The Relationship between External Events and Affect States in Older People

2000 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laraine Winter ◽  
M. Powell Lawton ◽  
Robin J. Casten ◽  
Robert L. Sando

Long-term and moderately short-term effects of bereavement and marriage on psychological well-being (PWB) among older people were investigated. The aspect of PWB that was examined was the prevalence of six affects, rated in terms of their frequency during the past year. Affect frequency of four groups was tested: Recently widowed, recently married, and widowed and married elders unselected for length of time in those marital statuses. As predicted, both length of time in the marital status and congruence between the positive event (marriage) and positive affect and between congruence of the negative event (bereavement and negative affect) were associated with group differences. Depressive affect was greatest among the recently bereaved but the recently-married, long-married, and longer-bereaved groups did not differ in depression. Positive affect was greatest among the recently married and other groups did not differ in this respect. Hostility, anxiety, shyness, and contentment were not predicted to differ among groups; in fact, contentment was least in the bereaved; shyness was least among the recently-married, and hostility was lowest among the long-widowed. Results are discussed in terms of the joint influences of time since a life event and the differential relevance of positive and negative affect states to positive and negative events. Continued research attention to the covariation of these factors in relation to the affective aspects of PWB is needed to understand the conditions of stability and change.

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 458-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hansika Singhal ◽  
Renu Rastogi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discover the role of psychological capital (PsyCap) as a predictor of subjective well-being (SWB) and career commitment (CC). Further, it aims to analyze the mediating role of SWB in the relationship between PsyCap and CC in the Indian manufacturing sector. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative survey-based research design employing data from 300 employees in the National Capital Region (NCR) of India was used in the present research. Findings The results demonstrated that PsyCap acted as a predictor for SWB and CC. Additionally, SWB partially mediated the relationship between PsyCap and CC. Research limitations/implications The limitations of the present research would have to do with the purposive sample set chosen during the data collection. The sample consisted of middle- and upper-middle-class Indian employees working in the NCR having knowledge of English language and computer skills. Perhaps, future research works should take into account a wider sample in terms of the regions across India and not only the NCR. Although the findings showed that SWB reduced the relationship between PsyCap and CC, still that relationship was significant statistically. Further research studies might also explore various moderators while simultaneously studying SWB. In the research, SWB acted as a significant mediator of the relation between PsyCap and CC, yet at the same time, it may be the scenario that employees who are committed toward their career would be more inclined to espouse a greater sense of SWB (i.e. mediator is caused by the outcome). Hence, the authors duly recognize the need to test this substitute model. Since, SWB places chief emphasis on respondent’s own experiences and perspectives; it does not denote a consummate understanding of their mental health as people may have psychological disorders even if they experience happiness. Hence, the use of other measures in addition to SWB in comprehending a person’s psychological health is desirable (Diener et al., 1997). Practical implications This study suggests that in order for organizations to have a workforce committed to their career and hence, their profession, the supervisors will need to train the employees having a higher incidence of PsyCap to increase their SWB. Consequently, the supervisors will, in turn, need to recruit employees already having the four dimensions of PsyCap, i.e. hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism at the workplace in order for them to have a higher life satisfaction, positive affect, reduced negative affect (three components of SWB) and increased CC. Social implications Employees who develop within themselves a state of being hopeful, efficacious, resilient and optimistic will also be strongly oriented toward having greater life satisfaction, positive affect and lower levels of negative affect. This, in part, would help them achieve the required commitment toward their career and hence, help them in sticking with their jobs. Originality/value The present study advances the existing work on positive organizational behavior by exhibiting the noteworthy role of PsyCap in predicting SWB and CC. Further, it helps in demonstrating the inevitable role of SWB in partially mediating the relationship between PsyCap and CC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Lunansky ◽  
Ria H. A. Hoekstra ◽  
Tessa Blanken

