This study investigated the specific health-promoting behaviors employed by early adolescents (n = 246) and their subjective well-being (SWB) to provide an understanding of how mental and physical wellness relate in teens. Participants self-reported on their dietary habits, physical activity, sleep hygiene, safety habits, and attitudes toward substance use. A comprehensive assessment of SWB was also gathered (i.e., global life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect). The researcher hypothesized that each of the five health-promoting behaviors assessed in the current study would have significant, positive correlations with the SWB of early adolescents, in that youth who reported higher levels of engagement in these healthy behaviors also would report higher levels of happiness. Furthermore, demographic characteristics of gender, race, and socioeconomic status were hypothesized to play a moderating role in the relationship between health promotion and happiness. Findings demonstrated that two health-promoting behaviors were significantly correlated with SWB in the current study. Increased amount of sleep per night was linked to higher SWB, while attitudes toward substance use were negatively correlated with youth's SWB. A significant percentage of the variance in SWB (15%) was accounted for by the linear combination of health-promoting behaviors, although only one of the five health promoting behaviors (i.e., attitudes toward substance use) was a unique predictor of SWB. In addition, none of the interaction terms of gender, race, and SES with health-promoting behaviors were significant predictors of SWB, indicating that moderating effects were not found for this sample. Implications for further investigation of these findings include the use of other methods for reporting health-promoting behaviors in early adolescents as well as replication of moderating effects with a more ethnically diverse sample of youth. Findings call for integration of health promotion programming into school psychology practice from a prevention to targeted level of service delivery with youth.

Adjustment to assisted living does not always proceed smoothly, making it imperative to identify predictors of transition difficulties, such as personality factors. The sample for this cross sectional study included 64 older adults from ten assisted living communities in the southeast. The primarily white, well-educated, and female sample had an average age of 86 years. Correlation was used to examine relationships between individual personality factors (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and adjustment. Factor analysis determined both the predictor variables and outcome variables for inclusion in regression analyses. The regression analyses examined the predictive capacity of personality relative to other associated indicators on adjustment. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis of responses to an open-ended question regarding subjective adjustment was also conducted. Regression analysis found that participation in community activities, satisfaction with food quality, and ability to set one’s daily schedule were important predictors of adjustment. Above and beyond these predictors, neuroticism was found to predict adjustment, indicating that personality does play a role in determining adjustment to assisted living. The responses to the open ended question echoed these results and revealed additional salient issues and barriers related to resident perceptions of adjustment. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Examinations of stress in relation to adolescent mental health have not often utilized a comprehensive definition of psychological functioning. Recent literature has found support for the importance of examining optimal psychological functioning as the presence of high life satisfaction in addition to low psychopathology (Antamarian, Huebner, Hills, & Valois, 2011; Suldo & Shaffer, 2008). Most research on stress has focused on either major stressful events or chronic environmental stressors; further research is needed on the psychological model of stress, which conceptualizes stress as involving both environmental events and one's cognitive appraisals of the stressor. The current longitudinal study determined how multiple types of stress (accumulation of stressful life events, chronic stressors in social relationships, global perceived stress level) are associated with mental health (i.e., psychopathology and life satisfaction) over a one year period. Additionally, this study explored whether perceptions of social support from various sources (i.e., parents, classmates, teachers) act as a protective factor in the relationship between stress and later mental health outcomes. Data collection for Time 1 occurred in the Fall 2010, and was part of a larger on-going research project involving 500 students from grade 9 - 11. Time 2 data collection occurred during the Fall of 2011 and included 425 of those students, now in grades 10-12. Analyses included multiple regression to examine both the overall contribution of stress on mental health outcomes (life satisfaction, internalizing psychopathology, externalizing psychopathology) as well as the unique contributions of various types of stress. Additional regression analyses explored whether social support from various sources acts as a buffer for students that experience stress from later increases in psychopathology or declines in life satisfaction. Results revealed that the combination of Time 1 mental health variables and all forms of initial stress accounted for the most amount of variance (45%) in Time 2 internalizing problems and the least amount of variance in Time 2 externalizing problems (13%). In all cases, the largest predictor of Time 2 mental health was initial levels of mental health. The only stressor that appeared as a unique predictor of Time 2 mental health was stress in the student-teacher relationship, which accounted for a significant amount of variance in Time 2 externalizing problems. Further regression analyses found that parent and peer support were critical in predicting later mental health (i.e., exerted main effects). These analyses identified trends in the data in which parent and teacher support acted as buffers in the relationships between some forms of stress and later mental health. Implications for school psychologists and future directions for research are discussed.

