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Personality, Effective Goal-Striving, and Enhanced Well-Being
Abstract
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.
... A metaanalysis (Klug & Maier, 2015) integrating 85 studies found a substantial association between successful goalstriving and subjective well-being (ρ = 0.43). A handful of longitudinal studies also support the prospective effects of goals on subjective well-being (Sheldon et al., 2010(Sheldon et al., , 2015Steca et al., 2016). For example, two dimensions of personal goals (value and progress) have been shown to predict increases in subjective well-being over time (Steca et al., 2016), and grit has been shown to be an especially strong predictor of goal attainment and, in turn, subjective well-being (Sheldon et al., 2015). ...
... A handful of longitudinal studies also support the prospective effects of goals on subjective well-being (Sheldon et al., 2010(Sheldon et al., , 2015Steca et al., 2016). For example, two dimensions of personal goals (value and progress) have been shown to predict increases in subjective well-being over time (Steca et al., 2016), and grit has been shown to be an especially strong predictor of goal attainment and, in turn, subjective well-being (Sheldon et al., 2015). ...
In cross-sectional research, subjective well-being and grit are found to be positively correlated. Their mutually reinforcing effects are particularly relevant for youth entering early adolescence because, during this developmental period, both well-being and grit have been shown to predict consequential outcomes later in life. However, their mutual relation has not yet been investigated in early adolescence. This study, therefore, examined the possibility of a virtuous cycle linking subjective well-being and grit during early adolescence. Self-report questionnaires of grit and subjective well-being were completed by N = 5291 children in China (47.6% girls; initial Mage = 9.69, SDage = 0.59) on six occasions over 3 academic years. In random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs), within-person changes in grit predicted within-person changes in subjective well-being 6 months later, and vice versa. Notably, analyses revealed an asymmetry in this cycle: paths from subjective well-being to grit were stronger and more reliable than the converse. Likewise, facet-level analyses showed that the predictive power of the perseverance component (of grit) and the affective component (of subjective well-being), respectively, was greater than the passion and cognitive components, respectively. These findings highlight the potential of boosting happiness for catalyzing positive youth development and, in addition, foreground the utility of studying these composite constructs at the facet level.
... They work patiently to reach their higher objectives despite obstacles (Duckworth and Gross, 2014). The most predictive variable for achieving personally meaningful goals was found as grit in a study (Sheldon et al., 2015). Having grit means gaining awareness of the significant objectives, worth the labor, and a source of life satisfaction. ...
... Individuals with grit who have healthy coping skills to manage negative events are more positive thinkers and hopeful. Therefore, individuals with grit are less likely to use compensatory coping skills to overcome negative events (Sheldon et al., 2015). ...
This research was planned to reveal whether school engagement is a mediator in the relationship between grit and academic life satisfaction in university students. 487 students, including 316 (65%) males and 171 (35%) females, were recruited. The students were 18 to 33 years old, and the mean age was 20.62. The measures included the Academic Life Satisfaction Scale (ALSS), the Short Grit Scale (GRIT-S), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student Form (UWES-SF), and a Personal Information Form (PIF). Data analysis included the structural equation model and Pearson’s correlation analysis. A statistically significant positive correlation was observed between grit, school engagement, and academic life satisfaction. In addition, grit and academic life satisfaction were mediated by school engagement. We handled the results considering grit and school engagement in raising the academic life satisfaction of university students.
... Theoretical studies of multi-goal pursuit suggest that conflict is often accompanied by inhibition of goal behavior and obstruction of goal progress [4,9,10]. This conflict triggers an increase in individual psychological stress and a decrease in the experience of well-being [11,12]. Scholars focusing on college athletes have also found that academics-athletics conflict significantly negatively impacts students' school satisfaction, well-being, or psychological well-being [6,8,13]. ...
... Control Theory and more recent motivation and personality theories argue that the emergence of goal conflict activates an individual's behavioral inhibition system to check for threats and evaluate risks [9,18]. The activation of this system often leads to goal obstruction and negative evaluations, which are important factors in reducing individual life satisfaction [11,12]. Thus, academics-athletics conflict is often associated with distress or low life satisfaction. ...
For college athletes who perform dual roles (student and athlete), the academics–athletics conflict is inevitable in daily life. Although existing studies have focused on the adverse effects of this conflict on the well-being of college athletes, they have not yet determined the underlying mechanism and effective measures to alleviate it. To explore the underlying mechanism of academics–athletics conflict, which affects the well-being of college athletes, we constructed a moderated mediating model to examine the critical role of negative emotions and life motivation in the relationship between them. The study randomly selected 802 college athletes from China to examine the relationships between academics–athletics conflict, negative emotions, eudaimonic motives, hedonic motives, and life satisfaction. The results showed that (1) negative emotions played an important mediating role between academics–athletics conflict and college athletes’ life satisfaction, with more than 79% of the effect of academics–athletics conflict being achieved through negative emotions. (2) Eudaimonic motives significantly moderated the first half of the mediation path of negative emotions between academics–athletics conflict and life satisfaction. Individuals with high eudaimonic motives experienced fewer negative emotions in the medium and weak conflict conditions. (3) Hedonic motives had a significant moderating effect on the second half of the mediation path. Individuals with high hedonic motives had greater life satisfaction across negative emotion conditions. This study provides important insights for a comprehensive understanding and in-depth study of the relationship between conflict and the well-being of college athletes, as well as a reference for the quality-of-life enhancement and motivation development for college athletes.
... As the blend of passion and perseverance for long-term goals, grit is deemed as one of the key character strengths that is essential for youth to succeed and flourish (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007;KIPP, 2017). Ample empirical evidence has affirmed the importance of grit for youth across various arenas (e.g., Datu, Yuen, & Chen, 2017;Schechtman, DeBarger, Dornsife, Rosier, & Yarnall, 2013;Sheldon, Jose, Kashdan, & Jarden, 2015). Thus, there is a consensus on the crucial importance of cultivating youth's grit, and parents are deemed to play an essential role on this aspect via their socialization processes with youth (e.g., Cui & Lan, 2020;Duckworth, 2016;Dunn, 2018;Howard, Nicholson, & Chesnut, 2019;Lin & Chang, 2017). ...
... Over and beyond cognitive (e.g., IQ) and personality (e.g., the Big Five traits) attributes, grit has been found to predict better academic outcomes, including higher GPA, better performance in competitions, and high school and college graduation (e.g., Duckworth et al., 2007;Eskreis-Winkler, Duckworth, Shulman, & Beal, 2014;Usher, Li, Butz, & Rojas, 2018;Wolters & Hussain, 2015). Moreover, grit has been found to predict desirable outcomes in diverse life domains, such as completion of military trainings (Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014), effectiveness and persistence in teaching (Robertson-Kraft & Duckworth, 2014), treatment adherence (Peña et al., 2019), better sales performance (Dugan, Hochstein, Rouziou, & Britton, 2019), and goal attainment (Sheldon et al., 2015). According to Duckworth et al.'s (2007) conceptualization, grit consists of two components: consistency of interests, referring to the tendency to pursue the same goals or interests without frequently changing them, and perseverance of efforts, referring to the tendency to work hard toward long-term goals even in the face of setbacks. ...
This research tested whether parents' academic socialization and psychological control interacted to predict the passion and perseverance component of grit among Chinese youth across different developmental phases. Participants were 4421 Chinese youths (M age = 13.90 years, SD = 2.57 years) in elementary, middle, and high schools, who reported on their grit and perceptions of parents' academic socialization and psychological control. In both elementary and middle schools, parents' academic socialization mainly predicted youth's greater perseverance of effort, whereas parents' psychological control mainly predicted youth's less consistency of interest and more perseverance of efforts. Importantly, only in high schools did parents' academic socialization interact with psychological control in predicting both grit components: Parents' academic socialization predicted less consistency of interests and perseverance of effort when parents were perceived as average or high as opposed to low in psychological control. Taken together, the findings highlight that both the quantity and quality of parents' academic socialization may have implications on youth's grit.
... Andere Studien untersuchten den Einfluss von Dimensionen wie Gewissenhaftigkeit, emotionale Stabilität, Entschlossenheit, Kontrolle sowie Optimismus auf wirtschaftlichen Erfolg, soziales und subjektives Wohlbefinden und Gesundheit bei älteren Erwachsenen (Steptoe & Wardle, 2017;Steptoe & Jackson, 2018). Sheldon und Kollegen (2015) hingegen erfassten Persönlichkeitsstärken mittels einer Kombination von Fragebögen, um Prädiktoren der Selbstwirksamkeit zu identifizieren (Sheldon et al., 2015). Im Kontext der Suchtprävention wurden Entscheidungsfindung, Problemlösung, kreatives Denken, kritisches Denken, effektive Kommunikation, Fähigkeiten zu zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen, Selbstwahrnehmung, Einfühlungsvermögen sowie Umgang mit Emotionen und Stressbewältigung als Lebenskompetenzen benannt (WHO, 1994;. ...
... In Anlehnung an die oben genannten Aspekte wurden die entsprechenden Konstrukte wie folgt zugrunde gelegt: 1) Wohlbefinden, erfasst durch Fragen zum Glücksempfinden und einem angenehmen Lebensgefühl (Sheldon et al., 2015), 2) Selbstregulation, bestehend aus Items bezüglich der Ausgleichs-und Entspannungsfähigkeit, in-neren Stärke und Resilienz (WHO, 1994;, Wellensiek & Galuska. 2014, 3) Engagement und Aktivitäten (Seligman, 2002;2011), 4) Sinnerleben mit Fragen zu bewusstem Leben, Glaube, Religion und Werten (Belschner, 2003;Hampel et al., 2020), 5) Selbstwirksamkeit unter Berücksichtigung der Wahrnehmung von Selbstwirksamkeit (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995), sowie 6) Sozialkontakte mit unterstützenden, engen Kontakten und Zeit für diese Fragen (Ryff & Keyes, 1995;Seligman, 2011). ...
