Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / Research on children’s well-being has increased over the past decade, largely driven by advancements in children’s rights legislation and the emergence of innovative theoretical and epistemological frameworks. While there has been a notable increase in empirical research on children’s objective standards of living, less data has been available in relation to their subjective perceptions and evaluations of their life. The measurement of children’s subjective well-being (SWB) has been a particular focus of empirical research especially as it relates to the development of valid scales for use with children across age groups and contexts. An area of concern is the lack of psychometrically sound measurement instruments for use with younger children and especially in low-to-middle income contexts.

What makes people happy? Philosophers have asked this question for over 2000 years, and more recently, it has sparked the interest of researchers in both economics and psychology. The present dissertation unites five studies on the determinants of subjective well-being. Study 1 investigates whether certain pursuits, such as spending more time with other people, are particularly suited to increase life satisfaction. Study 2 turns to an indicator of the absence of well-being, worries, and how they are affected by both age and external world events. Moving on to potential moderators, Study 3 tests the popular notion that overall life satisfaction is an aggregate of satisfaction with different life domains, weighted by the importance of the respective domains. Study 4 investigates whether age is an important moderator, as it seems plausible that different things matter to people in different life stages. Lastly, Study 5 provides a critique of a popular conceptualization of happiness in which its causes—genes, life circumstances, and volitional activities—are decomposed and compared quantitatively. Discussing problems underlying this reasoning naturally leads to challenges for future research on well-being which concludes this dissertation.

The master thesis seeks to analyze discursive representations of happiness present in the Czech Republic. Analytical conceptualization of happiness is based upon the two prominent views on happiness - hedonism and eudaimonism. Hedonic perspective situates the issue of achieving happiness into the context of pleasure seeking activities while eudaimonic perspective relates happiness to concepts such as self-actualization, fulfilment of one's potential, and similar topics broadly connected to personal growth and search for meaning. Concepts of hedonism and eudaimonism help to reduce the abstract nature of happiness. The thesis identifies three types of discursive representations of happiness - neoliberal, spiritual / religious, and pop-psychological representations. Particular representations define happiness differently. However, there are similarities and interdependencies in the aspects of how the hedonism and eudaimonism are being used. Thus, there are interactions between particular representations. Eudaimonism is more dominant in every representation in the sense of general claim that true (longlasting) happiness is never taken-for-granted, and that it must be cultivated. Representations that lean heavily towards eudaimonism were also associated with stronger normative dimension that might serve to...

This study examined the efficacy of the My Best Self 101 (MBS101) self-compassion module, an internet-delivered self-compassion training within a non-clinical general population sample. Using a randomized-waitlist control design, this study examined whether module participants experienced significant improvements in self-compassion, well-being, and body image compared to waitlist controls. Participants were 228 adults (mean age 30.3, 23.5% male and 76.5% female). At pretest and posttest, both groups completed self-report measures of self-compassion, subjective well-being, and body image. Repeated measures mixed model analyses revealed that compared to waitlist controls, participants who used the MBS101 self-compassion module reported significant improvements in self-compassion, well-being, and body image with effect sizes ranging from medium to large. These results lend evidence to support the MBS101 self-compassion module as a promising resource to improve well-being and body image. Future research should examine its efficacy in different populations and focus on expanding its content.

This thesis examines the role of religion for Ukrainian immigrants in Sweden and its connection to their subjective well-being. The aim of the study is to explore the experience of Ukrainian immigrants by collecting their stories. The data of the study is based on eight semi-structured interviews with Ukrainian immigrants who belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church. This qualitativestudy is guided by the grounded theory approach drawing upon cultural identity theory and theory of third place. The theories are applied in order to understand the meaning of religion, faith, and church-attending in the Ukrainian immigrants’ lives in Sweden. Guided by the grounded theory methodology, the results of the study reveal that for those Ukrainian immigrants, who consider themselves religious, religion and faith play a significant role in life, affecting their choices, decisions, shaping their world-view. It is found that religious beliefs and rituals, and attending church affect their subjective well-being positively. However, for those participants, who do not consider themselves as religious, some religious rituals still take place, serving them as a connectionwith their cultural background, which is also positively impacting their subjective well-being. Furthermore, this study analyses the role and functions of cultural identity and its connection with immigrants’ subjective well-being and provides recommendations for future researchers.

With religious extremism being a destructive force in many parts of the world, the mission to understand and mitigate it is always actual. The current thesis tries to contribute to the knowledge of this phenomenon by investigating it through a very particular lens – its relation to subjective happiness. This is done through finding the answer to the research question “Does subjective (un)happiness predict religious extremism?”, using various quantitative gamma and chi-squared tests of association, as well as data from the World Values Survey, wave 7. Although it is hypothesised, based on previous research, that subjective happiness should have either a positive or negative relation with holding religiously extreme views, none of this is proven correct. Instead, a conclusion entirely new to the field of psycho-emotional well-being and political views emerges, namely that religious extremists tend to evaluate their happiness and sense of well-being just as extremely as they do societal and religious matters. This not only disproves the conclusions drawn by certain previous studies, it also provides a whole new perspective as to how to understand the inner worlds of individuals drawn to the ideas of religious extremism, something crucial for successful mitigation of this harmful phenomenon.