The present study proposed an integrated coping framework that included both personal and social resources and explored the interaction of these constructs with future-oriented, proactive coping processes. Expressive writing was utilized as a cost-effective and minimally intrusive intervention to encourage individuals to facilitate proactive coping in cognitive and behavioral domains. One-hundred and eighty five participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 1) Proactive Writing (N = 63) to facilitate processing of a significant future stressor that is anticipated but is not certain to occur in the immediate future, 2) Expressive Writing (N = 53) to facilitate processing of the most difficult problem or situation experienced in the previous twelve months, or 3) Control Writing (N = 69) regarding time management as a credible placebo condition. The current study had three empirical aims. First, the current study experimentally tested whether implementing expressive writing as a proactive coping intervention increased proactive coping. Second, the current study tested whether proactive coping was positively related to adaptive functioning. Third, the current study vii examined reactive coping and perceived social support as mediators of the proactive coping to adaptive functioning relationship. Findings indicated that proactive coping and cognitive and behavioral coping efforts were associated with several clinical outcomes in the domains of psychological affect, life satisfaction, and physical health. Significant group differences in days per week of exercise and overeating behavior were present following the intervention, with a marginally significant trend found for social network size. Percentage of approach-oriented cognitive and behavioral coping towards anticipated and extant stressors, and perceptions of available support, enacted support, and satisfaction with one's social network were examined for mediational properties. Overall findings did not support the proposed mediation model of proactive coping. Implications of findings, limitations and future directions are discussed. / text

The proportion of adults aged 65 and older in the United States has been increasing steadily for years. Although most would agree that this increased longevity is a remarkable achievement, there is growing concern regarding the resources that will be necessary to provide care and services for this rapidly expanding segment of the population. From a public health perspective, simply increasing longevity is no longer the ultimate outcome sought. A more pertinent goal is increasing the quality of life years, or promoting resilience and successful aging. Strategies that assist adults in delaying the onset of disability or reducing the severity of disabling conditions may serve a vital role in the promotion of resilience and successful aging in older adults. The purpose of this study was to explore the association between religiosity and subjective well-being, commonly identified as a marker of resilience in older adults. In addition, the study sought to determine if that association is mediated by optimism. For this study, subjective well-being was operationalized with measures of depressive symptomatology and life satisfaction. Secondary analyses were conducted on longitudinal data collected for the Florida Retirement Study. Results indicated that religiosity was not significantly associated with future depressive symptomatology, but was significantly associated with future life satisfaction. Dispositional optimism did not mediate the relationships between religiosity and subjective well-being variables.

Life review involves a systematic, chronological review of an individual’s life from birth to death as well as an examination of the meaningfulness of life experiences and events. The purpose of the current study was to discover the effects of life review on happiness and life satisfaction in the older population. Participants from 71 to 85 years of age completed a demographics questionnaire, the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). SHS and SWLS were completed every other day from the beginning to the end of the data collection process. Once a consistent baseline was reached for the individual, the life review process began. Participants shared experiences from childhood and adolescence, adulthood, and older adulthood during the course of three sessions. At the end of the third session, participants were asked to write a letter to their younger self. It was hypothesized that engaging in the life review process would increase life satisfaction and happiness in the elderly. Results revealed that the life review intervention did not affect participants’ levels of life satisfaction and subjective happiness, with the exception of participant four who displayed increases in these variables.

