Currently, the California Community College system is graduating 2.83% of its first-time freshmen from these two-year institutions in a two-year period of time (CCCCO, 2017). In addition, less than 40% of this same group are graduating in a six-year period of time. This study sought to find commonalities between the students who were in the 2.83%, as well as to learn if these thriving students’ experiences centered on possessing the skill sets of grit (Duckworth, 2007), growth mindset (Dweck, 2006), and vulnerability (Brown, 2006). For this study, thriving students were defined as first-time college students during the fall of 2017, who had a GPA equal to or greater than 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, and who had obtained a minimum of 30 units towards graduation and/or transferring at the time of the study. A sequential explanatory mixed methods approach was used to identify skill sets obtained by thriving community college students who were on track to graduate and transfer in a two-year period of time. First, a 58-question quantitative survey was sent to thriving community college students in a three-college district in southern California. The survey combined questions on the topic of grit, growth mindset, and vulnerability. Three weeks after the online survey closed, 10 students participated in a three-hour focus group based on the same topics. The goal for the focus group was to better understand from the thriving students’ perspective the primary skill sets they possess for academic success. In addition, the participants were asked if these skills could be learned by other students. The results from the survey revealed that grit, growth mindset, and vulnerability were non-significant skill sets in the students’ journey towards graduation and transferring to a four-year school. Conversely, the focus group revealed that all three were major factors in contributing to the academic success of the participants. While the quantitative data was not statistically significant, there were four key elements within the survey which did reveal significance. These key elements aligned with the findings of the qualitative data from the focus group, which revealed eight additional elements thriving students consider significant. The contradictory results were interpreted by the researcher to mean more research on grit, growth mindset, and vulnerability needs to be done at the community college level. However, it is clear that there are key elements embedded within grit, growth mindset, and vulnerability, which could positively impact students towards achieving higher graduation and transfer rates.

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Explain the concept of wellbeing and factors that influence it Describe downstream consequences of burnout and distress Analyze personal wellbeing across multiple domains Evaluate the extent to which wellbeing is supported across organization levels Describe interventions that could be implemented to foster a culture of wellbeing

Objective. To characterize the impact of COVID-19 transitions on first professional year (P1) students’ domain-specific and overall well-being. Methods. All P1 students (N=74) enrolled at one college of pharmacy self-reported their career, community, financial, physical, social, and overall well-being on a weekly basis from January 6 through April 27, 2020. Parametric statistical tests and effect sizes were used to compare well-being scores pre-transition and post-transition and to compare well-being scores to a previous cohort of P1 students. Results. Mean well-being scores decreased when comparing pre-transition vs post-transition scores, with effect sizes ranging from dav=.16 for financial well-being to dav=.84 for social well-being. The average percent of students that reported struggling increased by 86.1% (16.8% vs 31.2%) post-tran-sition, and the average percent of students that reported suffering post-transition was 351% higher (1.3% vs 6%) than pre-transition. Conclusion. Pharmacy students’ domain specific and overall well-being significantly decreased with COVID-19-related transitions. The percentage of students reporting struggling or suffering significantly increased post-transition.