Zusammenfassung. Lebenskompetenzen stellen Fähigkeiten dar, aus denen eine salutogene Lebensführung resultiert. Dadurch können sie sowohl als Basis als auch als wichtiger Indikator für den therapeutischen Prozess dienen. Hier wird ein Selbsteinschätzungsinstrument vorgestellt, welches an N = 2 054 Patientinnen und Patienten der stationären psychosomatischen Behandlung erhoben wurde und dessen Konstrukt in zweifacher Erhebung exploratorisch und konfirmatorisch validiert wurde. Der Fragebogen LK-18 umfasst 18 Items, die sich in 6 Faktoren mit je 3 Items gliedern lassen. Diese sind Wohlbefinden, Selbstregulation, Engagement, Sinnerleben, Selbstwirksamkeit, sowie Sozialkontakte. Die Werte für Cronbachs α liegen zwischen .74 und .85, im Gesamtwert bei .91. Die RMSEA von .062 deutet auf eine akzeptable Modellpassung hin. Als externe Korrelate zeigen psychosomatische Symptombelastungen nach dem ICD10-basierten Symptomrating (ISR) und posttraumatische Störungen meist mittlere negative Korrelationen im Bereich -.22 bis -.69 ( p < .001). Die Ergebnisse demonstrieren die Validität des Fragebogens und seine Veränderungssensitivität, wodurch der Einsatz in der psychosomatischen Diagnostik als geeignetes Zusatzinstrument als sinnvoll erachtet werden kann.
... We focus here on three commonly used individual difference measures of goal-related cognition-hope, general self-efficacy, and grit. We focus on these three constructs, specifically, rather than on other common positive psychological constructs (e.g., optimism, self-esteem) because of their theoretical emphasis on (e.g., Bandura & Locke, 2003; 2 | Snyder et al., 2018) and empirical association with (e.g., Beattie et al., 2015;Feldman et al., 2009;Sheldon et al., 2015) goal-directed thoughts/behaviors rather than broad generalized positive future expectancies. ...
... Grit is conceptualized as a "passion and perseverance for long-term goals" (Duckworth et al., 2007), and some literature suggests a link between higher grit and academic achievement (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009) and goal attainment (Sheldon et al., 2015). Additionally, there is evidence linking higher grit to lower rates of mental health symptoms. ...
Objective
Symptoms of general psychological distress disrupt goal pursuit; however, not everyone is equally impacted by distress when pursuing goals. We tested whether hope, self‐efficacy, and/or grit buffered the impact of symptoms of general psychological distress on longitudinal goal progress.
Method
Undergraduate students reported on these constructs and, 2 months later, their progress toward five personal goals (N = 117).
Results
Although greater levels of baseline psychological distress predicted less goal progress, the impact of psychological distress on goal progress was moderated by hope, β = .20, SE = 0.07, p < .01. More specifically, at higher hope, participants reported similar goal progress regardless of baseline distress symptoms, while at lower hope, baseline distress was negatively associated with goal progress.
Conclusion
Hope may function as a buffer against the association between general psychological distress and impaired goal progress.
... -the tendency to sustain passion and perseverance for long-term goals-has emerged as an important predictor of overcoming challenges (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007;Eskreis-Winkler, Duckworth, Shulman, & Beal, 2014;Sheldon, Jose, Kashdan, & Jarden, 2015). Nonetheless, little is known about why some students are grittier than others. ...
... Grit is not positively associated with IQ, but it reliably predicts academic outcomes, including high school and college graduation (Duckworth et al., 2007;Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014) and persistence at the United States Military Academy at West Point (Duckworth et al., 2007). Among adults, grit predicts goal attainment (Sheldon et al., 2015), persistence and effectiveness in teaching (Robertson-Kraft & Duckworth, 2014), lower turnover in sales (Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014), and the attainment and successful completion of Special Forces military training (Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014). ...
Grit, the inclination to pursue long-term goals with passion and perseverance, predicts academic achievement and professional success, but how to encourage grit in students remains an open question. The goal of the current study was to understand how perceptions of school culture influence the development of grit in middle school students. We conducted a year-long, prospective, longitudinal study (N = 1277) examining grit, perceived goal structures (mastery vs. performance), and academic achievement. In cross-sectional analyses, we found that students who perceived their schools as more mastery goal-oriented were grittier and earned higher report card grades. In contrast, students who perceived their schools as more performance goal-oriented were less gritty and earned lower report card grades. In longitudinal analyses, changes in perceived mastery school goal structure predicted changes in grit over the school year, which in turn predicted changes in grades. Changes in perceived performance school goal structure, in contrast, did not reliably predict changes in grit. These findings suggest that school environments that emphasize the value of learning for learning's sake may encourage children to sustain interest in and effort toward long-term goals.
... As well as the construct of grit being associated with academic outcomes, some research has demonstrated an association between grit and certain personal outcomes. Grit has a significant relationship with higher life-course accomplishment (Abuhassàn and Bates, 2015); increased goal attainment (Sheldon et al., 2015); a diagnosis of a co-occurring psychiatric disorder (Griffin et al., 2016); employment status (Griffin et al., 2016); burn out (Halliday et al., 2016) and greater health care management skills . It is therefore worthwhile exploring the relationship that grit might have with student well-being and physical health. ...
... Indeed, nine of the 10 students clearly identified their short and long-term goals. This gains further support from previous research that indicates gritty people are more likely to have their long-term goals and future plans identified (Muenks et al., 2016;Sheldon et al., 2015;Duckworth, 2017). One student who directly expresses this stated: "I've got a long-term goal and a long-term vision in my mind. . . ...
The present research looked at the importance of the concept of grit in University students based on a mixed-method approach. Study 1 comprised 440 University students. All were given the Grit Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, the short Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, the Office of National Statistics Well-being items and the Self-Control Scale. Levels of grit were significantly higher in female students, older students and postgraduates. Grit correlated highest with self-control. Study 2 looked at 340 University students. In addition to measuring self-control, mental well-being and grit, measures of resilience and mindsets were also added. A construct validity test of the Grit Scale showed that high grit scorers had significantly higher levels of self-control and mental well-being, were more resilient and were more likely to have a more growth oriented mindset. Grit varies with age and is most closely associated with the concept of self-control. The third study was a qualitative investigation with 10 successful graduates. Semi-structured interviews were coded using thematic analysis. Three broad themes emerged. The first, Passion and Perseverance, included themes of having short and long terms goals, resilience, dedication, and endurance. The second, Self-Control, included time management, self-awareness, prioritizing tasks and knowing strengths and weaknesses. The third theme identified was Positive Mindsets. This included having a positive attitude toward learning, the importance of feedback and constructive criticism and that success is not materialistic. The qualitative research has helped “unpack” concepts from the grit research and may enable University tutors to guide students better. Though these studies were only conducted in one English University, they have been stepping stones in our quest to discover what are the most important factors in determining student academic success? The development and piloting of our new Uni-Stride Scale, is the next step in this process.
... Grit has displayed significant positive impact across various settings, particularly higher goal achievement (Sheldon et al., 2015); academic achievement (Bowman et al., 2015); persistence in challenging tasks (Lucas et al., 2015) and remaining employed (Robertson-Kraft and Duckworth, 2014). Gritty individuals tend to display better adaptive psychosocial functions, such as psychological wellbeing (Disabato et al., 2016;Vainio and Daukantaitė, 2016;Datu et al., 2017); prosocial behaviour (Lan and Moscardino, 2019); healthy personal relationships (Lan, 2020), and less mental distress (Zhang et al., 2018). ...
Introduction
This study examines grit as psychological mindsets that explain the link between self-regulatory employability attributes and perceived employability competency expectations in a sample of South African adults ( N = 308).
Methods
A quantitative, cross-sectional research design approach was used to collect primary data.
Results
Results of a mediation analysis through structural equation modelling revealed grit as an important mechanism to strengthen the association between employability attributes (career agility, cultural ingenuity, proactive career resilience) and employability competency expectations (autonomy/leadership skills and personal employability qualities).
Discussion
This study makes an important contribution to the role of learning and training through understanding the role of grit in enhancing prospects of employability. This study further adds to the grit literature, highlighting the role that grit plays in the contemporary employment context. Practical implications include supportive practices that strengthen individual workers’ grit when confronted with the turbulent changes of today’s work world.
... Findings of positive aspects reflected curiosity and openness to experiences toward learning and to receive support that gave rise to insight and strategies. These characteristics allow one to pursue ambitions and discover meaning in one's own life (Zuss, 2012), which have an essential role in influencing well-being (Sheldon et al., 2015). Furthermore, the ability to learn from one's mistakes has led to experiences of better self-regulation and control which are characteristics that contribute to resilience and protective forces that support well-being (Murray, 2015). ...
There is a growing acceptance that ADHD is a multi-dimensional disorder in which not all symptoms are associated with deficits or functional impairments. This article contributes to research on the positive aspects of the diagnosis, specifically understanding the positive aspects of living with ADHD. The empirical data was based on individual interviews and self-narratives of 10 young adults with ADHD. Narrative analysis was implemented when investigating their stories. The findings showed that challenges with the diagnosis were not necessarily stably occupied, and for some, the diagnosis was thought of as a benefit and something they would not have been without. Four stories highlighted particularly the context of positive aspects: (1) insight and strategies, (2) targeted efforts, (3) balanced energy, and (4) social skills. These aspects were correlated to both the individual’s strengths as well as the strengths and support that could be related to their societal and cultural environment.
... This is supported by Kasler et al. (2017), who state that individuals with high grit are more likely to persevere and succeed in spite of difficulties faced in achieving their desired goals, such as competing for jobs. Previous studies are consistent in showing that grit has a significant and positive influence on higher goal attainment (Sheldon et al., 2015); academic achievement (Bowman et al., 2015); and remaining employed (Robertson-Kraft & Duckworth, 2014). ...
Psychological resources are crucial in enhancing individual potential, yet few studies have focused on positive psychological variables among job seekers. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the influence of psychological capital on flourishing, with grit as a mediator. A cross-sectional survey method was employed, with data collected using questionnaires involving 226 participants. Three instruments were included in the questionnaire: the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ), the Flourishing Scale, and the Short Grit Scale. The data were analyzed using bootstrapping mediation analysis via PROCESS software. The results show that all the psychological capital dimensions (hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism) significantly influenced grit, with β ranging from .21 to .57 (p .000), and also significantly influenced flourishing, with β ranging from .23 to .40 (p .000). Grit also significantly mediated the psychological capital dimensions and flourishing. These findings indicate that psychological capital, grit and flourishing are important in developing individuals’ potential. It is hoped that they will be useful in designing employability training which incorporates positive psychology resources as intervention modules to assist graduates seeking job opportunities.
... Others resort to comparisons of multiple personality strengths to clarify which strengths moderate the effects of stress on NSSI and to what extent. The comparison approach allows researchers to determine which personality strengths are most robustly or uniquely correlated with vital outcomes and has been employed in other studies (Sheldon et al., 2015). Therefore, this study's second aim was to explore which personality strength(s) have a protective effect in buffering or modifying the effects of cumulative stress on NSSI. ...
