The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being

The Journal of
Happiness & Well-Being

Theory, Research and Practice
ISSN: 2147-561X
Volume 1 Issue 2 July 2013

Editor Dr. Tayfun DOAN
www.journalofhappiness.net
The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being 2013, 1(2)
Copyright 2013 - The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being All rights reserved. No part of The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being (JHW)s articles may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Contact Address: Assist. Prof. Dr. Tayfun DOAN JHW Editor Published in TURKEY Nide-Turkey
Table of Contents ADVOCATING A PEDAGOGY OF HAPPINESS IN TESOL: ANTECEDENTS AND POTENTIALITIES 35
Reza Zabihi, Saeed Ketabi

AFFECTIVE AND MOTIVATIONAL PREDICTORS OF PERCEIVED MEANING IN LIFE AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS 47
Luz M. Garcini, Mary Short, William D. Norwood

ARE YOU READY FOR POSITIVE COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY? 61
Fredrike P. Bannink
INFLUENCE OF INTERNET USAGE ON SOCIAL AND SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING OF SRILANKAN GLIS 70
C. Nalaka Wickramasinghe, Nobaya Ahmad

PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF A NEWLY ESTABLISHED FLOW STATE QUESTIONNAIRE 85
Tmea Magyardi, Henriett Nagy, Pter Soltsz, Tams Mzes, Attila Olh
SECURE ATTACHMENT STYLE, COPING WITH STRESS AND RESILIENCE AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS 97
erife Terzi
THE ROLE OF MORAL EMOTIONS IN HAPPINESS 110
Vidya S. Athota
THE ROLE OF PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT IN PREDICTING SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING IN LEBANESE COLLEGE STUDENTS 116
Diala Ammar, Diane Nauffal, Rana Sbeity
Advocating a pedagogy of happiness in TESOL: Antecedents and potentialities

TESOLda mutluluk pedagojisinin savunulmas: ncller ve olanaklar Reza Zabihi1 Saeed Ketabi2
Abstract
Among the many topics discussed in positive psychology and life skills education, happiness enjoys a distinctive stature. In practical terms, an essential hallmark of the positive psychology movement would reasonably be to develop intervention programs that enhance individuals happiness and sustain such improvement over time. Having reviewed the antecedents of positive psychology and life skills education as to the importance of improving well-being in education, as well as the topic of happiness and the extent to which it is teachable, in this paper we shall argue that the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) can be a unique venue for adopting a pedagogy of happiness, offering distinctive potentials for conducting happiness intervention programs. Keywords: Positive psychology, life skills education, happiness, well-being, TESOL, applied ELT, life syllabus
zet
Pozitif psikoloji ve yaam becerileri eitiminde tartlan pek ok konu arasndan mutluluk farkl bir neme sahiptir. Pratik anlamda, pozitif psikoloji hareketinin nemli bir ayrc zellii, makul ekilde bireyin mutluluunu zenginletiren mdahale programlar gelitirmek ve sz konusu ilerlemeyi srdrmek olabilir. Eitimde iyi oluu gelitirmenin nemine ynelik olarak pozitif psikoloji ve yaam becerileri eitiminin ncllerini, mutluluk konusunu ve retilebilir olma kapsamn inceleyerek bu aratrmada, Anadili ngilizce Olmayanlara ngilizce retimi (TESOL) alannn, mutlulua ynelik bir pedagoji benimsenmesi ve mutluluk mdahale programlar gelitirmek iin ayrt edici potansiyeller sunulmas iin esiz bir ortam olup olmayaca tartlmtr. Anahtar Szckler: Pozitif psikoloji, yaam becerileri eitimi, mutluluk, iyi olu, TESOL, uygulamal ELT, yaam mfredat
Introduction
Individuals with a variety of mental disorders often seek help from expert counselors who can soothe the pain and open new horizons in the life of their clients. Under this account, the idea of educational therapy (Caspari, 1976) came into being as a specialized educational and therapeutic form of instruction which is tailored to meet the specific needs of students. Put another way, in educational therapy the teacher plays the role of a therapist, while the problematic learner plays the role of a client. Among a variety of topics typically discussed in educational therapy which can put at risk the mental health of individuals are communication problems, learning difficulties, depression, and deficiency in building interpersonal ties in society (Jarvis, 2005)
1 2
University of Isfahan, Faculty of Foreign Languages, zabihi@hotmail.com Associate Prof. Dr. Saeed Ketabi, University of Isfahan, ketabi@fgn.ui.ac.ir
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Such a disease psychology undertaking which has begun since the start of World War II was overthrown by a rather new movement in the field of psychology known as positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). This enterprise highlights the importance of enhancing peoples strengths, virtues and competencies, rather than trying to alleviate their disease symptoms. In much the same way, the idea of life skills education, backed up with several educational philosophers (Dewey, 1897; Freire, 1998; Krishnamurti, 1981; Walters, 1997) as well as many researchers (e.g., Hare, 1999; Matthews, 2006; Noddings, 2003; Winch, 1999), has come to the scene for the purpose of improving peoples well-being in educational settings. Among the many issues discussed in positive psychology and life skills education, happiness enjoys a distinctive stature (Diener, 1984; Seligman et al., 2005). For one thing, when it comes to practice, an essential hallmark of the positive psychology movement would reasonably be to develop intervention programs that enhance individuals happiness and sustain such improvement over time (Seligman et al., 2005). To date, a number of happiness intervention programs have been developed (e.g., Fordyce, 1983; Lichter, Haye, & Kammann, 1980; Seligman, Rashid, & Parks, 2006; Stones, & Kozma, 1986). In parallel to such interest, given the key role of language classrooms in the enhancement of life skills in learners (Pishghadam, 2011), in this paper we argue that English language teaching (ELT) classes can be unique sites that offer distinctive potentials for conducting happiness intervention programs. In what follows, the readers are provided with a review on four forerunners of positive psychology and life skills education as to the importance of improving well-being in education. We continue our discussion by reviewing the topic of happiness and the need to incorporate happiness intervention programs in educational settings. Finally, we will consider the potentialities of the field of TESOL, as one particular case in point, in the incorporation of a pedagogy of happiness.
Teaching Well-being in Education: Four Antecedents

It is now well accepted that in order to promote peoples well-being one should take care of several vital elements such as their mental health, social relationships, safety, happiness, human rights, freedom, marriage success, emotional competencies and job satisfaction. In this connection, many people have consensually pointed to the fact that the improvement of these elements should be seriously taken into consideration in educational contexts. Literature abounds with studies that, following the lines of the positive psychology movement, depict the importance of enhancing peoples well-being and quality of life in educational settings (e.g., Francis, 2007; Goody, 2001; Matthews, 2006; Radja, Hoffmann, & Bakhshi, 2008; Spence, 2003). Overall, four antecedents of positive psychology and life skills education, i.e. World Health Organization (WHO), the Targeting Life Skills (TLS) Model, the UNESCO Institute for Education, and Life Skills-Based Education (LSBE), are discussed below in order to throw some light on the importance of improving individuals well-being in education.
World Health Organization (WHO)

The first forerunner of life skills education is World Health Organization (WHO) which has primarily been established with the aim of enhancing childrens mental and social well-being. In this view, life skills are defined as the abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life (WHO). The pivotal life skills emphasized by WHO include psychosocial and interpersonal competencies such as, decision making, problem solving, creative thinking,
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critical thinking, effective communication, interpersonal relationship skills, self-awareness, empathy and understanding, coping with emotions, and coping with stress. Learning life skills is a fruitful practice (Murthy & Wig, 2003) that helps individuals to deal effectively with everyday challenges of life (Orley, 1997); accordingly, life skills training can enable students to act in prosocial ways (Birell Weisen & Orley, 1996) and may help them take more responsibility for their behaviors and actions (Orley, 1997). In effect, as Matheson and Grosvenor (1999) have pointed out, school can be an appropriate place for introducing life skills programs alongside other academic subjects. Therefore, given the fact that schools enjoy a high credibility with students parents and community members (WHO, 1997), they can be sites for a life skills intervention (Behura, 2012).
The Targeting Life Skills (TLS) Model

The second antecedent which brings us closer to an understanding of the importance of life skills education pertains to the Targeting Life Skills (TLS) Model proposed by Patricia Hendricks in 1995. Since then, the TLS Model has been used as a guide for the development of 4-H (head, heart, hands and health) programs at Iowa State University with the purpose of helping youth gain knowledge, life skills and attitudes that promote their lives, building upon planning developmentally appropriate tasks and activities to enhance ageappropriate life skills which are of particular interest to both 4-H professionals and volunteers. In this model, life skills are characterized as skills that help an individual be successful in living a productive and satisfying life (Hendricks, 1996, p. 4). The TLS Model encompasses 35 life skills that have recurrently emerged as being essential for individuals to reach their full potential and lead a successful life (Hendricks, 1996). Most prominent among these skills are decision making, self-esteem, critical thinking, empathy, stress management, self-discipline, wise use of resources, effective communication, problem solving, accepting differences, healthy lifestyle choices, self-responsibility, concern for others, trustworthiness and respect.
The UNESCO Institute for Education

In a similar vein, the United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has also defined life skills as a behavior change or behavior development approach designed to address a balance of three areas: knowledge, attitude and skills (www.unicef.org). In this respect, the Delors Report (Delors et al., 1996), whose mission is to give education the role of providing humanity with the capacity to control its own development, was put forward with four educational pillars, namely learning to be, learning to know, learning to live together, and learning to do. These advances have led to the preparation of a proposal entitled Education for Human Development which is based on the idea that any education has the responsibility to generate learning as well as to help students develop their other potentials and capabilities. Attempts have accordingly been made by some organizations such as UNESCO and the Ayrton Senna Institute to apply the four fundamental areas of learning proposed by Delors et al. (1996) with the aim of catering for and nourishing different aspects of individuals lives such as, inter alia, their multiple competencies, abilities, innate potentials, as well as their emotions and attitudes.
Life Skills-Based Education (LSBE)

Life Skills-Based Education (LSBE) has for long been concerned with child development and health advancement through its recognition in 1986 of the importance of life skills for optimizing health choices. In
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1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) backed the integration of life skills into the educational contexts by pointing to the fact that education should be geared towards the development of childrens whole-person growth. One year later, the Jomtien Declaration on Education for All expanded this outlook by including life skills among fundamental learning tools for survival, capacity enhancement and life quality. Moreover, in the year 2000, the Dakar World Education Conference was held with the aim of granting all young people and adults the human right to take advantage of the four educational pillars, i.e. learning to know, to do, to live together and to be, in the context of education. Teaching Well-Being in TESOL: Happiness in Focus Given the multi-faceted nature of well-being (Huebner, 1991; Wilkinson & Walford, 1998), one should not consider the absence of distress as the sole component of well-being; rather one should equally take into consideration the presence of positive affective states, such as happiness. Among the many topics discussed in positive psychology and life skills education, happiness enjoys a distinctive stature (Diener, 1984). In this paper we would like to take the field of English Language Teachingspecifically Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)and will argue that it has unique potentialities to incorporate a pedagogy of happiness. In order to get to grips with the possibility of adopting a pedagogy of happiness in TESOL, we shall divide this section into three subsections through which we will (a) discuss the concept of happiness and the extent to which it is teachable, (b) provide a review of different types of syllabus in the field of English language teaching, and (c) put forth arguments as to the possibility of adopting a pedagogy of happiness in TESOL, pointing to the fact that the professionals in the field have not taken much of such a life-wise approach to language teaching.
On the concept of happiness: Is it teachable?

Attempts have extensively been made to define the construct of happiness (Dogan & Totan, 2013; Myers & Diener, 1995; Seligman, 2002). Within the literature, happiness has been conceptualized in diverse ways. For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) associates happiness with health and quality of life. The WHO defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO, 1946-1992). Although such a definition seems to be too idealistic (Seedhouse, 2001), it tends to move away from disease and towards more positive aspects of health and wellbeing. Another widely used approach put forth by Lyubomirsky and Lepper (1999) highlights the global measurement of whether one is a happy or unhappy personsubjective happiness. Happiness has also been alternatively used for positive subjective experiences (Diener, 2000). Pavot and Diener (1993) and Diener (2000) have defined happiness in terms of three components, i.e. cognitive appraisal of life, positive affect and negative affect. A more recent definition of happiness pertains to Seligmans (2002) three-component model which blends (a) experience of positive emotions, (b) engagement in life activities, and (c) achievement of a sense of purpose or meaning. Further, many studies have also been carried out with the aim of measuring happiness (Argyle, Martin, & Crossland, 1989; Diener et al., 1985; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999; McGreal & Joseph, 1993; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Nonetheless, in practical terms, an essential hallmark of the positive psychology movement would reasonably be to develop intervention programs that enhance individuals happiness and sustain such improvement over time (Seligman et al., 2005). Accordingly, a number of intervention programs have been
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developed to improve individuals level of happiness (e.g., Fordyce, 1977, 1983; Lichter, Haye, & Kammann, 1980; Seligman, Rashid, & Parks, 2006; Stones & Kozma, 1986). Yet the question that needs to be answered is can we teach happiness? Fortunately, based on the set point theory of happiness proposed by Lyubomirsky, Sheldon and Schkade (2005), despite the fact that the major portion of the happiness construct is determined by genetic and demographic factors, a considerable part of happiness also involves intentional activities to promote happiness. In much the same way, other scholars (e.g., Morris, 2009; Noddings, 2003; Scoffham & Barnes, 2011) have considered the notion of happiness to be teachable and have recommended that happiness should be incorporated into different types of curriculum.
Types of syllabus in English language teaching

