The core principle underlying this research program is that places can contribute to identity, and that like other elements of identity they may be subject to the same psychological processes. One way in which personal and social identity have been characterised is by their provision of a psychologically significant sense of identity continuity. The overarching question addressed throughout each chapter of this thesis is whether places are significant aspects of identity because they too provide a sense of temporal endurance: place identity continuity (PIC). Four empirical studies aimed to address this question using insights from social psychological theory. They also aimed to reveal the structure of place identity continuity, its psychological significance, and whether variation in its expression could be accounted for using social context. Following an introduction to the core themes of the thesis in Chapter One, Chapters Two and Three provide reviews of the literature connecting place, identity, and continuity: the first from disciplines outside psychology and the second from psychology itself. Chapter Four describes the research methods to be used, and ends Part I of the thesis. Part II presents the empirical studies. Chapter Five reports the results from Study 1, an interview study conducted with residents of Tayside, exploring their place experiences and perceptions of identity continuity in relation to places. It reveals that place relationships can be characterised by connections with past and future selves, and a sense of fit between place and self, but that they can also vary according to strength of place identification and social context. Chapter Six reports the results of Study 2, a large student survey study leading to the development of a three-dimensional scale to measure PIC, and confirmation that PIC is connected with place attachment and place identity. Chapter Seven reports the results of Study 3, a cross-validation of the PIC measure and examination of the varying connections between PIC dimensions and psychological well-being in a large general public survey study. Finally, Chapter Eight reports the results of Study 4, an experiment showing that PIC can vary according to self-categorisation such that those categorising themselves as a family member will generally rate PIC higher than those primed with a student identity. Chapter Nine draws the results of each study together to conclude that PIC is a significant aspect of place identity, and that it is characterised by connections with past place identity, present place and self congruency, and future place identity, thus extending the existing place identity literature. It is also concluded that the use of social psychological approaches enriches previously static and deterministic understandings of place identity, and provides an opportunity to integrate social and environmental psychology. Limitations, future studies, and theoretical and practical implications are then provided before concluding remarks are offered.

El objetivo de la investigación es describir el bienestar psicológico en profesores que enseñan hatha yoga en la ciudad de Lima. Se contó con la participación de 10 instructores, 4 varones y 6 mujeres entre 21 y 58 años de edad, nacidos en Lima y con residencia en la ciudad. Se utilizó un enfoque cualitativo fenomenológico y la información se obtuvo mediante una entrevista estructurada. Los participantes fueron seleccionados mediante un muestreo intencional y se aplicó un análisis de contenido. Los resultados presentan concordancia entre todos los ejes analizados y por ende se obtuvo un alcance psicológico que describe la teoría de bienestar psicológico en la experiencia de la práctica del hatha yoga. Por último, los profesores concluyen que el hatha yoga brinda un sentido en sus vidas y a estar más involucrados en su trabajo por recompensas intrínsecas. / The objective of the research is to describe the psychological well-being in teachers who teach hatha yoga in the city of Lima. It was attended by 10 instructors, 4 males and 6 women between 21 and 58 years old, born in Lima and residing in the city. A phenomenological qualitative approach was used and the information was obtained through a structured interview. Participants were selected by intentional sampling and content analysis was applied. The results are consistent between all the axes analyzed and therefore a psychological scope was obtained that describes the theory of psychological well-being in the experience of the practice of hatha yoga. Finally, teachers conclude that hatha yoga provides meaning in their lives and to be more involved in their work for intrinsic rewards. / Tesis

No description available.

This thesis investigates the structure of job-related well-being; the identification of variables that contribute to either psychological well-being or distress; and the causal connections among elements of job-related well-being and intrinsic job satisfaction.Two large samples (n=3,044 and 3,709) from a white-collar public sector organisation were used to test a four monopolar model of affective well-being, and the two bipolar model (enthusiasm-depression and anxiety-contentment) proposed by Warr (1990). Structural equation modelling (LISREL) was used to test both models, and results strongly supported a monopolar structure of affective well-being (enthusiasm, depression, anxiety and relaxation). Following the testing of the models, canonical correlation analyses related the set of the four affective variables and intrinsic job satisfaction to a set of predictors. The predictors were drawn from Wan's (1994) sub-categories of nine features of jobs that purport to enhance psychological well-being at work. Two dimensions were extracted from this analysis. The first dimension was mainly defined by intrinsic job satisfaction (from the dependent variable set) and supervisory support and skill utilisation (from the independent variable set). The second dimension was defined mainly by anxiety (dependent variable set) and job demands (independent variable set). From these results a model was developed based on the additive influences of the independent variables on the outcome variables (i.e., affective well-being and intrinsic job satisfaction) that helped explain psychological well-being and distress at work. Finally, a model was also developed that assumed a causal direction from intrinsic job satisfaction to affective well-being. Using a longitudinal sample (n=220) these causal relations were tested with USREL. Results supported the hypothesis that intrinsic job ++ / satisfaction leads to affective well-being, rather than the alternative model that had the causal connections in the opposite direction. It was also possible to demonstrate with the same data set that one objective organisational variable, namely tenure, affects intrinsic job satisfaction over time, thus arguing against the proposition that intrinsic job satisfaction is dispositional.

