<p>The current research aims to identify the variables that influence turnover intentions. In particular, this research explored the concept of turnover intentions by investigating the mediating effects of job satisfaction and psychological capital amongst a sample of 70 employees involved in the tourism industry. The study highlights that employees within the tourism industry within the Western Cape were the most satisfied with work content, and the least satisfied with leadership / supervision. The results emanating from the current study indicate that there is a strong, inverse relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention amongst tourism employees in the Western Cape. Furthermore, the study revealed that a statistically significant, inverse relationship exists between psychological capital and turnover intention. Multiple regression analysis revealed these variables significantly explained the variance in turnover intention.</p>

Syftet med studien var att kartlägga åsikter kring ett Gemensamt Konstruktivt Medarbetarskap (GKM) för att lägga grunden till en plattform att stå på inför kommande arbete kring medarbetarskap ute i organisationer. Studien är en kvalitativ undersökning med fallstudie som grundläggande design med en ansats av positiv psykologi, vilken genomfördes på en kemisk industri. Datainsamlingen gjordes genom fokusgruppsintervjuer där fyra-sex deltagare deltog/intervju. Vid intervjuerna diskuterades fyra fokusområden; gemensamt medarbetarskap, ledarskap, medledarskap och coaching. I studien har fem teman definierats vilka kan utgöra en plattform att stå på; ansvarstagande, förtroende, kommunikation, samarbete och engagemang. Grunden till en plattform består av fem ord som kan ses som ett gemensamt språk för att kunna kommunicera vidare; förtroende, ärlighet, pålitlighet, ansvarstagande och kommunikation. / The purpose of the study was to try to make a chart of views around a Common Constructive Empowerment (CCE) in order to set base for a platform to stand on due to further work around empowerment in organizations. The study is a qualitative research with a casestudy as a fundamental design with an approach to positive psychology, which was carried out in a chemical industry. The data collection took place in focused group interviews with four to six participants/interview. At these interviews four focus areas were discussed; common empowerment, leadership, shared leadership and coaching. In the study five themes has been defined that can be seen as a platform; responsibility, confidence, communication, cooperation and commitment. The base for a platform consists of five words that can be seen as a mutual language in order to keep on with the communication; confidence, honesty, reliability, responsibility and communication.

To adolescents, online game provides a rich playground for developing competence in leadership, coordination, teamwork, and cooperation. Adopting the perspective of positive psychology and social cognitive theory, this research investigates how factors such as personal and social factors may impact adolescents' learning outcomes and subjective will-being. The results show that game efficacy, adolescents' game attitudes, and social influences are important factors that influence adolescents' online game behavior. Moreover, playing online games may improve adolescents' psychological affects and learning, which in turn enhance players' subjective well-being. These results provide a new perspective to game researchers, teachers and parents and can help game manufactures and government in designing games and making policies.

Current literature suggests that family stressors are positively related to adolescent psychopathology; however, few studies have examined the relationship between family stressors and positive indicators of mental health, such as life satisfaction. Additionally, past literature has found support for life satisfaction as a mediating variable between environmental experiences (i.e., parent-child relationships, major life events) and adolescent psychopathology. Research questions answered in the current study pertain to: (a) the relationship between family stressors (i.e., socio-economic status, family structure, major life events, interparental conflict) and adolescents' life satisfaction, (b) the overall contribution of family stressors to life satisfaction and which stressors are most strongly associated with life satisfaction, and (c) whether life satisfaction mediates the relationship between family stressors and substance use. To answer these questions, self-report surveys from 183 middle school students were analyzed. Results indicate that experiencing major life events and interparental conflict were unique predictors of life satisfaction, and all the family stressors combined accounted for 37% of the variance in life satisfaction. Additionally, the relationship between these two family stressors and substance use was shown to be mediated by life satisfaction. Implications for school psychologists and future directions are discussed.

Abstract Positive psychology encourages a focus on identifying and promoting wellness in individuals rather than analyzing psychopathology. Although decades of research shows that mental illness is in part environmental and hereditary, little is known about the relationship between parental levels of positive emotions such as gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope, and their children's levels of the same constructs. This study utilized a past, present, and future framework of positive emotions to explore parental and child levels of gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope. This quantitative study analyzed correlations between self-reported levels of gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope among a sample of 153 fourth and fifth grade students and their parents (143 female caregivers, 119 male caregivers). Findings include statistically significant relationships between (a) mother and child gratitude (but not father and child gratitude) and (b) child life satisfaction with both mothers' and fathers' life satisfaction. No relationships emerged between parental hope and child hope. The study has important implications for school psychologists, including sharing with caregivers' the relationships between parental positive emotions and their children' levels of wellness. Future research is needed to investigate the causes of the links identified in the current study, as well as to explore the relationship between parental and child hope.

