The Relational Dimension

2021 ◽  
pp. 53-79
Author(s):  
Andrew Briggs ◽  
Michael J. Reiss
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Solitary Confinement ◽  
Health Consequences ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Married People ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Being There ◽  
Early Relationships

The damaging consequences of solitary confinement in prison indicate the importance of relationships for human flourishing. Loneliness affects a high proportion of people, especially as they get older. The health consequences of loneliness can be severe. Our early relationships within our family and with others are crucial for our well-being. There are many species where the parents effectively abandon their offspring early in life but humans don’t normally do that. As a species we produce few offspring and parents can invest in them heavily. We are a social species. At the same time, the more people we know, the more difficult it becomes to maintain social relationships with them. Married people are generally happier than unmarried people. Helping is at the heart of most positive relationships. Human relationships need not be restricted to other humans.

scholarly journals On the promotion of human flourishing

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (31) ◽  
pp. 8148-8156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler J. VanderWeele
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Biomedical Sciences ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mental And Physical Health ◽  
Specific Disease State

Many empirical studies throughout the social and biomedical sciences focus only on very narrow outcomes such as income, or a single specific disease state, or a measure of positive affect. Human well-being or flourishing, however, consists in a much broader range of states and outcomes, certainly including mental and physical health, but also encompassing happiness and life satisfaction, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships. The empirical literature from longitudinal, experimental, and quasiexperimental studies is reviewed in attempt to identify major determinants of human flourishing, broadly conceived. Measures of human flourishing are proposed. Discussion is given to the implications of a broader conception of human flourishing, and of the research reviewed, for policy, and for future research in the biomedical and social sciences.

scholarly journals Friends, Family, and Family Friends: Predicting Friendships of Dutch Women

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera L. Buijs ◽  
Gert Stulp
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Relationship Strength ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Respondent Burden ◽  
Frequency Of Contact ◽  
Novel Method ◽  
Being There

Friends are important for well-being, yet who people consider to be friends is much less evident. With a novel method to examine social relationships while decreasing respondent burden (GENSI), we obtained detailed information on 25 relationships of each of the 706 respondents from a representative sample of Dutch women (age 18-40). Specifically, we examined: i) which kind of personal relations were most often identified as friends, ii) to what extent relationship strength measured by closeness and frequency of contact (face-to-face and other forms) could predict friendships, and iii) whether the importance of relationship characteristics in determining friendships differed with age. People met in school were most likely (>70%), and family members were least likely to be friends (20%). Friendships were most often close relationships with more non-face-to-face contact, whereas meeting in person was less predictive. Even with three measures of relationship strength, it was difficult to predict whether somebody was considered a friend, particularly among family. With advancing age, women reported fewer friends, but closeness and frequency of contact were similarly important for friendships at different ages. Friendships were difficult to predict, implying that individuals understand friendships in different ways, and often overlapped with other social roles like family and colleagues. In conclusion, even though friends are of considerable importance for people’s well-being, there is still much to learn about what makes a friend. These results reiterate the difficulty in getting a grip on the term “friend”, and are important for those scholars working on social relations.

Social Motives Predict Loneliness During a Developmental Transition

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Avoidance ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Developmental Transitions ◽  
Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Low Levels

Abstract. Establishing new social relationships is important for mastering developmental transitions in young adulthood. In a 2-year longitudinal study with four measurement occasions (T1: n = 245, T2: n = 96, T3: n = 103, T4: n = 85), we investigated the role of social motives in college students’ mastery of the transition of moving out of the parental home, using loneliness as an indicator of poor adjustment to the transition. Students with strong social approach motivation reported stable and low levels of loneliness. In contrast, students with strong social avoidance motivation reported high levels of loneliness. However, this effect dissipated relatively quickly as most of the young adults adapted to the transition over a period of several weeks. The present study also provides evidence for an interaction between social approach and social avoidance motives: Social approach motives buffered the negative effect on social well-being of social avoidance motives. These results illustrate the importance of social approach and social avoidance motives and their interplay during developmental transitions.

