The purpose of this study was to investigate the process of forgiveness and the relationship among state forgiveness, self-compassion, and psychological well-being experienced by Buddhists in the United States. An integral feminist framework was developed for this mixed-method study. For the quantitative component of this study, a convenience sample of 112 adults completed an online survey. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine: (a) the impact of gender, age, and the years spent in Buddhist practice on state forgiveness and self-compassion; (b) the outcome of psychological well-being in relation to state forgiveness and self-compassion; and (c) self-compassion as a mediator for the relationship between state forgiveness and psychological well-being. Quantitative results indicated: (a) state forgiveness positively predicted psychological well-being; (b) the years spent in Buddhist practice positively predicted self-compassion; (c) self-compassion positively predicted psychological well-being; and (d) self-compassion partially mediated the relationship between state forgiveness and psychological well-being. Age did not predict any of the three primary variables. Gender did not predict state forgiveness. For the qualitative component of this study, this researcher purposefully selected four adults from a local Buddhist community in central Kentucky and conducted two in-depth interviews to explore their subjective experiences of forgiveness within their own contexts. A holistic-content narrative analysis revealed unique features of each interviewee’s forgiveness process interwoven with the socio-cultural, family and relational contexts. From a phenomenological analysis, common themes and elements of the interviewees’ forgiveness processes emerged. Qualitative findings corresponded to the quantitative results concerning state forgiveness as a route to psychological well-being, the positive relationship between Buddhist practice and compassion, and the role of self-compassion in the relationship between state forgiveness and psychological well-being. Qualitative findings also suggested the following. First, two-way compassion toward self and the offender was a facilitating factor for forgiveness that may be unique to Buddhists. Second, one’s actual experience of forgiveness may encompass not only cognitive, affective, and behavioral changes, but also transformation of self and perspective on meaning and purpose in life. Third, Enright and his colleagues’ (1998) stage and process models of forgiveness were useful to understand Buddhists’ experiences and processes of forgiveness.

Women suffer a high prevalence rate of several mental disorders. National U.S. data (N = 9,282) shows that 23.4% of women meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder, 8.6% for depression, and 11.6% for a mood disorder (Kessler et al., 2005). Compared to men, women are two times more likely to be depressed (Lewinsohn, Rhode, Seeley, & Baldwin, 2001) and two to three times more likely to suffer from anxiety disorders such as panic disorders, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorders, and Posttraumatic Stress (Kessler et al., 2005). Due to experiencing a high number of mental disorders, women’s psychological well-being (PWB) has been questioned (OWH, 2009). Considerable research describes the negative influence psychological distress has on women’s lives, but little is understood of what constitutes PWB. Ryff (1989) proposed that existing models of mental health too often focus on illness and disorders, neglecting important aspects of positive functioning. This study was based on Ryff’s (1989) conceptualization that improved PWB would reflect the perception of functioning well in life (Ryff, 1989). The purpose of the present study was to identify factors important in women’s PWB. Factors included: age, household income, education, marital status, race/ethnicity, perceived social support, psychological distress, and PWB. The design of the study was a secondary data analysis based on an existing study, “The Psychological Well-Being of Women Pre- and Post- a Breast Cancer Diagnosis.” Women recalled for a diagnostic mammogram, but not diagnosed, were included in the study (N = 2,746). Measures used included: a demographic questionnaire, Scales of psychological well-being (Ryff, 1989); Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995); and a Visual Analog Scale of Perceived Social Support. Findings showed that income, education, and perceived social support showed statistically significant different PWB scores in the positive direction. Married women scored higher PWB scores than women of other types of marital status, but neither age nor race/ethnicity showed differences in outcome scores. Psychological distress and PWB were strongly and inversely correlated, suggesting that the constructs are more directly related than previously identified. Implications for therapeutic practice and future research are discussed.