The nature of human well-being has been debated in psychological research since the beginning of the study of human behaviour. Mechanistic perspectives regard humans to be independent objects motivated by external contingencies, with needs to be both self sufficient and self-enhancing. Organismic perspectives describe humans as having innate self-organisational tendencies, which partly depend on qualities of relationships with others. Basic needs for well-being include being self-determined and socially integrated. Both perspectives claim empirical support. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the present study proposed that basic needs for well-being include autonomy and relatedness, and ego-defensive needs that undermine health include independence, control and narcissism. To compare the effects of different needs on well-being, the present study measured people's perceived needs and the satisfaction of those needs, within the context of interpersonal interactions. Participants were sourced from the student population at a Melbourne university (N = 82), and various internet website forums (N= 171). Included were 82 participants who had received a diagnosis of social anxiety in the past two years. A new measure, the Interpersonal Needs Scale (INS) was developed to tap the strength of values for the five needs of interest, and the degree to which needs are satisfied. Factor analysis on the INS produced four value subscales: these were named Authenticity and Belonging, comprising autonomy and relatedness items, and Independence and Narcissism, both including Control items. The fmal version of the INS showed satisfactory reliability and validity. Results for Study 1 indicated that for the present sample, Authenticity and Belonging values were associated with overall interpersonal need satisfaction and with well-being. Conversely, Independence and Narcissistic values were associated with dissatisfaction of interpersonal needs and compromised well-being. For Study 2, cluster analysis was used to group participants according to their INS profiles: that is, similarities in their perceived needs and their degree of satisfaction of needs. In line with predictions, the groups included: the Selfother Balanced (N = 42), who reported significantly greater values for authenticity and belonging over independence and narcissism, and overall need satisfaction; the Slightly Lonely (N = 53), who reported similar value ranking but some dissatisfaction of needs; the Satisfied Narcissists (N = 45), who reported high values for ego-defensive needs and satisfaction of narcissistic needs only; the Needy Narcissists (N= 81), who also reported high values for ego-defensive needs but high overall need dissatisfaction; and the Individualists (N = 27), who reported low values for belonging and unsatisfied independence needs. The characteristics of each group were analysed and compared with each other according to a range of self-concept measures (autonomous-self, relational self, independent-self, and narcissistic personality), indicators of psychological wellbeing (depression, anxiety, stress, and self-esteem), and social well-being (alienation). The Self-other Balanced group reported the highest well-being scores and a predominantly autonomous self-concept, while those who reported low values for belonging needs (Individualists), and those who reported the least satisfaction of interpersonal needs (Needy Narcissists), reported the most compromised well-being. A large proportion of respondents with social anxiety belonged to the latter group. The implications of these results for understanding the impact of values and the satisfaction of interpersonal needs on well-being were discussed.

<p>How are you today? The question was asked on a website by the artist Erik Krikortz, and the answers were displayed as a light show on a building complex in central Stockholm. In this thesis more than 20000 people have rated their subjective well-being on their own chosen occasions, on a seven graded scale of smileys in different colours. Results from November 2007 were analysed. The most frequently chosen colour was yellow, symbolising slightly better moods than average. Comparing means between days of the week showed that people feel the best on Sundays and are least happy on Tuesdays. Posthoc tests indicated significant dips in well-being on two days of the month. After answering the main question participants could also choose to rate their subjective experience of how well their sleep, family and friends, physical activity, stress levels and inspiration had been that day. The variables with the highest correlation with well-being were found to be “inspiration” and “family and friends”. Lowest were correlations for “sleep” and “physical activity”. The last variable was blank, for people to fill out for themselves and rate. The most frequently used word here was by far “love”, followed by “work” and “weather”. Summing up the results it seems social activities means most for the subjective well-being.</p>