In the following paragraphs, the readers are provided with a brief overview of different types of syllabus in ELT and the purposes for which each type had been devised. Nunans (1988) classification of syllabus comprises product-oriented syllabuses (grammatical syllabus, lexical syllabus, functional-notional syllabus) and process-oriented syllabuses (procedural syllabus, task-based syllabus, and content syllabus). A productoriented syllabus, also known as the synthetic approach, is merely concerned with the outcomes of the learning process. Not surprisingly, product-oriented courses failed to measure up to the learners communicative needs. Grammatical, lexical, and functional-notional syllabuses are considered productoriented. The use of grammatical syllabuses in language classes has a long pedigree. In designing such syllabuses, grammatical structures of a language are selected and graded on two scales of simplicity and complexity (Nunan, 1988). These product-oriented syllabuses are merely concerned with learners unit-by-unit learning and conscious practice of grammar rules in an additive fashion. As a case in point, a grammatical syllabus may begin with the simple present tense, then the present continuous, then the simple past tense, and so on. The grammatical syllabuses were severely criticized because they were merely structurally-graded syllabuses failing to enhance learners communicative skills. They also oversimplified the form-function relation, ignoring the fact that certain forms can represent more than one function and, at the same time, a particular function may be expressed by more than one form (Nunan, 1988). In a recent attempt to modify the traditional syllabuses, Baleghizadeh (2008) correctly asserts that grammatical syllabuses misrepresent the language learning to be a linear process. As another traditional approach to syllabus design, lexical syllabus requires that learners respectively master the levelized, say, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 words of a target vocabulary (Richards, 2001). As Willis (1990, p. 129) points out, taking lexis as a starting point enabled us to identify the commonest meanings and patterns in English, and to offer students a picture which is typical of the way English is used. Many scholars have been concerned with stipulating the criteria for the selection of lexical items including, the frequency of words, patterns of usage, the combinations they typically form, etc., and accordingly, have provided a variety of word lists (Coxhead, 2000; Hindmarsh, 1980; Hofland & Johansson, 1982; Thorndike & Lorge, 1944; West, 1953). The first large-scale attempt to incorporate the situational and functional aspects of language use into the language syllabus was made by ELT practitioners who were inspired by philosophers of language and sociolinguists during the 1970s (Nunan, 1988). As its name implies, in a functional-notional syllabus (Wilkins, 1976), instruction is organized around notions, or particular contexts of communication such as duration, color, size, time, etc., and functions, or the purposes of communication such as warning, commanding,
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complimenting, apologizing, etc., of a language, rather than merely in terms of grammatical structures. An important point concerning functional-notional syllabuses is that for the purpose of specifying the functions to be included in a course, it is often mandatory to conduct some form of needs analysis. Moreover, White (1988) proposes some criteria such as need, utility, coverage or generalizability, interest, relevance, complex of form, and frequency, for the selection and gradation of notions and functions that should be included in any particular functional-notional syllabus. Finocchiaro and Brumfit (1983) provide a list of advantages of employing functional-notional syllabuses among which are the following: These syllabuses motivate learners to communicate in the target language by offering learners basic communicative functions; they remind learners that there must be a real purpose for speaking; and they allow teachers to develop flexible and modular courses. Regardless of the fact that functional-notional orientation in syllabus design was in some respects an advantage over the grammatical and lexical syllabuses, many scholars and researchers of the field like Widdowson (1979), Nunan (1988), Dubin and Olshtain (1986), and Richards (2001), have expressed their strong concern regarding the design and application of such a syllabus. In recent years, there has been a shift of focus in syllabus design from the product of instruction, or the skills and knowledge the learners are supposed to acquire, to the process of learning a language through which such knowledge and skills might be gained. Language learning is no longer considered to be additive, i.e. only when one form is acquired by a person can one move on to the next form. Rather, language learning is a complicated process of forming and testing hypotheses through which learners will realize whether they should abandon or keep their former hypotheses (Willis & Willis, 2007). Accordingly, a process-oriented syllabus, or the analytical approach, which focuses on both the learning process and the learner, rather than merely on the outcome of learning, was proposed. Prabhu (1980) also proposed procedural syllabus as a new type of syllabus with the underlying assumption that form is best learned when the learners attention is on meaning (Beretta, 1989, p. 233) with more emphasis on the learner and the learning process. The procedural syllabus is structured around tasks and activities including, information-, reasoning-, and opinion-gap activities, rather than in terms of grammar or vocabulary items (Nunan, 1988). One of the alternative syllabus models that have been proposed in the last twenty years is the task-based syllabus. The starting point in a task-based approach to language teaching and learning is focus on meaning. Rather than preparing lists of grammatical and vocabulary items, notions, functions, etc. which is typical of traditional syllabuses, the task-based syllabus designer begins the design process with conducting a needs analysis coming up with a list of the target tasks that learners are required to perform outside the language class (Nunan, 2001). Irrespective of their numerous merits, however, task-based syllabuses have been criticized on a number of grounds such as the difficulty of their evaluation, their incompatibility with different educational settings (Ellis, 2003), their incapability to tap individual differences and learning styles (Skehan, 1998), and their heavy reliance on theoretical arguments, rather than on empirical evidence (Sheen, 1994). The primary purpose of a content-based or topical syllabus as another type of syllabus is the concurrent teaching of some well-defined content area pertaining to particular fields of study such as chemistry, engineering, biology, medicine, etc. and language use skills. Therefore, content area and language should not be considered separate operations (Mohan, 1986). The underlying assumption in content syllabuses is that unlike science, history, or mathematics, language is not a subject in its own right, but merely a vehicle for communicating about something else (Xiaotang, 2004).
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Advocating a pedagogy of happiness in TESOL

