A job is not only an economic factor for the individual; the work also has a great impact on the individual's well-being. It is therefore a prerequisite for employees to be happy at work, which places demands on the workplace. The purpose of the study is to investigate what soldiers and officers have for experiences of job satisfaction. This is answered by studying a specific company on an aircraft fleet within the Swedish Armed Forces based on these research questions: How do the informants experience their work situation at the company? What difficulties and opportunities can be identified based on the informants' work situation and how can these be understood? The thesis is based on a qualitative method and the empirical data has been collected through interviews with four officers and four soldiers. The theoretical framework is based on previous research on employees and job satisfaction, Herzberg's two-stage model and Karasek and Theorell's demand- control-support model. The results of the study show that both the soldiers and the officers feel that the high workload of the company causes the work situation to be perceived as worse. The informants also feel that they do not get paid for the work they do, that the workload prevents them from developing, that everyone does not get feedback in the way they had wanted and that the goals and requirements that are set for the function sometimes are too unclear. Furthermore, the results show that the officers and soldiers generally agree on how well-being is generally experienced at the company. The main difference between the soldiers and the officers is that the soldiers feel that their work situation is affected for the worse because they do not have the same powers to make decisions within the organization. What the informants especially feel is contributing to a more pleasant work situation is the good cohesion between the employees. The informants feel that their work situation is affected to a lesser extent by a number of aspects, but nevertheless the majority of the informants want to continue working at the company.

Le processus de vieillissement expose naturellement à la fragilité et à ces problématiques psycho-sociales et sanitaires qui affectent le bien-être. Couplées à l’accroissement de cette population, la question de l’accompagnement dans le grand âge pose un réel problème de société. Alors que les ressources humaines sont rares et onéreuses, nombreux sont les acteurs cherchant des solutions du côté de la technologie pour soutenir le phénomène. Toutefois souvent stigmatisantes, coûteuses, requérant un effort d’apprentissage et dont l’utilité est souvent contestée, les outils spécialisés dans le vieillissement peinent à pénétrer l’espace de vie des personnes âgées. Dans ce contexte, une technologie abordable, qui s’ancrerait naturellement dans les habitudes de vie et dont l’esthétique n’évoquerait jamais le handicap, dispose de qualités particulièrement intéressantes. Se positionnant dans le champ de l’actimétrie appliquée à la gérontechnologie, ce travail doctoral a donc pour objectif d’étudier les potentialités offertes par les métadonnées téléphoniques pour la déduction de comportements sociaux et la détection d’évènements pouvant affecter le bien-être et la qualité de vie des personnes âgées. L’idée sous-jacente est que le comportement humain, qu’il soit biologique ou social, est quantifiable en rapport à une moyenne individuelle et qu’une déviation significative par rapport à celle-ci est le signe d’un évènement caractéristique. Nous utilisons donc des traces numériques en tant que reflet de l’activité téléphonique dans l’optique de reconstituer des schèmes d'utilisations porteurs de significations sociales en lien avec l’activité sociale et la santé. Les résultats montrent l’existence de corrélations statistiquement significatives entre des variables téléphoniques et l‘activité sociale, l’état de santé psychique et physique. Le travail valide donc les résultats de précédentes recherches qui confèrent au téléphone un rôle prépondérant dans la gestion de la vie sociale et l’apaisement d’affects négatifs liés à des symptomatologies psychiques. Il permet par ailleurs d’approfondir les connaissances actuelles sur les relations entre la santé physique et l’usage du téléphone. / The ageing process exposes the fragility and the psycho-social and health issues that affect well-being. Coupled with the increase of population, the issue of support in old age is a real problem for society. While human resources are scarce and expensive, many players seeking solutions turn to technology to support the phenomenon. However these solutions are often stigmatizing, costly, require a learning effort and whose usefulness is often questioned. Specialized tools in aging struggle to penetrate the living space of the elderly. In this context, an affordable technology, which would anchor naturally in everyday life and whose design never evokes disability, has particularly interesting qualities. Positioned in the actimetry applied to gerontechnology, this doctoral work therefore aims to explore the potential of telephone metadata for social behavior deduction and the detection of events that may affect the well-being and the quality of life of the elderly. The underlying idea is that human behavior, whether biological or social, is quantifiable in relation to an individual average and a significant deviation is the sign of a characteristic event. We use digital traces as a reflection of the telephone activity to reconstruct some social patterns related to social activity and health. The results show statistically significant correlations between variables of telephone and social activity, the state of mental and physical health. This work validates previous research that gives the phone a key role in the management of social life and appeased negative emotions related to psychological symptomatology. It also enables to deepen the current knowledge about the relationship between physical health and use of the phone.

