This study is a quantitative study designed to examine whether training in health issues may have contributed to the increase in head managers' psychological capital (PsyCap). Construction consists of the following components: self confidence, hope, optimism and resilience. A high PsyCap considered beneficial in organizational change and steer towards the positive development and helps individuals in stressful situations. The results show an increase of characteristics such as hope and optimism among managers (N = 15) who have undergone training in health issues compared with managers who have not undergone training. However, the tests show no significant difference in head managers' attitudes to health breaks, not the severity of granting health breaks in the groups as a result of training. It was further examined the relationship between PsyCap and the propensity to grant health breaks. The test showed no significant difference between the groups. The psychological capital has been measured even among workers who use health breaks and those who do not, that to see if any spillover effects on other work. The results showed no significant difference. The psychological capital of the workforce as measured by t-test, does not differ between the investigated groups with employees who have managers with the training and the group who do not. / Denna studie är kvantitativ, vars syfte är att undersöka om utbildningen i hälsofrågor kan ha bidragit till en ökning av chefernas psykologiska kapital (PsyCap).Konstruktet utgörs av följande delar: tillit till den egna förmågan, hopp, optimism och återhämtningsförmåga. Ett högt PsyCap anses fördelaktig vid organisatoriska förändringar och kan styra mot en positiv utveckling samt kan underlätta för individen i stressande situationer. Resultatet visar en ökning av egenskaper som hopp och optimism hos cheferna (N=15) som genomgått utbildningen jämfört med cheferna som inte har genomgått utbildningen. Däremot visar testerna ingen signifikant skillnad i chefernas attityd till hälsopauser och inte heller i svårighetsgraden att bevilja hälsopauser i grupperna till följd av utbildningen.Vidare undersöktes sambandet mellan PsyCap och benägenheten att bevilja hälsopauser. Testet visade ingen signifikant skillnad mellan grupperna. Det psykologiska kapitalet mäts även bland anställda som använder sig av hälsopauser och de som inte gör det, detta för att se om några spridningseffekter finns på det övriga arbetet. Resultatet visade ingen signifikant skillnad. Det psykologiska kapitalet hos de anställda som mättes genom T-test, skiljer sig inte mellan de undersökta grupperna med anställda som har chefer som har genomgått utbildning och de som inte har.

A quantitative research study was conducted with teenagers attending Bandina Christian Youth Camp for one week in the summer of 2008. Students were divided into two groups; a control group and an intervention group. All participants were given a Self- Reflective Survey immediately prior to and following the week of summer camp. In addition to the pre- and post- Self-Reflective Surveys, the intervention group was required to complete Gallup's StrengthsQuest assessment (to determine his/her five greatest strengths) and e-mail those findings to this researcher before the first camp session. Once at camp, the intervention group participated in a five day Faith Based Strengths Training class one hour a day. The intervention group recognized and identified all 34 strengths, learned the uniqueness of his/her top five strengths, identified and related to famous individuals and their strengths and explored optimal career fields that best correlated to the participants' top five strengths. Strengths Training proved to be an effective tool in changing the intervention group's self confidence, sense of direction and his or her personal desire to learn more about Strengths collectively with a .03 p at an alpha level of .05. Youth based national organizations such as Boys & Girls Club, Boys Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H, Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and others could greatly enhance their programs by incorporating Strengths Training into their curriculum, as Strengths Training builds on the development of core values, positive self image and character development that all of these national organizations strive to provide the youth of today. The summer camp experience offers a distinct opportunity for learning and exploration. This unique educational atmosphere sets up a positive cognitive environment where youth are typically more receptive to learning new concepts and ideas. The intervention group outcomes for this quantitative research study resulted in a positive outcome with only five hours of training. This infers a positive impact to not only the Y generation, but future generations to come and raises the need for more research in how these youth based national organizations can not only implement Strengths Training into their existing programs but network Strengths Training.