The Effects of a Caffeine Placebo and Experimenter Expectation on Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, Well-Being, and Cognitive Performance

2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Walach ◽  
Stefan Schmidt ◽  
Yvonne-Michelle Bihr ◽  
Susanne Wiesch
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Being There ◽  
To Receive

We studied the effect of experimenter expectations and different instructions in a balanced placebo design. 157 subjects were randomized into a 2 × 4 factorial design. Two experimenters were led to expect placebos either to produce physiological effects or not (pro- vs. antiplacebo). All subjects except a control group received a caffeine placebo. They were either made to expect coffee, no coffee, or were in a double-blind condition. Dependent measures were blood pressure, heart rate, well-being, and a cognitive task. There was one main effect on the instruction factor (p = 0.03) with the group “told no caffeine” reporting significantly better well-being. There was one main effect on the experimenter factor with subjects instructed by experimenter “proplacebo” having higher systolic blood pressure (p = 0.008). There was one interaction with subjects instructed by experimenter “proplacebo” to receive coffee doing worse in the cognitive task than the rest. Subjects instructed by experimenter “antiplacebo” were significantly less likely to believe the experimental instruction, and that mostly if they had been instructed to receive coffee. Contrary to the literature we could not show an effect of instruction, but there was an effect of experimenters. It is likely, however, that these experimenter effects were not due to experimental manipulations, but to the difference in personalities.

Persons Together

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan L. Mittleman
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Market Relations ◽  
The Image Of God

This chapter moves into the political and economic aspects of human nature. Given scarcity and interdependence, what sense has Judaism made of the material well-being necessary for human flourishing? What are Jewish attitudes toward prosperity, market relations, labor, and leisure? What has Judaism had to say about the political dimensions of human nature? If all humans are made in the image of God, what does that original equality imply for political order, authority, and justice? In what kinds of systems can human beings best flourish? It argues that Jewish tradition shows that we act in conformity with our nature when we elevate, improve, and sanctify it. As co-creators of the world with God, we are not just the sport of our biochemistry. We are persons who can select and choose among the traits that comprise our very own natures, cultivating some and weeding out others.

Authentic leadership and employee psychological well-being: An integrated review of the literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-82
Author(s):  
Hellya Agustina ◽  
Nur Atiqah Abdullah ◽  
Ihil S. Baron
Keyword(s):  
Authentic Leadership ◽  
Turnover Intentions ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Employee Attitudes ◽  
Work Climate ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Management Culture ◽  
Employee Silence ◽  
Being There

As we known that one resource that supports work of employee is a good relationship among the leader and co-workers. Leaders who have styles that are able to improve employees' psychological well-being by making workplaces healthy, do not neglect supervision, are able to motivate employees, and reflect values that are important to employees (see, Hsiung 2012; Winkler et al. 2015; Huang et al. 2016; Joo, Park, & Lim 2016). There seems to be general agreement that effective leadership will encourage positive employee attitudes and behaviour (e.g., Fong & Snape 2015; Afsar, Badir & Kiani 2016; Semedo, Coelho, & Ribeiro 2016; Wu & Lee 2017; Kim & Beehr 2018; Buil , Martinez, & Matute 2019; Mostafa & Bottomley 2020). Meanwhile, most of the previous studies link that authentic leadership also has a negative influence on employees, such as: employee silence (Guenter et al. 2016); job stress (Weiss, et al. 2017); cynicism and immodesty (A Megeirhi, et al. 2018); burnout (Fair & Kamal 2019); management culture errors (Farnese et al. 2018); and turnover intentions (Gordon et al. 2019). Researchers found that only a few studied the relationship between authentic leadership and employee psychological well-being. There is only one study that examines this by using work climate as mediator variable in the type of nurse's work. Research conducted by Nelson et al. (2014) which states that authentic leadership has been recognized to influence psychological well-being through its impact on the work climate. Moving on from these issues, the interests of employees in Indonesia should be considered because the employee is required to work for eight hours a day and employees are working to make ends meet. Keywords: authentic leadership, psychological well-being, mediators, moderators, integrated review.