This paper provides evidence on (1) refugees' subjective well-being, (2) their access and barriers to health care utilization and (3) their perception of health care provision in Austria, one of the countries most heavily affected by the European "refugee crisis". It is based on primary data from the Refugee Health and Integration Survey (ReHIS), a cross-sectional survey of roughly five hundred Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees. Results indicate that refugees' self-rated health falls below the resident population's, in particular for female and Afghan refugees. Whereas respondents state overall high satisfaction with the Austrian health system, two in ten male and four in ten female refugees report unmet health needs. Most frequently cited barriers include scheduling conflicts, long waiting lists, lack of knowledge about doctors, and language. Although treatment costs were not frequently considered as barriers, consultation of specialist medical services frequently associated with co-payment by patients, in particular dental care, are significantly less often consulted by refugees than by Austrians. Refugees reported comparably high utilization of hospital services, with daycare treatment more common than inpatient stays. We recommend to improve refugees' access to health care in Austria by a) improving the information flow about available treatment, in particular specialists, b) fostering dental health care for refugees, and c) addressing language barriers by providing (web-based) interpretation services.

Scholars generally agree that having social relationships provides an individual with a sense of psychological well-being. A solid social network can be critical in times of hardship, such as loss or chronic illness. When referring to social networking, the site, Facebook, will be used. In addition, students with disabilities are often stigmatized for their difference from other students and need the support from their perceived networks to maintain psychological well-being. Although much has been written about the relationship between electronic social networking and an individual's well-being, few studies investigated the relationship between disability, social networking and self-esteem. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the relationship between disability, Facebook usage and the self-esteem/well-being of University of Iowa (UI) REACH students. Participants included students with a documented disability (n=56) currently or formerly enrolled in the UI REACH program (a 2-year post-secondary program for students with intellectual and cognitive disabilities). The results of the descriptive correlational analysis, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and the linear regression found one major and one supplemental finding. First, the results indicated that there was not a significant relationship in the amount of Facebook friends UI REACH students had and their reported level of self-esteem. Second, the results of the study indicated that UI REACH students who spent more time on Facebook reported lower self-esteem. Hence, this result was found to be significant. Third, the results indicated that there was not a significant correlation between the overall Facebook Intensity Scale score and self-esteem. In addition, gender was examined by testing the interaction between Facebook Intensity to see if it had a unique effect on self-esteem/well-being. Age was examined alongside gender and Facebook Intensity Scale score to test their independent effects on self-esteem/well-being. The implications of this study are also discussed, since they can benefit post-secondary educators and rehabilitation counseling professionals develop interventions to increase the well-being of students with intellectual and/or cognitive disabilities in transitional programs. Keywords: disability, Facebook, social networking, well-being, self-esteem, UI REACH students

This dissertation addressed whether and how theories of marriage apply to same-sex relationships. These theories correspond to two main research questions. First, does the legal recognition of same-sex relationships provide the same benefits for members of same-sex couples that it does for different-sex spouses? Second, how do same-sex couples divide household labor, and, should inequalities emerge, what factors explain the division of labor? Marriage provides numerous benefits to husband/wife couples who wed, including better mental and physical health, greater financial security, and higher levels of sexual satisfaction. Using results from a web-based survey of members of same-sex couples and same-sex-attracted singles (N=429), I tested the applicability of the "marriage benefits model" to same-sex marriages, civil unions, domestic partnerships, and cohabiting couples. Although the focus of the same-sex marriage debate has been on the positive attributes of marriage, marriage for different-sex couples is also associated with great inequity in the division of household labor. Explanations for the housework gap point to gender or are tied up in correlates of gender, such as income and work hours. I also explored variations in the division of household labor in same-sex marriages and partnerships and tested extant theories of housework inequality. Results indicated that legal recognition (marriages and civil unions) does provide some benefits to financial well-being and physical health. Defining one's own relationship as a marriage (regardless of legal recognition) was more strongly associated with "marriage" benefits, including greater financial well-being, an improved sexual relationship, and fewer health-risk behaviors. Femininity was positively related to proportional housework contributions, and proportional work hours were inversely related, to proportional housework, supporting both the gender and time availability explanations of housework inequalities. Interactions between gender and relationship characteristics and between time availability and relationship characteristics were also explored.

The happy productive worker (HPW) theory states that happy employees perform at higher levels than unhappy employees do. Despite the explanatory power of the HPW theory, it was unknown if a happy middle-level manager would be associated with productive direct reports. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to address that gap by exploring the impact of middle-level managers' well-being and happiness on the performance of their direct reports. Key research questions examined how middle-level managers' well-being and happiness influenced the performance of their direct reports and how middle-level managers' application of the HPW theory influenced social change. Twenty middle-level managers from varied organizations participated in semistructured interviews to generate data. Data were subjected to content analysis to identify emergent categories and themes. Findings showed that middle-level managers' well-being and happiness had both positive and negative influences on direct reports' performance in that reports tended to mirror their middle-level manager's level of well-being and happiness. Whenever the middle level manager was happy, their reports' productivity increased, and whenever the middle level manager was unhappy, reports' productivity decreased. The overall conclusion was that middle-level managers' well-being and happiness in the workplace are important and offer opportunities to help direct reports to grow and to flourish in their department of the organization. Recommendations include further study of the strategies middle-level managers use to influence direct reports' advancement toward their potential. Organizational leaders may apply these findings through professional development training to enhance the growth and improve the productivity of their direct reports.