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt, wie depressive und somatoforme Beschwerden auf die global konzeptualisierte Lebenszufriedenheit wirken. Anhand einer bevölkerungsrepräsentativen Stichprobe (N=2510) wird diese Fragestellung analysiert. Ziel ist es zum einen zu klären, ob bereits subklinische Beschwerden zu deutlichen Einschränkungen der Lebenszufriedenheit führen und zum anderen, wie sich die beiden Beschwerdegruppen im Zusammenspiel auf die Lebenszufriedenheit auswirken. Somatische und depressive Symptome werden dimensional (subklinische Symptome eingeschlossen) untersucht und somatoforme und depressive Syndrome kategorial (auf ICD-10 Diagnose-Ebene) analysiert – quantifiziert jeweils mit dem Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). Lebenszufriedenheit wird mit den Fragen zur Lebenszufriedenheit (FLZ-M) gemessen. Univariate Kovarianzanalysen dienen zur statistischen Prüfung. Die Ergebnisse werden in einer Publikation dargestellt. Unter Berücksichtigung komorbider depressiver Symptome/Syndrome wirken sich somatische Symptome und somatoforme Syndrome nur auf einige Bereiche der Lebenszufriedenheit negativ aus. Eine dimensionale Auswertung ist sinnvoll, um den Einfluss subklinischer Symptome zu beschreiben.

This dissertation combines three contributions to the literature on the determinants of well-being and the social nature of preferences. Departures from self-centred, consumption-oriented decision making are increasingly common in economic theory and are empirically well motivated by a wide range of behavioural data from experiments, surveys, and econometric inference. The first two contributions are focused on the idea that reference levels set by others’ consumption may figure prominently in both experienced well-being and in decision making. In the first paper, the well-being question is addressed empirically through the use of self-reported life satisfaction and high-resolution census and survey data in Canada. Strong income externalities are found at multiple spatial scales after controlling for various confounding factors. The second paper explores the general equilibrium consequences of a utility function having an explicit comparison with neighbours’ consumption. The question is investigated in a model in which decision makers knowingly choose their neighbours — and hence their consumption reference level — as well as their own consumption expenditure, thereby helping to set the reference level for nearby others. For both discrete and continuous distributions of types in an economy with a heterogeneous population undergoing such endogenous formation of consumption reference groups, there exist general equilibria in which differentiation of neighbourhoods occurs endogenously. The novel welfare implications of growth in such economies are described. The final paper addresses econometric reservations about the use of subjective reports as dependent variables. The date and location of survey interviews are combined with weather and climate records to construct the random component of weather conditions experienced by respondents on the day of their interview. Standard inferences about the determinants of life satisfaction remain robust after taking into account this significant source of affective bias.

Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad vyrai ir moterys skirtingai vertina pasitenkinimą darbu: vyrai darbu patenkinti labiau nei moterys. Tačiau tiek vyrai, tiek moterys panašiai vertina pasitenkinimą gyvenimu. Vyrų pasitenkinimą gyvenimu, skirtingai nei moterų pasitenkinimą gyvenimu, prognozuoja darbo savybės, o moterų pasitenkinimą gyvenimu, skirtingai nei vyrų pasitenkinimą gyvenimu, prognozuoja su darbu nesusijusių sričių vertinimas. Asmeniniai bruožai yra susiję tiek su vyrų, tiek su moterų pasitenkinimu gyvenimu, tačiau nėra nustatyta asmeninių bruožų bei vyrų ir moterų pasitenkinimo darbu sąryšio. Kalbant apie pasitenkinimo darbu ir pasitenkinimo gyvenimu sąsajas, jos surastos moterų grupėje, o vyrų grupėje galima stebėti tik statistinę tendenciją, jog vyrų pasitenkinimas darbu turi sąryšį su pasitenkinimu gyvenimu. Vyrų pasitenkinimą darbu prognozuoja tiktai darbo savybės, moterų pasitenkinimą darbu – darbo savybės, asmeniniai bruožai bei aplinkos, nesusijusios su darbu, veiksniai. Pasitenkinimą gyvenimu vyrams prognozuoja asmeniniai bruožai bei darbo užmokestis, moterims – su darbu nesusijusios sritys, asmeniniai bruožai bei darbo užmokestis. / The results of the study showed that the job satisfaction of men and women is different: men‘s job satisfaction is higher than women‘s. However, life satisfaction of both men and women is similar. Men‘s life satisfaction, unlike women‘s life satisfaction, is determined by the characteristics of their job and women‘s life satisfaction, unlike men‘s life satisfaction, is determined by areas unrelated to their job. Personal traits are related to both men and women‘s life satisfaction, but no connection was found between personal traits and job satisfaction of either men or women. A link between job satisfaction and life satisfaction was found in the women‘s group, while in men we can only observe a statistic tendency that men‘s job satisfaction is linked with life satisfaction. Men‘s job satisfaction is determined only by the characteristics of their job, but women‘s job satisfaction is determined by job characteristics, personal traits and factors of an environment unrelated to their job. Men‘s life satisfaction is determined by personal traits and their income and women‘s life satisfaction is determined by areas unrelated to their job, personal traits and income.