In recent years, some current trends in ELT syllabus design have emerged, including the co-existence of the traditional and the new types of syllabus, the focus on the process of language learning, the inclusion of nonlinguistics objectives, and the advent of the integrated syllabus (Xiaotang, 2004). Therefore, although traditional orientations in syllabus design were criticized in many respects, they have not been abandoned from A to Z. Instead, some aspects of the traditional syllabuses are being used in combination with newer ones like the task-based syllabus. Besides, unlike the traditional orientations to syllabus design such as grammatical and lexical syllabuses, the newer models like procedural and task-based syllabuses have put more emphasis on the process of language learning. Another trend in todays English teaching syllabus design is the inclusion of non-linguistic objectives in the syllabus with the core belief that in addition to fulfilling its obligation in enhancing learners language skills and knowledge, ELT has another duty to learners which is to help learners develop their whole-person, i.e. head and heart, including confidence, learning strategies, motivation, interest, and so on. Lastly, the advent of integrated, or multi-, syllabuses was a response to ELT practitioners adherence to only one type of syllabus in language courses. However, an integrated syllabus is not merely a haphazard combination of the various elements such as functions and notions, structures, topics and situations from different types of syllabus, but it is a matter of choice of priority. In effect, the theory of Applied ELT (Pishghadam, 2011) states that the field of English language teaching is now a scientific, independent, and interdisciplinary field of study whose unique character can provide great opportunities for improving several life skills. Here, it seems that having passed through different types of syllabi, ELT still needs a conglomerate kind of syllabus whose application can best characterize the idea of ELT for life. It means that language learning classes must primarily be sites where specific life skills are prearranged to be improved. This is perhaps best summarized in Pishghadams (2011, p. 13) statement that language should be epiphenomenal to life. In line with the theme of the 18th Annual TESOL Arabia Conference held at the American University in Dubai (AUD), the idea of Applied ELT was expanded by Pishghadam and Zabihis (2012) notion of Life Syllabus based on which language teachers were recommended to give more precedence to the promotion of life issues in English teaching classes. Thus, we will argue that, due to some reasons, English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) classes can be proper sites where happiness is pre-scheduled to be enhanced. In order to get to grips with the need to integrate a pedagogy of happiness into the TESOL curriculum, it is required that the unique character of ESL/EFL classes be clearly delineated. Four major arguments are cited here: (1) Language learners from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds are free to discuss many topics scientific, cultural, social, political, and personalin ESL/EFL classes with little or no socio-political restrictions; such freedom of expression can hardly be seen in any other class or school. (2) Language learners may find more freedom to express themselves and show their own real self through communicating in an L2 wherein they can disclose their own true identity, taking enough freedom to say something they might not express in their mother tongue due to social, religious, or political reasons. Given the first two arguments, it seems to be a cogent argument that these discussions may, based on Seligmans (2002) model of happiness, provide learners with the opportunity to assess their experiences of
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positive emotions, engagement in life activities, and achievement of a sense of purpose or meaning in learning. (3) English teaching classes mostly enjoy a funny and friendly atmosphere for learning. For instance, discussing a cornucopia of topics, listening to various songs, watching different movies, using computers, the Internet, cell phones, and different kinds of tasks make the English language class be a fun. (4) The fourth argument which adds to the unique nature of ESL/EFL classes is that these classes mostly comprise pair/group work activities. In effect, knowledge is co-constructed once learners engage in joint activities mediated by a variety of cultural artifacts, tools and signs (Rogoff, Turkanis, & Bartlett, 2001). The socially constructed knowledge enhances the dialogic and dynamic nature of these classes, giving learners a sense of accomplishment when they reach a joint objective. Our fourth argument seems to match well with Lazarus (1991) contention that happiness takes place when we think we are making reasonable progress toward the realization of our goals (p. 267). Looking through this lens, learners learning difficulties are not regarded as disadvantages but rather as an initiation.
Concluding Remarks
It is on these grounds that we argue ESL/EFL classes are proper sites for the implementation of happiness interventions. Given the positive shift of attitude in psychology from its traditional emphasis on pathology to positive emotions, competencies and strengths (Huebner & Gilman, 2003), this study has gone some way towards understanding the possibility of teaching happiness in the field of TESOL, making reference to the unique character of ESL/EFL classes for adopting a pedagogy of happiness. Accordingly, such pedagogy requires that life syllabus designers center all the tasks and exercises in the language syllabus on happiness. Under this account, if a language course is aimed at improving learners happiness, the relevant life syllabus should be designed based on the axioms and techniques that are typically followed and utilized in happiness studies for the promotion of happiness. The relevant life syllabus might also be benefited from the similar methods and techniques that are being utilized to improve students life skills in life skills training. Among these are class discussions, role plays, audio and visual activities, brainstorming, demonstration and guided practice, case studies, emotional games and simulations, debates, storytelling, and decision mapping or problem trees (Behura, 2012). Whereas we thoroughly acknowledge the importance of improving language learning among ESL/EFL learners, we reckon that through the incorporation of a life syllabus which is primarily concerned with the improvement of happiness among learners, both aims can be achieved. To this end, the TESOL professionals in language policy and planning, materials development, syllabus design and language teaching can make good investments in the promotion of language learners happiness. The question remains, however, as to what extent the TESOL professionals would be ready for this big change of attitude. When it comes to practice, it would not be wrong to assume that, at present, achieving the goal of increasing happiness through life syllabus in TESOL seems remote, if not unreachable. It would thus be unwise at present to expect any rapid or radical change in the structure of TESOL curriculum. Nonetheless, we surmise there is hope and cause that the ideas presented in this paper might awaken an interest in language policy makers, materials developers and syllabus designers, teacher trainers, teaching practitioners as well as researchers to take a fresh look at the principles of ESL/EFL instruction. In view of
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this, the challenge for future research will be to first of all prove if TESOL can be used for effective pedagogy of happiness and based on research findings to propose possible ways through which TESOL can adopt happiness intervention program. Under this account, it seems that, inevitably, educational policies need to be redefined; upon doing so, the new approach to ESL/EFL instruction would hopefully offer the biggest pay-off in tackling the issues which are of prime importance in enhancing learners well-being.
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Affective and motivational predictors of perceived meaning in life among college students
niversite rencilerinde alglanan yaamda anlamn duyusal ve motivasyonel yordayclar Luz M. Garcini1, Mary Short2, & William D. Norwood2
Abstract
Meaning in life has been associated with well-being, optimal functioning, and positive psychotherapeutic outcomes. Meaning is best understood in terms of relationships between its three different structural components: cognitive, affective, and motivational. Using Reker and Wongs (1988) model as theoretical background, the present study investigated the associations between trait affect, values structure, and sense of meaning. Participants included 383 college students from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. Multiple regression analysis explored the associations between affect, value structure and sense of meaning. Results indicated affect and value structure were significant predictors of meaning, with positive affect being the strongest predictor. Results are consistent with third-wave cognitive-behavioral therapies (e.g., Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and their emphasis on positive emotional experiences and values as important to the development of meaning and well-being. Keywords: Meaning in life, values, trait affect, meaning process, meaningfulness
zet
Yaamn anlam, iyi olu, optimal ilevsellik ve pozitif psikoteraptik sonularla ilikilendirilmitir. Anlam, bilisel, duygusal ve motivasyonel olmak zere farkl yapsal bileen arasnda en iyi ilikiler asndan anlalr. Teorik arka plan olarak Reker ve Wong'un (1988) modelinin kullanld bu almada, karakter etkisi, deerler yaps ve anlam algs arasndaki ilikiler incelenmitir. Katlmclar, farkl etnik ve dinsel gruplardan gelen 383 niversite rencisini oluturmaktadr. almada oklu regresyon analizi ile, duygu, deer yaps ve anlam algs arasndaki ilikileri aratrlmtr. Aratrma bulgular, duygu ve deer yapsnn anlamn nemli yordayclar olduunu ve olumlu duygunun en gl yordayc olduunu ortaya koymutur. Sonular, nc dalga bilisel davran terapileriyle (Kabullenme ve Gerekletirme Terapisi) tutarl olup, anlam ve iyi oluun geliimi asndan nemli olduundan olumlu duygusal deneyimler ve deerler vurgulanmtr. Anahtar szckler: Yaamda anlam, deerler, karakter Etkisi, anlam sreci, anlamllk
Introduction
The meaning construct has a long history in philosophy and phenomenological psychology as a relevant and necessary life component aimed at answering questions about existence, purpose and life itself (Frankl, 1962, 2006; Maddi, 1967; Maslow, 1968; Yalom, 1980). For the past two decades, the meaning construct has become increasingly relevant in empirical research particularly in terms of its association to well-being, optimal
1 2
SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, CA University of Houston- Clear Lake, shortmb@uhcl.edu
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functioning, and positive psychotherapy outcomes (Hong, 2006; Reker, Peacock, & Wong, 1987; Ryff & Singer, 1998; Wong, 2012; Zika & Chamberlain, 1992). Using this meaning construct, there currently has been widespread research that supports the association between meaning and different mental health constructs such as depression, anxiety, hope, and life satisfaction (Kleftaras & Psarra, 2012; Mascaro & Rosen, 2008; Reker, et. al., 1987; Ryff, 1989; Steger & Frazier, 2005). In addition, meaning has been found to be a predictor of well-being (Ju, Shin, Kim, Hyun, & Park, 2013; Wong, 1993; Zika & Chamberlain, 1987), a moderator to the effects of stress (Boyarz & Lightsey, 2012; Fife, 2005; Krause, 2007), a factor in the prevention of illness (Shek, 1992), a factor in coping with trauma (Davis, Wortman, Lehman & Silver, 2000; Emmonds & Hooker, 1992; Janoff-Bulman & Berg, 1998; Ulmer, Range & Smith, 1991), and a contributor to promote health behavior (Brassai, Piko, & Steger, 2011; Philips, Moc, Bopp, Dudgeon, & Hand, 2006; Westling, Garcia, & Mann, 2007). In contrast, deficits in meaning have been associated with psychopathology including neurosis, depression, suicidal behavior, drug abuse, and alcohol dependence (Harlow, Newcomb & Bentler, 1986; Maddi, 1967; Nicholson et al., 1994; Phillips, 1980; Ruffin, 1984; Vehling, Lehmann, Oechsle, Bokemeyer, Krull, Koch, et al., 2010; Waisberg & Porter, 1994). Additionally, meaning is associated with positive psychotherapeutic outcomes in that it has been found to be strongly related to adjustment, successful coping with chronic illness (Lukas, 1998; Reig-Ferrer, Arenas, Ferrer-Cascales, Fernandez-Pascual, Albaladejo-Blazquez, Gil, et al., 2012), and enhanced sense of responsibility (Wong, 2012). In a study with distressed patients receiving standardized, non - meaning centered psychotherapy, Debats (1996) found that individuals with higher levels of meaning profited from psychotherapy significantly more than those with lower meaning levels. Results showed that those patients with higher initial meaning levels experienced greater symptom relief, more positive emotions, greater degree of self-esteem, and a reduction in psychological distress. Given that meaning is a contributor to well-being and positive psychotherapeutic outcome, empirical research to identify affective and motivational factors that may enhance a sense of meaning is necessary. With regard to meaning, limited research has focused on identifying the conditions associated with an individuals perceptions that life is meaningful. Meaning is an abstract and complex construct that is hard to define; therefore, there is a lack of consistent, adequate and precise definitions of meaning. In addition, the number of valid and reliable measures to assess meaning is limited. More specifically, measures differ significantly on the aspects of meaning being assessed depending on different theoretical orientations. However, a recent trend is to define meaning as multidimensional (Baumaister, 1991; Reker & Wong, 1988; Thompson & Janigian, 1988) consisting of several components that are in constant interaction with each other (Reker & Wong, 1988). Theoretical Framework: Reker and Wong Model of Meaning Reker and Wong (1988) proposed a model that approaches meaning as a multidimensional construct with three mutually related components: a cognitive, a motivational and an affective component. In this model, the cognitive component of meaning refers to perceptions of life as meaningful along two dimensions: sense of purpose and sense of coherence. A perception of purpose implies that an individual has life goals, as well as a mission and direction in life, which makes life worth living. A sense of coherence involves having an integrated and consistent understanding of self, others and life. In other words, while purpose provides a
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reason for living, coherence gives life consistency and order. When in combination, both of these constructs provide insight as to how individuals perceive their existence in terms of life mission and logic. The affective component of meaning refers to feelings of satisfaction and fulfillment with ones life (Reker & Wong, 1988). The affective component is distinguished by positive feelings including satisfaction, happiness, and optimism; whereas, a poor affective component is manifested by feelings of dissatisfaction, unhappiness, depression and anxiety (Halama, 2005). Finally, the motivational component of meaning refers to sources from which individuals draw meaning in life (e.g., values, goals) (Reker & Wong, 1988). More specifically, it is having an adequate number of important values that are used as guiding principles to motivate behavior. A characteristic of a developed motivational component includes having a well-structured value system; whereas an underdeveloped motivational component means having a limited number of meaningful values (Halama, 2002). Reker and Wong (1988) defined values as guides for living that are determined by ones needs, beliefs and culture. Values dictate the goals one is to pursue and how to live ones life (Hayes & Smith, 2005; Reker, 2000), and they may be studied in terms of density, breadth and/or content. Studies have found that regardless of their content or breadth, the overall density of value systems may be a better indicator of a well-structured value system (Debats, 2000). According to Reker (1996), density of values refers to having a large and diverse number of important values at a particular point in time. It is possible that due to the holistic evaluation of an individuals value system, density of values may provide insight into some of the motivational factors that enhance sense of meaning. Reker and Wongs (1988) model further suggested that meaning is experienced as a result of mutual interactions between its three components. Although the three components interact and provide feedback to each other, the cognitive component is emphasized as most important, because it facilitates the integration and processing of information that is paramount to the understanding and integration of human experience (Bering, 2003). From this perspective, it seems possible that an enhanced sense of meaning may result from the processing and integration of certain affective experiences and motivational cues. Frederickson (2002) investigated the association between affect and perceptions of meaning and suggested that perceiving life as meaningful influences how one feels, which influences how one perceives life. Extensive research has provided support to the cognitive enhancing effects of affect (Fredrickson, 1998; Frederickson, 2006; Isen, 1999). Positive affect has been found to facilitate creative problem solving (Isen, 1999), increase cognitive flexibility, facilitate the processing of new information (Fredrickson, 1998), foster attention (Frederickson, 2006), and facilitate global rather than local focus (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2004; Gasper & Clore, 2002; Kimchi & Palmer, 1982). From this perspective, if positive affect helps people think broadly, then it also may help broaden a persons perspectives to better appreciate how different experiences give life purpose and coherence, which makes life meaningful. On the other hand, research has shown that negative emotions contribute to the narrowing of attention and analytical focus (Clore, 1994). Therefore, it may be possible that individuals experiencing a high degree of negative emotions (e.g., distress, fear) may have difficulty shifting their attention away from their mood and into other stimuli such as values or goals that could provide them with purpose, direction, and meaning. Prior research supports the association between meaning and positive affect (Bower et al., 2005; Hicks, & King, 2007; King, Hicks, Krull & Del-Gaiso, 2006), but little is known about the role of negative emotions on meaning-making. Furthermore, in terms of the association between motivational cues (value systems) and perceptions of meaning, motivated behavior is driven by cognitive representations of desired states aimed at satisfying
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particular needs (Emmons, 1997). In other words, behavior is motivated and guided by an individuals perception of what is valuable and rewarding. From this perspective, it seems possible to suggest that value systems may provide cognitive frameworks to help identify, organize and prioritize that which is valuable and desirable, which then provides a guide to direct and/or motivate behavior that may be perceived as purposeful, coherent and meaningful. Finally, the association between affective experiences and motivational cues (value systems) is important. Numerous theories have suggested that positive affect facilitates approach behavior (Watson, Wiese, Vaidya, & Tellegen, 1999) and continued action (Carver & Scheier, 1990; Clore, 1994). In terms of meaning, these theories suggest it is possible that affect, particularly positive emotions, may prompt individuals to engage with their environment in order to pursue meaningful values and attain significant goals (Carver & Schier, 1990, 1998; Koester, 2008; Moors & De Hower, 2001). Moreover, Carver and Scheier (1990, 1998) have suggested that affect serves as feedback about a persons progress in valued areas of life. That is, as individuals move towards the achievement of meaningful values and goals, it is possible that they will experience more lasting positive emotions. On the other hand, more negative emotions would be experienced when departing from ones values and goals. Empirical research to better understand specific affective experiences and motivational cues associated with sense of meaning is scant. This may be due to the challenges involved in the empirical study of meaning (e.g., inconsistencies in defining the construct, lack of adequate measures), as well as the fact that the focus has been on studying its association to well-being rather than factors involved in meaning-making. Research to help identify specific affective and motivational factors associated with an enhanced sense of meaning would lead to refinements in the development of meaning-related assessments, as well as the improvement of effective interventions to enhance meaning and purpose in life (Auhagen, 2000). Further, it is also important to explore whether meaning is experienced similarly across ethnic groups. Frankl (2006) suggested that the experience of meaning is a universal process across ethnic and cultural divides. However, there is limited research exploring whether or not this is a universal process. Therefore, research exploring ethnic differences in terms of sense of meaning is needed. The present study used Reker and Wongs (1988) multidimensional model as theoretical background to investigate the association between the variables of meaning, including affective component (trait affect), motivational component (values structure) and cognitive component (sense of meaning), including the ability of trait affect and values structure to predict sense of meaning. The present study also aimed to explore the universality of meaning, which was examined by conducting a preliminary exploration of perceived meaning across ethnic groups, gender and religious affiliations.
Method Participants
Participants included 487 undergraduate college students enrolled at a large, metropolitan public university in the south. Participants were recruited via online, as well as in-person from university classes. Due to technical problems with the secure online database used to collect data, 104 participants had more than 50% data missing. These participants were excluded from participation, and 383 participants were retained and included in this study. Table 1 summarizes demographic characteristics of this sample.
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Table 1. Study participant characteristics (N = 383) Age (M, SD) Gender % Female % Male Ethnicity % Caucasian % Asian % Hispanic % African American % Other Religion % Christian % Non-Religious or Other % Islamic % Buddhist % Jewish % Hindu Residency (N, %) % Lived in US since birth % Lived in US for more than 10 yrs % Lived in US between 1 and 10 yrs 23.87 (4.2)
243
(63.4) (36.6)
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140 (36.6) 110 (28.7) 64 (16.7) 53 (13.8) 16 (4.2)
230 (60.1%) 88 (23.0%) 28 (7.3%) 21 (5.5%) 9 (2.3%) 7 (1.8%) 262 (68.3%) 75 (19.7%) 46 (12,0%)
Procedure
The present study consisted of a one-time online self-report assessment. Data were collected using a secured online database. To access the study, participants were given personalized links and ID numbers assigning them to one of three randomized conditions containing different orders of the measures used. Upon accessing the link, participants were asked to check a box saying they have read and understand the informed consent. Once they agreed to participate, they completed the questionnaire. If they did not consent to participate, the study ended. As compensation for participation, participants received course credit.
Measures
The participants were asked about basic demographic information, including age, gender, ethnicity, language, college year and department, grade point average, marital status, and religious preference. As mentioned previously, three components of meaning were measured. These include affective component (trait affect), motivational component (value structure) and cognitive component (sense of meaning).
Cognitive Component: Sense of Meaning

The Personal Meaning Index (PMI; Reker, 1996) is one of the two composite scales of the Life Attitude Profile Revised (LAP-R), a multidimensional questionnaire to assess various meaning-related constructs. The PMI is comprised of 16 items (8 assess purpose, 8 assess coherence), and participants rate responses on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 7 (strongly disagree). Test-retest reliability is .90, and
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the internal consistency coefficients for the PMI range from .89 to .91 across age groups and gender. In the current study, the Cronbach alpha coefficient was .87. The PMI demonstrates adequate validity (Reker, 2000).
Motivational Component: Values Structure

The Sources of Meaning Profile-Revised (SOMP-R; Reker, 1992) is a questionnaire to assess values in terms of density, breadth and content. It contains a list of 17 value categories that are rated on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (not at all meaningful) to 7 (extremely meaningful). For this study, an overall score was used to assess a more global concept of meaning. This is done by summing the ratings across items. Internal consistency coefficients range from .71 to .80. In this study, the Cronbach alpha coefficient was .83.
Affective Component: Trait Affect