Participation in sport has well-documented physical, psychological and social benefits that can lead to positive youth development (c.f., Eime, Young, Harvey, Charity, & Payne, 2013; Hebert, Møller, Andersen, & Wedderkopp, 2015; Vandell, Larson, Mahoney, & Watts, 2015) as well as youths’ thriving (Zarrett & Lerner, 2008). However, evidence continues to demonstrate that the number of sport participants in Canada and Japan continues to decline (Canadian Heritage, 2013, Statistics Canada, 2019; Nippon Junior High School Physical Culture Association, 2017). Such trends indicate the importance of understanding the psychological factors and the mechanisms of the relationships which may be important in determining how to keep young people in sport and optimally functioning. As thriving has been a popular topic in psychology research for two decades (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), recent evidence suggests that the concept of thriving is a positive predictor of desired outcomes such as retention, well-being, and performance (e.g., Porath, Spreitzer, Gibson, & Garnett, 2012; Ren, Yunlu, Shaffer, & Fodchuk, 2015). Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000, 2017), a well-cited tenet explaining human motivation and function, has concomitantly been utilized to explain the relationship between motivational factors and thriving (Ryan & Deci, 2017; Spreitzer & Porath, 2014). Since motivation is a key element for sport continuation and positive functioning (Roberts, 2012), the current dissertation focused on the investigation of the psychological mechanism underlying youth athletes’ thriving by examining self-determination theory. The overall purpose of this dissertation was to examine the psychological mechanism underlying thriving within a youth sport context. To do so, the current dissertation involved three different studies. Study 1 investigated the mechanism underlying youth athletes’ thriving with specific consideration regarding personal predictable factors and the consequences. Study 2 tested the buffering effect of mental toughness on the negative indirect relationships between basic psychological need thwarting and important outcomes for youth athletes’ positive functioning (intention to continue, subjective well-being in sport, and goal progress) through thriving. Study 3 examined how personal and social factors are related to thriving, in turn associating with important outcome variables of interest. In Study 1, the results revealed that basic psychological need satisfaction are positively associated with intention to continue in sport, subjective well-being in sport, and goal progress through thriving. Furthermore, both hedonic and eudaimonic motives were indirectly related to thriving through basic psychological need satisfaction. Lastly, hedonic and eudaimonic motives were positively related to intention to continue in sport, subjective well-being in sport, and goal progress through basic psychological need satisfaction and thriving. The findings from study 1 contribute to nurturing the body of literature in the self-determination theory by presenting a comprehensive model to enhance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of thriving within the youth sport context. In addition, hedonic and eudaimonic motives have been rarely applied to the sport context and the youth participants in particular. As motives are more broadly defined than the reasons for behaviors (Cambridge University, 2001), the present study indicated that youth athletes’ motivational orientations (e.g., hedonic seeking or eudaimonic seeking for their sport participation) would have important meanings in their sport participation to increase the experience and thriving and positive functioning. In Study 2, the results demonstrated significant moderating effects of mental toughness on the indirect associations between basic psychological need thwarting and the outcomes through thriving. In other words, the negative impacts of basic psychological need thwarting on important outcomes were weakest for those participants who showed high mental toughness and strongest for the individuals with low mental toughness. The results demonstrated novel findings in that the mediating role of thriving between a motivational factor and outcome variables were moderated by the degree of mental toughness. Lastly, in Study 3, the results demonstrated that the social factors (i.e., autonomy supportiveness of both coaches and parents) were positively related to thriving and intrinsic regulation three months later through increased basic psychological need satisfaction. Additionally, hedonic motives did not predict thriving while eudaimonic motives indirectly predicted thriving and intrinsic regulation through basic psychological need satisfaction. Eudaimonic motives, but not hedonic motives, positively predicted intrinsic motivation three months later through basic psychological need satisfaction. Although previous research demonstrated significant relationships with high degrees of self-determined motivation regulation (e.g., intrinsic regulation) and both hedonic and eudaimonic experience (i.e., Waterman et al., 2008), our research demonstrated only eudaimonic motives were positively related to intrinsic regulation. Furthermore, the study found that hedonic motives did not indirectly predict thriving through basic psychological need satisfaction while eudaimonic motives predicted thriving through basic psychological need satisfaction. Since both social factors were significantly associated with intrinsic regulation and thriving through basic psychological need satisfaction, hedonic motives were not an important predictor of the enhancement in youth athletes’ intrinsic regulation and thriving when comparing with another personal factor (eudaimonic motives) and the social factors (i.e., autonomy supportiveness of coaches and parents). Overall, this thesis provides a greater theoretical understanding of the comprehensive mechanism underlying thriving within a youth sport context by using a theory of motivation. As the dissertation examined both personal and social factors affecting youth thriving, the results provide insight into the ways in which youth can thrive and thus, implications are also drawn for important stakeholders in sport.

Drawing upon psychological and sociological research, this project reviews the core elements and causes of clergy burnout and reflects theologically on the image of a life rooted within the healthy and thriving vine of Christ from John 15 as the ideal for clergy in ministry, framed within Luther’s theology of the Cross. It then models a year-long clergy small group experience for Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastors in southern Minnesota, correlating the elements of burnout with the image of the vine through practices incorporating Mezirow, Dirkx, and Cranton’s adult transformative learning theory and Bloom’s model of pastoral identity formation.

