<p>Self-compassion has been shown to predict well-being, possibly by buffering people against the unpleasant emotional and cognitive reactions that accompany negative life events. Although most previous research has been conducted with young adults, preliminary studies show that self-compassion may be beneficial for older adults. Three studies tested self-compassion's impact on thoughts, emotions, and behaviors associated with aging using samples of individuals between the ages of 62 and 104. Study 1 examined self-compassion as it relates to health promotion behaviors, specifically use of assistance and trying new activities. Although some findings supported the hypotheses, results showed that high and low self-compassionate individuals did not differ in their use of assistance or willingness to try new activities. Study 2 implemented a brief self-compassion manipulation to test its effects on thoughts and emotions. Unfortunately, random assignment failed to equate the experimental conditions, rendering the results difficult to interpret. After controlling for baseline self-compassion, the manipulation did not have the predicted effects on well-being. In fact, participants seemed to benefit more when merely writing about negative events than when writing about them in a self-compassionate fashion. Finally, Study 3 examined self-compassionate cognitions, specifically whether or not self-compassionate thoughts mediate the relationship between trait self-compassion and emotional well-being. Self-compassionate participants did think differently than their low self-compassion counterparts, and these cognitions mediated the relationship between self-compassion and positivity of their responses. However, cognitions did not mediate the relationship between trait self-compassion and emotion outcomes. Two possible explanations for the unexpected results of the three studies include the relatively healthy nature of the sample and the strength of the self-compassion manipulation. Suggestions for future research include examining how self-compassion relates to the motivations behind engaging in health promotion, allowing participants to write more freely in the self-compassion manipulations, and bringing self-compassion research with older adults into controlled laboratory settings.</p> / Dissertation

The purpose of this thesis is to clarify the meaning of authenticity in Martin Heidegger's Being and Time. This is done first by situating the meaning of authenticity within the project as a whole, second through an exegesis of key parts of the text, and third, through an evaluation of certain scholarly commentaries. The ultimate aim is to argue against an interpretation of authenticity that carries an overly subjectivistic-individualistic connotation. The second chapter seeks to provide the necessary context for the meaning of authenticity within the project of Being and Time as a whole. The goal is to make transparent the situation that Heidegger finds himself in when he conceives of the necessity for the concept of authenticity. Towards this end, it is necessary to highlight those commitments to phenomenology and hermeneutics that informs Heidegger's effort. The third chapter first introduces the various characterizations of authenticity that Heidegger offers in Being and Time and the problematic meaning they suggest. Subsequently, the third chapter aims at creating a context for the meaning of those characterizations through an exegesis of the existentials of every existentiell disclosure of Dasein's being-in-the-world. By examining what it means for Dasein to be in the world in general, the goal is to narrow the scope of what authenticity can and cannot mean. The fourth chapter surveys certain commentaries on authenticity that argue in favor of a subjectivistic-individualistic emphasis for the meaning of authenticity. The goal is to isolate the key points in Being and Time that are used in support of these interpretations, and subsequently to use the frameworks created in Chapters II and III to articulate why such commentaries are incorrect. Finally, Chapter IV gestures towards the right meaning of those descriptions of authenticity that carry a subjectivistic-individualistic connotation in order to place them in the right context. The thesis concludes by suggesting that a non subjectivistic-individualistic interpretation fits more holistically with the other social-historical parts of the text, and that a subjectivistic-individualistic interpretation remains within the provenance of the kind of metaphysics that Heidegger wishes to distance himself from.

With the millions of students currently enrolled in higher education, a substantial opportunity arises for college personnel to impact the health and wellness of our future U.S. adult population. Most health scholars agree that wellness is a multidimensional construct. Despite disagreement regarding the optimal number of dimensions - ranging from three to twelve - there is a general consensus around the following: (1) physical, (2) social, (3) spiritual, (4) intellectual, (5) emotional, and (6) occupational. With regard to these six dimensions of wellness, the purpose of this study was to conduct a naturalistic inquiry among graduating health education majors to evaluate which particular dimension of wellness was most influenced or impacted, by their college life experience. Participants were recruited via email and in-class-visits. Of the 173 students who were eligible to participate in this study at the time of recruitment, 58 indicated interest and a final sample size of 30 students were interviewed. When determining which specific dimension of wellness was most impacted or influenced by the college life experience, two narratives of an unplanned pregnancy and alcoholism immediately came to mind. However, when trying to compile all 30 narratives to identify which dimension was most impacted, collectively, I concluded that all dimensions were impacted, and, due to the dimensions' interconnectedness, no one particular dimension could be singled out as most impacted. The six dimensions of wellness interact continually and synergistically. For example, the need for stress management and stress reduction is linked mostly obviously with emotional wellness; however, should one practice yoga for stress relief, he/she is impacting their physical, social, and spiritual health as well. Segmenting students' narratives about their college life experiences into discrete domains represented a challenge - one that reflects how activities that support wellness cannot easily be segmented into discrete domains, either.

