Perceptions of satisfaction with life tend to become less positive during adolescence. Previous research has shown that physical activity may positively explain differences in satisfaction in life between adolescents, however, there is no research examining whether adolescents are more satisfied with their life on days that they are more active than usual. Additionally, little is known about the mechanisms

Scholars have argued that prosocial behavior produces positive emotions because it fulfills basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. These explanations have largely neglected morality, despite the fact that prosocial behaviors are widely considered to be moral. To determine whether seeing oneself as acting morally—moral self-appraisals—explained this effect, we conducted

Previous research on the relation between wealth and life satisfaction has found conflicting results. The current study aims to bring a “wave formation” framework to the subjective well-being literature to understand the features of non-linearity in the income-life satisfaction association. The study compares individuals’ life satisfaction at various wealth levels, moving their way up or down through

This review paper aimed to explore factors that affect life satisfaction among older adults (60 years and above) in Asia by systematically reviewing 21 research articles published post-2000 from major databases including Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and PsycArticles with the related keywords to “life satisfaction in older adults”. Based on the reviewed studies following PRISMA guideline, 19 main

Flow is a mental state of thorough absorption and concentration in an activity, in which intrinsic motivation and enjoyment are maximized, and the individual achieves optimal performance. This study investigated how daily flow experiences during parents’ interactions with their children contribute to parental well-being. The Day Reconstruction Method was completed by 832 employed Israeli parents of

This study was conducted to investigate whether socio-cultural context (i.e., urban versus rural), perceived physical health, marital status, and satisfaction with family and non-family ties predicted hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in late adulthood and to examine the impact of the socio-cultural context on well-being, physical health and satisfaction with family and non-family ties by controlling

Relationships between mindfulness and positive affect have been less robust than relationships between mindfulness and negative affect, suggesting that skills in addition to mindfulness may be necessary in transforming mindfulness into a positive psychological force. The present three study program of research (total N = 413) pursued the idea that emotional intelligence (EI), in particular, may infuse

Optimism is a central concept in the field of positive psychology that focuses on the expectations that people have about the results of their future events. This review presents a synthesis of evidence from primary studies, whose findings reflect the role of optimism in adolescent mental health. This systematic review used a narrative approach for the data, based on the parameters of the Cochrane

In this paper, we use the Life in Transition (LiTS) survey micro- data to estimate the gravity model of life satisfaction in seven post-transition countries. We use precise localization data and a very rich set of controls to estimate the effect of the duration of Ottoman rule on similarities in life satisfaction between pairs of primary sampling units. On average, being under the Ottoman rule for

The Sierra Leonean population has faced severe collective traumata (e.g., civil war, Ebola). Although adversities have a devastating impact on people’s lives, there is strong evidence that the struggle with stressful life events can lead to positive changes, which is called posttraumatic growth (PTG). Across many cultures individuals experience PTG. However, the nature of PTG might be influenced by

The aim of the present study was to test an explanatory model for individual and social wellbeing which incorporates the advantages of using digital technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was carried out in Italy, one of the countries that has been most severely affected by the pandemic worldwide. The study was designed to include variables that might be specifically pertinent to the

Wellbeing has become an increasingly important priority worldwide. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), much research and financial investment are being committed to increasing wellbeing. However, how the pursuit of happiness, as a driver of wellbeing, is not commonly investigated. In particular, fear of happiness and beliefs in its fragility challenge dominant Western views that happiness is desirable

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00412-2

The association between education and subjective well-being has long been investigated by social scientists. However, prior studies have paid inadequate attention to the influence of societal-level educational expansion and skills diffusion. In this article, multilevel regression analyses, using internationally comparable data for over 48,000 individuals in 24 countries, detect the overall positive

In a cross-sectional (Study 1) and a longitudinal study (Study 2), the authors examined whether the association between age stereotypes and well-being is mediated by self-regulatory engagement in goal pursuit. In Study 1 (N = 666), engagement in self-regulatory strategies of selection (e.g., selecting appropriate goals), optimization (e.g., acquiring resources for goal achievement), and compensation

The well-being research consists of two dominant orientations: hedonia and eudaimonia. Although studies have found that trait self-control (TSC) is positively associated with hedonic well-being (e.g., positive affect), the relationship between TSC and eudaimonic well-being receives little attention. Three studies (N = 2532) were designed to simultaneously investigate the association of TSC with hedonic

In the original publication, the text (line 10) under the heading “3 Re‑examining the Numerical Estimates of the Effect of Genes and Circumstances” with sub heading “3.1 How Much Variance in Chronic Happiness Levels can be Explained by Genetic Factors?” has been published incorrectly.

