Sanet Coetzee

An overview of research on positive psychology in South Africa.

The paradigm of positive psychology was publicly launched by Martin Seligman in his Presidential Address to the American Psychology Association in 1998. Since then, the scientific study of optimal human functioning gained new momentum. This article provides an overview of research on positive psychology in South Africa. The article explores general trends and the main developments in the field, internationally as well as nationally. South African research in the paradigm of positive psychology was categorised according to a framework developed for the purposes of this article. Results indicate frequencies of South African research undertaken over the last 36 years. Possible future directions for research in the field are pointed out and integrated with recommendations from prominent South African and international authors.

Dimensions of Social Well-Being in a Motor Manufacturing Organisation in South Africa

The study examined the psychometric properties of the 15-item version of the Social Well-being Scale (SWBS-15: Keyes, 1998) for a South African sample with diversity in culture. The SWBS-15 and a biographical questionnaire were administered to employees in a motor manufacturing organisation (N = 203). The five-factor structure of social well-being obtained previously in Western studies, were not replicated. Instead, we found three factors with acceptable levels of internal consistency emerged through exploratory factor analysis. Significant differences regarding social well-being were obtained between groups that differed in terms of their marital status and job levels. The results suggest that social well-being in South Africa might be operationalized differently than it is currently operationalized in traditional western measurements.