Shifting from traditional deficit-based psychological research, the current study aimed to broaden the understanding of post-adoption development through a strength-based approach and further explore the recently developed Values in Action (VIA) Classification of Character Strengths among a particularly resilient population of young children-internationally adopted Chinese children. Archival longitudinal data of parents' descriptions about their adopted Chinese children's positive characteristics were analyzed from two time points two years apart. Data on 179 children ages 4 - 5 years old (M = 59.67 months SD = 6.60 months) in Time 1 from 172 families were analyzed with content analysis coding procedures. Overall, the profile of character strengths among young Chinese adoptees was very comparable to that of a general sample of young children assessed in a previous research study: Both samples had 11 of the 24 character strengths from the VIA Classification represented among 10% or more of the children, while the remaining character strengths were rarely represented in the children's data. The five most prevalent character strengths for Chinese adoptees were Love, Kindness, Humor, Zest, and Social Intelligence. The biggest difference between adopted Chinese children from this study and non-adopted children was that Zest and Social Intelligence were represented at much higher rates. There were no significant changes over time in all but one of the prevalence rates for character strengths (i.e., Love decreased from Time 1 to Time 2) and for the more broadly categorized virtues (i.e., Courage increased from Time 1 to Time 2). The two most prevalent virtues, Humanity and Courage, were associated with lower levels of externalizing and internalizing problems, respectively, which may point to the positive traits particularly related to this population's marked resilience. Results serve to provide a broader understanding of post-adoption development and offer the first longitudinal data on character strengths among young children.

Throughout history the discipline of psychology has been dominated by the study of mental illness as opposed to mental wellness. The introduction of positive psychology has caused a shift from the bias towards mental illness to a focus on psychological wellbeing. The aim of positive psychology is to begin to catalyse a change in the focus of psychology from preoccupation only with repairing the worst in life to building positive qualities. This has resulted in an increase of studies on positive traits and feelings. In light of this, work engagement has become a focus area particularly given that research has shown that disengagement or alienation at the workplace is central to the problem of employees’ lack of commitment and motivation. It is therefore important to understand why some employees stay engaged at work even whilst facing challenges with constant change and why others disengage at work. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between three psychological conditions namely psychological meaningfulness, psychological safety, and psychological; availability; job characteristics; and work engagement. Furthermore, the study sought to investigate the mediating effects of psychological conditions on the relationship between work engagement and job characteristics. A survey design was used with a questionnaire as a data gathering instrument. The sample consisted of 150 employees of a university. Descriptive statistics (e.g. mean and standard deviations), Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients and multiple regressions were used to analyse the data. The results showed that psychological meaningfulness was the strongest predictor of work engagement and that it fully mediated the relationship between job characteristics (job enrichment, work role fit and rewarding co-worker relations). Psychological availability did not predict work engagement but indicated a statistically significant correlation with cognitive, emotional and psychical resources. Limitations in this research are identified and recommendations are made for future research. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Pozityvioji psichologija akcentuoja charakterio stiprybių ir laimingumo svarbą asmenybės gyvenimo kokybei, fizinei ir psichinei sveikatai, tačiau netirtos galimos šių reiškinių sąsajos su priežastimis gyventi, kurios gali būti reikšmingos vykdant savižudybių prevenciją. Atsižvelgiant į paauglystės amžiaus problemiškumą, šio tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti vyresniųjų klasių mokinių charakterio stiprybių ir laimingumo ryšį su priežastimis gyventi. Tyrime dalyvavo 180 (109 merginos ir 71 vaikinas) IX – XII klasių Kėdainių rajono Akademijos vidurinės mokyklos mokinių. Charakterio stiprybės matuotos tam skirto Charakterio stiprybių ir dorybių klausimyno trumpuoju variantu, sukurtu C. Peterson ir M. E. P. Seligman 2003 metais. Respondentų laimingumas apskaičiuotas Subjektyvaus laimingumo skale, sukurta S. Lyubomirsky 1999 m. Vyresniųjų klasių mokinių priežastys gyventi tirtos Priežasčių gyventi klausimynu, skirtu paaugliams, kurį sukūrė A. Osman 1998 metais. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad charakterio stiprybės statistiškai patikimai skiriasi lyties atžvilgiu. Išskirta po tris labiausiai išreikštas charakterio stiprybes – merginų grupėje: humoras ir žaismingumas, mylėjimas ir buvimas mylima/meilės priėmimas bei dvasingumas/tikėjimas; vaikinų: mylėjimas ir buvimas mylimu/meilės priėmimas, dvasingumas/tikėjimas ir pomėgis mokytis. Taip pat rasti skirtumai tarp vaikinams ir merginoms reikšmingų priežasčių gyventi išreikštumo. Statistiškai reikšmingų skirtumų tarp vaikinų ir merginų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Positive psychology of character strengths highlights the importance of personal happiness and quality of life, physical and mental health, but these effects have not been studied in a link with the reasons for living, which may be of interest in the suicide prevention. Evaluating the problemic side of adolescence the purpose of the study is to assess high school students' character strengths and happiness relationship with reasons for living. The study included 180 pupils (109 girls and 71 boy) of IX - XII grades from Kėdainiai District the Akademija Secondary school. The strengths of character were measured by the short version of the questionnaire, developed by C. Peterson and M. E. P. Seligman in 2003. The happiness of respondents were measured by Subjective happiness scale, the author - S. Lyubomirsky 1999. The reasons for living of the older pupils were investigated by the questionnaire created by A. Osman in 1998 and called The reasons for living questionnaire. The results showed statistical difference between the strength of character and gender. Excluded three most pronounced character strengths - in girls group: the humour and playfulness, loving and allowing oneself to be loved, spirituality/faith; in boys group: loving and allowing oneself to be loved, spirituality/faith and love of learning. Results also showed differences in the expression of the significant reasons for living between boys and girls. There were no statistically significant differences found in... [to full text]