Non-suicidal self-injury is an important public health problem, which is closely related to suicidal behavior and has attracted wide attention from researchers. This study recruited 1207 adolescents to systematically explore the relationship between cumulative risks and non-suicidal self-injuries using scales and questionnaires. It also compared the influences of various risk factors on self-injurious behaviour and researched the protective effect of personality strengths (mindfulness, hope, openness, grit, and meaning in life) as resilience factors. The results showed that the significant predictive effects of cumulative risks on adolescents’ non-suicidal self-injury and adverse childhood experiences are greater predictors of adolescents’ non-suicidal self-injury than negative life events. Mindfulness and meaning in life are two protectors co-moderating the effects of cumulative risk on adolescents’ non-suicidal self-injury. This study has important implications for a better understanding of resilience. And more intervention and prevention strategies based on personality strengths for individuals experiencing adversity and stress could be effective in improving their psychosocial functioning.
... Perseverance of effort is another important dimension of grit. gritty employees can work in adversity to achieve higher goals (Sheldon et al., 2015), and to better cope with stress (Sharkey et al., 2017), namely the consistency level higher em-Psychology ployee encountered trouble in work, they are more likely to seek out different strategies to cope with the situation, in a less stressful way to adapt and spent. ...
... Park et al. (2018) also found grit increased among adolescents that were in a learning-focused environment, rather than a grade/product-focused environment. Grit has also been associated with fewer career changes (Duckworth et al., 2007) and goal attainment (Sheldon et al., 2015). In a review of 90 studies, researchers also found evidence of grit as a predictor of personal, professional, and educational success (Fernandez-Martin et al., 2020). ...
Abstract
Counselor educators are expected to engage in research and mentor doctoral students, highlighting the importance of competency in both areas. Grit predicts positive work outcomes, and we found no studies on grit in relation to counselor educator success measures. We wanted to understand the role of grit in counselor education productivity levels and necessary competencies. We recruited counselor educators at CACREP-accredited institutions with doctoral programs. We hypothesized that grit would predict both mentoring competencies and publication rates, mediated by research competencies. We tested a model with counselor educators (N = 110) and found that the relationship between grit, as measured by the Short Grit Scale, and mentoring competency, as measured by the Mentoring Competency Assessment, and the relationship between grit and number of total career publications were both partially mediated by research competencies, as measured by the Research Competencies Scale. Thus, grit is directly and indirectly related to publications and mentoring competency. Implications for counselor educators include maintaining grit and how to use self-assessment of research and mentoring competency to increase productivity.
Public Significance Statement
Our findings demonstrate that research competency partially mediates the relationship between grit and both mentorship competencies and number of publications. As such, this study provides evidence that grit is fundamentally related to factors associated with faculty success directly and indirectly. Counselor educators and doctoral students can use these results to self-examine their grittiness, considering how their long-term goals match productivity measures at their institutions.The results of this study will hopefully empower counselor educators and doctoral students to conduct research that aligns with their interests and continued efforts toward those projects, both aspects of grittiness.
... In a nutshell, becoming gritty entails following one's passion by deciding to devote time and psychological energy to a single project and possibly foregoing several other things to remain faithful to this pursuit (Bashant, 2014). Grit has been shown to have a substantial positive impact in a numerous environment, including greater achievement of goals (Sheldon et al., 2015); educational attainment (Bowman et al., 2015); persistence in challenging assignments (Lucas et al., 2015); and remaining employed (Robertson-Kraft & Duckworth, 2014). ...
... Grit is an important non-cognitive factor contributing to people's ability to preserve successful cognitive and everyday functioning (Moore et al., 2018). Among 10 positive personality traits, grit was the most reliable predictor of achieving personally meaningful goals (Sheldon et al., 2015). Yet, more research is needed to provide empirical evidence about the relationship between these two constructs. ...
Executive functions are the cognitive skills that help people attain their goals, while grit describes persistent efforts to attain success. However, little research has hitherto examined the relationships among grit, executive functions, and well-being. This empirical study helps fill that gap. Three self-report psychological instruments were administered to 214 university students, and simple direct regression applied to the collected data to analyze the effects of the three variables. The results indicated that grit had positive relationships with both executive functions and well-being. The implications of these findings, and the limitations of the study's methods, are also discussed.
... venture growth; Baum and Locke, 2004). Holistically, traits in this category have been linked with positive, success-oriented outcomes, including goal attainment (grit; Sheldon et al., 2015), extrinsic career success (self-control; Converse et al., 2012) and life satisfaction (core confidence; Stajkovic et al., 2015). Overall, the traits within this category were the least explored, providing ample opportunity to scholars interested in the outcomes associated with these "tough" traits and in the contexts in which these traits flourish or wither. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to systematically examine and classify the multitude of personality traits that have emerged in the literature beyond the Big Five (Five Factor Model) since the turn of the 21st century. The authors argue that this represents a new phase of personality research that is characterized both by construct proliferation and a movement away from the Big Five and demonstrates how personality as a construct has substantially evolved in the 21st century.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a comprehensive, systematic review of personality research from 2000 to 2020 across 17 management and psychology journals. This search yielded 1,901 articles, of which 440 were relevant and subsequently coded for this review.
Findings
The review presented in this study uncovers 155 traits, beyond the Big Five, that have been explored, which the authors organize and analyze into 10 distinct categories. Each category comprises a definition, lists the included traits and highlights an exemplar construct. The authors also specify the significant research outcomes associated with each trait category.
Originality/value
This review categorizes the 155 personality traits that have emerged in the management and psychology literature that describe personality beyond the Big Five. Based on these findings, this study proposes new avenues for future research and offers insights into the future of the field as the concept of personality has shifted in the 21st century.
... Previous research has linked various characteristics to higher levels of grit and, subsequently, improved outcomes. For example, grittier individuals exhibit higher levels of curiosity, self-awareness, and self-determination, which support commitment to one's interests (Dugan et al., 2019;Jin & Kim, 2017;Sheldon et al., 2015). Similarly, perseverance with goals has been linked to increased hardiness, resilience, self-efficacy, growth mindset, and self-regulation (Armstrong et al., 2018;Kannangara et al., 2018;Lovering et al., 2015). ...
Grit has been linked to increased performance, retention and well‐being in various fields. Defined as having perseverance and passion for long‐term goals, grit is a personality trait related to one's perseverance of effort (perseverance) and consistency of interests (passion) toward their goals. In the fifteen years since the original grit scale was published, many studies have investigated factors that promote grit. However, a scale has not yet been developed measuring characteristics that can contribute to higher levels of grit. This study aimed to develop a novel scale to measure the psychological resources of grit. The Delphi technique was used to obtain consensus from an international panel of academics and practitioners who are experts in grit and related constructs. A total of 30 participants rated 100 scale items conducted over three rounds of online surveys. Experts agreed that items selected for the final scale (n = 20) were essential, with 85% rating these as important or very important. This scale would be a helpful diagnostic tool for practitioners involved in staff development and support building capabilities that contribute to goal achievement. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... The third theme is the debate on whether curiosity and interest are identical, similar, or differentpsychological constructs (Ainley, 2019; Aschieri et al., 2020; Bougie & Ichise, 2020; Fayn et al., 2019; Murayama et al., 2019; Pekrun, 2019; Schmidt & Rotgans, 2020; Shin & Kim, 2019). The fourth theme deals with implications of curiosity in a learning context such as a classroom.This touches on three key elements: how learners respond to new knowledge, set learning goals and enjoy the process of learning while developing metacognitive strategies; the pushing of boundaries and exploration of novel experiences; and the response to uncertainties while using metacognitive strategies such as planning ahead(Baker et al., 2015; Beachboard & Dause, 2020;Fiamengo, 2013;Hulme et al., 2013;Jamie, 2020; Jirout & Klahr, 2012a, 2020 K.G et al., 2020; Kolb et al., 2014; Menning, 2019;Nadelson et al., 2019;Rossing & Long, 1981;Sakaki et al., 2018;Sheldon et al., 2015; von Stumm et al., 2011;Wagstaff et al.;Whitehouse et al., 2018). ...
... Duckworth & Quinn, 2009;Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014), and work performance (Lechner et al., 2019, Suzuki et al., 2015. Additionally grit has been linked with specific positive outcomes including academic achievement (Crede et al., 2017), academic diligence (Galla et al., 2014) academic engagement (Datu et al., 2015;Datu et al., 2016), goal attainment (Sheldon et al., 2015), lower risk of depression (Datu et al., 2018;Salles et al., 2017), lower risk of burnout (Jumat et al., 2020), metacognitive awareness (Arslan et al., 2013); positive affect towards difficult tasks (Lucas et al., 2015), psychological well-being (Wyszynska et al., 2017), self-regulation (Wolters & Hussain, 2015), and resiliency to suicide (Kleiman et al., 2013). However, only a few studies to date have examined grit's relationship with foreign language learning (Giordano, 2019;Robins, 2019;Wei et al., 2019;Teimouri et al., 2020). ...
Although research has ascribed a number of virtues to critical thinking, what critical thinking means is itself open to debate. This paper, as a part of a larger qualitative study on critical thinking practice in a Vietnamese EFL context, presents the findings about how Vietnamese EFL teachers and students in a university interpreted critical thinking.
The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with eight teachers and 22 students in a Vietnamese tertiary EFL context to seek their understandings of critical thinking. A majority of the interviews (28) were conducted in Vietnamese, then transcribed in their entirety, and translated into English. Thematic analysis was used to make sense of the data.
The participating teachers and students defined critical thinking as involving cognitive skills (e.g., analysing, synthesising, evaluating) and affective dispositions (e.g., inquisitiveness, open-mindedness). Their understandings were found to be limited to the first two domains of criticality in Barnett’s (1997) framework. That is, they understood critical thinking mainly within the domains of “knowledge”, less in “self”, barely at all in the domain of the “world”. The findings further revealed three characteristics distinctive in the participants’ conceptions of critical thinking: (i) expressing personal opinions as an indication of critical thinking, (ii) right/wrong dichotomy as the aim of critical thinking, and (iii) others’ rather than one’s own opinions or arguments as the subject of criticism.
The findings imply that the participating teachers and students appeared to have quite a rudimentary grasp of critical thinking and that their understandings were influenced to some extent by the Vietnamese culture of teaching and learning, which has some implications for the application of critical thinking in an EFL context.