The Positive and Negative Affect Scale-Trait (PANAS; Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988) is a 20-item questionnaire to assess trait affect (10 positive affectivity (PA) items and 10 negative affectivity (NA) items). Items are rated using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely). Two scores can be obtained: one for PA and one for NA. Internal consistency coefficients range from .84 to .90. In the current study, the Cronbach alpha coefficient was .89. Test-retest reliabilities range from .39 to .71, with the higher coefficients reported for the longer durations.
Results Analyses
Preliminary analyses indicated that assumptions of normality, homoscedasticity and multicollinearity were met. Standard multiple regression was used to examine the associations between trait affect, values structure, and sense of meaning, after controlling for gender, ethnicity, and religious affiliations. Table 2 displays the correlations between the study variables. Table 2 .Correlations (r) among study variables Variables 1. Ethnicity 2. Gender 3. Religious affiliation 4. Positive trait affect 5. Negative trait affect 6. Values structure PMI (DV) .09 -.07 -.16*** .52*** -.29*** .35*** -.06 .01 .12* -.09* -.13* -.07 .02 -.08 .03 -.05 -.37*** .43*** -.10* 1 2 3 4 5
.12* .10* PMI= Perceived Meaning Index; DV=Dependent variable * p .05; ** p .01; *** p .001
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Results showed an increased sense of meaning was associated with higher levels of positive trait emotions (e.g., being enthusiastic, determined, interested, proud, alert) (r = .51, p < .001) and lower levels of negative trait emotions (e.g., being afraid, nervous, hostile, distressed, ashamed) (r = -.29, p < .001). Further, results also showed that having an increased sense of meaning was associated with having a large number of diverse and meaningful values (r = .35, p < .001). Results also showed that having a large number of diverse and meaningful values was associated with experiencing increased lasting positive emotions (r = .42, p < .001), but not necessarily lower levels of lasting negative emotions (r = .10, p < .05). With regard to the regression model, gender, ethnicity, and religious affiliations were enter in step 1 as covariates, with trait affect and values structure entered at step 2 to assess for their independent association with sense of meaning. Table 3 summarizes results for the sequential regression model. Table 3. Sequential multiple regression model (Step 2) of trait affect and values structure on perceived meaning (PMI) after controlling for gender, ethnicity and religious affiliation. B 95% CI Adjusted R2 Correlates Ethnicity Gender Religious Affiliation Meaning Components Positive Trait Affect Negative Trait Affect Values structure 0.38 -0.13 3.71 [0.53, 0.92]*** [-0.42, -0.07]** [0.08, 0.27]*** Step 1 = 0.04 0.09 -0.09 -0.18 [-0.14, 2.34] [-5.07, 0.38] [-7.40, -2.05]***
PMI= Perceived Meaning Index; DV=Dependent variable * p .05; ** p .01; *** p .001
In the regression model, gender, ethnicity and religious affiliation entered at step 1 resulted in R2 = .04, F (3, 379) = 5.66, p = .001. Adding positive trait affect, negative trait affect and values system at step 2 significantly increased the explained variance, with almost a third of the variability in sense of meaning being predicted by having the ability to experience lasting positive and negative emotions, as well as by having a well-structured value system after controlling for gender, ethnicity and religious affiliation (R2 = .32, F (3, 376) = 51.12, p < .001).
Total variability attributed to significant and unique sources was 15.4%, with positive trait affect uniquely explaining 9.8% of the variance in sense of meaning ( = .30, p < .001), followed by values structure which explained 2.5% of the variance (= 3.71, p < .001), negative affect which explained 1.4% of the variance ( = -.13, p = .005), and religious affiliation which explained 1.7% of the variance ( = -.18, p = .002). Moreover, the size and direction of the relationships suggest that an increased sense of meaning is associated primarily with experiencing lasting positive emotions and a well-developed value system, and to a lesser extent with the experiencing of negative emotions.
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Important to note is that in the regression model, there was no significant association of gender and ethnicity with sense of meaning, but that religious affiliation (Christian versus other religions/non-religious) was found to be significantly associated with sense of meaning ( = -.132, p < .01). Specifically, participants reporting a Christian religious affiliation scored significantly higher in overall sense of meaning as measured by the PMI (M = 82.8, SD = 12.3) when compared to those reporting other religious affiliations or no religious affiliation (M = 78.3, SD = 13.9) (t (381) = 3.25, 95% CI = 1.74, 7.08, p = .001).
Discussion
The present study hoped to identify specific affective experiences and motivational cues associated with an increased sense of meaning. Results indicated trait affect and values structure were significantly associated with perceptions of life as meaningful, and this relationship was consistent across gender and ethnic groups, but not religious affiliation. Overall, these results emphasize the importance of trait affect and values structure as components of meaning, which do not seem to differ across gender and ethnicity. Nonetheless, the differences found in sense of meaning across religious affiliation groups highlight the need for additional research to better understand variations in sense of meaning among individuals differing in religious preferences. Several conclusions regarding the associations of trait affect, values structure and sense of meaning are supported by findings in this study. First, the association between trait affect and sense of meaning, regardless of the direction of influence, was found to be significant. This suggests that affect, particularly lasting positive emotion, is an important construct in the meaning making process. The association between positive trait affect and sense of meaning was stronger than that found in previous studies (e.g., Hicks & King, 2007; King et al., 2006). It is possible the stronger association resulted from the assessment of trait affect, as compared to state affect, which has been previously done. By assessing lasting rather than transient emotional experiences, respondents may have provided a global and more direct estimate of their perceived degree of life satisfaction (Carver & Schier, 1990, 1998; Greenberg & Pascual-Leone, 1997) which, according to Reker and Wong (1988), is an adequate cognitive predictor of sense of meaning. Moreover, results from this study provided supporting evidence to suggest that positive trait emotions play a more important role in the meaning making process than negative emotions. For example, because positive affect has been found to facilitate the broadening of attention, cognition and action (Frederickson, 2001), it is possible that through these cognitive processes, positive affect may help to build personal resources that may make life meaningful. In other words, it is possible that positive emotions facilitate meaning by making one more likely to, (a) be alert towards that which may be valuable or meaningful, (b) feel more driven to pursue valuable goals which may help feel that life has a purpose, and (c) be more capable of integrating information to make sense of ones life which may help one feel that life is coherent. Moreover, although findings from this study support that lasting positive emotions may be more influential in meaning-making than negative emotions, findings from this study do not necessarily support that negative emotions hinder the meaning process. In fact, given the results from this study, future research should focus on studying the aforementioned associations to better understand specific contributions of each component to the meaning making process. Results on the association between values structure and meaning showed values structure to be positively associated to sense of meaning. Results supported values structure to be a significant predictor of meaning. It
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is possible that value systems may provide cognitive frameworks to help identify, organize and prioritize valuable and desirable goals, which provides a guide to direct and/or motivate congruent and purposeful behavior. For example, by endorsing a large and diverse number of important values, individuals could have multiple avenues that help (a) lead the way to achieve that which is valuable, (b) feel as though one has greater life purpose, (c) organize ones actions as being congruent with ones multiple values. Additional studies are needed to better understand how value structure specifically contributes to meaning making. Results also indicated values structure was not related to negative trait affect. This suggests that positive and negative trait affect may be distinct and independent constructs rather than merely opposite poles of emotional valence. Visual inspection of trait affect items on the PANAS scale and a review of its manual (Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988) suggested this may be possible. This assumption also is supported by the findings previously discussed on the more salient role of positive trait emotions in meaning than that of negative trait emotions; however, no extant studies have explored the association between specific positive trait emotions and value systems. In addition, although results from the present study supported an association between values structure and positive trait affect, results do not suggest a specific direction of influence between these constructs. Perhaps, having a large and diverse number of values helps guide behavior towards that which is meaningful which may make one more likely to experience positive emotions such as feeling attentive, interested, jovial and selfassured. In addition, positive trait affect was a much stronger predictor of meaning than values structure. Given the strong association of positive emotions to meaning, it is possible that other value constructs (e.g., degree of value accomplishment or value fulfillment), may increase the predictive utility of meaningful values. It is possible that not all values that are identified as meaningful may lead to positive emotions and/or to an increased sense of meaning. Additional research is needed to better understand the contribution of value systems in the development of specific emotions, as well as how these emotions may influence the building of value systems. Given these results, it is important that future studies explore several aspects of the relationship between value systems, positive trait affect and meaning, including (a) the specific positive trait emotions that may be important to the development of value systems and meaning, (b) the cause and effect relationships between specific positive trait emotions, values and meaning, (c) the mediating processes that facilitate the association between these constructs, (d) the predictive utility of value constructs not assessed in this study in terms of meaning and positive affect (value fulfillment). This information would be valuable to clinicians in that it will help them develop a better understanding of the role of specific positive emotions and value features in the meaning making process.
Limitations
Despite identifying relevant associations between trait affect, value systems, and sense of meaning, this study has several limitations. First, only college students were included so it is possible that the experience of meaning may be different from those at a different developmental stage (e.g., middle age adults, elderly), or those facing less favorable circumstances (e.g., discrimination, extreme poverty, clinical or medical populations or severe/traumatic events). Similar studies with non-college populations must be conducted prior to assessing the generalizability of the findings. Second, given the correlational nature of the findings,
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cause and effect relationships cannot be made. Third, this study only included an exploratory analysis of specific aspects of the different components of meaning, and it is possible some aspects of meaning may have been excluded, including content of values, fulfillment and value satisfaction, specific content of positive trait emotions. Further, one particular component that may have been limiting is the affective component. As stated previously, life satisfaction is often associated with affective component of meaning; however, the study examined more direct affect, which may limit our understanding of the how affect and life satisfaction affects meaning. Future studies need to explore the relationships between other meaning-related constructs, as well as their predictive abilities in terms of sense of meaning. Also, significant differences in sense of meaning were found among participants varying in religious affiliation; however, there was a predominance of Christians in this sample, and this may not accurately reflect true differences in sense of meaning across existing religions. Additional studies with more religiously diverse samples are needed prior to generalizing the findings of this study. Finally, this study relied exclusively on quantitative measures, and it is possible that studies using other assessment methodologies (i.e., qualitative measures) may provide more detailed and comprehensive information regarding the associations between cognitive, motivational and affective constructs involved in the meaning experience. Conclusion The findings emphasized the importance of positive trait emotions and well-develop value systems in the meaning process. Opposite to the customary trend in research and clinical practice to focus on psychopathology and negative traits (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 2006), these findings suggest the need to focus on more positive aspects of personality and behavior in order to better understand the meaning process. Similarly, these findings suggest that assisting clients in exploring, reflecting and developing lasting positive emotions (e.g., feeling interested, attentive, confident, inspired) could be a valuable focus of interventions. Findings in this study are important in that they provide support to the recent trend among third-wave cognitive-behavioral therapies to include the assessment and development of positive emotional experiences and value systems, since these are important components that facilitate adjustment and promote well-being (Vowles & McCracken, 2008). This study was intended to promote interest among researchers and clinicians regarding the empirical study of the different components of meaning, as well as their assessment and inclusion in research and clinical practice. Although the empirical study of meaning has been neglected in psychology, the present study provides evidence as to how the meaning construct may be explored and conceptually defined in order to help better understand the meaning experience. Greater knowledge of how individuals experience meaning may lead to refinements in theories of meaning, the development of meaning-related assessments, and effective clinical techniques and interventions which will make the experience of meaning more relevant to clinical practice.
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Are you ready for positive cognitive behavioral therapy?