Background. Why does adversity lead to mental health complaints in some, but not others? Individual differences in the development of depressive complaints are related to the regulation of affect states. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a prolonged period of perturbations to the daily lives of people across the globe, providing an unparalleled opportunity to investigate how fluctuations in positive and negative affect relate to the evolution of mood complaints.Methods. 228 participants from the Boston College daily sleep and well-being survey completed at least 20 assessments of positive and negative affect and depression complaints between March 20th 2020 and June 26th 2020. We explored affect trajectories throughout this period and estimated longitudinal multilevel network models. Furthermore, we investigated how individual network structures relate to changes in depression severity over time.Results. On average, positive affect was reported somewhat higher than negative affect. However, when separating affect trajectories based on the individuals’ depressive complaints, we identified that individuals consistently experiencing depressive complaints report higher levels of negative affect compared with positive affect. Contrary, individuals consistently reporting no depressive complaints show opposite results. Furthermore, we found many and strong associations in the multilevel network between the distinct affect states and depressive complaints. Lastly, we established that the higher the connectivity of an individual’s network, the larger their change in depressive complaints is.Conclusions. We conclude that affect fluctuations are directly related to the development of depressive complaints, both within- and across individuals, and both within a single measurement moment and over time.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 931-931
Author(s):  
Xin Yao Lin ◽  
Margie Lachman

Abstract There are mixed findings as to whether social media use (SMU) is positively or negatively related to well-being (positive/negative affect), and this relationship varies by age. The current study seeks to further explore this relationship by examining physical activity (PA) as a potential mediator at both a within (intraindividual) and between-person (interindividual) level across adulthood. The data are from the Midlife in the United States Refresher eight-day daily diary study (N=782, ages 25-75) with self-reported frequency of SMU, PA, and well-being (positive/negative affect). Multilevel structural equation modeling simultaneously tested how the relationships between the variables differed at both the between- and within-person levels. Between-person results showed that across the week, those who reported less SMU reported engaging in more PA, and more PA was associated with more positive affect. PA significantly mediated the relationship between SMU and positive affect for midlife and older adults, but not for younger adults. Effects for negative affect were not significant. Within-person results indicated that days with more PA were associated with more positive affect; however, PA did not mediate the relationship between SMU and positive or negative affect. These findings suggest the benefits of engaging in PA on one’s positive emotional well-being at both the between- and within-person levels. However, for midlife and older adults, more SMU across the week may take away time from engaging in PA, which in turn lowers their positive affect. Implications of the effects of SMU on PA and well-being across adulthood are discussed.


2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 409-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Rustin Harris ◽  
Owen Richard Lightsey

Mechanisms by which personality affects well‐being are not well understood. Following recommendations to examine intermediate process variables that may help explain the personality–subjective well‐being (SWB) relationship, the authors tested whether constructive thinking (CT) mediated the relationships between both neuroticism and extraversion and SWB components. Measures of each construct were administered to 147 undergraduate volunteers twice over four weeks. In analyses controlling for time 1 SWB and time 2 mood, time 2 CT fully mediated the relationship between time 1 neuroticism and time 2 negative affect and emerged as a strong predictor of negative affect (inversely), positive affect, and happiness. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e2868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Garcia ◽  
Elisabetta Sagone ◽  
Maria Elvira De Caroli ◽  
Ali Al Nima

BackgroundOne important aspect of subjective judgments about one’s well-being (i.e., subjective well-being: life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) is that cultural features, such as, nationality seem to shape cognitive judgments about the “the ideal life.” In this comparative study we examined differences in subjective well-being and psychological well-being between Italian and Swedish adolescents and tested if the relationship between the three constructs of subjective well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life, positive affect, and negative affect) and psychological well-being was moderated by the adolescents’ nationality.MethodItalian (n= 255) and Swedish (n= 277) adolescents answered to the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule, and Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being. Differences between samples were tested using a Multiple Analysis of Variance. We also conducted a multiple group analysis (Italy and Sweden) using Structural Equation Modelling to investigate the relationship between all three subjective well-being constructs and psychological well-being.ResultsItalian adolescents scored significantly higher in satisfaction with life than Swedish adolescents. Additionally, across countries, girls scored significantly higher in negative affect than boys. In both countries, all three constructs of subjective well-being were significantly associated to adolescents’ psychological well-being. Nevertheless, while the effect of the relationship between affect and psychological well-being was almost the same across countries, life satisfaction was more strongly related to psychological well-being among Swedish adolescents.ConclusionsThe present study shows that there are larger variations between these two cultures in the cognitive construct of subjective well-being than in the affective construct. Accordingly, associations between the cognitive component, not the affective component, of subjective well-being and psychological well-being differ between countries as well.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 576-576
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Mogle ◽  
Nikki Hill ◽  
Sakshi Bharhava ◽  
Laura Rabin ◽  
Jennifer Turner

