David J. Disabato

Different Types of Well-Being? A Cross-Cultural Examination of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being

A large international sample was used to test whether hedonia (the experience of positive emotional states and satisfaction of desires) and eudaimonia (the presence of meaning and development of ones potentials) represent 1 overarching well-being construct or 2 related dimensions. A latent correlation of .96 presents negligible evidence for the discriminant validity between Dieners (1984) subjective well-being model of hedonia and Ryffs (1989) psychological well-being model of eudaimonia. When compared with known correlates of well-being (e.g., curiosity, gratitude), eudaimonia and hedonia showed very similar relationships, save goal-directed will and ways (i.e., hope), a meaning orientation to happiness, and grit. Identical analyses in subsamples of 7 geographical world regions revealed similar results around the globe. A single overarching construct more accurately reflects hedonia and eudaimonia when measured as self-reported subjective and psychological well-being. Nevertheless, measures of eudaimonia may contain aspects of meaningful goal-directedness unique from hedonia. (PsycINFO Database Record

Measuring well-being: A comparison of subjective well-being and PERMA

Abstract We compared Seligman’s PERMA model of well-being with Diener’s model of subjective well-being (SWB) to determine if the newer PERMA captured a type of well-being unique from the older SWB. Participants were 517 adults who completed self-report measures of SWB, PERMA, and VIA character strengths. Results from four analytic techniques suggest the factor underlying PERMA is capturing the same type of well-being as SWB. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a latent correlation of r = 0.98 between SWB and PERMA. Exploratory structural equation modeling found two highly related factors (r = 0.85) that did not map onto PERMA and SWB. SWB and PERMA factors showed similar relationships with 24 character strengths (average correlation difference = 0.02). Latent profile analyses yielded subgroups of people who merely scored high, low, or mid-range on well-being indicators. Our findings suggest that while lower-order indicators SWB and PERMA have unique features, they converge onto a single well-being factor.

Personality Strengths as Resilience: A One‐Year Multiwave Study

We examined how personality strengths prospectively predict reactions to negative life events. Participants were 797 community adults from 42 countries. At five points over the course of 1 year, participants completed a series of questionnaires measuring seven personality strengths (hope, grit, meaning in life, curiosity, gratitude, control beliefs, and use of strengths), subjective well-being, and frequency and severity of negative life events. Using hierarchical linear modeling with assessment periods nested within participants, results from lagged analyses found that only hope emerged as a resilience factor. To illustrate the importance of using appropriate lagged analyses in resilience research, we ran nonlagged analyses; these results suggest that all seven personality strengths moderated the effect of negative life events on subjective well-being, with greater strengths associated with healthier outcomes. To provide evidence that personality strengths confer resilience, a prospective examination is needed with the inclusion of events and responses to them. The use of concurrent methodologies and analyses, which is the norm in psychology, often leads to erroneous conclusions. Hope, the ability to generate routes to reach goals and the motivation to use those routes, was shown to be particularly important in promoting resilience.

Effectiveness of a self-administered intervention for criminal thinking: Taking a Chance on Change.

The current study tested the effectiveness of a self-administered, cognitive-behavioral intervention targeting criminal thinking for inmates in segregated housing: Taking a Chance on Change (TCC). Participants included 273 inmates in segregated housing at state correctional institutions. Reductions in criminal thinking, as assessed by the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Styles-Simplified Version, were found in the general criminal thinking score as well as the proactive and reactive composite scores. Examination of demographic predictors of change (i.e., age, years of education, length of sentence) revealed older and more educated participants decreased in criminal thinking more than younger and less educated participants. For a subset of 48 inmates, completion of TCC was associated with significant reduction of disciplinary infractions. Reductions in reactive criminal thinking predicted reductions in disciplinary infractions. Although further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of TCC in reducing recidivism, the reductions in criminal thinking and disordered conduct suggest this is a promising intervention and mode of treatment delivery. By utilizing self-directed study at an accessible reading level, the intervention is uniquely suited to a correctional setting where staff and monetary resources are limited and security and operational issues limit the feasibility of traditional cognitive-behavioral group treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record

Gratitude’s role in adolescent antisocial and prosocial behavior: A 4-year longitudinal investigation

ABSTRACT Is gratitude developmentally related to improvements in social behavior? This study examined 566 adolescents (51.6% female, M age = 11.95 years at baseline, 68.0% White, 11.0% African-American, 9.9% Asian-American, 1.9% Hispanic, 8.8% ‘Other’) from middle school to high school for 4 years. Controlling for social desirability, age, SES, and gender, gratitude growth predicted decreases in antisocial behavior over 4 years, and life satisfaction growth marginally mediated this relation. Further, gratitude growth predicted increases in prosocial behavior over 4 years, but life satisfaction did not mediate this relation. Reverse models were also examined. Antisocial behavior growth predicted gratitude change, which was mediated by life satisfaction growth. Prosocial behavior growth predicted gratitude change, but was not mediated by life satisfaction growth. Finally, gratitude growth predicted family support, trust, and intentional self-regulation at the 4 year timepoint, and it predicted empathy with marginal significance. Implications for theory and educational applications are discussed.