As an age old virtue, courage has been linked to several characteristics / however, the number of empirical studies discussing these linkages is few. Also, the literature lacks a proper self report measure of courage. With these voids in mind, the aims of the present research are threefold: a) to develop a new scale to measure courage which has been mostly understood in terms of being able to present oneself in a genuine way, perseverance under difficult circumstances, and pursuit of morally right behavior / b) to investigate self related differences in courage within the context of Balanced Integration and Differentiation (BID) Model of self (imamoglu, 2003) and c) to explore the relationship between courage and other proposed related constructs. A set of questionnaires including the Courage Scale, BID Scale (imamoglu, 1998), Battery of Interpersonal Capabilities (Paulhus, &amp / Martin 1988), Moral Courage Scale (Bronstein et al, 2007), Short Form of Authenticity Scale (imamoglu et al, 2009), Hope Scale (Snyder et al, 1991), and Voice Scale (Van Dyne, &amp / LePine, 1998) have been administered to 313 university students (182 female, 127 males and 4 not specified). Results suggested that the newly developed Courage Scale had acceptable levels of internal consistency. Also, it showed converging patterns with Moral Courage Scale which is a more specific measure of the concept throughout different analyses. In congruence with the literature, courage was positively correlated with voice behavior and certain personality characteristics such as self-confidence, assertiveness or honesty. Based on the results, it was concluded that people who have balanced and separated-individuated selves (i.e. who had satisfied both individuational and relational needs and who had satisfied only individuational need, respectively) had higher scores of courage than other self types indicating the importance of intrapersonal developmental orientation for courage. However, both individuation and relatedness were powerful predictors of courage in regression analyses. Results involving a proposed model of courage as a latent variable (predicted by the Courage and Moral Courage Scales) indicated that relatedness, individuation and hope predicted courage indirectly through the mediation of authenticity while the latter two variables also predicted it directly. The study contributed to the literature by exploring the role of self on courage for the first time, by specifying various empirical relationships among concepts that are regarded close to courage and by suggesting a model of courage. The results were discussed in terms of limitations and suggestions as well.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 306-314).

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.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationships among personality factors and life satisfaction in high school students. High school students ( N = 625) completed self-report measures of personality characteristics (namely, extraversion, neuroticism, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) and global life satisfaction. Results include the specific contribution of each of these personality dimensions as they relate to life satisfaction, gender differences, and the role of perceived classmate support in relationships between personality factors and life satisfaction. Specifically, findings revealed that about 45% of the variance in adolescents‟ life satisfaction scores was accounted for by their self-reported measures of personality factors. Neuroticism emerged as the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. Further, results demonstrated that openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion were significant and unique predictors of life satisfaction. Gender differences were found in the link between agreeableness and life satisfaction such that a higher level of agreeableness was related to higher life satisfaction for girls, but not for boys. Finally, results of the structural equation model that analyzed the role of perceived classmate support in the link between personality factors and life satisfaction revealed significant paths between four personality factors (excluding openness) and perceived classmate support. Further, the path from extraversion to perceived classmate support showed the strongest standardized path coefficient (.42); suggesting that a higher score on extraversion was associated with a higher level of perceived classmate support which, in turn, predicted higher levels of life satisfaction. Neuroticism demonstrated the strongest, albeit inverse, direct path to life satisfaction, further supporting the finding that higher levels of neuroticism were related to lower levels of life satisfaction. Findings provide school psychologists with a better understanding of the demographic (i.e., gender), stable (i.e., personality) and interpersonal characteristics (i.e., perceptions of classmate support) that place students at-risk for negative outcomes via low life satisfaction or, conversely, facilitate optimal wellness via high life satisfaction.