Human life takes place as part of a global ecosystem, meaning that human mental health is at least partially tied to the health of the planet. Health experts who seek to promote psychological well-being should consider how changes to the broad ecological system may impact their efforts. Given the potential impact of the environment on human well-being, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the impact of air pollution on subjective well-being. The goal of this project was to outline the current state of the research on these constructs and provide a clear framework for what research is still needed. Nonsignificant relationships were found for six out of seven of the measured pollutants. Overall, these results appear to indicate a nonsignificant negative relationship between our constructs; however, our model had significant heterogeneity which may impact the validity of these findings. Attempts to reduce statistical heterogeneity demonstrated the importance of complex measurement and study design when studying the impact of ecological environments on well-being.

Background: Adolescent subjective well-being is a topic that has gained significant focus over recent years. This focus is reflected in the formation of measurement tools and interventions used to better understand and improve adolescent mental health. While these are important steps, there still exist problems related to adolescent subjective well-being measurement. Notably, current measurement tools are limited in their content, applicability to various populations, and in their accessibility. Aims: The purpose of this paper is to examine the psychometric properties of the Survey on Flourishing (SURF) when used with a nationally representative adolescent sample. The SURF aims to address some of the issues with current adolescent subjective well-being measurement tools. Method: A nationally representative sample of 334 participants participated in the present study. We examined the reliability and validity of the SURF by examining its internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. We also examined the factor structure of the SURF using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results: The SURF demonstrated high internal consistency (α = .92), strong positive correlation with convergent measures, and a weak negative correlation with a discriminant measure. A one-factor model best fits the observed data. Conclusion: The SURF demonstrated good psychometric properties and addresses several of the problems that exist in current measures. The SURF is a useful and effective measure of adolescent subjective well-being.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / Adolescence is a critical developmental stage wherein adolescents face various challenges which potentially impact on the development of their future orientation, the setting of and working towards goals, and ultimately their life trajectories. Considering South Africa’s socio-political history which has resulted in limitations regarding educational and career possibilities of adolescents, there is a need to examine factors that influence adolescents’ aspirations. The current study thus aimed to ascertain the nature of the relation between adolescents’ subjective well-being and career aspirations. Within this process, the study further aimed to ascertain the extent to which this relation is mediated by social support. The current study forms part of a larger study that explored the relation between adolescents’ career aspirations and a range of personal and contextual factors, using a cross-sectional design. The sample comprised 1082 adolescents (males and females) in grades 8 to 11, purposively selected from eight schools in low-income communities in Cape Town, South Africa. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the levels of career aspirations, subjective well-being and social support among the participants. Mediation analysis using the bootstrap confidence interval approach, within a structural equation modelling data analysis framework was conducted to determine the extent to which social support mediates the relationship between subjective well-being and career aspirations. For the overall model using the pooled sample, the study found a non-significant relation between adolescents’ subjective well-being and career aspirations. Across gender, the results demonstrated a significant relation between subjective well-being and career aspirations for the male group, explaining 2.1% of the variance in aspirations. However, a non-significant relation was obtained for the female group. An important finding of the study is that social support did not mediate the relation between adolescents’ subjective well-being and career ii aspirations for the pooled sample, and across both gender groups. For females, a significant negative relation was found between social support and aspirations. Results also revealed a significant negative relation between age and aspirations for both males and females. Social support and financial resources are important factors to consider in relation to adolescents’ wellbeing and aspirations, especially given that the social support that females receive is informed by gender norms and cultural beliefs, which in turn hinders their aspirations. It is recommended that interventions are targeted at an institutional level, inclusive of challenging gender roles, providing information about educational and career opportunities for young people, and improving parenting skills in an effort to advance adolescents’ career aspirations.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / While research into children’s subjective well-being (SWB) has advanced over the past decade, there is a paucity of cross-cultural research, particularly in South Africa. Moreover, while the adaptation and validation of instruments in English and Afrikaans are evident, other language groups have not received much attention. This study aimed to provide structural validation of the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale across a sample of children in South Africa using multi-group analysis across three language groups (Setswana, Xitsonga, and Tshivenda). Within this process, the study aimed to use multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) to compare the structural validity and measurement invariance of the three language groups. Finally, the study aimed to determine the convergent validity of the three language groups of the SLSS by regressing them onto the single-item Overall Life Satisfaction Scale (OLS). The study uses data from Wave 3 of the South African Children’s Worlds Study and included a sample of 625 children across the language groups (Setswana: n = 187; Sesotho: n = 170; and Tshivenda: n = 268). For the overall pooled sample an excellent fit was obtained for a single-factor model, including one error-covariance. Standardised regression weights of the items ranged between .43 and .73. MGCFA revealed an acceptable fit for the configural model (unconstrained loadings); however, metric (constrained loadings) and scalar invariance (constrained loadings and intercepts) was not tenable. However, through the application of partial constraints metric invariance was tenable when Item 5 (I like my life) was freely estimated, while scalar invariance was tenable when Item 1 (I enjoy my life) and Item 5 (I like my life) were freely estimated. The results suggest that the Items: My life is going well; I have a good life; The things in my life are excellent; and I am happy with my life, are comparable by correlations, regression coefficients, and latent mean scores across the three language groups. Convergent validity using the OLS was obtained for the pooled sample and across the language groups. The key contribution of the study is establishing that the Setswana, Sesotho, and Tshivenda translated and adapted versions of the SLSS are valid for use within the South African context to measure children’s SWB, and that they can be grouped together in an overall pooled sample.