Table Of ContentThe Human Pursuit of Well-Being
Ingrid Brdar
Editor
The Human Pursuit
of Well-Being
A Cultural Approach
Editor
Ingrid Brdar
Department of Psychology
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Rijeka
Slavka Krautzeka bb
51000 Rijeka
Croatia
[email protected]
ISBN 978-94-007-1374-1 e-ISBN 978-94-007-1375-8
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1375-8
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011930750
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written
permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose
of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
Cover design: SPi Publisher Services
Printed on acid-free paper
Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
The contributions in this book are based on selected papers presented at the 4th
European Conference on Positive Psychology held in Opatija, Croatia in 2008.
Conferences offer opportunities to bring out research from different cultures and to
discuss new theoretical perspectives. The broad range of positive psychology topics
was addressed during the conference. At this conference the number of presentations
nearly doubled compared to previous conferences in Italy and Portugal (from 173
to 324), showing that positive psychology is swiftly growing field of research. About
500 conference attendees came from 39 countries, predominantly from Europe, but
also from other parts of the world – United States, Australia, South Africa, etc. This
was an excellent opportunity to learn about studies from many different cultures.
The book brings together the latest research on positive psychology from an
international cast of researchers, mostly from Europe. Why Europe? This world’s
second-smallest continent with approximately 50 countries is placed at the crossroad
of cultures. Living together in such a cultural diversity needs mutual understanding
and appreciation. Dialogue between cultures and making the most of differences is
an opportunity to research all three pillars of positive psychology: the subjective
level, the individual level, and the group level.
So far, only few books brought together European researchers in positive psy-
chology. One of the goals of this book is to fill this gap. Europe offers great oppor-
tunities for research into various areas of positive psychology through cultural
approach. The book describes research from 11 different cultures: nine European
countries, Egypt and South Africa. Selection of studies from different cultures aims
at broadening our understanding of those aspects of human experience that make
life worth living in diverse cultural conditions.
A great number of contributions were submitted for publication. Regretfully, not
all of them could be included in this book. Carefully chosen chapters describe
research and practice from diverse fields of positive psychology. The book includes
work of some distinguished authors, but it also includes valuable studies of less well
known authors, thus giving insight into studies of growing body of European
researchers in positive psychology. This book is the result of work done by 52
contributors and presents research that has been conducted in the last few years.
v
vi Preface
The chapters are diverse in many ways, yet they all deal with the human pursuit
of well-being. 22 chapters are grouped into six parts: happiness and well-being,
motivation and goals, personality, academic performance and coping, measurement
and intervention.
In Part I different aspects of Happiness and Well-Being are explored, beginning
with an intriguing question: “Can We Get Happier Than We Are?” Other contributions
analyze and discuss how several phenomena are related to well-being: self-serving
attributional bias, affect specificity, leisure activities, the quality of subjective experi-
ence throughout daily life, benefits of positive emotions and predictors of post-
traumatic growth in patients.
Part II deals with Motivation and Goals. It starts with a review of the relationship
between goals and well-being and continues with a study of adolescent life goals.
The last paper explores meaning, personal growth and motivation toward therapy.
Part III, Personality, has two chapters about character strengths and well-being.
The first is focused on biological origins of well-being, and the second analyses
gender differences.
Part IV includes research on Academic Performance and Coping. The studies
are focused on optimistic attributional style, patterns of self-regulated learning and
burnout in secondary school context.
Part V is focused on Measurement and comprises three chapters which analyze
psychometric characteristics of five different instruments: Ryff’s Psychological
Well-Being Scales, Children Hope Scale, Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, Keyes’
Mental Health Continuum and Vitality Scale.
Finally, Part VI describes and evaluates Interventions. The first contribution
analyzes the effects of school interventions for promoting psychological well-being
in adolescence. Other two interventions are aimed for specific groups: obese indi-
viduals and male disadvantaged adolescents.
Acknowledgments
This book is the product of a common project of 52 authors, who invested a lot of
time and work to write the chapters. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the
contributing authors. Special thanks to Esther Otten for her valuable editorial assis-
tance in organizing this book. The assistance provided by my young colleagues Petra
and Marko has been greatly appreciated. Finally, my sincere thanks go to my family
for their support and for allowing me the necessary time to devote to this project.
