Mohsen Joshanloo

Cross-Cultural Validation of Fear of Happiness Scale Across 14 National Groups

A survey of the cultural notions related to happiness and the existing empirical evidence indicate that some individuals endorse the belief that happiness, particularly an immoderate degree of it, should be avoided. These beliefs mainly involve the general notion that happiness may lead to bad things happening. Using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel modeling, this study investigates the measurement invariance, cross-level isomorphism, predictive validity, and nomological network of the fear of happiness scale across 14 nations. The results show that this scale has good statistical properties at both individual and cultural levels. The findings also indicate that this scale has the potential to add to the knowledge about how people conceive of, and experience, happiness across cultures.

A New Look at the Factor Structure of the MHC-SF in Iran and the United States Using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling

OBJECTIVE This study examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) in young adults from Iran and the USA and across gender. METHOD The sample consisted of 387 Iranian and 395 American university students. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the new method of exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) were used to analyze the data. RESULTS The three-dimensional model of well-being as measured by the MHC-SF was consistent with the data. ESEM resulted in better fit indices as well as considerably lower factor correlations than did CFA. Partial measurement invariance across nations and full measurement invariance across gender were established. CONCLUSION The results confirm the three-dimensional structure of mental well-being, and indicate that the items of the MHC-SF function largely similarly across the two nations. These results also showcase the unique value of ESEM in understanding the factor structure of mental well-being.

The Big Five personality domains as predictors of social wellbeing in Iranian university students

This study investigated the relationship between the Big Five personality domains and the dimensions of social wellbeing among Iranian students. Participants were 236 university students at the University of Tehran. Bivariate correlations showed a modest overlap between personality factors and dimensions of social wellbeing. Among the Big Five personality domains, neuroticism was negatively related to social acceptance, social contribution, and social coherence. Conscientiousness was positively related to social contribution. Openness was positively related to social contribution and social coherence. Agreeableness was related to social acceptance and social contribution. No significant correlation was observed between extraversion and dimensions of social wellbeing. Results of regression analysis and canonical correlation analysis mainly converged with those of bivariate correlation analysis in showing that there was a modest relationship between the predictors and social wellbeing dimensions. Results of canonical correlation analysis indicated that the full model explained about 28% of the variance shared between the personality factors and social wellbeing variables. Results also revealed that male students scored significantly higher than female students on social wellbeing. However, gender did not moderate the relation between the Big Five personality domains and social wellbeing. Implications of the results are discussed with reference to prior studies on the relation among personality traits, gender, and hedonic and eudaimonic components of wellbeing in Iran and other countries.

The factor structure of the mental health continuum-short form (MHC-SF) in Serbia: an evaluation using exploratory structural equation modeling

Abstract Background: The Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) is a brief measure to assess emotional, social, and psychological well-being. Aims: We examined the factor structure of the MHC-SF in Serbia. A secondary goal was to examine measurement invariance and latent mean differences across gender. Method: The methods of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) were used to investigate the factor structure of the scale in a large sample (N = 1883). We compared 1-, 2-, and 3-factor models of mental well-being. Results: The results supported the superiority of the 3-factor model of well-being over the alternatives. ESEM yielded better fit with the data and considerably smaller factor correlations than did CFA. ESEM also uncovered a number of cross-loadings in the MHC-SF. Full measurement invariance was established across gender, yet no significant gender differences were identified in the latent means. Conclusions: These results indicate that emotional, social, and psychological well-being represents correlated yet distinct factors in Serbia. The results also suggest that ESEM is a more appropriate method than CFA for examining the factor structure of mental well-being. The contributions of ESEM to current debates surrounding the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being are discussed.

Investigation of the factor structure of spirituality and religiosity in Iranian Shiite university students

One of the important challenges facing psychologists of religion pertains to the definition of religiosity and spirituality. One way of understanding the connection between these two concepts is to suppose that one of them is a subset of the other. Another useful and sensitive way, however, is to view spirituality and religiosity as overlapping constructs, sharing some characteristics but also retaining nonshared features. Empirical studies examining the factor structure of spirituality and religiosity are scant and almost all of them come from Western culture. These factor analytic studies generally confirm that religiosity and spirituality can best be described in terms of two distinct yet correlated factors. To date, no study has investigated the relationship between these two constructs in Islamic cultures. To redress this imbalance, confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of religiosity and spirituality in two Iranian Shiite samples using an extensive set of scales (including Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith, Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale - Revised, Spiritual Meaning Scale, and Spiritual Transcendence Scale). Two hypothetical models were tested: a model that viewed spirituality and religiosity as correlated but separate constructs and a model that combined the indicators of religiosity and spirituality into a single construct. In keeping with the results obtained in Western cultures, results of confirmatory factor analyses, conducted in Study 1 (N=225) and Study 2 (N=288), revealed that a two-factor model fitted the data better than a single-factor model. Implications of the results are discussed, as are study limitations and directions for further research.

