The Human Pursuit of Well-Being Ingrid Brdar Editor The Human Pursuit of Well-Being A Cultural Approach Editor Ingrid Brdar Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Rijeka Slavka Krautzeka bb 51000 Rijeka Croatia [email protected] ISBN 978-94-007-1374-1 e-ISBN 978-94-007-1375-8 DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1375-8 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2011930750 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Cover design: SPi Publisher Services Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface The contributions in this book are based on selected papers presented at the 4th European Conference on Positive Psychology held in Opatija, Croatia in 2008. Conferences offer opportunities to bring out research from different cultures and to discuss new theoretical perspectives. The broad range of positive psychology topics was addressed during the conference. At this conference the number of presentations nearly doubled compared to previous conferences in Italy and Portugal (from 173 to 324), showing that positive psychology is swiftly growing field of research. About 500 conference attendees came from 39 countries, predominantly from Europe, but also from other parts of the world – United States, Australia, South Africa, etc. This was an excellent opportunity to learn about studies from many different cultures. The book brings together the latest research on positive psychology from an international cast of researchers, mostly from Europe. Why Europe? This world’s second-smallest continent with approximately 50 countries is placed at the crossroad of cultures. Living together in such a cultural diversity needs mutual understanding and appreciation. Dialogue between cultures and making the most of differences is an opportunity to research all three pillars of positive psychology: the subjective level, the individual level, and the group level. So far, only few books brought together European researchers in positive psy- chology. One of the goals of this book is to fill this gap. Europe offers great oppor- tunities for research into various areas of positive psychology through cultural approach. The book describes research from 11 different cultures: nine European countries, Egypt and South Africa. Selection of studies from different cultures aims at broadening our understanding of those aspects of human experience that make life worth living in diverse cultural conditions. A great number of contributions were submitted for publication. Regretfully, not all of them could be included in this book. Carefully chosen chapters describe research and practice from diverse fields of positive psychology. The book includes work of some distinguished authors, but it also includes valuable studies of less well known authors, thus giving insight into studies of growing body of European researchers in positive psychology. This book is the result of work done by 52 contributors and presents research that has been conducted in the last few years. v vi Preface The chapters are diverse in many ways, yet they all deal with the human pursuit of well-being. 22 chapters are grouped into six parts: happiness and well-being, motivation and goals, personality, academic performance and coping, measurement and intervention. In Part I different aspects of Happiness and Well-Being are explored, beginning with an intriguing question: “Can We Get Happier Than We Are?” Other contributions analyze and discuss how several phenomena are related to well-being: self-serving attributional bias, affect specificity, leisure activities, the quality of subjective experi- ence throughout daily life, benefits of positive emotions and predictors of post- traumatic growth in patients. Part II deals with Motivation and Goals. It starts with a review of the relationship between goals and well-being and continues with a study of adolescent life goals. The last paper explores meaning, personal growth and motivation toward therapy. Part III, Personality, has two chapters about character strengths and well-being. The first is focused on biological origins of well-being, and the second analyses gender differences. Part IV includes research on Academic Performance and Coping. The studies are focused on optimistic attributional style, patterns of self-regulated learning and burnout in secondary school context. Part V is focused on Measurement and comprises three chapters which analyze psychometric characteristics of five different instruments: Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scales, Children Hope Scale, Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, Keyes’ Mental Health Continuum and Vitality Scale. Finally, Part VI describes and evaluates Interventions. The first contribution analyzes the effects of school interventions for promoting psychological well-being in adolescence. Other two interventions are aimed for specific groups: obese indi- viduals and male disadvantaged adolescents. Acknowledgments This book is the product of a common project of 52 authors, who invested a lot of time and work to write the chapters. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the contributing authors. Special thanks to Esther Otten for her valuable editorial assis- tance in organizing this book. The assistance provided by my young colleagues Petra and Marko has been greatly appreciated. Finally, my sincere thanks go to my family for their support and for allowing me the necessary time to devote to this project. Contents Part I Happiness and Well-Being 1 Can We Get Happier Than We Are? .................................................... 3 Ruut Veenhoven 2 Self-serving Attributional Bias and Hedonic and Eudaimonic Aspects of Well-Being ................................................ 15 Pilar Sanjuán, Alejandro Magallares, and Rodolfo Gordillo 3 Affect Specificity as Indicators of National Well-Being: Representative Sample of Croatia ......................................................... 27 Zvjezdana Prizmić-Larsen, Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan, and Tihana Brkljačić 4 The Effect of Leisure Activities on Life Satisfaction: The Importance of Holiday Trips .......................................................... 39 Jeroen Nawijn and Ruut Veenhoven 5 From Flow to Optimal Experience: (Re)Searching the Quality of Subjective Experience Throughout Daily Life ................................. 55 Teresa Freire 6 Gender Differences in Psychological Well-Being and Distress During Adolescence........................................................... 65 Dalila Visani, Elisa Albieri, Emanuela Offidani, Fedra Ottolini, Elena Tomba, and Chiara Ruini 7 The Impact of Positive Affect: Two Weekly Assessment Studies on Benefits of Positive Emotions in Patients with a Chronic Painful Disease .............................................................. 71 Elin Strand vii viii Contents 8 Studying Predictors of Posttraumatic Growth in Cancer Patients ................................................................................... 83 Marta Scrignaro, Sandro Barni, Maria Luisa Bonetti, and Maria Elena Magrin Part II Motivation and Goals 9 It’s All About Me: Maladaptive Self-focused Attention as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Extrinsic Goals and Well-Being ............................................................................. 95 Mami Yamaguchi and Jamin Halberstadt 10 The Relation of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Aspirations to Adolescent Life Satisfaction ............................................................... 107 Marina Merkaš, Zora Raboteg-Šarić, and Dubravka Miljković 11 Where Does the Motivation for the Antiretroviral Therapy Come From? Assessing Existential Meaning, Personal Growth, and Motivation Toward Antiretroviral Therapy in People Affected by HIV/AIDS ........................................... 121 Krzysztof Szadejko and Gabriele Covotta Part III Personality 12 The Relationships Between Temperament, Character Strengths, and Resilience ........................................................................ 133 Ann-Marie K. Hutchinson, Anita D. Stuart, and Hester G. Pretorius 13 Character Strengths and Well-Being: Are There Gender Differences? ............................................................................................. 145 Ingrid Brdar, Petra Anić, and Majda Rijavec Part IV Academic Performance and Coping 14 Optimistic Attributional Style as a Predictor of Well-Being and Performance in Different Academic Settings ................................ 159 Tamara O. Gordeeva and Evgeny N. Osin 15 To Flourish, Arm or Fade Away? Proactive, Defensive and Depressive Patterns of Self-Regulated Learning .......................... 175 Darko Lončarić 16 Moderator Effect of Burnout in Secondary School Context ............... 191 Charles Martin-Krumm, Marie Oger, Philippe Sarrazin, and Patrick Pelayo Contents ix Part V Measurement 17 Factor Structure of the French Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scales for Active Older Adults ........................................... 203 Mareï Salama-Younes, Amany Ismaïl, Ali Montazeri, and Charles Roncin 18 Further Evaluation of the Test-Retest Reliability of the Children Hope Scale and Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale ................................ 213 Susana C. Marques, José Pais-Ribeiro, and Shane J. Lopez 19 Validation of the Mental Health Continuum Short Form and Subjective Vitality Scale with Egyptian Adolescent Athletes ................................................................................. 221 Mareï Salama-Younes Part VI Interventions 20 School Interventions for Promoting Psychological Well-Being in Adolescence ..................................................................... 237 Chiara Ruini, Fedra Ottolini, Elena Tomba, Carlotta Belaise, Elisa Albieri, Dalila Visani, Ernesto Caffo, and Giovanni A. Fava 21 Applying Self-Determination Theory to Help Obese Portuguese Individuals ........................................................................... 247 Sónia Mestre and José Pais-Ribeiro 22 A School-Based Intervention Involving Massage and Yoga for Disadvantaged Male Adolescents: An Exploratory Study on a Self-discovery Program ....................................................... 257 Lesley Powell Index ................................................................................................................. 269