Contents
Part I Happiness and Well-Being
1 Can We Get Happier Than We Are? .................................................... 3
Ruut Veenhoven
2 Self-serving Attributional Bias and Hedonic
and Eudaimonic Aspects of Well-Being ................................................ 15
Pilar Sanjuán, Alejandro Magallares, and Rodolfo Gordillo
3 Affect Specificity as Indicators of National Well-Being:
Representative Sample of Croatia ......................................................... 27
Zvjezdana Prizmić-Larsen, Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan,
and Tihana Brkljačić
4 The Effect of Leisure Activities on Life Satisfaction:
The Importance of Holiday Trips .......................................................... 39
Jeroen Nawijn and Ruut Veenhoven
5 From Flow to Optimal Experience: (Re)Searching the Quality
of Subjective Experience Throughout Daily Life ................................. 55
Teresa Freire
6 Gender Differences in Psychological Well-Being
and Distress During Adolescence........................................................... 65
Dalila Visani, Elisa Albieri, Emanuela Offidani, Fedra Ottolini,
Elena Tomba, and Chiara Ruini
7 The Impact of Positive Affect: Two Weekly Assessment
Studies on Benefits of Positive Emotions in Patients
with a Chronic Painful Disease .............................................................. 71
Elin Strand
vii
viii Contents
8 Studying Predictors of Posttraumatic Growth
in Cancer Patients ................................................................................... 83
Marta Scrignaro, Sandro Barni, Maria Luisa Bonetti,
and Maria Elena Magrin
Part II Motivation and Goals
9 It’s All About Me: Maladaptive Self-focused Attention
as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Extrinsic
Goals and Well-Being ............................................................................. 95
Mami Yamaguchi and Jamin Halberstadt
10 The Relation of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Aspirations
to Adolescent Life Satisfaction ............................................................... 107
Marina Merkaš, Zora Raboteg-Šarić, and Dubravka Miljković
11 Where Does the Motivation for the Antiretroviral
Therapy Come From? Assessing Existential Meaning,
Personal Growth, and Motivation Toward Antiretroviral
Therapy in People Affected by HIV/AIDS ........................................... 121
Krzysztof Szadejko and Gabriele Covotta
Part III Personality
12 The Relationships Between Temperament, Character
Strengths, and Resilience ........................................................................ 133
Ann-Marie K. Hutchinson, Anita D. Stuart, and Hester G. Pretorius
13 Character Strengths and Well-Being: Are There Gender
Differences? ............................................................................................. 145
Ingrid Brdar, Petra Anić, and Majda Rijavec
Part IV Academic Performance and Coping
14 Optimistic Attributional Style as a Predictor of Well-Being
and Performance in Different Academic Settings ................................ 159
Tamara O. Gordeeva and Evgeny N. Osin
15 To Flourish, Arm or Fade Away? Proactive, Defensive
and Depressive Patterns of Self-Regulated Learning .......................... 175
Darko Lončarić
16 Moderator Effect of Burnout in Secondary School Context ............... 191
Charles Martin-Krumm, Marie Oger, Philippe Sarrazin,
and Patrick Pelayo
Contents ix
Part V Measurement
17 Factor Structure of the French Ryff’s Psychological
Well-Being Scales for Active Older Adults ........................................... 203
Mareï Salama-Younes, Amany Ismaïl, Ali Montazeri,
and Charles Roncin
18 Further Evaluation of the Test-Retest Reliability of the Children
Hope Scale and Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale ................................ 213
Susana C. Marques, José Pais-Ribeiro, and Shane J. Lopez
19 Validation of the Mental Health Continuum Short
Form and Subjective Vitality Scale with Egyptian
Adolescent Athletes ................................................................................. 221
Mareï Salama-Younes
Part VI Interventions
20 School Interventions for Promoting Psychological
Well-Being in Adolescence ..................................................................... 237
Chiara Ruini, Fedra Ottolini, Elena Tomba, Carlotta Belaise,
Elisa Albieri, Dalila Visani, Ernesto Caffo, and Giovanni A. Fava
21 Applying Self-Determination Theory to Help Obese
Portuguese Individuals ........................................................................... 247
Sónia Mestre and José Pais-Ribeiro
22 A School-Based Intervention Involving Massage and Yoga
for Disadvantaged Male Adolescents: An Exploratory
Study on a Self-discovery Program ....................................................... 257
Lesley Powell
Index ................................................................................................................. 269