Abstract Aging is associated with declines and challenges, yet better subjective well-being. Life satisfaction is one aspect of well-being that may be sensitive to daily challenges. Daily memory lapses (e.g., forgetting words or meetings) are common and relevant for many adults. How individuals emotionally respond to challenges like memory lapses is a factor that could determine whether these experiences affect well-being. In a coordinated analysis of two datasets (N=561; ages 25-93 years) using multilevel modeling, we examined whether affective changes related to memory lapses mediated the relationship between memory lapses and life satisfaction. Results were similar across datasets: memory lapses were associated with reduced positive affect and increased negative affect. These associated affective changes also mediated the relationship between lapses and life satisfaction. We discuss the potential implications of our findings for linking proximal events and distal outcomes, and potentially intervening and identifying common challenges to mitigate broad reductions in well-being.


GeroPsych ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Tauber ◽  
Hans-Werner Wahl ◽  
Johannes Schröder

Abstract. Both theoretical reasoning and empirical data suggest that personality and well-being have substantial interrelationships. However, more longitudinal evidence is required, and the relationship lacks research attention from a lifespan perspective. We examined the mid-term and long-term interrelations of Neuroticism and Extraversion with life satisfaction in two cohorts from middle and late adulthood, using data from the “Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development (ILSE).” Multigroup, cross-lagged models reveal personality to be more predictive of life satisfaction than vice versa. Furthermore, an aging effect occurs regarding the relationships between life satisfaction and personality, with life satisfaction being predictive of personality only in the old cohort. Controlling for health weakens the interrelationship. Results add to the understanding of lifespan dynamics among personality and life satisfaction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S649-S649
Author(s):  
Francesca Falzarano ◽  
Jillian Minahan ◽  
Neshat Yazdani ◽  
Karen L Siedlecki ◽  
Timothy Salthouse

Abstract Higher levels of subjective well-being (SWB) are associated with myriad of positive outcomes, including better physical health. Several variables have been shown to predict SWB, including cognitive functioning. The relationship between aspects of SWB (positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction) and cognition were examined in participants (N = 5, 125) between the ages of 18- 99 years from the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project (VCAP). Participants completed a battery of cognitive tasks, including tests of verbal episodic memory, processing speed, reasoning, spatial visualization, and vocabulary. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling, using full information maximum likelihood estimation. In the models, the five latent cognitive constructs simultaneously predicted each of the SWB outcome variables separately. Age, education, gender, and self-rated health were included as covariates. Results show that reasoning was a significant unique predictor of negative affect (-.30), vocabulary was a significant unique predictor of positive affect (-.21), and spatial visualization was a significant unique predictor of life satisfaction (.21). Age moderation was examined by dividing the sample into three age groups (younger, middle-aged, and older). There was some evidence of age moderation. Namely, spatial visualization was a significant unique predictor of life satisfaction in the younger sample only. Reasoning and processing speed predicted negative affect in the younger group, whereas only reasoning predicted negative affect in the older group. In conclusion, in a large community-based sample spanning adulthood, there is evidence that cognition predicts aspects of SWB but there is variation across SWB outcome variables, and across age.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 592-592
Author(s):  
Neshat Yazdani ◽  
Karen Siedlecki

Abstract Aspects of cognitive functioning have been linked to measures of subjective well-being both cross-sectionally (Jones et al., 2003) and over time (Enkvist et al., 2013) but the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. One potential mechanism may be individuals’ need for cognition, or the dispositional tendency to enjoy and engage in effortful cognitive activities (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982). Analyses were conducted to examine need for cognition as a mediator of the relationship between five domains of cognition (episodic memory, processing speed, reasoning, spatial visualization, and vocabulary) and four dimensions of subjective well-being (life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and depressive symptomatology) cross-sectionally in a large sample of healthy adults between the ages of 18-99. Results indicate that need for cognition partially mediates the relationship between all five domains of cognition and life satisfaction, negative affect, and depressive symptomatology, but does not mediate the relationship between cognition and positive affect.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 168-178
Author(s):  
Beatriz Faria ◽  
Roberta Frontini ◽  
Raul Antunes