ABSTRACT THE GROWING DESERT: NIHILISM AND METAPHYSICS IN HEIDEGGER&rsquo / S THOUGHT Duman, Musa Ph. D., Department of Philosophy Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Ahmet inam March 2009, 209 pages In this study, we explore Heidegger&rsquo / s understanding of nihilism as the essential dimension of metaphysics, of metaphysical experience of Being, and in the following, we address his responses to it. Heidegger takes nihilism as rooted in the metaphysical way of thinking, hence metaphysics and nihilism standing in a primordial identity. Such metaphysical way of thinking as a framework in which Being is experinced and articulated, explicitly or implicitly in all areas of Western culture, from art to science, gives us the deep history or movement of Western tradition. Heidegger considers such movement to be presenting an ever growing threat, indeed as something to be consummated in the eeriest possibility of world history, that is, total destruction of human essence as an openness for the disclosure of Being. He points out to this underlying phenomenon with various designations: forgetfullnesss of Being, abandonment of Being, darkening of the world, Gestell and devestation are some of them. In this tradition, Being, from Plato and Aristotle onwards, becomes nothing at all, that is, excluded from any thoughtful consideration, reduced to a mere abstraction. Anything nihilistic, if fully delved into, would prove to conceal at its heart an alienation to the true sense of Being. Therefore, we need to develop a way of thinking outside the dominion of metaphysics, which should not only discover No-thing as the concealment dimension of Being, thus be deeply open to our finitude, but also learn to respond thoughtfully and thankfully to the gift of Being in, through and towards which we ex-sist as human beings. Vis-a-vis the futural potentials of nihilism in this long end of Western history, the futural character of Heidegger&rsquo / s thinking, his search for a new way of thinking that would incipate the other beginning, harbours a strange Tension that is characteristic of his whole philosophy.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

Research has established locus of control as a strong trait-level predictor of health and well-being and indicates that individuals with a greater sense of internal control benefit from healthier outcomes across a broad range of domains. To date, however, little research has investigated the potential malleability and state-level functioning of locus of control. Drawing from social learning theories, it was predicted that locus of control would vary on a daily basis and further that this variation would be influenced by daily hassles and anxiety. Additionally, an individual’s trait-level of internal locus of control was expected to moderate this association. The current study consists of 58 couples expecting their first child. Couples were asked to independently complete three weeks of daily diaries during their third trimester. Diaries assessed daily feelings of control, anxiety, and number of hassles encountered. Once reliable daily variation of locus of control was established, within-person analyses revealed a negative relationship such that on a day when an individual reported more anxiety or more hassles, that individual also reported feeling less control than on an average day. Further analyses revealed that an individual’s trait-level of internal control influenced this association such that, overall, those individuals with a higher trait-level of internality maintained higher levels of daily control in the face of hassles and anxiety. These findings extend prior research by providing a better understanding of locus of control and suggest important implications for efforts aimed at improving health and well-being. / text

The purpose of this research was to examine the friendships of emerging adults as influenced by familial environments in order to illuminate interpersonal aspects of well-being. Recent literature affirms that friendships play a critical role in the lives of emerging adults; these interpersonal connections rely on the use of friendship formation strategies and maintenance behaviors. Employing a longitudinal design that included both participant and peer reports, this study found that individuals’ use of friendship formation strategies and maintenance behaviors contribute to their overall well-being and that the path for maintenance behaviors was partially mediated by relational quality with friends. Further, it was expected that the propensity to engage in friendship work (i.e., formation strategies and maintenance behaviors) would be predicted by communication within the parent-child relationship. Recent scholarship asserts that parent confirmation affects both the socialization and psychosocial development of children. The current work employed a confirmation perspective to assess how families lay the groundwork for emerging adults’ communicative behaviors in friendship and found that parent confirmation predicted individuals’ use of friendship formation and maintenance behaviors. Together, these associations pave a social-cognitive pathway from family and friendship to well-being. / text

