国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

This thesis is an exploration of how artificial lights are used to create atmospheres in a space, andhow they enhance an individual’s well-being. The focus here is placed on students in Sweden,specifically those who live in one-room apartments. Students typically do not invest much intheir lights yet being in Scandinavia, artificial lighting is used to compensate for the lack ofdaylight hours. As such, the lights they have will impact how they go about their day.A light is designed using product design methods to respond to the research question: “to whatextent can a versatile light source alter the atmosphere of a student’s space to enhance their wellbeing?”As the research is situated in Sweden, aspects of the Scandinavian lighting culture will beexamined and implemented in the design. The student’s well-being will be assessed through thetheory of subjective well-being, specifically how it can be enhanced through perceived control.The light design also aims to be socially sustainable, focusing on how individuals’ well-being canbe improved through lighting. The design also attempts to tackle inequalities by showing it canbe made of cheap and accessible materials, as well as being professionally manufactured. Thecheaper version is to ensure students with lower incomes can access the same quality of light asothers, where the light will create a similar atmosphere. Finally, the concept of social lighting isdefined in the context of this thesis. It concentrates on designing the light based on interviewswith students and emphasising the relationship between a student and their apartment.Through interviews and photos, a design brief was formed to understand what type of lightstudents use in their apartment and what they were looking for. After a series of iterations, afinal design was obtained and created. One version was made professionally in metal by BelidLighting. Another was made out of thick card and paper clips, materials easily accessible tostudents. The models were tested by students in their home for two nights, after which aninterview took place to obtain impressions and feedback on the design.It was concluded that a versatile light source altered the atmosphere of a student space toenhance their well-being to a certain extent. This was due to people’s existing relationship withlights, where they don’t generally interact beyond switching them on and off. Nonetheless,participants enjoyed making their own lamp, and found the lamp design quite unique. Thishelped maintain their subjective well-being.

abstract: The population of older adults and the percentage of people living in urban areas are both increasing in the U.S. Finding ways to enhance city-dwelling, older adults' social integration, cognitive vitality, and connectedness to nature were conceptualized as critical pathways to maximizing their subjective well-being (SWB) and overall health. Past research has found that gardening is associated with increased social contact and reduced risk of dementia, and that higher levels of social support, cognitive functioning, mindfulness, and connectedness to nature are positively related to various aspects of SWB. The present study was a pilot study to examine the feasibility of conducting a randomized, controlled trial of community gardening and to provide an initial assessment of a new intervention--"Mindful Community Gardening," or mindfulness training in the context of gardening. In addition, this study examined whether community gardening, with or without mindfulness training, enhanced SWB among older adults and increased social support, attention and mindfulness, and connectedness to nature. Fifty community-dwelling adults between the ages of 55 and 79 were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Traditional Community Gardening (TCG), Mindful Community Gardening (MCG), or Wait-List Control. The TCG and MCG arms each consisted of two groups of 7 to 10 participants meeting weekly for nine weeks. TCG involved typical gardening activities undertaken collaboratively. MCG involved the same, but with the addition of guided development of non-judgmental, present-focused awareness. There was a statistically significant increase in different aspects of mindfulness for the TCG and the MCG arms. The interventions did not measurably impact social support, attention, or connectedness to nature in this small, high functioning, pilot sample. Qualitative analysis of interview data from 12 participants in the TCG and MCG groups revealed that both groups helped some participants to better cope with adversity. It was concluded that it is feasible to conduct randomized, controlled trials of community gardening with urban older adults, and considerations for implementing such interventions are delineated. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Psychology 2011