<p>The current research aims to identify the variables that influence turnover intentions. In particular, this research explored the concept of turnover intentions by investigating the mediating effects of job satisfaction and psychological capital amongst a sample of 70 employees involved in the tourism industry. The study highlights that employees within the tourism industry within the Western Cape were the most satisfied with work content, and the least satisfied with leadership / supervision. The results emanating from the current study indicate that there is a strong, inverse relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention amongst tourism employees in the Western Cape. Furthermore, the study revealed that a statistically significant, inverse relationship exists between psychological capital and turnover intention. Multiple regression analysis revealed these variables significantly explained the variance in turnover intention.</p>

A dual-factor model of psychological functioning examines the presence of wellness (i.e., subjective well-being; SWB) and psychopathology (i.e., internalizing and externalizing behavior problems) in explaining youth mental health functioning. Using a dual-factor model, previous research has yielded four unique groups of elementary and middle school youth as well as college-age adults with distinct levels of wellness and psychopathology. The present empirical investigation included valid data from 500 adolescents from two high schools (grades 9 to 11). This exploratory study produced four groups of students with unique mental health profiles aligned with previous studies investigating the dual-factor model. Tukey-Kramer comparisons determined that among groups classified as having elevated symptoms of psychopathology, those that also report high levels of SWB (i.e., symptomatic but content youth) are more likely to be rated as having externalizing problems, and those with low levels of SWB (i.e., troubled youth) are more likely to report symptoms of internalizing problems. Evaluation of group differences on positive mental health indicators suggest that differences between groups with elevated SWB versus low SWB were due to differences in life satisfaction and negative affect. Tukey-Kramer comparisons indicated that youth with complete mental health reported optimal functioning in terms SWB. Youth identified as having low levels of SWB, appeared to report similarly low levels of life satisfaction and positive affect, but those that also reported elevated levels of psychopathology, particularly internalizing problems, had greater levels of negative affect. Additional findings from this study demonstrate the utility of classifying high school students' mental health according to a dual-factor model. Results of a MANCOVA suggest a significant effect for mental health group membership as yielded from a dual-factor model on students' social-functioning. Follow up ANCOVAs and Tukey-Kramer comparisons suggest that high SWB in tandem with low levels of psychopathology (i.e., complete mental health) is associated with a host of optimal functioning in terms of teacher-rated social skills, perceptions of interpersonal relationships, receipt of social support, reduced likelihood of victimization, and high quality romantic experiences. For youth with psychopathology, average to high levels of SWB (i.e., as in symptomatic but content students), may buffer them from experiencing poor social functioning, particularly in terms of perceived social support, peer victimization, general interpersonal relations, and satisfaction with romantic experiences. Overall results from this study support the presence of dual-factor model in high school students and the importance of assessment of positive and negative indicators in order to effectively gain a comprehensive understanding of adolescents' social functioning.