... At the same time, researchers have posited that the demarcation between curiosity and openness to experience is due to the autocatalytic nature of curiosity (Baehr, 2013;Gruber et al., 2014;Sheldon et al., 2015). That is, the states of curiosity transform the passivity of openness of experience into cognitive, emotional, and behavioral exploratory action (Kashdan et al., 2018). ...
Anxiety, stress, dissatisfaction, and disengagement at work have continued to rise in the United States, due partly to global conditions of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The persistent cadence of associated change requires individuals to develop an embodied integration of sophisticated cognitive, emotional, social, and meaning-making dexterity. In effect, in such conditions, individuals need curiosity. This phenomenological study examined the lived experience of curiosity of an individual within the context of receiving humanistic coaching based on a sample of nine executives. The resulting data revealed a biopsychosocial, multi-componential process associated with curiosity. Contextualizing state curiosity in this way may encourage researchers and practitioners to forgo the perspective that curiosity occurs in relatively discrete intervals and, instead, embrace the concept that curiosity states encompass experiential variability across the mind-body dimensions (e.g., cognitive activation, emotional intensity, somatic sensation) associated with distinct stages within a state curiosity framework. This multi-componential process view also suggests that the stages of state curiosity may involve a mechanism of linking separate states, thereby, influencing the intensity, sustainability and/or frequency of episodic curiosity. Finally, framing state curiosity as a multi-componential process may also help to bring a humanistic texturization, which could contribute to our intersubjective understanding of how individuals are curious.
... Asimismo, la persistencia, prudencia y esperanza se han asociado a conducta positiva en clase y logros en educación primaria y secundaria (Wagner & Ruch, 2015). Incluso, la persistencia y curiosidad predijeron incrementos en la obtención de logros a través del tiempo (Sheldon et al., 2015). ...
Good character is a principal area in Positive Psychology. The current thesis assesses character strengths with mixed method: quantitative though factor analysis and qualitative using content analysis. Main purpose is evaluate and analyze the character strengths factors in participants from Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay to identify whether international findings are replicated; and verify replication in each country independently. A non probabilistic intentional sample was used: 854 university students (273 Ecuadorians, 277 Peruvians and 304 Paraguayan). Participants completed Inventario de Virtudes y Fortalezas del Carácter IVyF (Cosentino & Castro Solano, 2012) and Protocolo de Cualidades Positivas (Castro Solano & Cosentino, 2013). Main results show three character strengths factors: moderation, progress and fraternity. Secondly, this three factor model is the most parsimonious and replicable despite some differences. Finally, dimensional structure has intercultural differences because each countries have specific relations. Main conclusion show three factors of character strengths and intercultural differences in dimensional structure of each country. Data has limitations: used sample could not be an average citizen of each culture and countries were considered as national culture. Future studies should research intracultural differences in character strengths, identify causes of intercultural differences in each population and analyze character strengths in others Latin-American countries.
... Grit, defined as the long-term pursuit of higher-order goals in the face of obstacles or setbacks, is one resource that has been associated with long-term goal striving and holds considerable relevance for goal attainment (Duckworth et al., 2007). Past research has shown that strong initial grit is essential for effective goal striving (Sheldon et al., 2015). Thus, identifying factors that contribute to grit could have important practical implications in achievement contexts where goal striving is prevalent. ...
Long-term goal striving has been recognized as an important stage in goal achievement. Compared with the development of measurements of goal setting, researchers tended to measure goal striving in different manners. This study examined the conceptual structure of goal striving and validated a new scale to operationalize the construct within academic learning contexts. A 25-item scale was validated with 522 Chinese university students to assess its factor structure, reliability, gender invariance, criterion-related validity, and incremental validity. Confirmatory factor analysis results supported both the first-order and second-order model. Overall, the scale showed good reliability, validity, and invariance across gender. We suggested that this new scale could be used as an effective measure to assess the level of goal striving among university students in a Chinese context.
... This research convinces us of the importance of grit as a crucial variable with a meaningful role in interpreting the relationship between PsyCap and GE. Grit has been demonstrated to have a significant positive impact across diverse settings, in particular higher goal attainment (Sheldon et al., 2015); academic achievement (Bowman et al., 2015); persistence in challenging tasks (Lucas et al., 2015); and remaining employed (Robertson-Kraft & Duckworth, 2014). Research on grit has also examined its impact on academic performance and achievement among students, across various settings (Lee & Sohn, 2017;Park & Cho, 2019). ...
The construct of graduate employability (GE) has received considerable attention from researchers and practitioners because of its crucial role in national economic agendas. Previous research is mixed in terms of the association between psychological capital (PsyCap) and GE. This represents a significant theoretical gap in the literature. To address this knowledge gap and better understand the relationship, we proposed grit as the potential "moderator" between PsyCap and GE. By incorporating grit as moderator, this paper aims to contribute to concept and theory development in the field of educational management. The paper provides valuable insights that support the notion that PsyCap and grit acquisition enhance GE.
... Grit also predicts the final round reached in the National Spelling Bee (Duckworth et al., 2007) and buffers athletes against the deleterious effects of critical feedback on subsequent performance (Moles, Auerbach, & Petrie, 2017). In a large international community sample followed longitudinally, grit emerged as the most reliable predictor of self-reported goal attainment when compared to other "personality strengths" (Sheldon, Jose, Kashdan, & Jarden, 2015). ...
Grit—the tendency to pursue especially long-term goals with both passion and perseverance—has been shown to predict high achievement in a range of individual performance domains. We make a case for introducing the concept of grit to the organizational behavior literature. To begin, we elaborate the conceptual foundations of grit, highlighting ways in which grit differs from related traits and situating grit in the broader literature on goal pursuit. We then discuss three organizational antecedents—leadership, culture, and job design—that can encourage grit at work. Next, we discuss how and under what circumstances encouraging grit can improve workplace outcomes such as employee retention, work engagement, and job performance. We conclude with suggestions for future research at the intersection of psychology and organizational behavior.
... Selain konstruksi grit yang dikaitkan dengan hasil akademik, beberapa penelitian telah menunjukkan hubungan antara grit dan hasil pribadi tertentu. Grit memiliki hubungan yang signifikan dengan pencapaian kehidupan yang lebih tinggi (Abuhassàn & Bates, 2015); peningkatan pencapaian tujuan (Sheldon et al., 2015); diagnosis gangguan kejiwaan yang terjadi bersamaan (Griffin et al., 2016); status pekerjaan (Griffin et al., 2016); terbakar (Halliday et al., 2016) dan keterampilan manajemen perawatan kesehatan yang lebih besar (Sharkey et al., 2017). Telah ditunjukkan juga dalam beberapa penelitian bahwa bahwa grit berkorelasi positif dengan growth mindset (mindset berkembang) (Duckworth et al., 2007;Hochanadel & Finamore, 2015); kesehatan mental yang lebih tinggi (Sharkey et al., 2017); dan stabilitas emosional selama peristiwa kehidupan yang penuh tekanan atau negatif (Blalock et al., 2015). ...
Grit or persistence is an individual effort exerted to achieve a long-term effort with a sustainable spirit and to develop this grittiness, a growth mindset is needed by that individual in order to believe or appreciate these abilities. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between grit and mindset among nursing students at Universitas Klabat, using a correlative method and consecutive sampling technique, consented by 226 students. Data analysis employing percentage, frequency, mean, standard deviation, and Spearman’s Correlation test. It is found that the grit of the participants averaged in 3.43 (SD= 0.531) signifying that the students were “quite gritty”. While for mindset the students were at the “intermediate mindset” level (M= 2.460; SD=0.676). Moreover, Spearman’s correlation revealed p=0.002 (<0.01) and r=-0.201 indicating a negative weak correlation between grit and mindset, signifying that the more gritty the student, the more fixed their mindset. It is recommended to conduct similar research to other students or study program and that the information about grit and mindset could be passed along throughout Universitas Klabat or other schools, and that also experimental study is suggested in the area of grit and mindset. For the institution, it is recommended that grit and mindset seminars, training, or workshops could be conducted for the students that they may aware of their situation and improve to be better and eventually achieve a successful learning experience. Keywords: grit, mindset, nursing, students Abstrak Grit atau ketekunan adalah usaha seseorang untuk mencapai tujuan jangka panjang dengan semangat yang berkelanjutan, dan untuk mengembangkan grit diperlukan growth mindset agar seseorang percaya akan kemampuan diri dan menghargai kemampuan tersebut. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui apakah ada hubungan yang signifikan antara grit dan mindset pada mahasiswa Keperawatan Universitas Klabat. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah deskriptif korelasi dengan teknik consecutive sampling diikuti oleh 226 mahasiswa yang setuju berpartisipasi. Analisa data menggunakan persentase, frekuensi, serta uji statistik Spearman’s Correlation menemukan rata-rata grit dari seluruh partisipan adalah M=3.43 (SD= 0.531) yang berarti partisipan berada pada skala “agak gritty”. Sedangkan rata-rata mindset dari partisipan berada pada nilai M= 2.460 (SD=0.676) yang berarti skala rata-rata “intermediate mindset” dan hasil uji Spearman’s correlation menunjukkan nilai p=0.002 (<0.01) dengan nilai r=-0.201 yang artinya ada hubungan negatif yang signifikan namun lemah antara grit dan mindset pada mahasiswa Keperawatan Universitas Klabat, yang artinya semakin gritty seorang mahasiswa, mereka berada pada mindset yang semakin fixed. Rekomendasi bagi peneliti selanjutnya agar dapat melakukan penelitian dengan menambah jumlah sampel dan memperluas penelitian ke fakultas lain agar informasi mengenai grit dan mindset juga dapat disalurkan kepada semua mahasiswa di Universitas Klabat bahkan di Universitas dan sekolah lain, serta dapat melakukan penelitian eksperimental pada area grit dan mindset. Bagi institusi, kiranya dapat mempelajari grit dan mindset, serta memberikan seminar, training atau workshop mengenai hal ini, sehingga mahasiswa boleh aware mengenai keadaan mereka. Kata kunci: grit, mindset, mahasiswa, perawat
... Grit has positive correlations with established psychological attributes which implies thriving such as happiness and life satisfaction (Singh and Jha 2008), conscientiousness (Duckworth et al. 2007, Datu et al. 2017, growth mindset (Duckworth et al. 2007, Hochanadel andFinamore 2015), self-esteem (Weisskirch 2018), self-efficacy (Muenks et al. 2017) and resilience (Blalock et al. 2015, Calo et al. 2019). More prominently, grit has been shown to achieve better outcomes above and beyond intelligence and conscientiousness, which includes higher education attainment, lesser career changes and marital stability (Eskreis-Winkler et al. 2014), academic performance (Duckworth and Seligman 2005), well-being outcomes (Sheldon et al. 2015) and inversely related to psychological distress (Datu et al. 2017) and depression (Jin and Kim 2017). Grit has evidence of being an important element when it comes to holding on and following through, which eventually leads to success. ...