Esta tese é composta por cinco estudos que tiveram como objetivo geral investigar a exposição à violência direta (ser a vítima) e indireta (ser testemunha) e suas relações com bem-estar subjetivo e sintomas de depressão, ansiedade e estresse em adolescentes de escolas públicas da cidade de Porto Alegre - RS. O primeiro capítulo apresenta uma revisão sistemática de literatura sobre exposição à violência na adolescência e suas relações com saúde mental. O segundo capítulo é um estudo de adaptação e validação da Escala de Depressão, Ansiedade e Estresse para Adolescentes (EDAE-A). O terceiro capítulo, estudo empírico, teve como objetivo investigar a prevalência de exposição de adolescentes à violência direta e indireta e sua associação com idade, sexo, reprovação escolar e configuração familiar. Já o quarto estudo, também empírico, investigou as relações entre exposição à violência direta e indireta, bem-estar subjetivo e sintomas de depressão, ansiedade e estresse. Por fim, o quinto capítulo apresenta o relato da experiência de devolução dos dados da pesquisa que teve como objetivo discutir violências(s) cotidianas. Participaram 426 adolescentes de escolas públicas, de 12 a 18 anos, que responderam a uma ficha de dados sociodemográficos e aos instrumentos Triagem de Exposição à Violência de Crianças na Comunidade, Escala de Depressão, Ansiedade e Estresse para Adolescentes (EDAE-A), Escala de Afetos Positivos (AP) e Afetos Negativos (AN) e a Escala Multidimensional de Satisfação de Vida para Adolescentes (EMSVA). Análises descritivas e inferenciais foram realizadas. Os resultados desta tese indicaram a alta prevalência de exposição direta e indireta dos adolescentes à violência e a associação com sintomas internalizantes. A adaptação e validação do instrumento EDAE-A possibilitaram a avaliação conjunta das variáveis depressão, ansiedade e estresse, demonstrando boas propriedades psicométricas. A construção do Índice de Bem-Estar Subjetivo, englobando a satisfação de vida e afetos positivos e negativos, deve ser mais bem explorada em pesquisas futuras. Finalmente, a intervenção focal realizada com os adolescentes demonstrou o quanto a violência é naturalizada no contexto escolar, indicando a necessidade de trabalhos preventivos e interventivos para essa população. Limitações e sugestões para novos estudos são descritas. / This thesis is comprised of five studies that had as main objective to investigate the exposure to direct violence (being victim) and indirect (being witness) and their relationship with subjective well-being and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in adolescents from public schools of the city of Porto Alegre - RS. The first chapter presents a systematic review of literature on exposure to violence in adolescence and its relationship with mental health. The second chapter is a study of adaptation and validation of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale for Adolescents (DASS-A). The third chapter (a empirical study) aimed to investigate the prevalence of adolescent exposure to direct and indirect violence and its association with age, sex, school failure and family configuration. The fourth study (which is also empirical) investigated the relationship between exposure to direct and indirect violence, subjective well-being and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. Finally, the fifth chapter presents a report about the experience of informing the participants about the results of the research with the aim of discussing violence(s) in the daily life. The participants were 426 adolescents from public schools, 12-18 years old, who responded the sociodemographic form and the following instruments Screening of Exposure to Violence of Children in the Community; Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale for Adolescents (DASS-A); Positive Affects (PA) and Negative Affects (NA) and the Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale for Adolescents (MLSSA). Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed. The results of this thesis indicated a high prevalence of direct and indirect exposure of adolescents to violence and the association with internalizing symptoms. The adaptation and validation of instrument DASS-A allowed the joint assessment of the variables depression, anxiety and stress, demonstrating good psychometric properties. The construction of the Subjective Well-being Index, encompassing life satisfaction besides positive and negative affects, should be further explored in future research. Finally, the focal intervention realized with the adolescents demonstrated how much the violence is naturalized in the school context, indicating the necessity of preventive and interventional actions for this population. Limitations and suggestions for further research are described.