The purpose of this study was to determine if educational intervention could cause a decrease in distress, and if so would this change last up to a year. The sample consisted of displaced homemakers from three Northern Utah counties enrolled in a seminar (educational intervention) to prepare for the development of employment skills. Pre-test, post-test and follow-up tests were given to measure the change in stress. The three measures used to determine the psychological preparation (a reduction in distress level) were assertiveness, self-esteem and well-being. It was concluded that the educational intervention did reduce the distress level and that the change did last over a period of one year. The only exception was in the case of low-Income displaced homemakers.

Leadership in organizational contexts has received considerable attention through the years. Although much is known about what constitutes effective leadership in an organizational setting, little is known about leadership as it pertains to the family. To address this limitation, a theoretical model of family leadership was developed. This model draws on transformational leadership and proposes five areas in which leadership could be carried out to lead and strengthen the family unit. These five areas include ( 1) leading the family with a vision, (2) maintaining a task orientation, (3) fostering close familial relationships, (4) establishing cooperation and teamwork, and (5) building connections and ties with support networks that are external to the family. In accordance with this theoretical model, it was hypothesized that favorable family outcomes, such as higher levels of cohesion, effective communication, lower levels of conflict, and family involvement are associated with a transformational style of leadership. This hypothesis was tested using a convenience sample of 231 two-parent families. consisting of a father, mother, and an adult child from each family. Family well-being was assessed by each child using The Family Profile, and the leadership style of each parent was assessed using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Using cluster analysis, four combinations of husband-wife leadership styles emerged. Based on these four leadership clusters, ANOV A was used to assess differences in family outcomes. Significant differences were found when comparing the couples characterized by active transformational leadership to those who were passive, or had a laissez-faire style of leadership. Compared to couples with passive leadership styles, couples with active leadership styles tended to have higher scores on the positive dimensions of family wellbeing (Family Concordance, Marital Strength, Active Involvement, and Religiosity) and lower scores on the negative dimension (Family Discordance). With the exception of a difference between the couples in the active leadership cluster and the couples in another cluster on the Religiosity outcome scale, no other differences were found among the couples in the four leadership clusters.

College students are at an increased risk for suicide. The federal government has gone to great lengths to try to implement suicide prevention programs, but few studies have been done to design, implement and assess the effectiveness of the programs. Latinas are at an especially high risk for suicide, and research suggests that interpersonal conflict is a potential risk factor for Latinas' suicidal behavior. Thwarted belongingness, as stated in Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory of Suicide, may be a possible explanation for the higher rates due to the importance placed on interpersonal relationships based on Latino cultural values. Bicultural identity has been linked to better psychological adjustment and possibly well-being, so it will be assessed as well. The proposed study will have Latina college students (N=783) participate in group sessions that allow for the processing of interpersonal problems and learning communication skills to resolve conflicts. They will be asked to fill out measures of belonging, bicultural identity and general well-being. Measures of general well-being will be used as a proxy for suicidal behavior. It is predicted that participant scores of belonging and their well-being will increase following participation. Scores of belonging and well-being are expected to have an inverse linear relationship. Participants’ scores of bicultural identity and belonging will be strong significant predictors of participants’ score of bicultural identity and belonging will predict increases in participants' well-being. Limitations and future research are also discussed.

This proposed study was inspired by the concept in Aristotle’s virtue ethics theory that a good life is necessarily an ethical one. The following work intends to expand previous literature on this topic by exploring an accessible potential method through which ethicality (and thus, well-being) can be increased, and also a possible explanation of how this process might occur. Past research has indicated that mindfulness training can increase both prosociality and well-being, and additionally that higher ethicality is connected to higher well-being. Reduced self-focus has been found to mediate these relationships. The proposed 30 day study makes use of a daily mindfulness training app to explore its effects on participants’ ethicality and well-being, and examines whether reduced self-focus mediates these potential relationships. Results are expected to show that that, first, increased mindfulness leads to increased ethical behavior, mediated by reduction in self-focus; and second, that increased mindfulness leads to an increase in well-being, mediated both by increased ethical behavior and by reduction in self-focus. Ultimately, the intention of this study is to find support for the benefits of cultivating a more loving and interconnected world, as well as the means by which to do so.