29) and decrease depressive symptoms (mean r=.31). In addition, several factors were found to impact the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions, including the depression status, self-selection, and age of participants, as well as the format and duration of the interventions. Accordingly, clinicians should be encouraged to incorporate positive psychology techniques into their clinical work, particularly for treating clients who are depressed, relatively older, or highly motivated to improve. Our findings also suggest that clinicians would do well to deliver positive psychology interventions as individual (versus group) therapy and for relatively longer periods of time.
The objective of this study was to determine the association between regular physical activity and mental disorders among adults in the United States.
Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to compare the prevalence of mental disorders among those who did and did not report regular physical activity using data from the National Comorbidity Survey (n = 8098), a nationally representative sample of adults ages 15-54 in the United States.
Slightly over one-half of adults reported regular physical activity (60.3%). Regular physical activity was associated with a significantly decreased prevalence of current major depression and anxiety disorders, but was not significantly associated with other affective, substance use, or psychotic disorders. The association between regular physical activity and lower prevalence of current major depression (OR = 0.75 (0.6,0.94)), panic attacks (OR = 0.73 (0.56, 0.96)), social phobia (OR = 0.65 (0.53, 0.8)), specific phobia (OR = 0.78 (0.63, 0.97)), and agoraphobia (OR = 0.64 (0.43, 0.94)) persisted after adjusting for differences in sociodemographic characteristics, self-reported physical disorders, and comorbid mental disorders. Self-reported frequency of physical activity also showed a dose-response relation with current mental disorders.
These data document a negative association between regular physical activity and depressive and anxiety disorders among adults in the U.S. population. Future research that investigates the mechanism of this association using longitudinal data to examine the link between physical activity and incident and recurrent mental disorders across the lifespan is needed.
Curiosity and exploratory behavior Motivation: Theory and research
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Spielberger, C. D., & Starr, L. M. (1994). Curiosity and exploratory behavior. In H. F. O'Neil, Jr. & M. Drillings (Eds.), Motivation: Theory and research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling
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Hayes, A. F. (2012). PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling [White paper]. Retrieved from http://www.afhayes.com/public/process2012.pdf.
Personality and subjective well-being Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology
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