Pozitif bilisel davran terapiye hazr msnz? Fredrike P. Bannink1
Abstract
Recent decades have witnessed the development of competency-based, collaborative approaches to psychotherapy. Positive CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) offers the best constructive vision to date of what CBT looks like when joined with Positive Psychology and Solution Focused Brief Therapy. Positive CBT shifts the focus of therapy from what is wrong with clients to what is right with them, and from what is not working to what is. Two of its applications are the Positive Functional Behavior Analysis and the upward arrow technique, both described in this article. Positive CBT aims at improving the well-being of clients and therapists, drawing on research and applications from Positive Psychology and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. Research is necessary to find out how Positive CBT is distinct from, can be combined with or may be even superior to traditional CBT. Keywords: CBT, positive CBT, positive psychology, solution focused brief therapy, strengths, resilience.
zet
Son yllarda psikoterapiye ynelik yeterlik temelli, ibirliine dayal yaklamlar gelitirilmitir. Pozitif BDT (Bilisel Davran Terapi), pozitif psikoloji ve zm odakl ksa terapi ile birletiinde BDT'nin nasl olduuna ilikin u ana kadarki en yapc gr sunmaktadr. Pozitif BDT, terapinin odan dananlarda neyin sorunlu olduundan neyin doru olduuna ve danandaki olumsuz ynlerden olumlu ynlere tamtr. Uygulamalarndan ikisi, her ikisi de bu makalede tanmlanm olan, pozitif ilevsel davran analizi ve yukar ok tekniidir. Pozitif BDT, pozitif psikoloji ve zm odakl ksa terapiden yararlanarak danan ve terapistlerin iyi olu dzeylerini ykseltmeyi amalamaktadr. Pozitif BDT'nin geleneksel BDT'den nasl farkllat, ve hatta ondan daha etkili olup olmad ile ilgili ve bu iki modelin nasl birletirilebilecei ile ilgili yeni aratrmalar gereklidir. Anahtar Kelimeler: BDT, pozitif BDT, pozitif psikoloji, zm odakl ksa terapi, gl zellikler, psikolojik salamlk.
Introduction
CBT has evolved to address a broad array of client presentations and an impressive body of evidence attests to its efficacy. Yet outcomes, and particularly longer-term outcomes leave a substantial margin for improvement. What will it take to help more clients benefit more substantively from therapy? What more can therapists do to support their clients develop longer-term resilience? How can therapists use the least demanding interventions? How can CBT become better and faster and more cost-effective? How can CBT become more kind to its therapists? Positive CBT (Bannink, 2012; 2013) recently emerged from the desire to find a new way forward in CBT and hopes to find answers to the questions stated above. CBT has been strongly influenced by the medical model of diagnosis and treatment. The structure of problem-solving - determining the nature of the problem and then intervening - influences the content of interaction between therapists and clients: they focus on pathology and on what is wrong with clients.
1
Dr. Clinical Psychologist, Amsterdam The Netherlands, solutions@fredrikebannink.com
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Assessments focus on problems, limitations and deficiencies and mention few or no clients strengths and abilities. It is, however, the clients strengths, abilities, and resources that are most important in helping to bring about change. Seligman (2011), co-founder of the Positive Psychology movement, states that if we want to flourish and have well-being, we must minimize our misery; but in addition, we must have positive emotion, meaning, accomplishment, and positive relationships. Positive CBT draws on research and applications from Positive Psychology (PP) and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). Positive Psychology is the academic study of what makes life worth living and what enables individuals and communities to thrive. It is the study of the conditions and processes that lead to optimal functioning in individuals, relations and work. Solution Focused Brief Therapy is the pragmatic application of principles and tools, best described as finding the direct route to what works for this clint at this moment in this context. The emphasis is on constructing solutions as a counterweight to the traditional emphasis on the analysis of problems. It is an approach to change, which invites conversations about what is wanted, what is working, and what might constitute progress (Bannink & Jackson, 2011). From a theoretical point of view Positive CBT is different from traditional CBT. CBT uses a logical positivist view (the foundations of science remain in objectively quantifiable observations), whereas Positive CBT as does SFBT- uses a social contructivist view (the individuals notion of what is real including his sense of the nature of problems, abilities and solutions - is constructed in communication with others). Positive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Is there also a negative CBT, one may wonder. I dont believe that there is a negative form of CBT, since all forms of psychotherapy have as their main goal to help clients bring about desired changes in their lives. Mental health, however, is more than the absence of mental illness. The focus of Positive CBT is not on pathology, on what is wrong with clients and on repairing what is worst, but on mental health and strengths, what is right with them and on creating what is best. In this quest Positive CBT does not have to be constructed from the ground up, but it does involve a change of focus from reducing problems to a focus on building on clients strengths and on what works. Positive CBT can be seen as being the other side of the 'CBT coin' and can easily be combined with CBT. This positive focus has helped SFBT to become shorter in time than other psychotherapies (Franklin, Trepper, Gingerich & McCollum, 2012; Gingerich & Peterson, 2013). The same may be true for Positive CBT, because it uses the same focus. Many professionals working in the fields of PP and SFBT claim that conversations with their clients are more optimistic and light-hearted, which may result in less stress, depression and burnout. A strengths-based approach with its roots in PP is a philosophical perspective in which people are seen as capable and as having abilities and resources within themselves and their social systems. When activated and integrated with new experiences, understandings and skills, the outcome is an improved sense of wellbeing and quality of life and higher degrees of interpersonal and social functioning. Kuyken, Padesky and Dudley (2009) state that in the CBT literature there has been a much greater emphasis on identifying precipitating, predisposing, and perpetuating factors for problems than on identifying strengths. They advocate the inclusion of strengths whenever possible during case conceptualization. A solutions-based approach, focusing on what works for this client in this context and in this moment, with its roots in SFBT (Bannink, 2007; 2010a) adds to the well-being of clients by inviting them to describe their preferred future and finding solutions to reach their goal.
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Research by Gassman and Grawe (2006) shows that successful therapists focus on clients strengths, abilities and available support from the very start of a therapy session. They create an environment in which clients feel they are percieved as well-functioning persons. Succesful therapists also make sure they end sessions by returning to their clients strengths, enhancing a good therapeutic alliance along the way. The Therapeutic Alliance The alliance represents a positive attachment between therapist and client, as well as an active and collaborative engagement in therapeutic tasks designed to help the client. Therapists should facilitate the creation of a positive alliance and systematically monitor the alliance with the now available instruments, rather than relying on clinical impression. Keep in mind that the clients view of the alliance (and not the therapists) is the best-known predictor of outcome (Duncan, 2010). Positive CBT starts with building rapport. The therapist makes a positive start by asking questions about the daily life of the clients: What kind of work do you do? What grade are you in? when the client is a child, followed by: What do you like about your work? What are you good at? What hobbies do you have? What is your best subject in school? Who is your favorite teacher? These questions can be seen as icebreakers, but are also the start for uncovering useful information about strengths and solutions already present in the clients life. They set the tone for a more light-hearted conversation than clients may have been expecting. Assessment Positive CBT is more interested in what clients want to change rather than exploring problems and in what is right with clients than in what is wrong with them. Therefore, the first challenge Positive CBT therapists encounter is inviting clients to shift from problem talk to strengths & solutions talk at the point at which they have had enough time to describe their problems to feel heard (10-15 minutes is often enough). Assessing what clients want different (their goals), strengths and resources (exceptions to the problem and their competences), motivation to change, progression, hope and confidence are all part of the assessment and case conceptualisation in Positive CBT. Many clients like to have the opportunity to talk about problems, not least because they think that that is the intent of the therapy. Positive CBT therapists listen respectfully and offer acknowledgment, but do not ask for details of the problem. With the question: How is this a problem for you? clients can often begin to talk about the problem in a different way. When clients insist on talking about their problems, therapists may ask: How many sessions do you think you need to talk about problems and what is wrong with you before we can look at your preferred future and what is right with you? Kuyken et al. (2009) propose that psychotherapy has two overarching goals: to alleviate distress and to build resilience. They think a strengths focus is more engaging for clients and offers the advantages of harnessing client strengths in the change process to pave a way to lasting recovery. Clients are often not aware of the coping strategies they use to be resilient and highlighting these increases the likelihood clients will consider their use during future challenges. Noticing strategies clients employ to manage adversity is often a first step toward conceptualizing resilience.
Setting goals focuses clients on future possibilities rather than on problems. It helps to impose structure
on treatment and also prepares clients for discharge: making explicit that therapy will be terminated when goals are achieved, or that therapy will be discontinued if there is little progress. Finally, setting goals provides the opportunity for an evaluation of outcome related to the clients problems. What will be the best outcome of you coming to see me? is a good way to start this part of the session, or When can we
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stop meeting like this? or What are your best hopes? and What difference will it make when your hopes are met? Positive CBT is not problem-phobic. Clients are given an opportunity to describe their problems, to which therapists listen respectfully. But no details about the nature and severity of the problem are asked and causes are not analyzed. Asking about exceptions - a form of differential diagnosis - may reveal that some disorders can be eliminated (e.g., when asked about exceptions, a child who would otherwise be diagnosed with ADHD, appears to be able to sit still in the classroom). Another way of conducting Positive CBT is to first collect all symptoms, complaints and constraints and then to translate all problem-descriptions into goals: What would you like to see instead? and then discard the problems collection by tearing it up or just ignoring it when working with what clients want different in their lives. Another useful question is: Suppose these problems would not be there, how will you or your life/relationship/work be different? Bakker, Bannink and Macdonald (2010) state that therapists may choose to commence treatment immediately and if necessary pay attention to diagnostics at a later stage. Severe psychiatric disorders or a suspicion thereof justify the decision to conduct a thorough diagnosis, since the tracing of the underlying organic pathology has direct therapeutic consequences. Ambulant intakes in primary or second-line health care are suitable for Positive CBT. During the first and follow-up sessions it will become clear whether an advanced diagnosis is necessary, for example if there is a deterioration in the clients condition or if the treatment fails to give positive results. Analogous to stepped care one could think of stepped diagnosis. In CBT self-monitoring of problems is used to gain a description of behaviors to help adept the intervention in relation to client progress and to provide clients with feedback about their progress. Selfmonitoring is often integrated into therapy, both in the sessions and as part of homework assignments. In Positive CBT self-monitoring is not about clients problems, but about clients strengths and about exceptions to the problems. When clients use this form of positive self-monitoring they often feel more competent and choose to do more of what works.
Functional analysis methodology identifies variables that influence the occurrence of problem behavior
and has become a hallmark of behavioral assessment. Functional Behavior Analysis (FBA) looks beyond the behavior itself: the focus is on identifying factors associated with the (non)occurrence of specific behaviors. In FBA each problem is analysed in terms of A-B-Cs: Antecedents, Behaviors and Beliefs, and Consequences. In CBT a FBA is made of problem behavior, whereas in Positive CBT (see below) a FBA is made of desired behavior and/or exceptions of the problem behavior.
Positive FBA Interview in 7 questions

1. Suppose tonight a miracle happens and your problems are all solved. But because you are asleep, you dont know that this miracle happens. What will be the first thing you notice tomorrow morning that will tell you that this miracle has happened? What will be the first thing you notice yourself doing differently that will let you know that this miracle occurred? What else? What else? 2.Tell me about some recent times when you were doing somewhat better or (part of) the miracle was happening, even just a little bit. 3.When things are going somewhat better, what have you noticed that you or others do differently? What other consequences have you noticed?
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4.On a scale of 10-0 (10 being the mircale has happened and 0 being the opposite), where are you at today? 5. What will you be doing differently that will tell you/others that you are one point higher on the scale? 6.What will be better for you/others when you are one point higher on the scale? What other consequences will you notice? 7.What/who may help you to achieve one point higher on the scale?
Changing The Viewing

In changing the viewing the focus is on changing how clients think and what they pay attention to as a way to change their situation for the better. This can involve five interventions. The first intervention is to acknowledge feelings and the past without letting them determine what clients can do. They are invited to create more compassionate and helpful stories and find a kinder, gentler vew of themselves, others, and/or the situation (Gilbert, 2010). The second intervention is to invite clients to change what they are paying attention to in a problem situation. Directing attention to the clients past or present successes instead of their failures generate a positive expectation: clients begin to see themselves or the situation in a more positive light; The third intervention is to focus on what clients want different in the future. This emphasizes the possibility of change and focuses clients on future possibilities rather than on their symptoms and problems. The fourth intervention is to challenge unhelpful beliefs about themselves and their situation. Positive CBT assists clients to find adaptive helpful cognitions that give rise to a more positive experience of the self, others, and the world. These (more) adaptive cognitions do not have to be developed, because they are already present (exceptions to the problem) and may be used again. The fifth intervention is to use a spiritual perspective to help clients transcend their troubles and to draw on resources beyond their usual abilities.
Upward Arrow Technique

As an example of how Positive CBT differs from traditional CBT which uses the downward arrow technique, I introduced the upward arrow technique, with a focus on positive reactions to a given situation, or to exceptions to the problem. So-called core beliefs are central, absolute beliefs about self, others and the world. The automatic thoughts and underlying assumptions lead therapist and clients toward relevant core beliefs. The problem-focused downward arrow technique is one of the ways to identify beliefs that underpin negative reactions to a given situation. Questions are: What does that matter? What is so bad about.......? What is the worst case scenario?The questions are repeated in response to each answer clients provide. Questions using the upward arrow technique are: How will you like the situation/yourself/others to be different?; What will be the best outcome?; What will be the best case scenario?; Suppose that happens, what difference will that make (for yourself, for others)? These questions are also repeated in response to each answer clients provide.
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Changing The Doing

One way to solve a problem is not to analyze why the problem arose, but to change what clients are doing to solve it, by determining how they keep acting in the same way (problem pattern), and to experiment with doing something different (breaking the pattern). The focus is on concrete actions clients can take to make these changes. The first intervention is to invite clients to pay attention to repetitive patterns that they are caught up in or that others are caught up in with them and change anything possible about these patterns. By using paradox clients are invited to go with the problem or try to make it worse or try to deliberately make the problem happen. In linking new actions to the problem pattern clients are invited to find something they can do every time they have the problem, something that is good for them, usually something burdensome. Or ask them to do this avoided action first, every time they feel the urge to do the problem.
The second intervention is to notice what clients are doing when things are going better, and invite them
to do more of it: When didnt you experience the problem after you expected you would? Invite clients to notice what happens as the problem ends or starts to end. Then invite clients to deliberately do some of the helpful actions they did then, but earlier in the problem situation. Or import solution patterns from other situations in which clients feel competent. Examine patterns at work, in hobbies, with friends, and in other contexts to find something clients can use effectively in the problem situation. Or ask: Why isnt the problem worse? Use their own abilities to limit the severity of the problem they have been using without noticing. Most of the time clients know better than therapists what works and what doesnt, but for a change they have to do something different from what they are currently doing. In CBT modification procedures are usually advised by the therapist. In Positive CBT modification procedures are already available: clients are competent to make changes and have made changes before. Also there are always exceptions to the problem (Wittgenstein, 1968). The modification procedures may be the same as advised by traditional CBT therapists, with the difference that now clients themselves come up with modification procedures (their previous successes), which have helped them before, and may be repeated.
Changing The Feeling

In CBT the therapist's job is to minimise negative effect: by dispensing drugs or in instigating psychological interventions, thereby rendering people less anxious, angry or depressed. Seligman (2011), however, described some disappointing results with this approach of making miserable people less miserable. He found that as a therapist, he would help a client get rid of his anger, anxiety or sadness. He thought he would then get a happy patient, but he never did. He got an empty patient, because the skills of flourishing are something over and above the skills of minimizing suffering. As an example of how reducing negative affect does not automatically increase positive affect, research in a coaching context done by Grant and OConnor (2010) showed that problem-focused questions reduce negative affect and increase self-efficacy, but do not increase understanding of the nature of the problem or enhance positive affect. Solution-focused questions increase positive affect, decrease negative affect, increase self-efficacy as well as increase participants insight and understanding of the nature of the problem. Positive CBT focuses on enhancing positive affect: How will you feel when your best hopes are met? What will you be feeling differently when you notice that the steps you take are in the right direction?
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Also bringing back the best from the past by asking questions about previous successes and competences triggers positive emotions. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 2009) suggests that negative emotions narrow our thought-action repertoires, whereas positive emotions broaden our awareness and encourage novel, varied and exploratory thoughts and actions. The power of asking open questions, focused on what clients do want (How will you know this session has been useful? How will you know the problem has been solved? What has been working well? What is better?), serve to widen the array of thoughts and actions. Using imagination (for example using the miracle question) also creates positive emotions and has a powerful impact on the capacity to expand ideas and activities. The use of compliments and competence questions (How did you manage to do that? How did you decide to do that?) also elicit positive emotions.
Homework
In CBT homework is considered important. For example, self-monitoring is the most widely used adjunct, and is almost invariably used both at the initial assessment stage and to monitor subsequent change. Another widely used adjunct are behavioral experiments. Bennett-Levy, Butler, Fennell, Hackman, Mueller and Westbrook (2004) describe three types of (problem-focused) experiments. One type is experimental manipulation of the environment. This necessitates doing something, which is different to what the client usually does in a particular situation. Another type constitutes of observational experiments, in that it is either not possible or not necessary to manipulate key variables. Instead clients set out to observe and gather evidence, which is relevant to their specific negative thoughts or beliefs. The third type constitutes of discovery-oriented experiments, when clients have little or no idea what will happen when they undertake a behavioral experiment and need to collect data in order to build a theory. Or the client may be encouraged to try out different ways of behaving in order to collect those data. Positive CBT employs the same behavioral experiments, but again with a positive focus. Experimental manipulation of the environment: clients are invited to explore exceptions to the problem: What has the client done even slightly - differently before? How has that been helpful? Does the client think it might be a good idea to use this solution again? Observational experiments: clients are invited to observe and gather evidence, which is relevant to their specific positive thoughts and beliefs. When they pay attention to their positive thoughts or beliefs, chances are that clients will find evidence for these positive ones, whereas when they pay attention to negative thoughts or beliefs, chances are that clients will find evidence for the negative ones. Discovery-oriented experiments: clients are invited to act as if their preferred future has arrived or are one or two point higher on the scale of progress. In Positive CBT homework tasks are important if clients think it is useful. The solution-focused idea in Positive CBT is that when clients change their construction, which is assumed to take place during and between sessions, behavior change follows naturally. Homework is intended to direct clients attention to those aspects of their experiences and situations that are most useful in reaching their goals. When clients are hesitant about change, they are invited to observe rather than to do something.
Evaluation
In subsequent sessions clients and therapists carefully explore what is better. Therapists ask for a detailed description of positive exceptions, give compliments and emphasize clients input in finding solutions. At the end of every session clients are asked whether they think another session is useful, and if so, when they like to return. The goal of subsequent sessions is described in Bannink (2010ab; 2012). At the end of
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every session clients are invited to give feedback about the relationship with the therapist, whether the goals and topics were discussed that they wanted to talk about and whether the method/approach was a good fit for them (Session Rating Scale, Duncan, 2010).
Role of Positive CBT Therapist