Social capital has been positively associated with adult health and well-being, yet our knowledge about the meaning of social capital for women, especially from developing countries such as Indonesia, is limited. The Indonesian context is particularly suitable for this study since the country is a heterogeneous society in terms of ethnicity, language, and race, and it has rich tradition of social capital. The focus on women is also relevant since the programs and activities of many government and nongovernment organizations target women to improve health and well-being of the family and the community. Because women are the target of these efforts, understanding women's social capital (participation in these organizations) is relevant particularly how participation impacts women's health and well-being. Further, this study investigates whether other dimensions of social capital (social trust and social support) has impact on women's health and well-being. This study utilizes the recent data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS, Wave 4). The findings indicate education has a positive significant effect on health, mental health and well-being outcomes. Higher years of education predict both the odds of being in a good health and having lower mental health problems. Education also predicts higher odds of having adequate standard of living, sufficient food consumption and healthcare, and feeling happy. Among social capital variables, social trust in the general community (feeling safe walking alone at night) has a significant positive effect on good health and lower mental health problems. Participation in Rotating Saving and Credit Association (ROSCA) also has a significant effect on improved women's welfare including having adequate standard of living, enough food consumption, and sufficient healthcare. Living in Java was a determinant factor for having good health, but not the other outcomes. Implications for social work practice and policy development are offered. / text

Three of the major controversial issues in the field of intellectual styles are: 1) whether or not styles can be changed; 2) whether or not styles are value-laden; 3) whether styles are distinct from or they are part of personality traits. The main purpose of this research was to address these three issues by 1) exploring the socialization process of students’ thinking styles through tracing the change of thinking styles over one year and examining the competing influence of students’ perceived parenting styles, perceived learning environment, and personality traits on their thinking styles; and 2) exploring the role of thinking styles in students developmental outcomes with regard to career decision self-efficacy and subjective well-being. The research adopted a quantitatively-driven mixed method design and it involved three phases: the pilot study (a quantitative study), the main study (a longitudinal, quantitative study), and the follow-up study (a qualitative study). The pilot study validated a series of inventories that were subsequently utilized in the main study and preliminarily explored the relevant relationships among three hundred and forty-one Chinese university students from Shanghai, mainland China. In the main study, nine hundred and twenty-six students from the same university responded to a questionnaire consisting of the modified inventories and some demographic information at the beginning of an academic year. One year later, they responded to the same questionnaire again. After that, based on the results of the main study, 29 students were selected to participate in a follow up study that involved individual face-to-face interviews. Results of the main study generally supported the research hypotheses. With regard to the malleability of thinking styles, the research found that students’ thinking styles changed over one year and the change of thinking styles can be at least partially attributed to the two environmental factors (i.e., parenting styles and learning environments). These findings suggest that, albeit relatively stable, thinking styles can be socialized/changed. With regard to the role of thinking styles in student development, results indicated that mainly Type I thinking styles (characterized by creativity, nonconformity, and autonomy) positively contributed to students’ career decision self-efficacy and subjective well-being. Furthermore, Type I thinking styles were also major mediators in the relationships of parenting styles and learning environments to career decision self-efficacy and subjective well-being. These findings suggest that thinking styles are value-laden, with Type I thinking styles being more adaptive than other styles. With regard to the relationship between personality and thinking styles, results indicated that thinking styles and personality traits overlapped with each other to limited extents and both of them made unique contributions to student development. Moreover, thinking styles were more malleable than personality traits. These findings suggest that styles are distinct from rather than subordinate to personality traits. Results from the follow-up interview study further confirmed the results of the main study and provided explanatory information on how the identified relationships happened. Generally speaking, the present research has both theoretical and practical implications. It significantly contributes to the discussion on the aforementioned major controversial issues in the field of styles. Furthermore, based on the research findings, specific suggestions on how to optimize the development of students’ thinking styles are provided for parents, teachers, and university administrators. Finally, the limitations of this research and the recommendation for future studies are discussed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study examined the effectiveness of a hope-based intervention on hope, subjective well-being, goal attainment and degree of goal internalization in a sample of primary 6 students from Hong Kong. Participants were randomly assigned to either intervention condition or control condition. Results from ANCOVAs suggested that there were no main intervention effects on hope and on goal attainment. However, participants benefited from internalizing their self-set goal in the intervention. Concerning the intervention effect on subjective well-being, significant interaction was found. Consistent with the dynamical systems model, regression analyses demonstrated that participants with high initial pleasant affect was more responsive to the intervention and benefited the most in terms of latter pleasant affect. In addition, it was found that goal attainment was significantly associated with subjective well-being and hopeful thinking. Possible explanations for the inconsistent findings with previous studies are provided. Implications for future research on hope-based intervention are also discussed. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences