Hod Orkibi

Green perspective for a hopeful future: Explaining green schools’ contribution to environmental subjective well-being.

This article offers a new perspective on 2 of the most pressing challenges of contemporary society: improving the state of the environment and improving the subjective well-being (SWB) of adolescents, who are not only likely to suffer the severe consequences of environmental degradation but are also societys future leaders. We present an innovative interdisciplinary approach blending positive psychology with environmental education to study the previously unexplored mechanisms by which green schools may promote not only adolescents’ environmental behavior (EB) but also their SWB. Within a new framework of environmental subjective well-being, our explanatory theoretical model posits a potential chain of influence that begins with green schools’ effects on students’ goal-directed environmental hope (a latent cognitive variable indicated by agency thinking, pathway thinking, and trusting other members of society), which in turn contributes to increased levels of EB and SWB. A latent cognitive–behavioral variable, indicated by self-control skills and resistance to peer pressure, is posited as moderator of the relation between environmental hope and actual EB. Implications for research, practice, and policy are proposed.

Psychometric Properties of the Hebrew Short Version of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory

The purpose of this study was to develop a short Hebrew version of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory that can be easily administered by health professionals in research, therapy, and counseling. First, the empirical links of time perspective (TP) to subjective well-being and health protective and health risk behaviors are reviewed. Then, a brief account of the instrument’s previous modifications is provided. Results of confirmatory factor analysis (N = 572) verified the five-factor structure of the short version and yielded acceptable internal consistency reliability for each factor. The correlation coefficients between the five subscales of the short (20 items) and the original (56 items) instruments were all above .79, indicating the suitability of the short version for assessing the five TP factors. Support for the discriminant and concurrent validity was also achieved, largely in agreement with previous findings. Finally, limitations and future directions are addressed, and potential applications in therapy and counseling are offered.

How Positivity Links With Job Satisfaction: Preliminary Findings on the Mediating Role of Work-Life Balance

The positive characteristics that can help people juggle their work and personal roles and experience greater job satisfaction are attracting increased research attention. This study presents a conceptual model to account for the association between employees’ positive orientation (i.e., the tendency to evaluate self, life, and the future in a positive way) and their job satisfaction (N = 108). As theorized, the results indicate that employees’ ability to manage their work-life balance fully mediates the relation between their positive orientation and job satisfaction. This suggests that a positive orientation serves as an adaptive personal resource that can facilitate employees’ ability to balance work and non-work demands and hence can foster job satisfaction. The practical implications for positive psychological interventions in organizational settings are discussed.

Arts therapies students’ scores in profession-related variables: Quantitative results of a longitudinal study

This longitudinal study investigated arts therapies students’ (N = 51) scores in the following variables: career commitment, professional identity, need for occupational and training information, and perceived environmental and personal barriers to career decision-making. Key results suggest that students’ professional identity and career commitment significantly increased during training. Scores of dance movement therapy students, followed by art therapy students, were overall significantly higher than scores of drama therapy students. Students’ need for occupational and training information as well as perceived environmental and personal barriers to career decision-making decreased. Policy and practice implications are suggested and recommendations for further research on this topic are offered.

Pathways to Adolescents’ Flourishing Linking Self-Control Skills and Positivity Ratio Through Social Support

This study focused on the ability to experience a high ratio of positive to negative emotions in 807 Israeli adolescents aged 12 to 15 years (50% girls). While considering possible gender differences, we tested a model positing that adolescents’ self-control skills would link to their positivity ratio and indirectly through perceived social support from parents and classmates. Parental support was significantly higher than classmate support, and girls scored significantly higher than boys on self-control skills and on both support sources. Self-control skills linked directly with positivity ratio and indirectly through parents’ and classmates’ support, with no gender differences found for the overall model. The study highlights the importance of prevention and treatment programs designed to impart adolescents with prosocial self-control skills, to improve their perceived availability of social support and consequently to increase their positivity ratio during this intense developmental period.

Multiple Facets of Self-Control in Arab Adolescents Parallel Pathways to Greater Happiness and Less Physical Aggression

Adolescence is a period of dramatic change that necessitates using skills and strengths to reduce physical aggression and increase happiness. This study examined the multiple facets of self-control skills in achieving both goals simultaneously, in a sample of 248 Arab adolescents in Israel. We conceptualized and tested a new multi-mediator model that posited two parallel paths. Structural equation modeling with bootstrap analysis supported the hypothesized model where self-control linked with subjective happiness directly, and indirectly through positive emotions and social support. In addition, self-control linked directly to physical aggression, and indirectly through hostility and anger. The findings provide new theoretical conceptualizations for further research and suggest possible mechanisms for prevention and intervention programs.