In Positive CBT the role of the therapist is different from the role in CBT. From being the only expert in the room, who explores and analyzes the problem and then gives advise to clients on how to solve their problems, the role changes to one where clients are seen as co-experts and therapists invite them to share their expertise. Positive CBT therapists are not-knowing (they ask questions) and leading from one step behind. In this therapists, metaphorically speaking, stand behind their clients and tap them on the shoulder with solution-focused questions, inviting them to look at their preferred future and to envisage a wide horizon of personal possibilities. Therapists change their focus of attention by using operant conditioning principles during the session: positive reinforcement of strengths & solutions-talk (paying attention to conversations about goals, exceptions, possibilities, strengths and resources) and negative punishment of problem-talk (not paying attention to conversations about problems, causes, impossibilities and weaknesses).
Conclusion
Positive CBT offers the best constructive vision to date of what CBT looks like when joined with Positive Psychology and Solution Focused Brief Therapy. Positive CBT shifts the focus of therapy from what is wrong with clients to what is right with them, and from what is not working to what is. This transition represents a paradigm shift from problem-solving to solutions and strengths-building. Positive CBT emerged from the desire to find a new way forward in the application of CBT. Research is necessary to find out how Positive CBT is distinct from, can be combined with or may be even superior to traditional CBT. Are you ready for Positive CBT?
References
Bakker, J.M., Bannink, F.P. & Macdonald, A. (2010). Solution-focused psychiatry. The Psychiatrist, 34, 297-300. Bannink, F.P. (2007). Solution-focused brief therapy. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 37, 2, 87-94. Bannink, F.P. (2010a). 1001 Solution-focused questions. Handbook for solution-focused interviewing. New York: Norton. Bannink, F.P. (2010b). Handbook of solution focused conflict management. Cambridge MA: Hogrefe Publishers. Bannink, F.P. (2012). Practicing positive CBT. From reducing distress to building success. Oxford: Wiley. Bannink, F.P. (2013). Positive CBT. From reducing distress to building success. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 42, 2. Online: DOI 10.1007/s10879-013-9239-7 Bannink, F.P. & Jackson, P.Z. (2011). Positive Psychology and Solution Focus looking at similarities and differences. InterAction. The Journal of Solution Focus in Organisations, 3, 1, 8-20. Bennett-Levy, J., Butler, G., Fennell, M., Hackman, A., Mueller, M. & Westbrook, D. (2004). Oxford guide to behavioural experiments in cognitive therapy. New York: Oxford University Press. Duncan, B.L. (2010). On becoming a better therapist. Washington DC: American Psychological Association. Franklin, C., Trepper, T.S., Gingerich, W.J. & McCollum, E.E. (Eds.) (2012). Solution-focused brief therapy: a handbook of evidence-based practice. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Fredrickson, B.L. (2009). Positivity. New York: Crown. Gassman, D. & Grawe, K. (2006). General change mechanisms: the relation between problem activation and resource activation in successful and unsuccessful therapeutic interactions. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 13, 1-11. Gilbert, P. (2010). Compassion focused therapy. The CBT distinctive features series. New York: Routlegde. Gingerich, W.J. & Peterson, L.T. (2013). Effectiveness of solution-focused brief therapy: a systematic qualitative review of controlled outcome studies. Research on Social Work Practice published online 27 January 2013, DOI: 10.1177/1049731512470859 Grant, A.M. & OConnor, S.A. (2010). The differential effects of solution-focused and problem-focused coaching questions: a pilot study with implications for practice. Industrial and Commercial Training, 42, 4, 102-111. Kuyken, W., Padesky, C.A. & Dudley, R. (2009). Collaborative case conceptualization. New York: Guilford. Seligman, M.E.P. (2011). Flourish. New York: Free Press. Wittgenstein, L. (1968). Philosophical investigations (G. E. M. Anscombe, Trans., 3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan. (Originally published in 1953).
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Influence of internet usage on social and subjective well-being of Sri Lankan GLIS
nternet kullanmn Sri Lankadaki bamsz mucitlerin sosyal ve znel iyi oluuna etkisi C. Nalaka Wickramasinghe1, Nobaya Ahmad 2
Abstract
The Internet has significantly contributed to the drastic growth of technological inventions and innovation in the world. The majority of the inventors in developing countries is independent inventors work on inventions by their own interest. The Internet has been one of the leading knowledge repositories for these independent inventors to search clues for their inventions. Owing to the self-driven behavior of the independent inventors, they might gain success and perceive happiness through the inventive activities that involved searching and creation of new knowledge. However, there is hardly any study that explains the influence of the Internet usage on social and psychological aspects of grassroots level inventors (GLIS). Therefore, the existing knowledge on how the Internet usage influence on social capital, connectedness, success and subjective well-being of inventive community in developing countries is not exact. Present study explores the influence of the Internet usage on social capital, community connectedness, inventive achievements and subjective well-being of the grassroots level inventive community of Sri Lanka. Findings suggest that the Internet has significant direct influence on the subjective wellbeing of GLIS in Sri Lanka. Further The Internet usages indirectly influence the subjective well-being through social capital and connectedness. However, The Internet usage has not significantly influenced on the objective inventive achievements of the GLIS in Sri Lanka. Keywords: Subjective well-being, grassroots, inventors, happiness
zet
nternet, dnyadaki teknolojik bululara ve yeniliklere ilikin gelimelere nemli lde katkda bulunmutur. Gelimekte olan lkelerdeki mucitlerin ounluu, bulular zerinde kendi ilgileri dorultusunda alan bamsz buluulardr. nternet, bu bamsz mucitlerin bulularna ynelik ipularn arad nemli bilgi kaynaklarndan biri olmutur. Bamsz mucitlerin iten gelen davranlar nedeniyle, bu kiiler, yeni bilginin aratrlmas ve yaratlmas srelerini kapsayan bulu faaliyetleri ile baar kazanabilir ve mutluluu alglayabilirler. Ancak, internet kullanmnn halk dzeyindeki mucitlerin sosyal ve psikolojik ynleri zerindeki etkisini aklayan neredeyse hibir alma bulunmamaktadr. Bu nedenle, internet kullanmnn buluu toplumun sosyal sermayesini, balanabilirliini, baarsn ve znel iyi oluunu nasl etkilediine ilikin mevcut bilgiler kesin deildir. Bu alma, internet kullanmnn Sri Lanka'nn bamsz mucitlerinin sosyal sermayesi, topluma olan aidiyeti, buluu baarlar ve znel iyi oluu zerindeki etkisini aratrmaktadr. Bulgular, internetin Sri Lankal bamsz mucitlerin, znel iyi oluu zerinde dorudan anlaml etkiye sahip olduunu gstermektedir. Ayrca internet kullanmlar, sosyal sermaye ve balanabilirlik araclyla znel iyi oluu dolayl olarak etkilemektedir. Ancak, internet kullanm, Sri Lankal bamsz mucitlerin amalanan buluu baarlar zerinde anlaml bir etkiye sahip deildir. Anahtar szckler: znel iyi olu, halk, mucitler, mutluluk
Introduction
The Internet has changed the nature of the transmission of information in modern world. Modern information and communication technologies leading by the Internet are pretended to be significant
1 2
Dr. Department of Commerce and Financial Management University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, nalakacw@yahoo.com Dr. Faculty of Human Ecology University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia nobaya@putra.upm.edu.my
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contributors to bring the technical and economic change to the different types of communities in different part of the world (Thakur, 2009). Further, it has been identified as the world largest knowledge depository and more efficient communication channel that can bring change to the underprivileged sections of the world. In general, the Internet has recognized as a tool that can increase the technology transfer across the developing countries to achieve success in technological and economic development (United Nations Development Program, 2001). Apart from the technological and economical influences of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), there is an emerging argument about the positive influence of the Internet on the social and psychological aspects of life. In 1990s, the Internet was explained to be negatively affected the social and psychological aspect of people; however according to the recent studies, the Internet usage has been recognized as an influential factor of knowledge development, social thinking and subjective well-being (Kraut et al, 2002; Contarello & Sarrica, 2007; Weiser, 2004). The Internet has changed the way social relationships are progressing in modern societies (Kraut et al., 2002). Furthermore, a study conducted based on the World Values Survey (2005-2007) data found that there is positive relationship between the Internet usage and happiness ((BCS-Chartered Institute for IT, 2010). Hence, the influence of the Internet usage is going beyond from just communication towards positive influence on the social and psychological aspects of life as well (Pigg & Crank, 2004). However, the density of the social and psychological influences of internet might be different from community to community or even individual to individual. Hence, findings of previous studies would not be sufficient to explain the influence internet usage in a different population. According to the forgoing literature, independent inventors are the major source of technological innovations in most of the developing countries (Gupta, et al., 2003). The majority of the patent applications in developing countries have been forwarded by the ordinary people in the society (Weick & Eakin, 2005). However, owing to the drastic growth of the organization and cooperate innovations, attention given to these individual, independent or garage inventors has been very modest. Hence, there was hardly any published study that investigate about the nature of independent inventive community in developing countries. Hence, there was no formal definition even to recognize the independent inventors in developing countries (Wettansinha, Wongtschowski, & Waters-Bayers, 2008). Owing to the drastic growth of cooperates, institutional and university inventors, ordinary people who engaged in inventive activities have become the lowest layer of the innovation system. According to the existing definitions, lowest layers of a social system are often called as the grassroots level. Hence, the present study define the independent inventors as grassroots level inventors. Grassroots Level Inventors (GLIs) is a local individual of a country, who involves in patentable inventive activities and trying to obtain patents for himself, for his own reasons and own rewards out of the formal organizational structures such as firms, universities and research labs (Wickramasinghe C. N., Ahmad, Rashid, & Emby, 2010). Owing to the independent nature of the grassroots level inventive activities, they do not receive the required information resources, knowledge and social attention as the employed inventors in multinational companies or research institutions. Hence, objective and subjective achievements and social connectedness of the GLIs heavily depend on the information, knowledge and resources they are gaining from the available sources. Owing to the self-driven behavior of the GLIs, they might gain happiness through the activities that search new knowledge and apply them in their inventions. However, there is hardly any study explain the influence of GLIs knowledge searching in the Internet on their social and psychological aspects of lives. Therefore, the existing knowledge about how the Internet usage can influence on social capital, connectedness, success and subjective well-being of GLI community in developing countries is not exact.
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Research Problem and Aim of the Study

The Internet was expected to provide information resources for poor and underprivileged communities in the society (Sarrica, 2010). Hence, the Internet might be a significant driving force of the continuation of the GLI community even in the modern knowledge society that does not favor for their presence. Even though the influences of the Internet usage on objective achievements of inventors have been studied in western countries, the influence of the Internet usage on social and subjective aspects of life has not been extensively studied. Especially the comprehensive efforts taken to explain the empirical evidences of objective, subjective and social impact of the Internet usage on GLI communities in lower and middle income countries are very rare. Sri Lanka is multi-ethnic, lower middle-income island nation in South Asia with only 20 million population. Sri Lanka has comparatively higher income level and human development index than other South Asian countries. However, compared to the neighboring countries in South-East Asia, Sri Lanka has been fallen behind in technological development (Wickramasinghe & Ahmad, 2009). According to the recent statistics, 85% of patent applications in Sri Lanka are forwarded by the GLIs and this percentage has been kept increasing with the growth of the Internet (Wickramasinghe C. N., Ahmad, Rashid, & Emby, 2010). However, majority of the inventive success measures, such as number of patents, patent citations, commercialized inventions and profits are not very promising among the GLIs in Sri Lanka (Wickramasinghe C. N., Ahmad, Rashid, & Emby, 2011). These adverse objective outcomes have raised questions; why these GLIs keep engage in inventive activities? Do they gain positive psychological results through inventive activities that improve their subjective well-being and how the Internet usage have influenced on their inventive lives? This paper aim to explore the influence of the Internet usage on the social capital, community connectedness, objective and subjective well-being of the GLIs in Sri Lanka.
Correlates of Subjective Well-Being

Internet Usage: Internet usage has been identified as an influential factor of knowledge development,
social thinking and subjective well-being (Kraut et al., 2002; Contarello & Sarrica, 2007; Weiser, 2004). Further the Internet has redefined the way social relationships are progressing (Kraut et al., 2002). In 1990s the Internet was thought to have negative impact on the social and psychological well-being of the society. However, recent empirical studies have found that the Internet either does not have impact (Jackson et al., 2004) or has positive impact on the happiness and satisfaction of people who use the Internet resources for their advantage (Kiesler et al., 2002). Meanwhile studies on independent inventors have found that the Internet usage is one of the main resource provider for the grassroots level inventors in Georgia (Georgia Tech Enterprise innovation Institute, 2008). Therefore, the Internet usage of GLIs is expected to have significant positive influence on their subjective well-being.
Social Capital: Recent literature has highlighted the importance of individual social capital as significant
contributor of subjective well-being (Yip et al., 2007; Cheung & Chan, 2008; Helliwell & Putnam, 2004). Social capital improves the subjective well-being by giving opportunities to the community members to share knowledge, resources and feelings (Winkelmann, 2009). Hence, the present study assume the individual social capital as a significant positive predictor of subjective well-being of grassroots level inventors.
Community Connectedness: Previous studies have found that social connectedness (sense of community)
positively correlate with the subjective well-being (Helliwell J. F., 2003; Helliwell & Putnam, 2004; Winkelmann, 2009; Helliwell J. F., 2007). Whereas, lack of social connections decreases the subjective well-being (Dolan, Peasgood, & White, 2008). Davidson and Cotter (1991) have found that a strong sense
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of community has positive correlation with the happiness of the people (Davidson & Cotter, 1991). Yoon, Lee and Goh also found a positive relationship between social connectedness and subjective well-being (Yoon, Lee, & Goh, 2008). Owing to the majority of studies on community connectedness indicate positive correlation with subjective well-being, the present study hypothesized community connectedness as a significant positive predictor of the subjective well-being of GLIs.
Theoretical Model
Recent literature on the Internet usage has indicated the influence of the Internet usage on the social capital, community participation and empowerment of the different social segments of the society (Haythornthwaite & Kendall, 2010; Robinson & Martin, 2010; Pnard & Poussing, 2010). Number of studies have explained the influence of the Internet usage on the subjective well-being of other social groups through the social networks (Bruke, Marlow, & Lento, 2010; Sum, Mathews, Pourghasem, & Hughes, 2009). Further, the Internet usage has been identified as the main knowledge source of the successful inventors in the developed countries (Georgia Tech Enterprise innovation Institute, 2008). As far as is known, there is hardly any published studies made an effort to explore how the Internet usage influence on the social capital, connectedness, objective and subjective success of GLIs in developing countries like Sri Lanka.
According to the bottom-up theories, subjective well-being is the ultimate success in life. Whereas, all the objective achievements in life domains bring the positive or negative effects on the subjective well-being (Diener E. , 2009 a). Subjective well-being theories and findings of previous studies have suggested social capital, community connectedness and objective success as the positive mediating factors between the Internet usage and subjective well-being. Based on the theoretical and empirical evidences of the previous literature, the researchers developed correlational research model to explore how the Internet usage influence on the social capital, community connectedness, objective success and ultimately the subjective well-being of the GLIs in Sri Lanka (Figure 1).
Social Capital
Internet Usage
Objective Success
Subjective Well-being Community Connectedness Figure 1: Hypothesized theoretical model of the study
Method Conceptualization and Operationalization Internet Usage