A dual-factor model of mental health includes indicators of wellness (i.e., subjective well-being; SWB) and psychopathology (i.e., internalizing and externalizing behavior problems) in defining youth mental health. In this model, four categories of psychological functioning with distinct levels of SWB and psychopathology emerge, including two that are overlooked (i.e., Vulnerable and Symptomatic but Content) in traditional assessments that assume SWB and psychopathology are opposite ends of the same continuum. The present study investigated the 1-year stability of adolescent mental health as classified by a dual-factor model, and identified predictors of stability and change, in a sample of 425 high school students. Results included that 60% of the high school students remained in the same mental health group over both time points. The Complete Mental Health Group (i.e., high SWB and low psychopathology) showed the most stability over time as nearly 80% of students initially in this group retained that mental health profile one year later. The initially Symptomatic but Content group (i.e., high SWB and high psychopathology) showed the least stability, with only 17% of students remaining in this mental health group the following year. Higher socioeconomic status and lower neuroticism reliably and uniquely predicted which students who initially experienced Complete Mental Health remained that way. Low neuroticism also predicted which students with partial mental health initially (i.e., Vulnerable or Symptomatic but Content) improved to Complete Mental Health. Once the shared variance amongst factors had been accounted for, no factors reliably and uniquely predicted which students initially Troubled stayed that way, nor which students moved from partial mental health (i.e., Vulnerable, Symptomatic but Content) to Troubled. This study contributes to the literature by providing the first examination of the stability of high school students' mental health as defined by a dual-factor model. Additionally, this study provides insight into the factors which predict students' stability and movement across mental health groups over time. Both sets of findings can be useful for school-based mental health professionals' prevention and intervention work with regard to how to operationalize student mental health, and intrapersonal risk factors important to detect.

This study investigated the mental and physical health of early adolescents (n = 339) using a dual-factor model of mental health. When employing a dual-factor model, mental well-being is not simply assumed from the absence of negative indicators of mental health (psychopathology). Rather, assessments of positive indicators of mental health (subjective well-being) are used to determine one's level of mental wellness. The current study tested the existence of a dual-factor model of mental health by examining the separability of participants' reports of subjective well-being and psychopathology. Specifically, the researcher hypothesized that the assessment of both of these constructs would result in multiple mental health classifications, beyond that of the continuum found with only the assessment of psychopathology (i.e., low to high psychopathology). Findings from this study support the classifications of four mental health groups using measures of subjective well-being and psychopathology. In addition, significant differences in physical health outcomes were found among participants in the different mental health groups. These findings support the existence of a dual-factor model of mental health, and suggest the need for assessment of both negative and positive indicators of functioning in order to accurately estimate adolescents' physical health.

This study presents research on the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-24) and the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) in a sample of Arizona secondary school principals. A comprehensive literature review was conducted linking the constructs of psychological capital and authentic leadership to other forms of positive leadership, effective organizational change theories, positive psychology, organizational learning, and empirical research on effective schools. A conceptual model of effective leadership for positive organizational was developed with psychological capital and authentic leadership as critical components. The goal of the study was to determine whether or not these measures of psychological capital and authentic leadership are valid, reliable, and appropriate for further research in educational settings. A confirmatory factor analysis quantitatively examined the goodness of fit between the data collected from Arizona secondary school principals and the predefined factor structure supported by previous theory and research. A sample of N=147 for the ALQ and N=149 for the PCQ-24 were collected from active secondary principals in Arizona. The following questions guided this study: 1. Is the factor structure of the PCQ-24 and the ALQ consistent with the theoretical model? 2. What are the internal consistencies (reliabilities) of the sub scales and the overall reliability for each questionnaire? 3. Are there any significant mean differences in psychological capital or authentic leadership behavior given any of the principal characteristics or school demographics? 4. What is the relationship between psychological capital and authentic leadership? Findings from the study suggested that the correlated four-factor model was a better fit than the theoretical latent factor model for both instruments. Overall reliability met acceptable levels for both instruments; however, some subscales in the self-report ALQ instrument were unreliable. Significant mean differences in principals' age and years as a principal were found in both instruments, along with mean differences on some school demographic factors. Several of these differences support the theoretical constructs of psychological capital and authentic leadership within this population. Given the tentative results of the instruments, additional research is recommended in validating these instruments and potentially modifying them slightly for a population of educators. Additional recommendations and limitations conclude this study.

The call centre industry has experienced a boom over the last decades. More organisations are making use of call centres as a means of speedy service deliveries to their customers. Call centres have therefore become an important method of communication between customers and clients, however the call centre environment has been characterised as being demanding and negatively impacting on employees. This study is therefore aimed at understanding employee experiences of commitment and happiness within the call centre environment. Specifically whether or not those employed within the call centre environment experience both commitment and happiness. Data in the study was collected with the use of a biographical questionnaire and semi- structured interviews. The results in the study suggest that commitment and happiness are experienced in the call centre environment when positive organisational factors such as feedback, recognition, goal accomplishment and growth opportunities are present. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.