To better understand the effect of emotions on formal and informal interactions in the workplace, I focus on emotional dynamics, the exchange and experience of emotions occurring within repeated interpersonal interactions. Emotional Ability (EA; how individuals perceive, use, understand, and manage their own or others’ emotions) is a key component in emotional dynamics. Specifically, I focus on the role of EA on individuals’ choices of coworkers for gaining emotional support (the receipt of empathy, caring, trust, and concern), and in turn, their occupational well-being and task performance. In addition, I investigate the “ripple effects” of EA, how the EA of focal actors may benefit others in the network. The value of Emotional Ability is thus in reaching beyond the individual’s(ego’s) benefit to extend to others (alters) who are tied to ego, in turn benefiting the entire social network (group of actors) and ultimately contributing to the organization’s emotional health. I further investigate possible moderators of the EA-benefits relationship: relationship perceived emotional competence (as assessed by others), emotional self-efficacy (individuals’ beliefs in their own EA) and empathic concern (propensity to experience feelings of warmth, compassion and concern for others). This study is part of a larger research agenda to develop an affective relational theory (ART) to examine how emotional dynamics affect relational dynamics in organizations.

In a synthesis of research on parent autonomy support, meta-analytic results indicated that parental autonomy support was related to greater academic achievement, autonomous motivation, and psychological health. A meta-analysis of 20 studies correlating parent autonomy support and achievement-related outcomes revealed that parental autonomy support had a positive relationship with achievement outcomes. A meta-analysis of 8 samples from 6 studies correlating parent autonomy support and autonomous motivation revealed autonomy support had a stronger relation with motivation for school in general than motivation for non-school domains. A meta-analysis of 11 studies correlating parent autonomy support and well-being revealed that parental autonomy support had a stronger relation with non-school related self-esteem than in academic self-esteem. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. A suggested intervention program is also analyzed. / text

The present study aims to investigate whether online social support could function in the same way as the offline social support to protect our well-being from stress, and to examine how different Internet activities affected Hong Kong adolescents’ online and offline social support, and their subsequent well-being.305 Hong Kong students from grade 10 and 11 participated in the present study. Descriptive statistics found that female adolescents had a higher level of perceived offline social support than male adolescents. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the buffering effect of both perceived offline and online social support on the relationship between stress and anxiety. Results found that perceived online social support could not buffer stress for Hong Kong adolescents. The buffering effect of perceived offline social support was only found in female adolescents. On the other hand, present results suggested that the actual impact of Internet depended on the types of Internet activities and their corresponding impact on offline and online social support. Implications on the importance of offline social support, gender difference on reactions towards social support and education on Internet usage were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

<p>Vilka faktorer som påverkar vår upplevelse av välbefinnande och lycka väcker stort intresse hos människor. Upplevt välbefinnande (subjective well-being) kan definieras som en individs subjektiva uppfattning om sin livstillfredställelse. Grunden för denna uppfattning bygger på hur den enskilda individen skattar och utvärderar sitt liv. Stabilitet i upplevt välbefinnande påverkas av såväl situationsbundna faktorer som personlighet och affekt. Syftet med denna kvantitativa rapport var att utifrån data från forskningsprogrammet IDA undersöka sambandsstrukturen mellan de olika delarna i begreppet upplevt välbefinnande: områdesspecifikt välbefinnande å ena sidan och generellt välbefinnande med allmän livstillfredställelse, positiv affekt och negativ affekt å andra sidan. Samt att hitta eventuella könsskillnader i dessa samband. Resultatet visade på starka samband mellan generellt och områdesspecifikt välbefinnande. Det allra starkaste sambandet konstaterades mellan tillfredställelse med familjeliv och allmän livstillfredställelse. Sambandet mellan yttre villkor för arbetstillfredställelse och generellt välbefinnande var starkare för män än för kvinnor, medan partialsambandet mellan tillfredställelse med partnerrelation och allmän livstillfredställelse var starkare för kvinnor. Diskussion förs kring resultatens överensstämmelse med tidigare forskning.</p>