The Applicability of a Seminal Professional Development Theory to Creative Arts Therapies Students

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to test the extent to which a seminal theory of the professional development of counsellors and therapists is applicable to the particular experiences of creative arts therapies graduate students who learn how to use the arts in psychotherapy. Nevertheless, readers may consider the results of the present study transferable to other healthcare disciplines. Questionnaires for each developmental phase were used for data collection, and analysis included data quantification, assessment of inter-rater agreement and theory derivation procedure. Results indicate that creative arts therapies students were concerned about translating theory into practice, learning how experienced therapists concretely function in practice, and reducing cognitive dissonance upon realization that their pre-training lay conceptions of helping were no longer valid. Stress and anxiety drove students to adopt easily mastered techniques that were implemented creatively in practicum. The results confirm that students who were older and had undergraduate human-service education and/or considerable life experience were less concerned about their suitability to the profession, were more acquainted with a professional working style and searched for their individual way of becoming therapists. Finally, recommendations for future research are suggested, and implications for practice are offered.

Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction Mediates the Association between Self-Control Skills and Subjective Well-Being

Although studies have shown that self-control skills (SCSs) are positively linked to both personal and interpersonal outcomes in adolescent students, studies on the putative mechanisms underlying this relationship are scarce. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory and previous studies, we theorized that the association between students’ SCSs and their subjective well-being (SWB) in school may be mediated by students’ perceived satisfaction of their basic psychological needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy. The sample consisted of 1576 Israeli adolescent students (54% girls) in grades 10–12 (mean age 16) enrolled in 20 schools. A mediation model was tested with structural equation modeling and a robust bootstrap method for testing indirect effects, controlling for school-level variance. The findings supported the hypothesized model and a post hoc multi-group comparison analysis yielded gender invariance in the model. The findings suggest that both girls and boys with high SCSs may perceive themselves as having greater needs satisfaction in school and consequently higher school-related SWB. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Helpful and Hindering Factors in Psychodrama Field Training: A Longitudinal Mixed Methods Study of Student Development

Although the literature indicates that students in mental health professions start to form their professional identity and competence in graduate school, there are few studies on the in-training experience of creative arts therapies students. This mixed methods study examined how five first-year students in a psychodrama master’s degree program in Israel experienced their field training, with the aim of identifying the factors likely to promote or hinder the development of their professional identity and sense of professional ability. Longitudinal data were collected weekly throughout the 20-week field training experience. The students reported qualitatively on helpful and hindering factors and were assessed quantitatively on questionnaires measuring professional identity, perceived demands-abilities fit, client involvement, and therapy session evaluations. A thematic analysis of the students’ reports indicated that a clear and defined setting and structure, observing the instructor as a role model, actively leading parts of the session, and observing fellow students were all helpful factors. The hindering factors included role confusion, issues related to coping with client resistance and disciplinary problems, as well as school end-of-year activities that disrupted the continuity of therapy. The quantitative results indicated that students’ professional identity did not significantly change over the year, whereas a U-shaped curve trajectory characterized the changes in demands-abilities fit and other measures. Students began their field training with an overstated sense of ability that soon declined and later increased. These findings provide indications of which helping and hindering factors should be maximized and minimized, to enhance students’ field training.

Positivity Ratio Links Self-control Skills to Physical Aggression and Happiness in Young Palestinians Living in Gaza

The study examined a potential underlying mechanism through which self-control skills (SCSs) may predict more happiness on the one hand and less hostility, anger and peer aggression on the other hand in an understudied sample of 744 Palestinian youngsters (Grades 8–12) from the Gaza Strip, a military conflict area. The hypothesized model was confirmed: self-reported SCS linked with happiness through positivity ratio as a mediator; SCS linked with physical aggression through the association of positivity ratio with hostility, and anger; and anger mediated the link between hostility and physical aggression. Additional analyses showed that girls scored higher than boys in SCS and boys scored higher than girls on positivity ratio, happiness, hostility, anger, and physical aggression. The study highlights the importance of imparting SCS to increase positivity ratio, so that, despite exposure to extreme adversity, youngsters in Gaza and elsewhere may experience not only less aggression but also more happiness.