A growing interest in grit, which is defined as passionate perseverance for long-term goals, has included interest in quantifying it. Grit is typically measured via a self-report questionnaire, either with the Original Grit Scale (Grit-O) or the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S). However, there is a paucity of systematic evidence of the psychometrics of translated and adapted, or transadapted, versions of the grit measures across settings. This study systematically reviewed the literature on the psychometric properties of grit measures available and used across cultures. We searched the PsycINFO, Scopus, ScienceDirect and ProQuest electronic databases for articles published in English up to October 2019. This review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. A total of 20 studies met the inclusion criteria, which included eight studies on newly developed grit measures and 12 studies which transadapted the existing Grit-O and the GritS to various languages and contexts. In the first category, despite being newly developed, the grit measures included items that were derived from the Grit-O or the GritS. These measures show promise, however, remain to be tested outside of the initial conception setting, thus limiting generalization. In the latter category, transadapted versions of the Grit-O and GritS returned with acceptable reliability and validity indexes, indicating for the measures to purportedly measure grit. However, factor analyses showed varying factor structures, suggesting grit manifestations to be non-universal and may be explained by cultural differences between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Further validation studies, as well as the development of culture-specific grit measures, are implored.
... These dispositional tendencies and experiential correlates can also translate into more general well-being effects. The positive relation between trait curiosity and happiness/well-being is well-established [23,27,28]. It is explained by a higher probability of pleasurable and meaningful moments in life [23] and higher openness to things that are unknown or difficult to understand-for instance, when viewing art [29], acquiring reading and math competence [30], engaging with contradictory political information [31], or dealing with rejection [32]. ...
Curiosity is evoked when people experience an information-gap between what they know and what they do not (yet) know. Curious people are motivated to find the information they are missing. This motivation has different components: People want to reduce the uncertainty of not knowing something (deprivation motive) and they want to discover new information to expand their knowledge (discovery motive). We discuss recent research that shows that the affective experience of curiosity is the result of the relative strength of the deprivation and discovery motives. This, in turn, is contingent on individual differences, anticipated features of the actual target, and features of the information-gap.
... Furthermore, grit reduced burnout and lowered the risk of attrition for medical residents (Burkhart et al., 2014;Dam et al., 2019;Salles et al., 2014Salles et al., , 2017Walker et al., 2016). Higher levels of grit were also linked to retention in college, work and marriage (Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014;Robertson-Kraft & Duckworth, 2014;Saunders-Scott et al., 2018) and increased goal attainment (Sheldon et al., 2015). Suzuki et al. (2015) suggested that grittier people perform better in both work and academic settings due to higher engagement. ...
The concept of grit, defined as having passion and perseverance for long-term goals, has gained significant recognition in recent years. The idea that being gritty is ultimately more important than innate talent to achieve goals has widespread appeal. This review examined the concept of grit to clarify relationships between constructs and identify future opportunities for research. A systematic search across five databases including CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science yielded 422 records. After screening and assessment for eligibility, 42 articles were retained and reviewed using the Walker and Avant method for concept analysis. Results provided support for passion, perseverance and long-term goals as defining attributes of grit, along with an extensive nomological network of antecedents, consequences, and mediating and moderating variables. Positive thoughts, behaviours and habits appear to play a key preparatory role in achieving long-term goals. Grit was associated with reduced burnout and depression, improved performance and well-being. Further research is needed to understand the best practice approaches for developing grit at both an individual and collective level.
... Without this awareness of totality, we cannot claim to fully understand coaching. We advocate that the interrelatedness of client factors and contextual factors as introduced in the Integrative Relationship Model (IRM) form the linchpin of future quantitative approaches to coaching outcome research (Sheldon et al., 2015). On the other hand, we argue that IRM indicates a shift from coaching as merely a linear input-output practice for enhancing performance towards adopting dynamic system perspectives in social psychology that reflect the multi-faceted nature of coaching practice and research (Cavanagh, 2013). ...
Context-sensitivity appears to be a key factor in developing the knowledge base of coaching as a change process. As an alternative perspective to the more widely held cause–effect explanations on coaching, this view puts the focus on clients and their contexts as integral to understanding how coaching might work and why it is effective. In response to general limitations of quantitative and mixed-method approaches to understanding the contribution of client factors and contextual factors in coaching effectiveness, our systematic meta-synthesis of 110 peer-reviewed qualitative studies identifies the client factors and contextual conditions that have been proposed to affect when and how clients engage in effective coaching. In mapping clients’ intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics in coaching, the Integrative Relationship Model introduced in this meta-synthesis interprets the possible influence of these dynamics on clients’ change process through the uniquely integrative lens of qualitative studies. This integrative perspective appears necessary to give quantitative researchers future directions in how to investigate coaching effectiveness.
... or what is called a "small-to-medium" effect. Other authors like Sheldon et al. (2015) compared grit to nine other positive personality characteristics in a year-long study of goal attainment and found that grit was the most reliable predictor of achieving personally meaningful goals over that period. These findings suggest that grit is an important determinant of success, although not the only one. ...
Given the recent relevance of non-cognitive skills for consequential outcomes in the educational, personal, and professional domains, the objective of this systematic review was to synthesize the quality of the evidences on grit as predictor and outcome of educational, professional, and personal success. A pre-specified systematic review protocol was designed and implemented to synthesize the qualitative finding. A systematic literature search was conducted across diverse platforms and databases. A narrative content analysis was adopted to analyze the results. The final sample of studies reviewed was 90. The following analytical themes were identified: grit as a predictor of educational, professional, and personal success, and grit as outcome of demographic, educational, professional, and personal success. The results suggest that the evidences of effectiveness of grit as a predictor are largely stronger than those of grit as outcome. Additionally, our findings unveil that research on this construct is off to a good start, even though higher-quality research is needed.
... All the developmental changes occurring in adolescence can make coping with stressors a tumultuous task and, thus, an individual's wellbeing can suffer. The pursuit and achievement of personal goals in adolescents such as high academic performance, successful career and outstanding sport performance can lead to a psychologically fulfilling life as this provides structure and meaning to one's activities and identity (Gray, Ozer & Rosenthal, 2017).However, inhibited goal progress and conflict are associated with decrease psychological wellbeing in adolescents(Sheldon, Jose, Kashdan, & Jarden, 2015). The Harvard Raising Teens Project identified www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/jpbr ...
Psychological wellbeing consists of two philosophical perspectives: hedonic and eudaimonic viewpoints. These paradigms are developed and changes overtime across life span subject to life course experiences influenced by the individual’s live experience. More importantly early years’ experience moderate individuals’ psychological wellbeing as being positive or negative with attendant consequences. Understanding psychological wellbeing across developmental life course provides useful insights for life adjustment as individual, families and groups to navigate life turbulence.
... En definitiva, las fortalezas del carácter acá estudiadas pueden actuar como vías para el cultivo del bienestar en el personal educativo. En efecto, la bibliogrsfía científica especializada refiere que las fortalezas de la gratitud, amor, conocimiento, esperanza y autocontrol son las que más pueden llegar a predecir el bienestar psicológico Castro y Cosentino, 2016;Park et al., 2004;Sheldon, Jose, Kashdan y Jarden, 2015;Proyer, Gander, Wyss y Ruch, 2011;. ...
En el marco de la promoción del bienestar psicológico en contextos educativos se presenta la siguiente experiencia de investigación con los objetivos de: a) determinar el efecto del programa basado en psicología positiva sobre el bienestar psicológico de personas actoras educativas antes de la intervención basada en fortalezas del carácter y después de esta, b) analizar las relaciones entre bienestar psicológico y las fortalezas del carácter luego de la aplicación del programa. A nivel metodológico corresponde a un diseño cuasi experimental pre y post, además de correlacional. De ahí que se llevó a cabo con dos grupos independientes de varios individuos actores educativos del sistema educativo uruguayo con una muestra en dos grupos: A de 34 sujetos y B de 26 sujetos, la técnica de recolección de datos fue a través de la escala de bienestar psicológico BIEPS-A de Casullo (2002) y sub escalas de fortalezas del carácter de la versión adaptada y validada por Rojas y Feldman (2010), ambas con adecuadas evidencias de confiabilidad y validez, se emplearon pruebas de contrastes de hipótesis no paramétricas para el análisis de datos. A modo de resultados, se obtuvo que hubo cambios estadísticamente significativos en bienestar psicológico antes y después de realizado el programa de psicología positiva, tanto en el grupo A (Z = -4,31, p <0.05) como en el grupo B (Z = -3,49, p <0.05). De igual manera, se encontraron correlaciones estadísticamente significativas entre el bienestar psicológico y las fortalezas del carácter luego de la aplicación del programa psicología positiva aplicada a la educación. De modo que se recomienda la profundización en estudios dedicados a examinar el efecto de intervenciones orientadas a la promoción del bienestar psicológico en contextos educativos.
... The second dimension, expressed as the use of strengths, refers to an energising experience that enhances intrinsic motivation and drives an individual to experience positive emotional states. Self-reported strengths knowledge and use have been identified as major predictors of subjective wellbeing in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies among different age groups (e.g., Govindji & Linley, 2007;Proctor et al., 2011;Quinlan, Swain, Cameron, & Vella-Brodrick, 2015;Sheldon, Jose, Kashdan, & Jarden, 2015;Waters, 2015a;Wood, Linley, Maltby, Kashdan, & Hurling, 2011). Strength use was associated with hope and positive coping in child samples (Madden, Green, & Grant, 2011;Waters, 2015b), life satisfaction and self-esteem in adolescents (Proctor et al., 2011;Suldo, Savage, & Mercer, 2014;Waters, 2015a), subjective wellbeing, selfesteem, self-efficacy, and life satisfaction in college samples (Allan & Duffy, 2014;Douglass & Duffy, 2015;Proctor et al., 2011), and happiness in adult samples (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005). ...