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) has consistently shown that the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are essential nutrients for optimal human functioning across a diverse range of domains such as family, sports, education and work. SDT has also found that materialism—the relative importance attached to extrinsic versus intrinsic life goals—not only

Considering that adults with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) experience many barriers and challenges in designing and living a satisfactory life, based on Life Design paradigm, this study aimed at analyzing the direct and indirect effect of career adaptability, through hope, on life satisfaction in a sample of individuals with SUD compared to a sample of individuals without SUD. In this study, a sample

This study examines the interaction effect of having children and a wife’s employment status on happiness using the Japanese panel data; it answers two research questions (RQs). RQ1: Who is happier, housewives or working wives? RQ2: What is the relative size of happiness of housewives without children, housewives with children, working wives without children, and working wives with children? Additionally

Flow at work is thought to be a dynamic and contextually bounded experience. Its relevance to optimal human functioning is well documented. Although flow theory suggests a mutually reinforcing association between flow and strengths use, with support by cross-sectional and short-term studies, the inter-relationship of flow at work and strengths use prospectively over long time periods is unknown. Using

This work analyses the existence of asymmetric effects on the subjective well-being of the population of different countries in response to changes in the levels of aggregate income. Microdata from the Eurobarometer and the World Values Survey are used for the period 2000–2019. This period includes several economic changes, among which are the strong expansion at the beginning of the century, the Great

While subjective well-being generally decreased in Europe during the Great Recession, some countries fared better than others. We assess how this experience varied across population subgroups and countries according to their labor market policies, specifically two types of unemployment support policies and employment protection legislation. We find both types of unemployment support, income replacement

The importance of both income rank and relative income, as indicators of status, has long been recognised in the literature on life satisfaction and happiness. Recently, several authors have made explicit comparisons of the relative importance of these two measures of income status, and concluded that rank dominates to the extent that reference income becomes insignificant in regressions including

Since the 1970s, there has been mounting empirical evidence that after a certain point, income and happiness, or life satisfaction, are not correlated. However, despite the growing empirical evidence, the new dynamic has not been adequately modeled mathematically. To remedy this gap, in this paper, we go through the literature on the relationship between consumption, income, and happiness and provide

There are pronounced individual differences in the extent to which affective responses are associated with daily stressor exposure. These individual differences have implications for health and well-being. We use 21 days of daily diary data in 167 participants (mean age = 25.37, SD = 7.34; 81.44% women) and test (1) the moderating effect of flourishing on daily stressor-related negative mood and (2)

Cultivating a sense of meaning in life (MIL) is a critical task for emerging adults that can be fostered through engagement in prosocial activities like mentoring at-risk youth. While mentoring may promote MIL for some, the potential benefits likely vary. This study explored trajectories and predictors of change in MIL in 641 college student mentors of at-risk youth who participated in a 12-week mentoring

Across the world, measures were taken to contain the spreading of the COVID-19 virus. Many of these measures caused a sudden rupture in people’s daily routines, thereby eliciting considerable uncertainty and potentially also hampering the satisfaction of individuals’ psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Drawing upon Maslow’s Hierarchical Need Theory and Self-Determination

Emotion regulation research has exponentially grown in the past several years. However, to date, there is little information regarding its relation to cheerfulness, understood as a positive affective predisposition to sense of humor. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and the state and trait dimensions of cheerfulness. More precisely,

Entrepreneurial activity has been seen as the single most important activity of individuals due to its role in the economic development of nations. However, little is known about the impact of entrepreneurial activity on the subjective well-being of nations beyond its economic impact. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of different types of entrepreneurial activity – total entrepreneurial

