P. Alex Linley

The authentic personality: A theoretical and empirical conceptualization and the development of the Authenticity Scale.

This article describes the development of a measure of dispositional authenticity and tests whether authenticity is related to well-being, as predicted by several counseling psychology perspectives. Scales were designed to measure a tripartite conception of authenticity, comprising self-alienation, authentic living, and accepting external influence, which was supported with exploratory factor analysis. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor loadings were invariant across sample, ethnicity, and gender. The scale showed substantial discriminant validity from the Big Five personality traits, nonsignificant correlations with social desirability, and 2- and 4-week test-retest correlations ranging from r = .78 to .91. Each subscale was strongly related to self-esteem and aspects of both subjective and psychological well-being. This article provides the first direct test of several theoretical models that view authenticity as integral to well-being.

A question of balance: Time perspective and well-being in British and Russian samples

Two studies were conducted investigating the relationship between the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) scales and well-being measures in British (N = 179) and Russian (N = 289) student samples. On the basis of person-oriented approach, a cluster-analysis operationalization of Balanced Time Perspective (BTP) using ZTPI was proposed and validated, demonstrating more evidence for its validity than the previously suggested cut-off-point approach. Four distinct time perspective patterns were discovered in both samples: future-oriented, present-oriented, balanced and negative. The clusters revealed significant differences in well-being, with members of the BTP cluster demonstrating the highest scores in both samples. The relationship between ZTPI and Temporal Life Satisfaction Scale in the British sample was found to be non-uniform for past, present and future. Based on these findings, a distinction between three aspects of time perspective is theoretically proposed, and its implications for the future development of the ZTPI are discussed.

A social-cognitive model of trait and state levels of gratitude.

Three studies tested a new model of gratitude, which specified the generative mechanisms linking individual differences (trait gratitude) and objective situations with the amount of gratitude people experience after receiving aid (state gratitude). In Study 1, all participants (N = 253) read identical vignettes describing a situation in which they received help. People higher in trait gratitude made more positive beneficial appraisals (seeing the help as more valuable, more costly to provide, and more altruistically intended), which fully mediated the relationship between trait and state levels of gratitude. Study 2 (N = 113) replicated the findings using a daily process study in which participants reported on real events each day for up to 14 days. In Study 3, participants (N = 200) read vignettes experimentally manipulating objective situations to be either high or low in benefit. Benefit appraisals were shown to have a causal effect on state gratitude and to mediate the relationship between different prosocial situations and state gratitude. The 3 studies demonstrate the critical role of benefit appraisals in linking state gratitude with trait gratitude and the objective situation.

Strengths Gym: The impact of a character strengths-based intervention on the life satisfaction and well-being of adolescents

This preliminary research study examined the impact of Strengths Gym, a character strengths-based positive psychological intervention program, on adolescent life satisfaction. Using a quasi-experimental treatment-control condition design, the study compared student outcomes for life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, and self-esteem for 319 adolescent students aged 12–14 (Mu2009=u200912.98): 218 adolescent students who participated in character strengths-based exercises in the school curriculum, and 101 adolescent students who did not participate in character strengths-based exercises in the school curriculum. Results revealed that adolescents who participated in character strengths-based exercises experienced significantly increased life satisfaction compared to adolescents who did not participate in character strengths-based exercises. Overall, results provide encouraging preliminary support for the application of character strengths-based exercises in the school curriculum as a means of increasing life satisfaction and well-being among youths.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory

With a sample of 372 participants who had experienced a range of adverse life events, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996). CFA results support the original five-factor structure, as well as indicating that a single higher-order construct with five first-order latent variables provides an acceptable fit.

Youth life satisfaction measures: a review

The burgeoning field of positive psychology has highlighted the need to discover what makes life worth living. Within this framework is the exploration of how youths perceive their lives and achieve happiness. Recent research demonstrates that perception of life satisfaction (LS) among youths has important implications for their psychological, social, and educational functioning. An important part of understanding how youths perceive their lives is the incorporation of measurement of life satisfaction, and this article provides a review of the extant measures of youth life satisfaction. Following systematic literature searches, empirical studies (n = 47) of youth LS measures are reviewed. The review provides an overview of each instrument outlining its normative samples, reliability, and validity. Recommended future research directions are briefly discussed.

Meaning in Life and Posttraumatic Growth

It has often been assumed that the search for meaning following adversity is adaptive, but scant evidence exists to support this. Rather, it seems that while the presence of meaning is adaptive, the search for meaning is actually related to greater distress. Across three samples (158 churchgoers, 128 members of the general population, 84 funeral directors), we assessed schematic changes following adversity using the Changes in Outlook Questionnaire and both the presence of meaning and the search for meaning using the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. It was found that the presence of meaning was associated with greater positive change and less negative change, but the search for meaning was associated with greater negative change across all three samples.

Implicit theories of a desire for fame

The aim of the present studies was to generate implicit theories of a desire for fame among the general population. In Study 1, we were able to develop a nine-factor analytic model of conceptions of the desire to be famous that initially comprised nine separate factors; ambition, meaning derived through comparison with others, psychologically vulnerable, attention seeking, conceitedness, social access, altruistic, positive affect, and glamour. Analysis that sought to examine replicability among these factors suggested that three factors (altruistic, positive affect, and glamour) neither display factor congruence nor display adequate internal reliability. A second study examined the validity of these factors in predicting profiles of individuals who may desire fame. The findings from this study suggested that two of the nine factors (positive affect and altruism) could not be considered strong factors within the model. Overall, the findings suggest that implicit theories of a desire for fame comprise six factors. The discussion focuses on how an implicit model of a desire for fame might progress into formal theories of a desire for fame.

Life Satisfaction in Youth

How to better the lives of people is central to the mission of positive psychology, and understanding and fostering life satisfaction is widely seen as being central to this goal. A wide range of studies attests to the role that life satisfaction plays in successful functioning in youth. Increased life satisfaction is consistently related to adaptive psychosocial functioning, interpersonal and social relationships, academic success, decreased behavior problems, increased healthier behaviors, and a host of school-related variables, including perceived academic efficacy, competence, and self-efficacy. This chapter reviews the factors that are associated with and predictive of life satisfaction in youth, including supportive interpersonal relationships with both family and peers, participation in meaningful instrumental activities, having a healthy lifestyle, cultural integration, positive behavior, and peer interactions. Further, the chapter also reviews specific positive psychology interventions that have been shown to increase life satisfaction, including gratitude diaries, the teaching of well-being in schools, and character strengths interventions.

Strengthening Underprivileged Communities: Strengths-Based Approaches as a Force for Positive Social Change in Community Development

Positive psychology came about to redress the perceived imbalance in the focus of the psychology endeavour, which was perceived to be unduly weighted towards the negative side of human experience, with insufficient experience being paid to the positive. This nascent discipline was originally conceptualised as having three pillars of focus, namely, positive subjective experience (e.g. happiness), positive personal characteristics (e.g. strengths) and positive institutions (e.g. schools, organisations, communities that in some way applied the principles of positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).