A presente tese teve por objetivo avaliar diferentes aspectos do construto sentido de vida (SV) e suas relações com variáveis biossociodemográficas e outros construtos psicológicos positivos (otimismo, esperança, satisfação com a vida, felicidade subjetiva, autoestima e autoeficácia) em uma ampla amostra nacional. Para atingir os objetivos propostos, foram desenvolvidos um artigo teórico e seis artigos empíricos. O primeiro artigo apresentou o construto SV, e discutiu as potencialidades e limitações dos principais instrumentos existentes na literatura para avaliação do construto sentido de vida. Posteriormente, foram elaborados três estudos empíricos de adaptação e validação de instrumentos psicológicos para o contexto brasileiro. Os três instrumentos validados foram: 1) Questionário de Sentido de Vida (QSV); 2) Questionário de Fontes de Sentido e de Sentido de Vida (QFSSV); e 3) Escala de Felicidade Subjetiva (EFS). O quinto artigo da tese avaliou como diferentes categorias de sentido interagem com variáveis biossociodemográficas, fontes de sentido e com características psicológicas positivas. O sexto artigo investigou como o construto “busca por sentido” se relaciona com as diferentes categorias de sentido. Além disso, buscou-se compreender se a busca por sentido poderia moderar a relação entre as diferentes categorias de sentido com os índices de bem-estar subjetivo, mensurado pelos construtos satisfação com a vida e felicidade subjetiva. Por fim, o último artigo empírico investigou como diferentes características biossociodemográficas e psicológicas influenciam a intenção das pessoas em participar de futuras etapas desta pesquisa. A amostra total empregada foi de 3,034 sujeitos (63,9% mulheres), com idades variando entre 18 e 91 anos (M = 33,9, DP = 15,01), oriundos de 22 diferentes estados do Brasil. Do total da amostra, 91,4% responderam aos instrumentos em uma plataforma virtual, enquanto 8,6% o fizeram no método papel e caneta. Os três instrumentos adaptados para o contexto brasileiro apresentaram adequadas propriedades psicométricas, sugerindo sua possibilidade de uso em estudos futuros. Os resultados também demonstraram a existência de diferentes categorias de sentido de vida (realização existencial, indiferença existencial, crise existencial, conflito existencial), e que sujeitos inseridos nestas categorias apresentam importantes diferenças no que se refere a suas características biossociodemográficas e psicológicas. Foi descoberto, também, que a busca por sentido é maior entre os que apresentam conflito existencial, embora esteja positivamente relacionada com os níveis de crise existencial. Os resultados desta tese apontam para a necessidade da continuidade dos estudos acerca da temática. Esta tese pretende contribuir para a área da Psicologia Positiva ao fornecer três novos instrumentos psicométricos para uso no contextobrasileiro, e ao apresentar resultados anteriormente não discutidos na literatura da área do sentido de vida. / This dissertation aimed to evaluate different aspects of the construct “meaning in life” (MIL) and its relations with sociodemographic and other positive psychological constructs (optimism, hope, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, self-esteem and self-efficacy) in a large Brazilian sample. To attain the proposed goals, one theoretical and six empirical articles were developed. The first theoretical article presented the MIL construct and discussed the benefits and limitations of the main existing scales designed to evaluate the MIL construct. Further, three validation articles of psychological measures were developed. The three questionnaires were: 1) Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ); 2) Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe); and 3) Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS). The fifth article of the dissertation aimed to show how different categories of meaning interacted with sociodemographic variables, sources of meaning and positive psychological characteristics. The sixth article sought to evaluate to what extent the construct “search for meaning” relates to the different categories of meaning. Furthermore, we aimed to assess if search for meaning moderates the relation among the different categories of meaning with subjective well-being. Finally, the last empirical paper evaluated how different sociodemographic and psychological variables influence the intention in participating in the future waves of the present study. Participants were 3.034 subjects (63.9% women) with ages varying from 18 e 91 years old (M = 33.9; DP = 15.01), originated from 22 different Brazilian states. From the total, 91.4% answered the questionnaires in a web-based platform, whereas 8.6% answered in the paper-and-pencil method. The three adapted instruments presented adequate psychometric properties, and suggests its possible use in future studies. The results also showed the existence of different categories of meaning (meaningfulness, existential indifference, existential crisis, existential conflict), and that people inserted in these categories present important differences in their bio-psychossocial and psychological variables. It was also shown that search for meaning is higher among those in the existential conflict group, although search for meaning is positively related to crisis of meaning. The results of this study point to the need for further studies on the subject. This dissertation seeks to contribute to the Positive Psychology field by offering three different psychometric scales to use in the Brazilian context, and to present empirical results not previously achieved, contributing to the knowledge on the MIL literature.