Background: Whiplash associated disorders (WAD) account for a large proportion of the overall impairment and disability from traffic injuries and causes substantial bio psychosocial consequences for some individuals. Aims: To increase the knowledge about factors described in terms of either function /impairment, activity/disability and life satisfaction in acute and chronic WAD as well as possible implications for rehabilitation. Within this aim the incidence and recovery rate of whiplash injury and prognostic factors of interest for early rehabilitation have been studied. Subjects and Methods: Fifty-five healthy controls and 34 WAD subjects were analysed within and between groups concerning a) biomechanical out put, endurance, fatigue and muscle tension (EMG activity of trapezius, infraspinatus and deltoideus) during repetitive shoulder forward flexion b) impairments and activity/disability and life satisfaction.356 subjects seeking medical attention due to whiplash trauma, 296 were available at follow up, mean 16 months post injury. Incidence and odds ratio of accident and other background factors on disability were determined. Thirty-four out of 43 patients with whiplash injury were investigated through quantitative sensory tests at six weeks and 71 months after injury. 62 WAD participated in an interdisciplinary rehabilitation program (a pilot study) designed to evaluate such rehabilitation program for patients with chronic (in relatively early stage) WAD. Program evaluation of impairment, disability and life satisfaction (prospective and retrospective) was carried out before and after program and at 6 months. Results: No significant effects of sex or age on the ability to relax between repetitive r muscle contractions (SAR) were found in healthy subjects (study I). Significantly higher inability to relax between contractions was found for the two portions of trapezius and infraspinatus in the WAD group compared to the healthy group (study II). Significantly lower levels of activity preferences were noted for three out of five indices in females with WAD The WAD group had significantly higher prevalence of neropsychological and emotional symptoms. Both pain related symptoms and neropsychological symptoms were of significant importance for aspects of disability and life satisfaction in this group (study IV). Sensory disturbances over the trigeminal skin area persisted over the years. At follow-up a significant correlation was found between the sensory disturbances and the symptoms related to the central nervous system while no significant relationship was found with the musculoskeletal symptoms (study HI) .The annual incidence according to the grading of the Quebec Task Force on Whiplash-Associated Disorders (WAD 1-3) was 3.2/1000 and 4.2/1000 when WAD 0 was included. Sixty-eight percent of the patients recovered during the follow-up Pre-traumatic neck pain, low educational level, female gender and WAD grade E-Ill were significantly associated with a poor prognosis (study IV). . Participants in the rehabilitation program reported increased coping ability. Stress reactions seemed rather frequent (32 %). Pain intensity in the neck and upper back were significantly decreased at 6 months follow-up. However, for most of the functional and psychological markers, no significant changes were found (study V). Conclusion: The higher prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints of the neck shoulder region in females cannot be explained by higher muscle tension and clinical assumption of increased muscle tension seems correct in whiplash patients Results indicate heterogeneity among WAD subjects. Females are at risk after a whiplash trauma but the severity of initial symptoms and signs also affect outcome as well as low education. High levels of neuropsychological symptoms and pain, signs of posttraumatic stress, fear and avoidance, loss of control, anxiety, bio-mechanical and psychosocial factors at work (studies) and social support are potential factors to be aware of. Extensive and costly investigations are in most cases not necessary. However most persons will recover a whiplash injury. Multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary assessment should be considered at three months if substantial negative effect on the person’s ability to function and health situation exists. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 2001, härtill 6 uppsatser.</p> / digitalisering@umu