The aim of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects (via mental toughness) of strength-based parenting on adolescents' psychological distress and subjective happiness. Participants included 370 adolescents (M = 15.86 years, SD = 0.50, range = 14-18 years, 51.6% girls) attending public high schools in Turkey. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires that included measures of strength-based parenting, mental toughness, psychological distress, and subjective happiness. Findings provided evidence of both direct as well as indirect effects (via mental toughness) of strength-based parenting on adolescents' psychological outcomes. Specifically, results showed that strength-based parenting was negatively and directly related to psychological distress, and positively and directly related to subjective happiness. In addition, strength-based parenting was indirectly related to psychological distress and subjective happiness through mental toughness. The findings highlight the importance of strength-based parenting and mental toughness on psychological outcomes in adolescents.
This study aims to determine the influence of spirituality and self-regulation on the subjective well-being of high school students. This research used a quantitative approach with multiple linear regression analysis. The participants were 404 high school students in Kebumen Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. The results show that spirituality and self-regulation simultaneously have a significant positive influence on subjective well-being by 28%. Partially, spirituality and self-regulation have a significant effect on subjective well-being with a greater influence from self-regulation (16.3%) than spirituality (11.6%).
Grit, as a personality strength, has been found to benefit students’ academic attainment and wellbeing. To promote grit is helpful for Chinese migrant children to resist their difficulties in poorer academic performance and personality disadvantages. Based on the indirect view of socialization, this study examined how temperamental effortful control and mother and teacher support are related to migrant children’s two facets of grit, consistency of interest (grit-CI) and perseverance of effort (grit-PE), including the mediating function of mother and teacher support. Six hundred and five migrant children (Mage = 10.90, SDage = 0.76) from Mainland China participated in this three-wave prospective longitudinal study. Children’s parents answered the measures of effortful control, while children responded to questionnaires about grit, mother support, and teacher support. Effortful control and social support (i.e., mother and teacher support) significantly and positively predicted grit-CI and grit-PE, with the predictive effect stronger on grit-PE than that on grit-CI. Temperamental effortful control predicted migrant children’s grit-CI through mother support, and it predicted their grit-PE through teacher support. Aside from the indirect effects through social support, effortful control also kept the direct effects on grit. Temperamental effortful control and mother and teacher support independently and jointly enhanced migrant children’s grit-CI and grit-PE in slightly different ways. Shifting from a deficit perspective to a character-strengths perspective, educators need to emphasize migrant children’s protective factors such as temperamental effortful control, social support, and grit to enhance their positive development.
Introduction:
Humanistic psychologists have conceptualized a tendency among humans to experience continual open-ended psychological growth. This study aims to measure the rate at which one grows psychologically using a novel growth curve modeling approach that addresses previous limitations. We also examine the effects of nine potential contributors to growth identified from the literature.
Method:
Throughout the freshman year, 556 college students responded six times. Increments of growth were added up to create cumulative growth, which was then fit to a growth curve model to produce an estimate of the growth rate. The growth rate was then regressed on the Time 1 predictors to examine their unique effects.
Results:
Models fit well. Five predictors significantly predicted the growth rate after controlling for the average of other predictors. When all predictors were entered simultaneously, three predictors (hope, meaning, and personal growth initiative) showed significant unique effects. The growth rate predicted well-being and satisfaction at Time 6.
Conclusion:
We successfully measured the rate of psychological growth and examined its antecedents. Follow-up analyses suggested that the predictors not showing unique effects may indirectly predict growth rates via the proximal role of the three significant predictors, an idea that awaits future corroboration using within-individual designs.
For language learners who aspire to become multilingual, commitment involves a personal journey. Defining persistence as a preoccupation with goal‐focused action directed to a desired future state and drawing on research from cognitive psychology and the mental time travel paradigm, this article presents an identity‐based framework of persistence in multiple language learning. In the framework, persistence is supported through the operation of 3 interconnecting processes: (a) the generation of personally meaningful goals aimed at becoming multilingual, (b) the conjuring of mental images that represent states, events, and values associated with being multilingual, and (c) the integration of representations of multilingualism within an unfolding personal history. To illustrate these processes, data from online sources and research literature exploring language learners’ narrative biographies is used. The relevance of the framework is critically assessed in relation to (a) the development of interventions supporting motivation for foreign language learning, (b) the exploration of motivational processes through narrative‐based inquiry, and (c) the varying linguistic, social, and societal contexts in which multiple language learning takes place.
Background:
Happiness is a phenomenon that relates to better mental and physical health and even longevity. There has been an increase in surveys assessing subjective well-being as well as happiness, one of the well-being components that reflect one's feelings or moods. Happiness is mostly measured in adult samples. There is a lack of an overview of the tools used to evaluate adolescent happiness, so this paper aimed to review them.
Methods:
A literature search was performed in the PubMed and PsycArticles databases (2010-2019). In total, 133 papers met the eligibility criteria for this systematic review.
Results:
The results are grouped according to the type of measure, single or multiple items, that was used in a study. Almost half of the studies (64 of 133) evaluated subjective happiness using single-item measures. The most commonly used scales were the 4-item Subjective Happiness Scale and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. Among the 133 articles analyzed, 18 reported some validation procedures related to happiness. However, in the majority of cases (14 studies), happiness was not the central phenomenon of validation, which suggests a lack of happiness validation studies.
Conclusions:
Finally, recommendations for future research and for the choice of happiness assessment tools are presented.
Although temporal conceptualizations of motivational processes have not held center stage in motivation science, the situation is currently changing. Drawing on work in the subfield of language learning motivation, where the motivational endurance needed to master a second language has been a major concern, the aim of this article is to contribute to the body of work currently exploring motivational persistence. After outlining the broader academic context of motivation and time, and describing the disciplinary trajectory of research into language learning motivation, we present two interrelated and multifaceted frameworks that seek to explain long-term motivation and motivational persistence: (a) the notion of a “directed motivational current,” which refers to a period of intense, enduring, and self-sustaining engagement within an activity-sequence, and which is phenomenologically akin to an extended flow experience, and (b) a multicomponent framework of long-term motivation that offers a general account of sustained effort in learning. This framework integrates diverse components, such as self-concordant vision, habitual actions, progress checks, and affirmative feedback, and references a motivational process that is characterized by positive emotional loading and passion, and is supported by self-control capacity and self-regulatory skills.
Two studies were conducted to further the understanding of daily experiences of perseverance and passion and the influences of personality traits (e.g., grit and conscientiousness) and contextual factors. Study 1 applied the experience sampling method (n = 116; observations = 5,187) and found that perseverance of effort (PE) predicted passion when controlling for conscientiousness. Study 2 used the day reconstruction method (n = 468; observations = 1,872) and found that both PE and consistency of interest (CI) had effects, although CI was a stronger predictor than PE. In both studies, PE was moderated only by instrumentality of the activity, whereas CI was moderated only by perceived difficulty. We also found mediating effects of instrumentality, (lower) perceived difficulty, and (fewer) intrusive thoughts on the pathways between traits and perseverance and passion. These results deepen our knowledge on why and how perseverance-related traits impact daily experiences of perseverance and passion.
Introduction:
GRIT, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, is a personality trait that is key to academic success and career achievement. Doctors face significant challenges and exposure to stressful situations throughout their career and require high levels of grit and perseverance to achieve success and avoid burn-out. This study aimed to measure overall levels of grit among hospital doctors and medical students and to compare levels of Grit across specialties and career grades.
Method:
ology: A cross-sectional survey was used to measure GRIT levels using the validated Short Grit Scale (GRIT-S). Hospital doctors and medical students at University Hospital Galway were asked to complete the questionnaire. Gender, age, grade, education, and speciality were recorded. Analysis was conducted using STATA V12.1™ and SPSS 25™.
Results:
378 questionnaires were completed with a participation rate of 75.6% eligible for analysis. The female: male ratio was 1.2:1, with a mean age of 29.6 ± 8.3 years. The mean Grit score of participants was 3.56 ± 0.55. Grit trait was independent of gender and increased with age and grade. Consultants had significantly higher mean Grit score (3.86 ± 0.59, p = 0.004). There was no difference between medical specialities, nor between graduate-entry and undergraduate medical students.
Conclusion:
our results show that medical students and NCHDs alike have high levels of Grit compared to the general population, and the levels increase with career advancement, with the highest scores observed in consultants. This suggests that Grit might be of benefit as an adjunct in the selection process of applicants for training schemes and jobs that require high levels of resilience, as well as an adjunct to monitoring progress in training from a personality and mental health perspective.
Development occurs through the process of setting and working toward goals, in which individuals are often working toward multiple goals that are likely to conflict with one another. Although motivation theories hold that goal conflict is a kind of potential stress that may damage individuals’ mental health and wellbeing, the empirical research results on the relationship between goal conflict and wellbeing are quite different. There may be unknown factors affecting the relationship between the two. Against this background, we conducted the exploration of the relationship between goal conflict and life satisfaction, mainly by analyzing the moderated mediating effect of mixed emotions and construal level. The results showed that the goal conflict did not directly affect life satisfaction (β = −0.01, p > 0.5) but indirectly influenced life satisfaction through mixed emotions (β = −0.17, p < 0.001). The construal level moderated the relationship between mixed emotions and life satisfaction (β = −0.08, p < 0.01), and the higher construal level will predict higher life satisfaction especially when mixed emotions were low (M − SD) or medium (M). Therefore, the hypothesis of moderated mediating effect is verified, and we can draw the following conclusions: (1) Goal conflict does not necessarily impair life satisfaction. (2) Goal conflict impairs life satisfaction conditional on the fact that it triggers mixed emotions. Since mixed emotions are often accompanied by feelings of ambivalence and discomfort, they reduce the individual’s evaluation of life satisfaction. (3) In the path of goal conflict reducing life satisfaction through mixed emotions, the higher construal level mitigates the adverse effects of mixed emotions to some extent.
Grit, which is originally conceptualized as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, has been associated with optimal performance. Although previous meta-analytic and systematic reviews summarized how grit relates to performance outcomes, they possess considerable shortcomings like: (a) absence of summary on the association of grit with well-being outcomes; (b) absence of discussion on social, psychological, and emotional mechanisms linking grit to well-being; and (c) lack of elaboration on how alternative models can resolve fundamental problems in the grit construct. This integrative review provides a comprehensive summary on the link of grit to performance and well-being outcomes. Importantly, it elaborates how alternative models can potentially address flaws in the existing grit theory. Future research directions are discussed on how to move forward the science of grit.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among goal-focused self regulation, Life satisfaction, and work-life balance. Specifically, this study investigated the mediating role of work-life balance on the relationship between goal-focused self regulation life satisfaction. In addition, this study examined a moderating effect of WLB organizational culture on the relationship between work-life balance and life satisfaction. Data were collected from 216 Korean employees who were working in various organization via online survey, and 200 data were used for analyses. The findings were as follows: First, there were positive relationships among goal-focused self regulation, life satisfaction, and work-life balance. Second, the results of structural equation analysis showed a strong support for the proposed model, and the result of bootstrapping analysis supported that the effect of goal-focused self regulation on life satisfaction was partially mediated by work-life balance. Third, the results of hierarchical analysis showed that there was a moderating effect of WLB organizational culture on the relationship between work-life balance and life satisfaction. Based on these results, implications and limitations of this study with the directions for future research were discussed.
