Visual art is important for humans. Most people have an interest in visiting art museums, and they spend both time and money on artworks. Appreciating visual art can have an effect on several psychological states, such as pleasure, emotions of wonder, awe, and the sublime. However, the question of what constitutes an aesthetic experience and what mechanisms that are involved in experiencing visual art, are still not fully understood. The discipline neuroaesthetics, which is a subfield of cognitive neuroscience, investigates the biology behind aesthetic experience and aesthetic appreciation. The aim of this thesis is to give an overview of the neural processes involved in experiencing visual art, and to explore how it could be related to components of emotional well-being. As such, neuroimaging studies addressing aesthetic experience and emotional processing are reviewed and discussed. This thesis found a relationship between the neural processes that operate behind a broad range of positive valanced emotions and aesthetic experience. The findings show that experiencing visual art that are aesthetically appreciated by the viewer, induces feelings of hedonic niceness or pleasant well-being and is associated with increased activity in the reward circuit. How aesthetic appreciation affects our emotional and cognitive states respectively and enhances our physiological and psychological well-being remains to be investigated. Understanding the underlying neurobiological processes involved when experiencing visual art is important due to its implications on positive health and well-being.

The purpose of this study was to gain insights into the perspectives of child welfare alumni related to the educational experiences that facilitated or presented obstacles to academic and social-emotional resilience and well-being and to what extent. Through qualitative methodology, I sought to understand the life and experiences of these participants who experienced foster care and “came out” on the other side of the experience with the ability to live successful lives. Furthermore, I sought to discover how the school setting contributed to building well-being for this population. Data was collected from individual and focus group interviews. My sample consisted of four women who met the criteria for my study as they were taken into custodial care due to maltreatment issues and were with child welfare for at least two years following the placement decision. Results of the study indicated that alumni of child-welfare identified the school environment as contributing to feelings of safety, and as a venue in which they were provided encouragement and support from educators (i.e., teachers, guidance counselors). The findings of this study reinforce the need for school to play an active role in supporting youth in care by providing a safe, supportive environment in which students can learn the skills they need later in life, including the development of basic skills, the ability to inquire, and the ability to express themselves. While school systems are not responsible for meeting every need of their students, schools must meet the challenge when the need directly affects learning.

For a mother raising a child with special health care needs (CSHCN), maintaining positive feelings of gratitude can become challenging because of the stress associated with caregiving, as well as the consequences of unmanaged stress, which include decreases in both physical and psychological health and well-being. Chronic, unmanaged stress has been associated with various health issues that can be severe and potentially life-threatening. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine how mothers raising a CSHCN experience gratitude. A secondary purpose was to identify possible barriers to experiencing gratitude, which, when implemented as a coping style, may decrease the negative effects of daily stress and improve mental health. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions along with the transactional model of stress and coping provided an optimal conceptual framework for this study. The research questions were centered around the challenges and stressors unique to each mother, coping strategies, and gratitude. The ways in which the combination of factors contributed to quality of life among the mothers were examined specifically. Data from face-to-face interviews with 15 mothers were transcribed, coded, and thoroughly analyzed for themes. The primary themes that emerged were support from family and friends, feelings of gratitude, coping mechanisms, life satisfaction, gratitude for a flexible job, stress related to full dependency, high stress levels over the past 30 days, increased stress when describing the child, and a need to work on eating habits. Findings and recommendations from this study may contribute to positive social change and support the benefits of gratitude, especially in highly stressful situations.

Research has suggested positive effects of nature immersion––a state of being or an act of doing in natural space––for urban children who were otherwise at risk of emotional or behavioral problems. However, few studies have systematically investigated natural space qualities that predict child well-being at the clinical level. The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of natural space qualities as factors of urban child well-being. Explanatory mixed-methods were used. Quantitative data (N = 174) included a survey and two parental-reports of child wellbeing. Interviews provided qualitative data (N = 15). Data were analyzed using: Generalized Linear Model and Content Analysis. Both data streams were merged into a point of meta-inference that contributed to parental assessment of enhanced child well-being: 1) Parental valuing of nature connection (p < 0.001) as a soothing and safe resource and 2) Shorter and more frequent nature-child space-time immersion (p < 0.001). Integration of natural spaces into urban environments may be a costeffective and meaningful way to address urban child well-being. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Evidence from various academic fields indicates that mental health and income are correlated. Additionally, evidence exists that an increase in income improves psychological well-being and evidence that poor psychological well-being negatively impacts income. The difficulty is that there is no definitive work pinpointing the direction of the causal relationship between income and psychological well-being, but studies are attempting to find out. Hence, this paper attempts to contribute to ongoing work with an IV estimation approach to determine the causal effects of psychological well-being on poverty. Using data provided by Haushofer and Shapiro, this paper finds evidence that an increase in income causes a reduction in depression and stress levels, along with increases in happiness and life satisfaction of the study participants. Additionally, it is found that these improvements in psychological well-being lead to increases in monthly household expenditure, especially health care. Furthermore, these findings indicate that when women receive a cash transfer, a significant proportion of that transfer is devoted to health care. All the estimates presented in the paper indicate that an improvement in economic well-being leads to an improvement in the mental health of the poor, which causes them to spend more and focus more on their health care.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Substance abuse is a global phenomenon and a leading social issue that affects the user and the well-being of the user’s family. Parental substance abuse in particular, has a negative impact on family well-being. South Africa is no exception and is rated by the United Nations as one of the countries in Southern Africa with the highest rate of substance abuse. The Western Cape has very high rates of substance abuse, and the effects on the abuser’s family and community is of great concern for social and health practitioners