This study examined coach-athlete attachment as a contextual enabler for thriving (hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, and subjective performance) in sports, and the mediating effect of basic psychological needs satisfaction between coach-athlete attachment and thriving in sports. A total of 131 Swedish athletes from organized teams and individual sports were recruited (78% women, 22% men, ages between 15-41, M = 18.99, SD = 4.31). An online survey was used to collect data. Results indicated that the sample perceived their coach to fulfil basic attachment functions indicating that the coach can be seen as a context specific attachment figure. Mediation analysis revealed that insecure coach-athlete attachment was negatively associated with well-being. Anxious coach-athlete attachment was negatively associated with subjective performance. Secure coach-athlete attachment was found to be positively associated with well-being. Basic psychological needs generally mediated the association between attachment styles and thriving. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of further examination of coach-athlete attachment and the coaches’ role in supporting athletes’ basic psychological needs in order for them to thrive. / Denna studie undersökte anknytningsstil mellan coacher och idrottare som en kontextuell, möjliggörande aspekt i relation till ”thriving” (att frodas). Vidare undersöktes huruvida grundläggande psykologiska behov hade en medlade effekt mellan idrottarnas anknytningsstil till coachen och ”thriving”. Totalt 131 svenska idrottare från lagsporter och individuella idrotter rekryterades (78% kvinnor, 22% män i åldrarna 15–41, M = 18.99, SD = 4.31). En onlineenkät användes för att samla in data. Resultatet indikerar att urvalet upplevde att coacherna uppfyllde grundläggande anknytningsfunktion vilket indikerar att coachen kan ses som en kontextspecifik anknytningsperson. Mediationsanalyser visade att otrygg anknytning till coachen var negativt associerat till välmående. Otrygg-ambivalent anknytning till coachen associerade negativt till upplevd prestation. Trygg anknytning till coachen var positivt associerat till välmående. Grundläggande psykologiska behov medlade generellt associationerna mellan anknytningsstilar till coachen och ”thriving”. Sammantaget belyser resultaten vikten av vidare undersökning av anknytning mellan coach och idrottare och coachernas roll i att hjälpa idrottare att både må bra och prestera.

Bakgrund: Att bli äldre kan innebära flytt till särskilt boende. Faktorer som kan bidra till trivsel är bland annat social kontakt samt den fysiska miljön. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka om äldre i särskilda boenden med ett eget kök/pentry i större utsträckning har social kontakt och högre skattad trivsel än de utan eget kök/pentry. Design: Tvärsnittsstudie med kvantitativ ansats. Metod: Data från 4469 enkäter insamlade mellan november 2013 och september 2014 analyserades i SPSS. Resultat: Samband mellan kök och social kontakt gick inte påvisa men däremot fann vi en statistisk signifikant skillnad i skattad trivsel hos de med eget kök/pentry och social kontakt i jämförelse med dem utan. Konklusion: Inget samband återfanns mellan eget kök och social kontakt, däremot ser trivsel hos äldre ut att påverkas om man har eget kök eller inte. Ytterligare studier efterfrågas, speciellt om kökets innebörd för den äldre. Nyckelord: Kök, pentry, social kontakt, trivsel, äldre, särskilt boende / Background: Getting older could lead to moving to a special housing. Factors that can contribute to thriving are social contact and physical environment among others. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore if elderly within special housings who had access to their own kitchen were inclined to have more social contact and a higher level of thriving than those without. Design: Cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. Method: Data from 4469 surveys were collected between November 2013 and September 2014 and then analysed with SPSS Results: Connection between having an own kitchen and social contact was not found in this study. However, we did find a link between thriving and having a kitchen as well as having social contact. Conclusion: No association was found between having an own kitchen and social contact, however, thriving does seem to be affected if you have a kitchen or not. Further studies is needed that investigate the kitchens role more close. Keywords: Kitchen, kitchenette, social contact, thriving, elderly, special housing

A qualitative case study was conducted to document 12 employees’ perceptions of thriving in a Fortune 500 Company. The case study enabled the researcher to explore the perceptions of thriving among employees with varying levels of grit and resilience using maximum variation sampling strategy. The grit and resilience of these employees had been previously measured through a 14-item Adversity Quotient (AQ) Profile and a 10-item Grit Gauge (GG) assessment. Through analysis of interviews, concept maps, and a ranking exercise the researcher was able to identify the most critical factors that lead to thriving in the Fortune 500 Company. The factors include: positive connections, support of family, support of co-workers and others, shared passion, a sense of resolve and determination, and time for self and others. Additional findings from the research were documented and recommendations were made for leaders of corporate organizations and for further research.