Internet can be used for various general and casual purposes; however, in the present study Internet usage is operationally defined as the GLIs intensity to use the Internet for knowledge and information collection, sharing and communication. Rodgers and Sheldon (2002) have developed the Web Motivation
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Inventory (WMI) scale by using four factors; researching, communicating, surfing, shopping. They developed 12 items 5-point likert scale including three items for each factor (Rodgers, Jin, Rettie, Alpert, & Yoon, 2005). In the present study, researchers wanted to measure the GLIs usage of the Internet for their information, knowledge and communication needs. Therefore, items that measure the shopping motive was considered as irrelevant. Researchers modified the WMI scale items to develop a much shorter scale by reducing items through combining items together and validated them in a pilot study. Internet usage scale was used with the likert scale responses as 1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=neutral, 4= Agree and 5= Strongly Agree. ( = .868).
Social Capital
Phillips and Pittman (2009) defined social capital (social capacity) as the extent to which members of a community can work together effectively to develop strong relationships to solve problems, make group decisions and collaborate effectively to plan, set goals, and get things done in communities (Phillips & Pittman, 2009, p. 6). Social capital improves the subjective well-being by giving opportunities to the community members to share knowledge, resources and feelings (Winkelmann , 2009). Hence, social capital is one of the primary features of socially organized communities and it allows members to resolve collective problems more easily (Wiesinger, 2007). As far as GLIs involve in inventive activities as individuals, measuring of their individual social capital considered to be more meaningful. Therefore, present study measured the social capital from the individual perspective to identify how the GLIs received required resources from their social relationships. Past studies has confirmed that individual level relationships with family, friends, neighbors and other social organizations have positively contributed to the subjective well-being (Helliwell & Putnam, 2004; Hooghe & Vanhoutte, 2009). Present study measured the individual social capital based on the Gaags (2005) 17 item resource generator scale by integrating the response structure of Granovetters (1973) strong, weak and absent of social ties. In the present study, 17 items of Gaags individual social capital resource generator scale were translated to Sinhala language by changing only the currency of the tem number 4 to Sri Lankan rupees. But, the reaserchers modified the response options of the resources generator scale as 1= No, 2=official level, 3= Friends friend, 4=friend, 5= relative and 6= family member. Higher summated score of the scale represent a strong social capital and lower summated scores represent a weak social capital. ( =.737).
Community Connectedness (Sense of Community)

Community connectedness is a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members needs will be met through their commitment to be together (McMillan & Chavis, 1986). Even though there are well known instruments to measure the sense of community (community connectedness), generally they are very long instruments (Doolittle & MacDonald, 1978; Davidson & Cotter, 1986). However, Frost and Meyer (2009) measure the community connectedness of using relatively shorter scale and the scale was able to use to measure the connectedness of GLI community. Frost and Meyers Community connectedness scale consists with 8items that adapted from a 7-item community cohesion scale that has been used in the Urban Mens Health Study (UMHS). The modified scale has shown high validity and Cronbach alpha internal consistent value (Frost & Meyer, 2009). In the present study, Frost and Meyers community connectedness scale was modified by just replacing the specific words related to GLI community. (= .822).
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Objective Success
According to the theoretical argument of the bottom-up theory of subjective well-being, all the material and objective outcomes will contribute to the subjective well-being (Snyder & Lopez, 2007). Hence, the tangible and explicit outcomes of the innovation process are not the ultimate success of the GLIs. Therefore in this study objective success was defined as a mediator variable of the subjective well-being of GLIs. The present study adopted the Hauschildts innovation process approach to measure the objective success of the inventors (Hauschildt, 1991). Hauschildt (1991) had explained the importance of measuring the success of innovation at different stages of innovation process. According to him not every invention is going through all different stages of the innovation process. Therefore, measuring the success of inventors only by patent or commercialization measurements not show the reality of the innovation success. Adhering to Hauschildts framework, present study has adapted five different objective measurements to measure the inventors success at each stage of the innovation process: Idea generation stage by patent receives, competitive evaluation stage by award winnings, market entrance stage by commercialization, market survival stage by survival in market and income earning stage by profit earned. Researcher initially developed the objective success measurement and asked for advices and comments from selected panel of experts. When consulted the Weick, she advised to the researchers to use limited number of items with dichotomous responds, because that is straightforward to measure and avoid complex comparisons (Weick C, Personal Communication, 12th August 2008). Weick & Eakin (2005) also measured the commercial success of inventors using multi item dichotomous (0, 1) scale. Therefore, objective success is calculated as the summation of five items measured using dichotomous scale (0, 1); the patent grants, award and rewards, commercial startup, commercial continuation and profitable inventions. In the questionnaire researcher asked the respondents to state how many patent they received, how many awards and rewards they won, how many inventions started to commercialized, how many of they still commercialized and how many inventions earned profits. Respondents who reported values higher than one considered as one and others considered as zero. By calculating the summation of dichotomous responses, researcher generated the continuous objective success variable ranging from zero to five. That is higher than the four scale values, which was the minimum recommended range of scales in structural equation and path modeling (Hair, Black, Babin, & Anderson, 2009).
Subjective Well-being
According to the literature, definitions of the subjective well-being consist with emotional aspect: mostly measured by the happiness and cognitive aspect: mostly measured by satisfaction with life. Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) are the most administrated scales to measure subjective well-being (Snyder & Lopez, 2007; Diener , 2009 a). The Satisfaction with Life Scale has been tested for its reliability and validity by the authors and test has shown high level of consistency, validity and reliability to measure the satisfaction of life of different type of domains (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Graiffin, 1985; Pavot & Diener, 1993). The Subjective Happiness Scale was widely used validated instrument in14 different studies with 2,732 participants (University of Pennsylvania, 2007). Results have signified that the Subjective Happiness Scale has the high internal consistency, which has been established to be stable across different types of samples. In order to measure both emotional and cognitive aspects of subjective well-being, integration the of Subjective Happiness Scale and Satisfaction With Life Scale was already practiced by the Pichler (2006), Rogatko (2010) and (Lyubomirsky , 2008) and therefore, Lyubomirsky recommended the researchers to use integrated scale in the present study (Lyubomirsky S, Personal Communication, 21st February 2010). Both the SHS and SWLS are available for free usage with copy left policy. Therefore, in the present study, subjective well-being was measured using summation of original Subjective Happiness Scale-4 items (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1997) and
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Satisfaction with Life Scale 5 items (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Graiffin, 1985). Both the scales have seven point likert ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). ( = .776).
Population and Sample

Even though all the inventors are not applied for patents, patent databases has been recognized as the only available central depository of the innovation skills of a nation (Jaffe, Trajtenberg, & Romer, 2002; Koch, 1991). Hence, the researchers searched the Sri Lanka National Intellectual Property Office (SLNIPO) patent database for the GLIswho applied for the patents during the year 2000-2009. Researchers were able to identify 640 independent inventors as the target population of the study. Then the researchers selected 200 inventors using stratified random sampling technique based on their living districts. Sample represented the 31 percent of the target population. Researchers were planning evaluate the conceptual model using model fit indexes of the structural equation modeling. According to the literature minimum sample size is 200 when path model has more parameters to be estimated (Kline, 2010). Hence, the selected sample size was able to generate results with acceptable level of power.
Participants
Table 1 depicts the demographic profile of the respondents of the study. According to the Table 1, majority of the respondents are middle aged males. Then again two-third of the respondents was married and 60 percent of the respondents had completed either vocational or university level education. Majority of the respondents were self-employed who have freedom of choice about what they are doing. Further two third of the respondents were living in rural areas of Sri Lanka. Table 1: Demographic profile of the respondents Frequency Age 10-18 19-30 31-40 41-55 56-65 65+ Gender Male Female Marital status Married Unmarried 10 43 45 60 36 6 190 10 135 65 % 5.0 21.5 22.5 30.0 18.0 3.0 95 5 67 33 Education School vocational Lower Tertiary Post graduate Employment Sector Government Private Non Government Freelance Location Rural Urban Frequency 80 34 65 21 34 77 01 88 128 72 % 40 17 32.5 10.5 17 38.5 0.5 44 64 36
Demographic factors of the respondents, such as age, gender, marital status, education and employment status are comparatively identical with the previous studies on independent inventors in developed countries. Majority of those studies found that common independent inventor is a middle aged married male who has high level of education qualifications and involved in self-employed economic activities (Sirilli, 1987; Amesse & Desranleau, 1991; Weick & Eakin, 2005; Georgia Tech Enterprise innovation Institute, 2008). Conversely, previous studies have identified that majority of the independent inventors are living in metropolitan areas rather than rural areas. The urban and rural classification in Sri Lanka has been done based on the size of the lowest political administrates of the country. Nevertheless, in most
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of the developed countries it has been classified based on the density of the population (United Nations, 2007). Apart from the differences occurred owing to this classification, in general Sri Lankan GLIsthose who represent the sample have shown similar demographic profile as the independent inventors in the developed countries. Hence, the sample represents a unbiased cross-section of the independent inventors community.
Procedure
The required data was collected through self-administrative questionnaire at the Sri Lanka Independent Inventors Survey 2010 (SLIS 2010). The survey was carried out from month of February to August in 2010. Researchers invited the randomly selected respondents to participate for the data collection panels organized at the centers located in four metropolitan districts in Sri Lanka. After explaining the aim and objectives, researchers explained the structure of the questionnaire and specific instructions to answer it properly. After the clarifications, respondents were asked to answer the questionnaire. When collecting the filled questionnaires, researchers did quick scanning for the missing values, and researchers ensure that respondents answer all the questions in the questionnaire. After collecting the data, researchers entered the data in to the SPSS software package and conducted the exploratory data analysis (EDA). During the EDA researchers tested the assumptions of outliers, normality, linearity and multicolinearity. Owing to the fact that researchers were planning to adapt the path analysis statistical method for model development and comparison, data were tested for multivariate normality and multivariate outlier using critical value of the Mardia kurtosis (Mardia, 1970).
Results
Table 2 presents the bivariate correlation coefficients between the variables in the present study. it also depicts the expected score ranges, means and standard deviations of the variables. Table 2: Pearson product movement correlation coefficients of variables in the model Expected Range 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Subjective well-being Objective Success The Internet Usage Social Capital Community Connectedness 9-63 0-5 4-20 17-102 8-56 Mean 41.100 2.520 12.845 54.200 43.275 7.051 1.490 4.393 9.405 6.265 SD 1 .341** .348** .314** .414** 1 .161* .192** .129 1 .303** .161* 1 .098 1 1 2 3 4 5
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). According to the Table 2, the respondent GLIs have higher moderate level subjective well-being (M = 41.1, SD=7.051). Then again they have achieved only moderate level objective success (M = 2.52, SD = 1.490). Even though the respondents have shown high level of community connectedness (M = 43.275, SD = 6.265), they have achieved only moderate level social capital (M = 54.200, SD = 9.405). Respondent inventors are moderate level Internet users (M = 12.845, SD = 4.393). According the Pearson product movement correlation coefficients (r), all the exogenous variables of subjective well-being have shown moderate level correlation at .01 level. However, relationship between objective success and the Internet usage (r = .161, p < .05), objective success and social capital (r =.192, p < .01) have shown only low level correlation. Further, the relationship between objective success and
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community connectedness (r = .129, p > .05) was not statistically significant at .05 level. Hence, the results indicate that inventors community connectedness has no influence on their objective achievements. According to the correlation analysis, there was no threat of multicolinearity between exogenous variables of the hypothetical model. Hence, the researchers continued the data analysis with path analysis using AMOS software version 19. After two iterations of modifications by removing insignificant paths of the model, the researchers were able develop the optimal model of the study (Figure 2). Social Capital R2 =.092
=.192, p=.006 =.178, p=.004 Objective Success R2=.037 =.235, p=.000
=.303, p=.000
The Internet Usage =.207, p=.000 =.161, p=.021 Community Connectedness R2=.026 =.340, p=.000
Subjective well-being R2=.320
2(df, p) =4.899 (3, .179), GFI=.990, IFI=.984, TLI=.943, CFI=.983, RMSEA=.056, HOETER ,05= 318 Figure 2: Modified final model of the study
All the model fit indices presented in Figure 2 satisfied the generally accepted cut-off levels recommended by the Kline (2010). Hence, the modified model presented in Figure 2 considered to be the statistically significant final model of the present study. All the exogenous and mediator variables of the model were able to explain 32% of the variance of the ultimate dependent variable; subjective well- being (r2 =.320). Hence, the Internet usage, social capital, community connectedness and objective success were able to explain 32% of the variance of the happiness and satisfaction of GLIs in Sri Lanka. According to the Figure 2, the Internet usage has significant positive direct influence on the social capital ( = .303, p = .000), community connectedness ( = .161, p = .021) and the subjective well-being ( = .207, p = .000) of the GLIs in Sri Lanka. Even though the expectations were high on the influence of the Internet on the technological development of developing countries, the results indicates that there is no significant direct influence of the Internet usage on the objective success of the GLIs in Sri Lanka. However, through the social capital, the Internet usage indirectly influence on the objective success. Biascorrected percentile bootstrapping of 2000 samples indicates that the indirect influence was statistically significant ( = .058, Two tailed sig. = .001). Hence, the Internet usage has significant indirect influence on the objective achievements of the GLIsin Sri Lanka through the influence of social capital. However the strength of the influence is not very strong. Unlike on the objective success, the Internet usage have significant direct influence on the subjective wellbeing of the GLIsin Sri Lanka ( = .207, p = .000). Further, through social capital and community
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connectedness, the Internet usage has indirect influence on the subjective well-being. According to the bootstrapping results, indirect influence of the Internet usage on subjective well-being through social capital and community connectedness was statistically significant ( = .122, p = .001). Statistical results of the present study indicate that the Internet usage is a significant predictor of the social capital, community connectedness and subjective well-being of the GLIs. However, the Internet usage was not a significant predictor of the inventive success of GLIs in Sri Lanka.
Discussion and Conclusion