Background:
There had been little focus on the well-being of intensive care nurses until a recent programme of research found work well-being to be best described as a collection of elements, a multifaceted construct. Strengtheners of intensive care nurses' work well-being were found to extend across individual, relational, and organizational resources. Actions such as simplifying their lives, giving and receiving team support, and accessing employee assistance programmes were just a few of the intensive care nurses' identified strengtheners.
Aims and objectives:
To synthesize intensive care nurse perceptions of work well-being characteristics and strengtheners to identify opportunities for job crafting and redesign.
Design:
This was a qualitative secondary analysis.
Methods:
Intensive care nurse work well-being characteristics and strengtheners were explored using applied thematic analysis and pre-design, open card-sort technique.
Results:
Five facets were identified in the analysis: (a) healthy, (b) authentic, (c) meaningful, (d) connected, and (e) innovative. These five facets were described from a theoretical perspective and illustrated as a conceptual model for intensive care nurse job crafting and redesign.
Conclusions:
The proposed conceptual model contributes new knowledge to be explored in meaningful discussions about intensive care nurse work well-being and empirically investigated in terms of construct validity and theory development. Furthermore, the model provides practical opportunities to explore individual and collaborative ways to enhance intensive care nurse work well-being across a range of levels.
Relevance to clinical practice:
Opportunities for job crafting and redesign were identified and presented in a conceptual model of intensive care nurse work well-being. This model provides individual nurses, intensive care teams, health care organizations, and workers' well-being programme and policy developers practical opportunities to explore individual and collaborative ways to enhance intensive care nurse work well-being.
This paper describes a new vocational theory—the strengths-based inclusive theory of work (S-BIT of Work). This theory addresses the ever-changing, dynamic nature of the world of work and integrates counseling psychology’s core values of emphasizing vocational psychology, strengths-based perspectives, multiculturalism, and social justice. We aim to provide a holistic vocational theory to inform career and work counseling practice by increasing clinicians’ cultural responsivity, promoting clients’ strengths and optimal functioning, and addressing a variety of vocational challenges across developmental stages. This first article in the Major Contribution includes a discussion of the S-BIT of Work’s core assumptions and theoretical propositions, research supporting the development of the S-BIT of Work, as well as future directions. The second and third articles in this Major Contribution discuss a model of fulfulling work, and the infusion of positive psychology and cultural responsivity in work counseling practice, respectively.
In four studies, the authors examined the correlates of the disposition toward gratitude. Study 1 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 1 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.
Presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of personal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from 4 principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Factors influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arise from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral changes. (21/2 p ref)
"By now, it has become a bromide that the U.S. constitution and culture are built on the pursuit of happiness (Myers, 1992). According to this political philosophy, government should allow citizens to strive towards their own conception of happiness, and should assist them as much as possible to reach this goal. In return, citizens ought to make the most of the opportunity, ultimately contributing to the common good of all. The enduring appeal of this American ideal rests on the very plausible assumption that happiness is the fundamental objective of all human effort and activity, in all cultures, whether people are aware of it or not. By taking action, humans aim towards more positive conditions and feelings than they currently experience, or towards more positive future feelings than what they might otherwise experience if they failed to act (Carver & Scheier, 1998). Accordingly, becoming happier is not only a hugely popular topic on the self-help shelves, it is increasingly becoming a stated policy goal of world governments, with the gross national happiness of the country (rather than its gross domestic product) as the primary quantity to be maximized "
The human experience of meaning in life is widely viewed as a cornerstone of well-being and a central human motivation. Self-reports of meaning in life relate to a host of important functional outcomes. Psychologists have portrayed meaning in life as simultaneously chronically lacking in human life as well as playing an important role in survival. Examining the growing literature on meaning in life, we address the question, "How meaningful is life, in general?" We review possible answers from various psychological sources, some of which anticipate that meaning in life should be low, and others high. Summaries of epidemiological data and research using two self-report measures of meaning in life suggest that life is pretty meaningful. Diverse samples rate themselves significantly above the midpoint on self-reports of meaning in life. We suggest that if meaning in life plays a role in adaptation, it must be commonplace, as our analysis suggests.
We examined the relative effectiveness of hardiness and grit as predictors of performance and retention among first year cadets at the USMA. Based on past research and theory, we expected that both hardiness and grit would predict unique variance in performance and retention even after controlling for past performance as measured by the Whole Candidate Score. Results of regression analyses revealed that hardiness and grit predicted unique variance in first year retention, but only hardiness predicted first year performance at USMA. These findings suggest that hardiness assessment and training may prove valuable in enhancing performance and retention within military training environments.
Bryant and Veroff (20077.
Bryant , FB and
Veroff , J . 2007. Savoring: A new model of positive experience, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. View all references, Savoring: A new model of positive experience. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates) have proposed that savoring, namely, regulating the emotional impact of positive events by one's cognitive or behavioral responses, increases happiness. The present study was designed to determine whether and how savoring influences daily happiness. Experience sampling methodology was used with 101 participants, who provided self-reports of their momentary positive events, savoring responses, and positive affect daily over a period of 30 days. Multilevel modeling analyses verified that (a) these three constructs were positively related to each other within a given day, (b) momentary savoring both mediated and moderated the impact of daily positive events on momentary happy mood, and (c) levels of trait savoring moderated the observed mediational pattern. These results provide support for the hypothesis that savoring is an important mechanism through which people derive happiness from positive events.
Adults from 27 different nations (total N = 24,836) completed on-line surveys in English measuring orientations to the seeking of happiness (through pleasure, through engagement, and through meaning) and life satisfaction. Nations differed in their orientations and clustered into three interpretable groups in terms of them. One cluster was defined by relatively high endorsement of seeking pleasure and seeking engagement; the second cluster by relatively high endorsement of seeking engagement and seeking meaning; and the third cluster by relatively low endorsement of all three ways of seeking happiness. Across all nations, each of the three orientations predicted life satisfaction, although orientations to engagement and to meaning were more robustly associated with life satisfaction than was an orientation to pleasure, replicating and extending previous findings. Limitations and implications of the research were discussed.
This study examined the effects of positive interventions and orientations to happiness on well-being. Participants were 218 self-selected adults randomly assigned to one of four positive interventions (pleasure, engagement, meaning or a combination), or daily events or no intervention control groups. Participants completed the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form and Orientations to Happiness Questionnaire. Analysis of variance results supported the hypothesis that well-being would significantly increase for participants in all intervention groups with those in the meaning, engagement, pleasure and combination groups showing larger increases than those in the control groups. Contrary to expectations, the control group also showed an increase in well-being. The prediction that participants’ dominant orientation to happiness would influence the success of the positive interventions in increasing well-being was supported at post-intervention but not at follow-up. Findings support the effectiveness of positive interventions in increasing well-being and underscore the importance of including individual difference factors such as Orientations to Happiness.
Counseling psychologists often work with clients to increase their well-being as well as to decrease their distress. One important aspect of well-being, highlighted particularly in humanistic theories of the counseling process, is perceived meaning in life. However, poor measurement has hampered research on meaning in life. In 3 studies, evidence is provided for the internal consistency, temporal stability, factor structure, and validity of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), a new 10-item measure of the presence of, and the search for, meaning in life. A multitrait-multimethod matrix demonstrates the convergent and discriminant validity of the MLQ subscales across time and informants, in comparison with 2 other meaning scales. The MLQ offers several improvements over current meaning in life measures, including no item overlap with distress measures, a stable factor structure, better discriminant validity, a briefer format, and the ability to measure the search for meaning.
Using signature strengths at work has been shown to influence workers' optimal functioning and well-being. However, little is known about the processes through which signature strengths lead to positive outcomes. The present research thus aimed at exploring the role of having a harmonious passion in the relation between using signature strengths and well-being. For this purpose, an intervention was developed where participants (n = 186) completed three activities aiming at developing their knowledge and use of their signature strengths at work. The results showed (1) that the intervention successfully increased participants' use of their signature strengths, (2) that participants from the experimental group reported a higher use of their signature strengths at the end of the study than participants from the control group, and (3) that increases in the use of signature strengths reported by participants from the experimental group were related to increases in harmonious passion, which in turn led to higher levels of well-being.
Using a ''subjectivist'' approach to the assessment of happiness, a new 4-item measure of global subjective happiness was developed and validated in 14 studies with a total of 2 732 participants. Data was collected in the United States from students on two college campuses and one high school campus, from community adults in two California cities, and from older adults. Students and community adults in Moscow, Russia also participated in this research. Results indicated that the Subjective Happiness Scale has high internal consistency, which was found to be stable across samples. Test-retest and self-peer correlations suggested good to excellent reliability, and construct validation studies of convergent and discriminant validity confirmed the use of this scale to measure the construct of subjective happiness. The rationale for developing a new measure of happiness, as well as advantages of this scale, are discussed.
The happiness that comes from a particular success or change in fortune abates with time. The Hedonic Adaptation Prevention (HAP) model specifies two routes by which the well-being gains derived from a positive life change are eroded--the first involving bottom-up processes (i.e., declining positive emotions generated by the positive change) and the second involving top-down processes (i.e., increased aspirations for even more positivity). The model also specifies two moderators that can forestall these processes--continued appreciation of the original life change and continued variety in change-related experiences. The authors formally tested the predictions of the HAP model in a 3-month three-wave longitudinal study of 481 students. Temporal path analyses and moderated regression analyses provided good support for the model. Implications for the stability of well-being, the feasibility of "the pursuit of happiness," and the appeal of overconsumption are discussed.
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.
Defining hope as a cognitive set that is composed of a reciprocally derived sense of successful (a) agency (goal-directed determination) and (b) pathways (planning of ways to meet goals), an individual-differences measure is developed. Studies demonstrate acceptable internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and the factor structure identifies the agency and pathways components of the Hope Scale. Convergent and discriminant validity are documented, along with evidence suggesting that Hope Scale scores augmented the prediction of goal-related activities and coping strategies beyond other self-report measures. Construct validational support is provided in regard to predicted goal-setting behaviors; moreover, the hypothesized goal appraisal processes that accompany the various levels of hope are corroborated.