This study aimed to translate the Norwegian teacher self-efficacy scale (NTSES; Skaalvik &amp; Skaalvik, 2007) and explore its validity and factor structure in a sample of 256 Swedish teachers. The ties between teacher self-efficacy and teacher burnout and self-efficacy and teacher well-being were also investigated. The results showed that the Swedish version of the NTSES had good internal consistency and adequate concurrent and convergent validity. However, results from a confirmatory factor analysis and two exploratory factor analyses did not support a factor structure equivalent to the original NTSES. The Swedish version of the NTSES might need some adjustments in translation and even consideration regarding removal of some items before it can truly be of use in a Swedish context.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(農学) / 乙第13338号 / 論農博第2881号 / 新制||農||1079(附属図書館) / 学位論文||R2||N5245(農学部図書室) / (主査)教授 廣岡 博之, 教授 松井 徹, 准教授 熊谷 元 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Agricultural Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Thesis advisor: Janet E. Helms / Part-White Multiracial adults undergo a unique racial identity development process within a racially stratified society. Theorists suggest that different ways of self-designating either improve or impede healthy psychological outcomes for Multiracial people, but virtually no theoretical rationale or empirical studies account for the internal mechanisms underlying self-designations and mental health outcomes. People of Color and White racial identity theories were used to investigate racial dynamics implicit in the identity development and self-designations of Multiracial individuals. The current study examined the relationships between racial self-designations, internalized racial identity, and well-being in part-White Multiracial adults. Part-White (Asian/White or Black/White) Multiracial adults (N = 169) completed a measure of frequency of use of five multiracial self-designations, People of Color and White Racial Identity Attitudes Scales to assess their internal race-related processes (i.e., statuses), and the Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (Derogatis, 2001) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1979) to assess healthy and unhealthy psychological outcomes. Multivariate Multiple Regression Analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among racial self-designation and well-being, racial self-designation and internalized racial identity, and internalized racial identity and well-being. Results specific to racial self-designations were (a) greater disorientation about racial dynamics predicted more frequent identification as White and Multiracial, (b) withdrawal from Whiteness increased monoracial minority self-designation and decreased self-designation as Multiracial (c) more complex appraisals of Whiteness predicted more frequent use of most self-designation choices, and (d) an intellectualized view of Whiteness reduced use of the monoracial minority designations and increased identifying with no racial groups at all. Self-designation use was not related to psychological outcomes, but racial identity statuses were. Overall, the results of the study supported examining racial self-designation, internalized racial identity and well-being in a single study. As expected, internalized racial identity was predictive of self-designations and well-being. This study provides initial support for adding conceptual and empirical complexity to discussions about the mental health and wellbeing of Multiracial people. Methodological limitations and implications for future theory, research, and practice are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Well-being and meaningfulness in life are linked to the relative value that individuals place on various life goals or aspirations. The variation in the pursuit of these goals depend mainly on personality differences. This study investigated the relations between personality traits and aspirations and their effect on subjective well-being and meaningfulness. A questionnaire with four measures targeting the respective variable of interest were used. Data were analyzed through correlation analysis and multiple regression. Results showed strongest correlation for intrinsic aspirations with openess and agreeableness, and extrinsic aspirations with agreeableness. For well-being, the strongest predictors were extraversion and neuroticism, while aspirations showed no significant effect. For meaningfulness, openness and agreeableness had positive and negative effects respectively, whereas both intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations showed positive effect. In summary, personality traits seems to be a better predictor than aspirations of the effect on well-being. The valence of an aspiration however, indicate a clearer path towards meaningfulness than the categorization of aspirations per se. The findings support theories of affect and self-determination, but future replications are needed in order to clarify more distinct patterns.