La literatura se ha preocupado por el efecto de la práctica de la danza en variables como el bienestar y la imagen corporal (IC). El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la percepción de la IC y el bienestar subjetivo, comparando adolescentes y adultos. Se utilizó una muestra de 91 bailarines (18,08±5,12 años), divididos en dos grupos (adolescentes de 11 a 17 años; adultos de 18 a 34 años). Los resultados indican que el grupo de adolescentes tiene una mayor percepción de la satisfacción de la vida (p-0,041; d-0,44). En el grupo de adolescentes, el afecto positivo está relacionado con la satisfacción con la vida (r-0,64; p≤0,001) y el afecto negativo (r-0,32; p-0,026), mientras que el afecto negativo está relacionado con las horas de práctica semanales (r-0,46; p-0,001). En los adultos, el afecto positivo está relacionado con la satisfacción de la vida (r-0,36; p-0,017) y las horas de práctica semanales (r-0,39; p-0,010), mientras que el afecto negativo está relacionado con la satisfacción de la vida (r-0,45; p-0,003). En cuanto a la (in)satisfacción con la IC, en el grupo de adolescentes esto está relacionado con los años de práctica (r-0,33; p-0,023) y las horas de práctica semanal (r-0,32; p-0,023). En el grupo de adultos, la satisfacción de la vida (r-0,42; p-0,05) y el afecto negativo (r-0,59; p≤0,001) están relacionados. Nuestros datos parecen dejar indicadores para explorar en el futuro, buscando una comprensión de los factores que pueden estar mediando la relación entre la IC y el bienestar, así como el afecto de la edad en esta relación. Literature has been concerned with the effect of dance practice on several variables, namely well-being and body image (BI). This study aimed to analyse the perception of dance practitioners on BI and subjective well-being (positive and negative affect and satisfaction with life), comparing adolescents and adults. A sample of 91 dancers (18.08±5.12 years) was recruited and divided into two groups (adolescents 11-17 years; adults 18-34 years). The group of adolescents presented a higher perception of satisfaction with life compared to adults (p=0.041; d=-0.44). Regarding the relationships between variables, when analysing separately each group, in the group of adolescents the positive affect is related to satisfaction with life (r=0.639; p≤0.001) and negative affect (r=-0.322; p=0.026), while the negative affect is related to the hours of weekly practice (r=0.461; p=0.001). In the group of adults, positive affect is related to satisfaction with life (r=0.362; p=0.017) and weekly hours of practice (r=0.390; p=0.010), while negative affect is related satisfaction with life (r=-0.447; p=0.003). With regard to (dis)satisfaction with BI, we found that, in the group of adolescents, it is related to the years of practice (r=0.327; p=0.023) and the weekly hours of practice (r=0.321; p=0.023), while in the adults' group, satisfaction with life (r=-0.423; p=0.005) and negative affect (r=0.591; p≤0.001) are related. Our results leave some indicators that should be explored in future studies, namely seeking to understand the factors that may be mediating the relationship between BI and well-being, as well as the effect of age on this relationship. A literatura tem-se preocupado com o efeito da prática de dança em variáveis como o bem-estar e a imagem corporal (IC). O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a perceção de IC e de bem-estar subjetivo, comparando adolescentes e adultos. Recorreu-se a uma amostra de 91 dançarinos (18.08±5.12 anos), divididos em dois grupos (adolescentes 11-17 anos; adultos 18-34 anos). Os resultados indicam-nos que o grupo dos adolescentes apresenta uma perceção superior de satisfação com a vida comparativamente com os adultos (p=0.041; d=-0.44). Verificamos que no grupo dos adolescentes, o afeto positivo se relaciona com a satisfação com a vida (r=0.64; p≤0.001) e com o afeto negativo (r=-0.32; p=0.026), enquanto o afeto negativo se relaciona com as horas de prática semanal (r=0.46; p=0.001). Já nos adultos, o afeto positivo relaciona-se com a satisfação com a vida (r=0.36; p=0.017) e com as horas de prática semanal (r=0.39; p=0.010), enquanto o afeto negativo se relaciona com a satisfação com a vida (r=-0.45; p=0.003). No que se refere à (in)satisfação com a IC, no grupo dos adolescentes esta relaciona-se com os anos de prática (r=0.33; p=0.023) e as horas de prática semanal (r=0.32; p=0.023). No grupo dos adultos relaciona-se a satisfação com a vida (r=-0.42; p=0.005) e com o afeto negativo (r=0.59; p≤0.001). Os nossos dados parecem deixar indicadores a explorar no futuro, procurando a compreensão dos fatores que podem estar a mediar a relação entre a IC e o bem-estar, bem como, o efeito da idade nesta relação.


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