Room temperature vertical cavity lasing at the wavelength of 433nm has been successfully realized in InxGa₁₋xN/InyGa₁₋yN multiple quantum well without Bragg mirrors under photo-excitation. At high excitation intensity, one of the modes of the Fabry-Perot cavity formed by the GaN/sapphire and the GaN/air interfaces, shows a strong superlinear increase in intensity with excitation intensity rise. The vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSELs) structure is grown by metal-organic chemical vapor phase deposition and the threshold is as low as 200kW/cm². The lasing in the sample probably results from the ultrahigh material gain due to the spontaneous formation of dense array of nanoscale InGaN quantum dots (QDs) having an exceptional high area density. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

This project evaluated the effect of religious symbols on self-control and self-monitoring. Based on psychological priming research and evidence demonstrating a correlation between religious conviction and self-control, it was hypothesized that exposure to subtle religious primes would increase self-control and self-monitoring. Assuming religious primes increased both variables, it was also hypothesized that self-monitoring would mediate the effect of the religious primes on self-control. In line with study hypotheses, exposure to religious primes did increase self-control, however no support was found for the effect of the religious primes on self-monitoring. As a result, a mediational model could not be tested. Study implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Breast cancer is a devastating disease that affects thousands of women every year influencing their psychological and physical well-being for many years after being diagnosed. The goal of the current study was to determine if there are distinct trajectories of functioning among breast cancer patients in the domains of negative psychological adjustment, positive psychological adjustment, and physical adjustment. This was accomplished using growth mixture modeling. Another goal of this study was to determine whether demographic, medical, and psychosocial variables were able to distinguish among the trajectories. The study combined women from two samples spanning 10 years providing a sample size of 376 women diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. These women were recruited to participate in a 10-week cognitive behavioral stress management intervention and were either randomized to the 10-week experimental condition or a one-day control group. It was hypothesized that distinct trajectories would emerge for each of the domains and that psychosocial variables (i.e., social support, benefit finding, and emotional approach coping) would distinguish among the trajectories. This study was able to statistically identify multiple classes or trajectories of adjustment, consistent with findings reported by Helgeson and colleagues (2004) and Donovan and colleagues (2007). It is difficult to say, however, whether these classes differ in clinically significant ways. The present study also provides a cautionary note to researchers who intend to use growth mixture modeling to identify different trajectories of functioning and the limitations associated with this statistical technique. First, it is important to start this process with strong empirical or theoretical support for the possibility of different classes or trajectories. Without this foundation it becomes difficult to justify why a certain number of classes were chosen. Another limitation of this statistical approach is that there is not a standard method for determining the best number of classes. There are conflicting opinions among researchers in the field about the best fit index to use when the multiple fit indices do not converge. A serious issue related to this is the fact that classes are used for interpreting results and drawing conclusions and inferences. Therefore, clinicians using GMM must be careful when deciding on the number of classes and the clinical inferences drawn from these analyses. Further research needs to be conducted validating these statistical techniques.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential contribution of religious involvement, spiritual well-being, existential well-being and HIV-related symptoms to health-related quality of life in HIV-infected African American women recovering from substance abuse. The study also examined whether religious and spiritual variables served as potential moderators between HIV symptoms and health-related quality of life. This study relied on data obtained as part of a larger longitudinal investigation of the effectiveness of Structural Ecosystems Therapy (SET) for HIV infected women in substance abuse recovery. A total of 175 participants were recruited from regional residential and outpatient clinics. The sample in this study included 99 African American women who had completed the required baseline assessment. It was hypothesized that religious involvement, spiritual well-being and existential well-being would be positively associated to various health-related quality of life indicators (i.e., physical functioning, social functioning, mental health functioning and health distress). On the other hand, HIV symptoms were hypothesized to be inversely related to the health-related quality of life indicators. Religious involvement, spiritual well-being and existential well-being were posited to moderate the relationship between HIV symptoms and the health-related quality of life indicators. Findings from the multivariate analysis of variance showed existential well-being to be significantly related to mental health functioning and health distress and HIV symptoms to be significantly related to mental health functioning and physical functioning. Results from the regression analyses also showed that after controlling for age, both existential well-being and HIV symptoms were significantly related to mental health functioning. Results suggest that increased symptom frequency is significantly associated with worse mental health while higher levels of existential well-being are significantly related to better mental health. No evidence was found in support of the hypothesized moderating role of religious involvement, spiritual well-being and existential well-being between HIV symptoms and health-related quality of life indicators. Research and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.