This dissertation aims to address the importance of financial literacy within the capability approach framework in the context of microfinance institutions’ clients in Indonesia, by raising four main issues. The first touches on financial capability and specifically focuses on its conceptualisation, predictors, and relationship with quality of life. A participatory method was employed to understand whether financial literacy is viewed as an important element of financial capability. An index of financial capability was built to investigate factors predicting financial capability and the relationship between financial capability and quality of life. The results suggest that socio-demographic discrepancies in financial capability exist, and financial capability is relevant for the improvement of quality of life. The remaining three issues centre on the instrumental value of financial literacy. In the second part, it is proposed that financial literacy is a relevant conversion factor. Within the capability approach literature itself, there is a lack of empirical discussion on conversion factors. It can be concluded that financial literacy is associated positively with conversion rate efficiency. The third research topic examined is the role of financial literacy in household financial decision-making authority. Previous studies have used household decision-making authority as a reflection of agency, which is an important building block of the capability approach. This thesis focuses on financial decision making, which is often perceived as “difficult”, “boring”, and “full of uncertainties”. It is suggested that the relationship between financial literacy and household financial decision-making authority is complex and contingent upon various factors. The role of financial literacy in the relationship between financial decision-making authority and subjective well-being is the last topic investigated in this dissertation. While decision-making authority has been argued as a reflection of human agency and source of power within households, it can also be perceived as a burden. These two interpretations of authority lead to an unclear relationship between household financial decision-making authority and subjective well-being. While a negative relationship between household financial decision-making authority and subjective well-being can be found among those with low levels of financial literacy, a similar correlation is absent among those who score high in financial literacy. This suggests that skills are important for people to value agency.

The purpose of this study is to analyze if and how cultural values and expectations in society influence the experiences and perceptions of happiness and well-being. Applying a quantitative research methods approach, a survey based on previous research was conducted to compare and analyze experiences and perceptions between two contrasting cultures, China and Sweden, using Hofstede’s national culture dimensions as an analytical tool. The sample consisted of students from China and Sweden. The findings from the study show that both groups ranked family as being the domain of life most important for their well-being, followed by health for the Chinese group, and friends for the Swedish group. There were statistically significant differences in the mean responses in some questions that may be attributed to cultural differences. For example, finishing long-term difficult tasks was ranked more important for the well- being by the Chinese group. As for the Swedish group, they felt to a higher degree that they had the freedom to choose what they would like work with. The majority of the responses, however, were similar between the two groups. The paper discusses how globalization may contribute to converging values in the current generation of students. Furthermore, other factors such as internal abilities and societal and cultural structures have an influence on the possibilities to pursue goals in life. Happiness is achieved by finding a balance in life between what you can achieve and accepting what you cannot. The themes and concepts used in the study are inspired by Jongbloed and Andres’ concepts of happiness as balance and gears of well-being. The study contributes to the research fields of human-centered development, and happiness studies on how subjective indicators as a complement to objective indicators can be used to better measure growth from a cultural perspective.

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In the study of positive psychology and mental health there has been greater emphasis placed on the presence of indicators of well-being, as opposed to previous models solely based on the presence or absence of psychopathological symptoms. This has yielded a model titled the Dual Factor Model of Mental Health (DFM; Suldo, 2016). Psychopathological symptoms have been conceptualized as a categorical variable encompassing an elevated level of symptoms of either externalizing or internalizing disorders. Complete Mental Health (CMH) is generally conceptualized as having low psychopathology (PTH) and high subjective well-being (SWB). Previous research has indicated more positive outcomes, such as academic achievement and supportive social relationships, are associated with CMH. The DFM has been examined in adolescents and young adults, however, only one study has identified the model in elementary school students (Greenspoon & Saklofske, 2008). The current study completed secondary analysis of an archival data set (Hearon, 2017) to examine the distribution of the DFM in a sample of 178 elementary school students (grades 4th and 5th) and the impact that mental health group status had on social functioning levels with teachers and classmates. Results from this study indicated the DFM was present in a sample of elementary school students, with the majority of participants being classified in the CMH group, consistent with previous literature. Additionally, regarding students’ perceived social support of classmates and teachers, those groups with elevated levels of SWB reported greater mean values than those groups that had decreased levels of SWB. Finally, between group differences in terms of psychopathology were present, whereas within group differences in terms of externalizing and internalizing behavior were not present in any group. Implications for school psychologists, such as the importance of assessing SWB in tandem with psychopathology are presented. Finally, limitations of this study (i.e., nested data) and avenues for future research (i.e., mental health status predicting peer networks, continued evaluation of DFM psychopathology make-up) are reviewed.