Mental Well-Being in Iran: The Importance of Comprehensive Well-Being in Understanding the Linkages of Personality and Values

The main purpose of this chapter is to search into the concept of mental well-being in Iran. First, the author reviews the philosophical and psychological conceptualizations of mental health in the West, focusing on the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being. Second, the author provides a conceptual analysis of the implicit theory of Islam about mental health with reference to Islamic texts. This conceptual analysis reveals that the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being is generally applicable to the Islamic cultures, although there are some cultural differences in the content and proprieties. Third, the author reviews the current empirical findings in Iran using western scales of well-being. This chapter proceeds with discussing the strengths and drawbacks of these empirical studies and highlighting a few ways in which these drawbacks can be overcome in the future. Finally, the author argues that although much needs to be done in the years to come, the Iranian experience with western well-being scales has been successful heretofore.

Structural and discriminant validity of the tripartite model of mental well-being: differential relationships with the big five traits

Abstract Background: The tripartite model of mental well-being offers a comprehensive account of the nature of mental well-being. According to this model, mental well-being is composed of three distinct yet related dimensions of subjective (hedonic), psychological and social well-being. Aims: The present study investigated the structural and discriminant validity of the three well-being factors. Methods: A large American sample (N = 2732) was used. Data were analyzed using both Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM). Results: It was found that the well-being variables loaded on three separate factors, indicating that the tripartite model was consistent with the data. Discriminant validity was further evidenced by moderate correlations between the latent factors, and differential relationships with the Big Five personality traits. ESEM proved to be a more appropriate approach for analyzing the data given the presence of cross-loadings. Conclusions: These results support adequate structural and discriminant validity for the dimensions of the tripartite model.

Factor Structure of Subjective Well-Being in Iran

ABSTRACT Subjective well-being is predominantly conceived as having 3 components: life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. This article reports 2 studies that seek to investigate the factor structure of subjective well-being in Iran. One-, two-, and three-factor models of subjective well-being were evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). The results of Study 1 (N = 2,197) and Study 2 (N = 207) show that whereas the 1- and 2-factor models do not fit the data well, the 3-factor model provides an adequate fit. These results indicate that the 3 components of subjective well-being constitute 3 interrelated, yet distinct, factors. The analyses demonstrate how traditional CFA and ESEM can be combined to obtain a clear picture of the measurement model of subjective well-being and generate new insights about individual items and cross-loadings needed to derive more parsimonious measures. Nuances relating to the assessment of subjective well-being in more collectivist and Muslim countries are discussed.

Does thinking about the meaning of life make you happy in a religious and globalised world? A 75-nation study

This paper reports on a multilevel study of 75 nations, which tests two hypotheses that arose from considering Tolstoys experience of thinking about the meaning and purpose of life. The globalisation-as-exacerbator hypothesis predicts that as globalisation increases, the relationship between thinking about the meaning and purpose of life and life satisfaction becomes more negative. The religiosity-as-buffer hypothesis predicts that as religiosity increases, the relationship between thinking about the meaning and purpose of life and life satisfaction becomes more positive. The results presented here support both hypotheses. We also found that it is religious attendance (not religious belief) that functions as a buffer in the relationship between thinking about the meaning and purpose of life and life satisfaction.

Islamic Conceptions of Well-Being

According to Islam, worshipping and serving Allah are humanity’s ultimate function, the fulfillment of which constitutes well-being. In other words, well-being is living a life in which all one’s actions and intentions are organized around the principle of Allah’s absolute sovereignty. This view requires absolute submission to the will of Allah in every aspect of life, no matter how small. Detailed guidelines on how to live a proper life are provided in the sharia, which is God’s revealed law to govern individual and social life. This notion of well-being underlies all concepts of well-being formulated in all Islamic schools of thought (e.g., Islamic philosophy and Sufism) throughout Islamic history including contemporary islamic conceptualizations of well-being.