Coherence and congruence-based measures of personality integration were related to a variety of healthy personality characteristics. Functional coherence was defined as occurring when participants' "personal strivings" (R.A. Emmons, 1986) help bring about each other or help bring about higher level goals. Organismic congruence was defined as occurring when participants strive for self-determined reasons or when strivings help bring about intrinsic rather than extrinsic higher level goals. Study 1 found the integration measures were related to each other and to inventory measures of health and well-being. Study 2 showed that these goal integration measures were also related to role system integration and were prospective predictors of daily mood, vitality, and engagement in meaningful as opposed to distracting activities.
Three studies compared 10 candidate psychological needs in an attempt to determine which are truly most fundamental for humans. Participants described "most satisfying events" within their lives and then rated the salience of each of the 10 candidate needs within these events. Supporting self-determination theory postulates (Ryan & Deci, 2000)--autonomy, competence, and relatedness, were consistently among the top 4 needs, in terms of both their salience and their association with event-related affect. Self-esteem was also important, whereas self-actualization or meaning, physical thriving, popularity or influence, and money-luxury were less important. This basic pattern emerged within three different time frames and within both U.S. and South Korean samples and also within a final study that asked, "What's unsatisfying about unsatisfying events?" Implications for hierarchical theories of needs are discussed.
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.
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 book presents a thorough overview of a model of human functioning based on the idea that behavior is goal-directed and regulated by feedback control processes. It describes feedback processes and their application to behavior, considers goals and the idea that goals are organized hierarchically, examines affect as deriving from a different kind of feedback process, and analyzes how success expectancies influence whether people keep trying to attain goals or disengage. Later sections consider a series of emerging themes, including dynamic systems as a model for shifting among goals, catastrophe theory as a model for persistence, and the question of whether behavior is controlled or instead 'emerges'. Three chapters consider the implications of these various ideas for understanding maladaptive behavior, and the closing chapter asks whether goals are a necessity of life. Throughout, theory is presented in the context of diverse issues that link the theory to other literatures.
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.
The right to "pursue happiness" is one of the dominant themes of western culture, and understanding the causes of happiness is one of the primary goals of the positive psychology movement. However, before the causality question can even be considered, a more basic question must be addressed: CAN happiness change? Reasons for skepticism include the notion of a "genetic set point" for happiness, i.e. a stable personal baseline of happiness to which individuals will always return, no matter how much their lives change for the better; the life-span stability of happiness-related traits such as neuroticism and extraversion; and the powerful processes of hedonic adaptation, which erode the positive effects of any fortuitous life change. This book investigates prominent theories on happiness with the research evidence to discuss when and how happiness changes and for how long. • Identifies all major theories of happiness • Reviews empirical results on happiness longevity/stability • Discusses mitigating factors in what influences happiness longevity.
This chapter considers four possible meanings of the "positive" in positive psychology: that positive psychology involves doing "positive science" (basic and applied research aimed at improving human life); that it involves assuming that human nature is inherently "good" as a theoretical tenet; that it involves merely appreciating formerly unappreciated but admirable aspects of human nature; and that it involves studying the positive rather than the negative extreme of particular topics (i.e. forgiveness, not revenge; elation, not depression). It suggests that positive psychology focus on "personality on up"; only there does the term "positive" make sense, because positive has meaning with reference to human experience. In contrast, positive physics, positive chemistry, or positive neuroscience make less sense as fields of study, except insofar as they benefit human experience and life. The chapter defends positive psychology against the individualistic bias critique by pointing out that truly positive individuality is also connected individuality, and that only the less admirable forms of Western individualism (materialism, narcissism, egocentrism) work against positive functioning at the relational and cultural levels.
Defining hope as a cognitive set that is composed of a reciprocally derived sense of successful (1) agency (goal-directed determination) and (2) pathways (planning of ways to meet goals), an individual-differences measure is developed. Studies with college students and patients demonstrate acceptable internal consistency and test–retest reliability, and the factor structure identifies the agency and pathways components of the Hope Scale. Convergent and discriminant validity are documented, along with evidence suggesting that Hope Scale scores augmented the prediction of goal-related activities and coping strategies beyond other self-report measures. Construct validational support is provided in regard to predicted goal-setting behaviors; moreover, the hypothesized goal appraisal processes that accompany the various levels of hope are corroborated.
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.
Prior research on intrinsic versus extrinsic values has focused on the comparative importance subjects assign to the two types of values, showing that relative intrinsic versus extrinsic value orientation (RIEVO) predicts higher or increased well-being. In two studies, we show that rated action taken regarding the two types of values is just as essential to study. Support was found for four hypotheses: (1) there was a significant behavior/importance gap, such that participants “walked” (acted on values) less than they “talked” (endorsed those values); (2) this was especially true for intrinsic values, an interaction suggesting that the intrinsic ideals of personal growth, community, and connection often receive only lip service; (3) the “walk” (behavior ratings) measure of RIEVO subsumed the “talk” (importance ratings) RIEVO measure’s effects on well-being outcomes, suggesting that researchers interested in predicting well-being from values should perhaps focus on rated value enactment, not value importance; and (4) participants with higher meaning in life, lower search for meaning, more self-concordance at work, and greater chronological age evidenced more consistency between their talking and their walking.
Pursuing personal goals is an important way that people organize their behavior and mature as individuals. However, because people are typically unaware of their own implicit motivations and potentials, they may pick goals that do not serve them well. This article suggests that "self-concordant" goal selection is a difficult self-perceptual skill, with important ramifications for thriving. Various means of conceptualizing and measuring goal self-concordance are considered. Then, relevant literature is reviewed to show that goal self-concordance, as assessed by a self-determination theory methodology, is predicted by goal/motive fit; that goal self-concordance in turn predicts more persistent goal effort and, thus, better goal attainment over time; and that self-concordant goal selection is enhanced by personality variables and interpersonal contexts that promote accurate self-insight and personal autonomy. Implications for the nature of the self, the causes of personality thriving and growth, and the free will question are considered.
Although some theory suggests that it is impossible to increase one's subjective well-being (SWB), our ‘sustainable happiness model’ (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005) specifies conditions under which this may be accomplished. To illustrate the three classes of predictor in the model, we first review research on the demographic/circumstantial, temperament/personality, and intentional/experiential correlates of SWB. We then introduce the sustainable happiness model, which suggests that changing one's goals and activities in life is the best route to sustainable new SWB. However, the goals and activities must be of certain positive types, must fit one's personality and needs, must be practiced diligently and successfully, must be varied in their timing and enactment, and must provide a continued stream of fresh positive experiences. Research supporting the model is reviewed, including new research suggesting that happiness intervention effects are not just placebo effects.
Although goal theorists have speculated about the causes and consequences of making progress at personal goals, little longitudinal research has examined these issues. In the current prospective study, participants with stronger social and self-regulatory skills made more progress in their goals over the course of a semester. In turn, goal progress predicted increases in psychological well-being, both in short-term (5-day) increments and across the whole semester; At both short- and long-term levels of analysis, however, the amount that well-being increased depended on the "organismic congruence" of participants' goals. That is, participants benefited most from goal attainment when the goals that they pursued were consistent with inherent psychological needs. We conclude that a fuller understanding of the relations between goals, performance, and psychological well-being requires recourse to both cybernetic and organismic theories of motivation.
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.
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.
An emphasis of the coaching psychology and positive psychology movements has been strengths and well- being. This study examined two generic aspects of strengths - strengths knowledge and strengths use, together with organismic valuing, and their relations with subjective well-being, psychological well-being, and subjective vitality. Theory suggests that people who know their strengths, use their strengths, and follow the directions that are right for them (i.e. organismically valuing) will be happier. Participants (N=214) completed measures of these variables, as well as measures of self-esteem and self-efficacy. Analyses showed that strengths knowledge, strengths use, and organismic valuing were all significantly associated with well- being and vitality. Regression analyses showed that self-esteem, organismic valuing, and strengths use all predicted unique variance in subjective well-being and psychological well-being, but only self-esteem significantly predicted unique variance in subjective vitality. The discussion locates the findings in relation to strengths coaching, and suggests directions for future research and coaching psychology applications.
Hope is defined as the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways. The adult and child hope scales that are derived from hope theory are described. Hope theory is compared to theories of learned optimism, optimism, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Higher hope consistently is related to better outcomes in academics, athletics, physical health, psychological adjustment, and psychotherapy. Processes that lessen hope in children and adults are reviewed. Using the hope theory definition, no evidence is found for "false" hope. Future research is encouraged in regard to accurately enhancing hope in medical feedback and helping people to pursue those goals for which they are best suited.
The pursuit of happiness is an important goal for many people. However, surprisingly little scientific research has focused on the question of how happiness can be increased and then sustained, probably because of pessimism engendered by the concepts of genetic determinism and hedonic adaptation. Nevertheless, emerging sources of optimism exist regarding the possibility of permanent increases in happiness. Drawing on the past well-being literature, the authors propose that a person's chronic happiness level is governed by 3 major factors: a genetically determined set point for happiness, happiness-relevant circumstantial factors, and happiness-relevant activities and practices. The authors then consider adaptation and dynamic processes to show why the activity category offers the best opportunities for sustainably increasing happiness. Finally, existing research is discussed in support of the model, including 2 preliminary happiness-increasing interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Control and efficacy are ideally suited as "bridges" or linking constructs for social scientists working at different levels of analysis. Control and efficacy depend on the fit between individuals and the social systems in which they are embedded, and control and efficacy have measurable effects on neurotransmitter levels and endocrine responses. This article presents an interdisciplinary perspective on control and efficacy. The authors survey the history of control-related constructs in psychology, from their roots in animal learning to the present cognitive focus on beliefs about control. They then point out connections "up" to the sociological level and "down" to the physiological level. They propose a taxonomy of 6 useful constructs organized into 3 perspectives: motivational, cognitive, and systemic. Such a multilevel, multidisciplinary approach may be particularly useful for approaching large real-world problems such as improving schools or neighborhoods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Different orientations to happiness and their association with life satisfaction were investigated with 845 adults responding to Internet surveys. We measured life satisfaction and the endorsement of three different ways to be happy through pleasure, through engagement, and through meaning. Each of these three orientations individually predicted life satisfaction. People simultaneously low on all three orientations reported especially low life satisfaction. These findings point the way toward a distinction between the full life and the empty life.