Is grit relevant to well-being and strengths? Evidence across the globe for separating perseverance of effort and consistency of interests

OBJECTIVE Researchers conceptualize grit as the combination of two facets: perseverance of effort and consistency of interests toward long-term goals. We tested the reliability of grit facet scores across the globe and examined how differently each grit facet related to well-being and personality strengths. METHOD An international sample of 7,617 participants from six of the seven continents (excluding Antarctica) completed an online survey. RESULTS Confirmatory factor analyses and omega reliability coefficients indicated that the 12 items from the original Grit Scale were multidimensional and reliably measured perseverance of effort and consistency of interests. Concurrent validity analyses showed that perseverance of effort was moderately to strongly related to subjective well-being, beliefs about well-being, and personality strengths, whereas consistency of interests had weak or negative correlations with these outcomes. The stronger relations with perseverance of effort were replicated across seven regions of the world. The presence of overall grit was supported in individualistic countries, but not collectivistic countries (i.e., those in Latin America and Asia). CONCLUSIONS We discuss the multidimensionality of grit, including a conceptual understanding of overall grit and how it may differ across cultures. We suggest well-being and strengths researchers study grit facets separately due to their differential validity.

Psychometric Validation of a Simplified Form of the PICTS for Low-Reading Level Populations

The Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) is one of the most widely used measures of criminal thinking. Although the PICTS has adequate psychometric qualities with many general population inmates, the measurement confound of reading ability may decrease its construct validity in low-literacy inmates. To help resolve this confound, we present psychometric evaluation of a simplified version of the PICTS (PICTS-SV) in which item language was simplified but item content was preserved. We first conducted Lexile analyses to confirm the reading level of the PICTS-SV is significantly lower than the original PICTS (i.e., sixth grade versus ninth grade). We then tested a bifactor model to confirm the PICTS-SV contains the same two factors as the original PICTS: proactive and reactive criminal thinking. These PICTS-SV results are commensurate with the factor structure of the original PICTS. Results suggest the PICTS-SV is a valid alternative for assessing criminal thinking in inmates with low reading ability.

Lumping and Splitting in the Study of Meaning in Life: Thoughts on Surfing, Surgery, Scents, and Sermons

For thousands of years, philosophers have been debating what a meaningful life entails and the best way to create one. In their article, Garland, Farb, Goldin, and Fredrickson (this issue) offer a comprehensive account of one such pathway that originates with the act of mindfulness. Specifically, when people are faced with negative life events, they should deploy mindfulness techniques to receive a chain of benefits, which include a positive reappraisal of said events, that in turn increase the likelihood of positive emotions, which can then be savored and ultimately transformed into a greater sense of meaning and purpose in life (see Figure 1 in Garland et al., this issue). This pathway has been anointed the mindfulness-to-meaning theory. In this commentary, we place this theory in a wider perspective and consider several neglected issues regarding how mindfulness may relate to meaning and purpose in life. First, meaning in life is irreducible to a single pathway. We reintroduce the concept of equifinality where diverse pathways, including chance events, can be substituted to attain the same goal (e.g., Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1996). We illustrate and lay out several different ways that meaning in life can be obtained. Mindfulness to meaning is integrated into a wider review of how people can create meaning in life. Second, we reintroduce the concept of multifinality (e.g., Nolen-Hoeksema & Watkins, 2011) where the same initial conditions, in this case mindfulness and positive reappraisal, may lead to a variety of outcomes—and only one of them is a greater sense of meaning in life. We question whether science requires a new theory about each individual mindfulness outcome. In our view, it would be a greater scientific advancement to delineate the full range of outcomes afforded by a particular behavior (the benefits and the costs) and to specify the contexts that the benefits (or the costs) might be stronger or weaker. Third, we question the widespread assumption about positivity that more is always better. Instead, we offer an alternative view on the importance of situational sensitivity, inspired by a growing body of work suggesting that psychological flexibility trumps allegiance to any single behavior or strategy such as mindfulness (Aldao, 2013; Bonanno & Burton, 2013; Kashdan & Biswas-Diener, 2014; Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010). Taken together, we hope to integrate several isolated strands of study into a nuanced discussion of mindfulness and meaning.

Integrating psychological strengths under the umbrella of personality science: Rethinking the definition, measurement, and modification of strengths

ABSTRACT Following the advent of modern positive psychology, there has been a surge of empirical research on strengths and a call for incorporating strengths into clinical models of psychopathology. In this review, we conceptualize strengths as a subset of personality traits and dissect the criteria used to define strengths. In hopes of improving theoretical models of strengths, we reconsider the personal choice to deploy strengths, the implications of strength use for well-being, and the costs of over-relying on particular strengths. As an illustration, we critically examine a new model of strengths with suggestions for defining, measuring, and developing interventions for strengths. These insights are offered to encourage critical examination of the conditions under which strengths best facilitate well-being.

The Curious Neglect of High Functioning After Psychopathology: The Case of Depression.

We address a key issue at the intersection of emotion, psychopathology, and public health—the startling lack of attention to people who experience benign outcomes, and even flourish, after recovering from depression. A rereading of the epidemiological literature suggests that the orthodox view of depression as chronic, recurrent, and lifelong is overstated. A significant subset of people recover and thrive after depression, yet research on such individuals has been rare. To facilitate work on this topic, we present a generative research framework. This framework includes (a) a proposed definition of healthy end-state functioning that goes beyond a reduction in clinical symptoms, (b) recommendations for specific measures to assess high functioning, and (c) a road map for a research agenda aimed at discovering how and why people flourish after emotional disturbance. Given that depression remains the most burdensome health condition worldwide, focus on what makes these excellent outcomes possible has enormous significance for the public health.