<p>The present thesis concerns middle-aged women’s subjective well-being (SWB). The interest is focused on the importance of childhood factors, social circumstances, and personality for middle-aged women’s general SWB. Data were taken from the longitudinal research program Individual Development and Adaptation (IDA, Magnusson & Bergman, 2000) and concerned a sample of about 300 women. The main analyses were made on data collected at age 43, but data collected at age 13 and age 49 were also used to elucidate the purposes of this thesis. The results can be summarized as follows: 1) In a Swedish sample of middle-aged women, social circumstances had only a moderate effect on general SWB variables. The strongest relationship was found between marital status and global life satisfaction. When personality factors were controlled for, they wiped out nearly all relationships between the social circumstances variables and SWB, except for those between global life satisfaction and marital status or unemployment; 2) The level of general SWB was found to be considerably higher for Swedish employed women as compared to their counterparts in Lithuania and different socio-demographic variables predicted SWB in those two countries. For the Swedish sample, family-oriented variables were the strongest predictors of SWB, while for the Lithuanian sample income and educational level were more important; 3) Results from applying longitudinal structural equation modeling suggested that optimism in adolescence influenced optimism in middle age, which in its turn had both a direct influence on global life satisfaction and an indirect influence via the negative affect dimension. In relation to a number of different adjustment factors measured in adolescence it was found that optimism was the only factor that was constantly related to SWB 30 years later; 4) Typical patterns of general SWB were identified. Cluster analyses at age 43 and age 49 separately resulted in similar well-functioning six cluster solutions at both ages, indicating structural stability across six years. In addition to the typical high/low/average SWB clusters that could be to some degree expected from variable-oriented results, a cluster with intense affect and one with very low GLS emerged. All clusters except the latter one showed individual stability across six years.</p>

The funtioning of families of children with developmental disabilities has been of interest to researchers for some time. To date, little research has focused on experiences of New Zealand families. The aim of this research is to investigate relationships between various aspects of the family environment and family functioning, and to explore siblings' level of self-concept and satisfaction with the sibling relationship. It is expected that families who receive more support from external levels of the environment will be able to function more effectively in their immediate environment (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Hornby, 1994). Twenty-one parents and nineteen siblings of children with developmental disabilities volunteered to take part in this study. Parent participants completed questionnaires about family demographics, the level of support received from external sources, their perceptions of the family environment, and level of stress related to child characteristics; pessimism and family problems. Sibling participants completed questionnaires about their satisfaction with the relationship with their brother or sister, their self-concept, and their own perceptionso of the family environment. The results indicate that there are a number of relationships between various aspects of the environment and family functioning. Siblings who are more satisfied with their relationship have higher self-concept scores, however the self-concept scores were lower than expected. Families who receive higher levels of support have more positive perceptions of the family enviornment, and families who have more support and more positive views of the environment have few concerns on the resources and stress scale. The results indicated that families consider that they are receiving adequate support from professional services, however support from family and friends appears to be lacking. This study has provided insight into the functioning of New Zealand families who have children with developmental disabilities, and has suggested a number of avenues for future research.

Sexual minority youth (i.e., youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or who report same-sex attractions) disproportionally experience negative mental health and academic outcomes. Yet, few studies have examined positive youth development for this population. The goal of these three manuscripts is to add new information about positive developmental contexts for sexual minority youth in order to generate ideas for intervention and prevention. More specifically, the focus of these three manuscripts is on school-based extracurricular activity involvement of sexual minority youth.Manuscript one presents results from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health that compare sexual minority and heterosexual youth involvement in school-based extracurricular activities. Results documented that sexual minority youth are involved in school-based extracurricular activities at the same frequency as their heterosexual peers. For all youth, there was a small, but positive association between extracurricular activity involvement and school connectedness. School connectedness was associated with better mental health (i.e., higher self-esteem and lower depression), and these associations were stronger for sexual minority youth.Manuscript two presents results from the Preventing School Harassment Study that examine lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) youth involvement in Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs). GSAs are extracurricular clubs that are tailored to the needs of LGBQ youth. This study examined the concurrent associations among GSA presence, GSA membership, and participation in GSA-related social justice activities, with victimization based on sexual orientation and school-based and civic outcomes. GSA presence and participation in GSA-related social justice activities were positively associated with school belongingness and grade-point average (GPA), and GSA membership was associated with greater school belongingness. Results suggested, however, that the positive benefits of GSA presence and social justice involvement dissipate at high levels of school victimization.Manuscript three extends findings from manuscript two by examining the associations among GSA presence, GSA membership, perceived GSA effectiveness, and young adult well-being. The study utilized the Family Acceptance Project and found that the presence of a GSA, membership in a GSA, and GSA effectiveness differentially predicted LGBT young adult well-being. In some cases, these three facets of GSAs buffered the negative effect of LGBT-specific school victimization.