Despite a strong link between values and well-being, little is known about dimensions moderating this link, e.g., whether individuals who act upon their values experience greater well-being for healthy values (e.g., self-transcendence) and lower well-being for unhealthy values (e.g., self-enhancement). Moreover, research on values and value-related behavior has rarely accounted for hedonic and eudaimonic

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has induced stress and anxiety. According to past studies, positive support within married couples reduces stress during diseases and disasters, but their mechanisms are unclear. To address this gap and help individuals better cope with COVID-19-related psychological distress, this study examined the relationships among daily positive support, daily gratitude, and

This study investigated how adolescents’ Big Five personality traits are related to mental health (i.e., happiness) and mental illness (i.e., depressive symptoms and anxiety) and whether their time perspectives may be potential mediators of these relations. The sample included 235 high school students (54.5% girls), aged between 15 and 18 (M = 16.87, SD = 0.68). The results indicated that adolescents

When individuals communicate enthusiasm for good events in their partners' lives, they contribute to a high-quality relationship; a phenomenon termed interpersonal capitalization. However, little is known when individuals are more ready to react enthusiastically to the partner's success. To address this gap, we examined whether positive and negative emotions boost or inhibit enthusiastic responses

Numerous studies examined the association between character strengths—positive traits that comprise a good personality—and satisfaction with different aspects of life. However, few studies explored the connection between character strengths and marital satisfaction. The present study, conducted on a sample of 177 married couples, aims to examine this connection. Given the findings of previous studies

Much research testing positive psychological interventions (PPIs) has focused primarily on emotional states, while research testing the effects of positive attention bias modification (PABM) has tended to focus primarily on attentional deployment. Evidence is sparse and inconsistent on attentional deployment (i.e., a process of emotion regulation) in PPIs, changes in emotional states (i.e., an outcome

The present study aimed to investigate the mediating effect of social support in the relationship between decision authority and positive mental health as well as the moderating effects of socio-demographic characteristics closely related to this relationship among working populations. Data analyzed was from the Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health 2012. A total of 15,867 individuals with

Do people prefer a job that promotes feelings of enjoyment, or of competence? The present research examined the role of individuals’ happiness in choosing the type of work to engage in when selecting between two characteristics of the work—enjoyment and perceived competence. Studies 1, 2, and 3 revealed that happier people are more likely to value (Study 1) and to choose (Studies 2 and 3) work they

Financial well-being is a positive financial condition that has an objective (e.g., income) and a subjective (e.g., financial satisfaction) side. Much research has examined financial well-being using cross-sectional and classic longitudinal designs. More recently, researchers have begun to examine financial well-being using intensive longitudinal designs, collecting data in a repeated (at least five

This article explicates the factors promoting successful aging and greater psychological wellbeing in the last course of human life. We explored self-compassion, successful aging and wellbeing outcomes in 264 individuals aged 60–96 years (M = 70) residing in Turkey. The major finding of the study is that self-compassion, resilience, perceived psychological and physiological health and age predicted

In original publication, the second affiliation of Prof. Neerpal Rathi was missed out. The correct affiliation is updated in this correction.

To which extent do happiness correlates contribute to the stability of life satisfaction? Which method is appropriate to provide a conclusive answer to this question? Based on life satisfaction data of the German SOEP, we show that by Negative Binomial quasi-maximum likelihood estimation statements can be made as to how far correlates of happiness contribute to the stabilisation of life satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of deliberate acts of kindness (DAKs) plus access to a stress management booklet (intervention), compared to the booklet alone (control) on the stress-related outcomes of resilience, social interaction anxiety, affect, and mood of undergraduate and graduate students. Participants’ study-related experiences were also explored, as were the types of DAKs

Increasing the saliency of existing sources of meaning and purpose in life could be a practical focus area for innovative wellbeing interventions. This randomised controlled study aimed to assess the impact of a brief seven-day technology-based intervention on meaning in life, life satisfaction, and affect compared to a waitlist control group. A mobile phone application was used to deliver daily activities

The article “Aversion to Happiness Across Cultures: A Review of Where and Why People are Averse to Happiness”, written by Mohsen Joshanloo and Dan Weijers, was originally published Online First without Open Access. After publication in volume 15, issue 3, page 717–735 the author decided to opt for Open Choice and to make the article an Open Access publication.