scholarly journals Digital detox: An effective solution in the smartphone era? A systematic literature review

2021 ◽  
pp. 205015792110286
Author(s):  
Theda Radtke ◽  
Theresa Apel ◽  
Konstantin Schenkel ◽  
Jan Keller ◽  
Eike von Lindern
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Social Network Sites ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Smartphone Use ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Digital Detox

Smartphone use, e.g., on social network sites or instant messaging, can impair well-being and is related to clinical phenomena, like depression. Digital detox interventions have been suggested as a solution to reduce negative impacts from smartphone use on outcomes like well-being or social relationships. Digital detox is defined as timeouts from using electronic devices (e.g., smartphones), either completely or for specific subsets of smartphone use. However, until now, it has been unclear whether digital detox interventions are effective at promoting a healthy way of life in the digital era. This systematic literature review aimed to answer the question of whether digital detox interventions are effective at improving outcomes like health and well-being, social relationships, self-control or performance. Systematic searches of seven databases were carried out according to PRISMA guidelines, and intervention studies were extracted that examined timeouts from smartphone use and/or smartphone-related use of social network sites and instant messaging. The review yielded k = 21 extracted studies (total N = 3,625 participants). The studies included interventions in the field, from which 12 were identified as randomized controlled trials. The results showed that the effects from digital detox interventions varied across studies on health and well-being, social relationships, self-control, or performance. For example, some studies found positive intervention effects, whereas others found no effect or even negative consequences for well-being. Reasons for these mixed findings are discussed. Research is needed to examine mechanisms of change to derive implications for the development of successful digital detox interventions.

scholarly journals Subjective Well-Being and Parenthood in Chile

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7408
Author(s):  
Consuelo Novoa ◽  
Claudio Bustos ◽  
Vasily Bühring ◽  
Karen Oliva ◽  
Darío Páez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Positive And Negative Affect ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cultural Perception ◽  
Probabilistic Database ◽  
The Social ◽  
Life Trajectory ◽  
Being There ◽  
And Gender

Being a parent plays an important role in people’s life trajectory and identity. Though the general cultural perception is that having children is a source of subjective well-being, there is evidence that, at least in some societies, the subjective well-being of those who are parents is worse, in some aspects, than that of those who are not. This gap has been the object of interest and controversy. The aim of this study was to compare Chilean adults with and without children in a broad set of well-being indicators, controlling for other sociodemographic variables. A public national probabilistic database was used. The results show that, in terms of positive and negative affect, those who are not parents achieve greater well-being than those who have children. Other results also pointed in that direction. The implications of the social context and gender, which are aspects that pose a burden for the exercise of parenthood in Chile, are discussed.

Aspiring to Do All Things Through Him Who Strengthens? Quixotic Hope, Religiosity, and Mental Health in Emerging Adulthood

2021 ◽  
pp. 215686932110085
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Educational Expectations ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Attendance ◽  
National Study ◽  
Health Consequences

Beliefs about the probability of educational success tend to be very optimistic in the United States. However, scholars are beginning to uncover mental health consequences associated with quixotic hope—the unrealistic outstripping of expectation by aspiration. Using longitudinal data from Waves 1 and 3 of the National Study of Youth and Religion, this study asks, (1) does religiosity promote or diminish the likelihood of quixotic hope? and (2) does religious attendance and closeness to God mitigate long-term mental health consequences of quixotic hope? Results show that weekly religious attendance had a modest negative relationship with the likelihood of experiencing quixotic hope, while increasing religious attendance over time attenuated the negative mental health consequences of quixotic hope on increases in depression. Closeness to God neither predicted quixotic hope nor played a moderating role for depression. As educational expectations rise, regular religious practice may help protect the emotional well-being of youth.

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