While gratitude in adulthood has been widely studied, less is known about gratitude among adolescents, particularly when it comes to its determinants. Previous work suggests that feeling thankful implies some kind of comparative judgment. Given that downward social comparison and downward counterfactual thinking share many similarities, we assumed that both types of comparative thinking would be related

A major underlying assumption of positive psychology is that we can influence our well-being through our own behavior. It remains an open question as to whether the general public shares this perception, and how this is related to their actual level of well-being. Do they feel a sense of control over their well-being or do they see it more as subject to external influences? There is currently no defined

On the assumption that existential questions may arise in the face of the transition to motherhood in the shadow of a global crisis, we sought to compare the levels of presence of meaning and search for meaning in life between two samples of new mothers: one recruited before the outbreak of COVID-19, and the other during the pandemic. In addition, we examined the associations between mother's marital

In the original publication, the authors’ affiliation has been published incorrectly. The correct affiliation of authors is given in this correction.

The present meta-analysis consolidated research examining how posttraumatic growth relates to global anxiety and depression. Articles were identified by searching PTSDpubs, PsycINFO, PubMed, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses databases, as well as searching the reference sections of relevant review articles. Meta-analytic review of 129 included studies indicated that neither overall posttraumatic

Some individuals experience the feeling that they have become a person they had not anticipated. The life path they had expected to take is not consonant with the one they are taking in reality. This perception of “off-course” in identity and self-direction is referred to as derailment. Although previous studies have postulated and demonstrated that derailment causes a low level of well-being, no studies

A growing body of research suggests that the functionality of coping strategies may in part depend on the context in which they are executed. Thus far, functionality has mostly been defined through the associations of coping strategies with psychopathology, particularly depression. Whether associations of coping strategies with proxies for happiness such as subjective well-being (SWB) are simply inverse

Flow is a motivational state occurring when one’s skill level is balanced with the challenge of a task, leading to optimal performance and profound enjoyment. Its connection with optimal performance has drawn interest in fields focused on performance—such as sports, education, and work—and its connection with enjoyment has drawn interest in fields focused on subjective well-being, such as leisure and

The current set of studies was aimed at examining the theoretical basis, development process, and psychometric properties of a new scale for measuring positive solitude (PS). The theoretical idea behind the development of this construct was to develop a stand-alone scale for measuring the positive aspects of an individual's ability to volitionally choose to spend time by him/herself. Using five different

Empirical evidence indicates that an individual’s happiness is relative with respect to income, whereby it increases with one’s own income and declines as the income of a reference group increases. Several recent studies further suggest that the effect of relative income is mediated by the extent to which people compare themselves with others. In line with the empirical research examining the effects

People are often passionate toward multiple activities in their lives. However, more has been learned about passion toward any single activity than about passion toward multiple activities. Relying on the dualistic model of passion (Vallerand in The psychology of passion: a dualistic model, Oxford University Press, New York, 2015), this research addressed the antecedents and consequences of polyamorous

The purpose of the study was to explore the nature of the relationship between Divergent Thinking and Well-being. Two theoretical models about the relationship between Divergent thinking, Psychological well-being and Life Satisfaction were tested. A total of 152 subjects between 65 and 84 years old participated in the study. Final model emphasises the idea that PWB is affected by DT and that PWB is

We studied direct and indirect associations of attachment, trait hope, and motivations in narrative identity (agency and communion) with measures of well-being during emerging adulthood. Our aim was to determine whether hope and expressed motivations serve as mechanisms between attachment and well-being. We focused on emerging adults, for whom attachment, character, and narrative identity are well-developed

A central Buddhist claim is that having desires causes suffering. While this tenet draws from the belief that an acute desire state is more momentarily aversive than a no-desire state, the efficacy of this belief has yet to be comprehensively examined. To empirically investigate this claim, we furnished data from two experience sampling studies across USA/Canadian (N = 101; 3224 observations) and Japanese

Literature has consistently highlighted the role of time perspective (TP) in predicting different psychological outcomes. Despite the importance that TP seems to have, few studies have investigated its role in personal relationships or attempted to explain the underlying mechanisms within this complex model. The purpose of this study was therefore to expand research not only on the associations between