The aim of this paper to explore the influence of the Internet usage on the social capital, community connectedness, Objective success and Subjective well-being of the GLIs in Sri Lanka. The findings of the study can be used to explain how the Internet usage directly and indirectly influence on the objective success of the GLIs. Further the findings explain how all factors ultimately influenced on the subjective well-being of the GLIs in Sri Lanka.
Factors Influencing the Objective Success of GLIs

Research report of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) on the new realities of innovations indicates that the Internet is rapidly creating product users as GLIs(NESTA, 2008). Not only the Internet has created the new inventors, the Internet has identified as a critical success factor of modern innovative businesses (Sparks & Thomas, 2001). Further, the Internet usage has been considered as one of the major contributors of the improvements of the performance of Research and Development (R & D) activities and innovation (Kafouros, 2006). As far as number of inventions has grown with the expansion of the Internet, there are evidences that the Internet usage have influenced on inventors (World Intelectual Property Organization, 2007). Findings of the 2007 Georgias independent inventors also indicated that the Internet is among the top three resources of commercially successful inventors (Georgia Tech Enterprise innovation Institute, 2008). Even though there was hype on the impact of the Internet on technological achievements of developing countries (Mansell, 2001; Steinmueller, 2001), findings of the present study do not support that argument. According to the previous literature the Internet is popular medium among the inventors to share explicit knowledge among each other (Ibrahim & Fallah, 2005); however as the path analysis results of the present study, the Internet usage is not significantly influenced the objective success of GLIsin Sri Lanka. The findings suggest that even though there is moderate level the Internet usage among the grassroots level inventors, there might be significant gap between inventors the Internet usage as information and communication medium to gain knowledge. The comments made by the respondents at the post survey discussions also suggested that the majority of them do not have the Internet connections at their homes and they are not aware how to search for patent and innovation information in the Internet (Wickramasinghe, 2010). The results indicate the impact of the Internet on inventive success artificially inflated hype than the real situation in the developing country like Sri Lanka. There is lack of Internet access and knowledge divide about the usage of digital content in Sri Lanka (Gamege & Halpin, 2007). Therefore digital divide still might be a valid reason for low impact of the Internet usage on the objective success of grassroots level inventors. Connectedness, networking and knowledge sharing have been identified as the major factors that contribute to the success of independent inventors in the develop countries like United Stated of America (Whalley, 1991). However, according to the findings of the present study Community connectedness is not a significant predictor of the objective success. Unlike industrial countries, there was no platform for collaboration among the GLIs in Sri Lanka. Finding of the community connectedness indicates the
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physically scattered and individualistic nature of the GLIs community in Sri Lanka. Even though they are emotionally attached to each other, physically there was no attachment among inventors to support each other. Therefore, emotional attachment is unable to provide fruitful contribution for the inventive activities through knowledge and resource sharing among the members of the community. According the comments made by the GLIs at the panel discussions, there is a desperate need for forming a common platform that would allow the convergence of GLIs in Sri Lanka to build stronger ties. Hence, technological policy developers have to consider this as prioritized need that require to be satisfied sooner rather than later. According to the previous literature, as independent inventors have limited resources and knowledge by their own, they need to have public support to achieve inventive success (Meyer, 2004). Indicating the importance of public support on inventive success, social capital was the only significant influential predictor of the objective success of the GLIs in Sri Lanka. It suggests that GLIs in Sri Lanka receive the required resources from their individual social relationships rather than within the inventive community. By providing opportunities to the inventors to interact with social structures and groups those who can contribute to their inventive activities, Sri Lanka would be able to increase the successful achievements in technological inventions in the future.
Factors Effecting the Subjective Well-Being of the GLIs

Social networking have positive impact on social capital and subjective well-being (Bruke, Marlow, & Lento, 2010). The Internet provides various solutions to establish the social communication between diverse people (Contarello & Sarrica, 2007). Therefore, the Internet usage is expected to be positive predictor of social capital, connectedness and subjective well-being. The results of the present study validate the previous research findings and hypothesized relationship between the Internet usage, social capital, connectedness and subjective well-being. Grassroots inventors those who use the Internet might have more options to interact with other inventors and influential parties to share their knowledge and to gain assistance. This interaction might have positively influence to expand their social capital and connectedness towards fellow inventors. According to the findings of the study, Internet usage and community connectedness are not the significant predictors of the objective success. However, along with the social capital and objective success, Internet usage and community connectedness significantly contributed to the subjective wellbeing of the GLIs in Sri Lanka. Finding suggests Internet usage as significant predictor of social capital, community connectedness and ultimately the subjective well-being of the inventive community of Sri Lanka. Although the GLIshave not achieved high level objective success in their inventive activities, whatever they have achieved from their inventions positively influence on their subjective well-being. Hence, the inventive activities have been the significant life domain of the GLIsof Sri Lanka that contribute to their subjective well-being. This might be the reason why the GLIs are continuing in inventive activities, even they do not achieve higher objective success. The Internet has been identified as a tool that can make technological knowledge transferring from developed to developing countries. Hence, most of the developing countries have given serious attention on developing the Internet based information and communication technologies to bridge the digital divide without concerning for what. However, present study found that the Internet usage among the GLIs in Sri Lanka is moderate and there is no significant influence of the Internet usage on objective success of the inventors. Hence, current the Internet usage might not influence on the innovation development in Sri Lanka. Therefore, technological knowledge transferring has not been happened in Sri Lanka as expected. However, findings of the study revealed that the Internet usage has been a significant
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predictor of the happiness and satisfaction of life among the inventors. Therefore, the Internet has been significant contributor of the subjective quality of life of the inventors. That suggests that inventors use the Internet as social communication medium rather than technological knowledge source. The sample of the study was taken from the population of Sri Lankan patent applied grassroots level inventors. Therefore finding might not be applicable in all the inventors in developing countries. However, developing countries with similar social, economic and cultural conditions as Sri Lanka, can be utilized the findings of the study to help their GLIsto be happy and successful. Basically the inventor assessment programs in developing countries should not overemphasis the assessing inventors based on pure objective measures such as number of patents, patent citations, awards and rewards, commercialized inventions or profitability. Overemphasis on these factors would create pessimistic thinking and uncertainty among the inventors about their inventive lives. It would create extra burden on the inventors. This might be counter-productive when the inventors give up inventive activities or find much easier ways to achieve subjective success of life than being an inventor. Therefore, independent inventors in developing countries should be considered as national assets and should be evaluated more constructive way that can increase their subjective well-being than the destructive straightforward successful or unsuccessful binary type of evaluations.
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Psychometric properties of a newly established flow state questionnaire

Yeni Ak Durum leinin psikometrik zellikleri Tmea Magyardi1, Henriett Nagy2, Pter Soltsz1, Tams Mzes1, Attila Olh2
Abstract
In the last decades several measuring methods have been established for studying flow experience. The starting point for the establishment of the Flow State Questionnaire (PPL-FSQ: Flow State Questionnaire of the Positive Psychology Lab) was Cskszentmihlyis phenomenological definition. There is no consensus about the basic factors of flow experience, so the goal was to develop a questionnaire which is based on theoretical principles and empirical results also. The first version of the PPL-FSQ had 40 items. In order to test this questionnaire a study was conducted with 214 participants. Exploratory post hoc analysis and factor analysis were performed and had a result of a twofactor model of 16 items. The questionnaire was improved by item-imputation, so the second version of the survey consisted of 23 items. Then the instrument was tested through several studies (N = 260) and the latent structure of the questionnaire was examined. The exploratory factor analysis resulted in a two-factor model of 20 items. The balance between challenges and skills (11 items) and Absorption in the activity (9 items) factors. Identifying these two factors strengthens the theoretical hypothesis that the basic dimensions of flow experience are the balance between challenges and skills, as well as absorption in the task. Keywords: Flow; questionnaire; factor analysis, validity, reliability
zet
Son yllarda, ak deneyimini deerlendirmek zere farkl lme yntemleri kullanlmtr. Ak Durum lei (AD) iin k noktas, Cskszentmihlyinin fenemenolojik tanm olmutur. Ak deneyiminin temel faktrlerinin ne olduu ile ilgili bir uzlama sz konusu deildir, dolaysyla bu almada ama kuramsal temellere dayal ve deneysel bulgularla desteklenmi bir lme arac gelitirmektir. ADnn ilk versiyonu 40 maddeden olumutur. Bu lek 214 katlmcdan elde edilen veriler zerinden test edilmitir. Amlayc post-hoc analizi ve amlayc faktr analizi sonucu iki faktrl 16 maddelik bir lek elde edilmitir. Daha sonra yaplan almada, lek maddeleri artrlm lein ikinci versiyonu 23 maddeden olumutur. lek birka almada test edilmi (N = 260) ve lein faktr yaps incelenmitir. Amlayc faktr analizi sonucu, iki faktrl 20 maddelik bir lek elde edilmitir. Buna gore lei oluturan faktrler, glkler ve beceriler arasndaki denge (11 madde) ve ie younlama olarak belirlenmitir. Szkonusu bu iki faktr, akla ilgili tanmlanan teorik hipotezi destekler niteliktedir. Anahtar kelimeler: Ak, lek, faktr analizi, geerlik, gvenirlik
Introduction
Cskszentmihlyi has framed his flow theory based on his systematic research that took two decades (Cskszentmihlyi, 1975/2000). He focused on the circumstances of the happiest and most pleasured moments of peoples life. Flow is a subjective state, where the person is intensively involved in a task, excluding other stimuli and attention is fully invested in that exact challenging but achievable activity
Etvs Lornd University, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Doctoral School of Psychology Etvs Lornd University, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Institute of Psychology Corresponding person is Tmea Magyardi, Etvs Lornd University, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Doctoral School of Psychology, Budapest, Hungary. magyarodi.timea@ppk.elte.hu
1 2
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(Cskszentmihlyi, Abuhamdeh & Nakamura, 2005). In the last decades a lot of methods have been established for measuring flow (both qualitative and quantitative ones). The measurement of flow has a significant past, as several measuring tools have been developed since the construct was established. Due to this long past of flow measurement (Engeser, 2012) it might be reasonable to draw a review of the methods with the description of their use, advantages and disadvantages, then try to build an integrated process of the development of a new measure which may integrate the previous findings on the area of measuring flow. This work can help capturing flow through its inevitable dimensions which may contribute to the better understanding of this construct, and might empirically check the antecedents and the special characteristics also of this phenomenologically constructed subjective state. The conceptual basis of flow, its nature and conditions were discovered by Cskszentmihlyi with halfstructured interviews of e. g. chess players, climbers, dancers, or surgeons (Nakamura & Cskszentmihlyi, 2005), and the general characteristics of flow experience (the balance between challenges and skills, clear goals, immediate feedback) and its proximal conditions were also determined. Since then, interview methods have been used in several research to comprehensively understand the nature of flow experience (i. e. Hefferon & Ollis, 2006; Swann, Keegan et al., 2011). Occasionally the interview was combined with observation techniques (i. e. Seifert & Hedderson, 2010) which are mainly used in exploratory research where the aim is to observe situations or activities (Delle Fave, Massimini & Massi, 2011). One of the significant advantages (Cskszentmihlyi & Robinson, 1990) of the interview method is its adequacy for revealing situation-specific factors or cultural characteristics of flow (Delle Fave, Massimini & Bassi, 2011; Swann, Keegan et al., 2011). It is a flexible and dynamic research method (Pace, 2004), although not an accurate technique because of distortion. The research of small samples is feasible, but it is an important method also for examining comprehensive, subjective aspects which can be a starting point in the development of quantitative methods and questionnaires (i. e. Jennett, Cox et al., 2008). The Experience Sampling Method (ESM3) was established for describing everyday life. It examines what people do, how they feel during the activity, so the flow examination is online in real time and context (Cskszentmihlyi, Larson & Prescott, 1977). In its first version the subjects were asked to write their activities on that particular day and which moments were the most enjoyable. However this technique was impractical as there were only a few discriminative answers. Cskszentmihlyi and his colleagues (1977) were the first who tried the pager method and its attached two-page questionnaire. During this procedure electronic signs activate the pager at random times. The subjects state their answers then on a self-report form about the actual activity, their partners, and actual mood. Besides these data, participants report their perceived experiences on different Likert-scale questionnaires (Cskszentmihlyi & Larson, 2006), depending on the focus of the research. The ESM allows measuring the effect of the context; personal characteristics can also be tested with this method (i. e. flow, positive affects, concentration). Important patterns can also be revealed by this method: for example the dynamics of emotions or subjective states (intensity, sequences of states, and the relationship between different states) (Cskszentmihlyi & Larson, 2006). It is a colorful method of data collection for distinguishing between short- and long-term effects (Cskszentmihlyi & Hunter, 2003).
ESM: Experience Sampling Method
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The main limitation of the ESM is its dependency of self-reports there are situations which can be quite problematic (i. e. private, sensitive, illegal activities) (Cskszentmihlyi & Larson, 2006), or there are no answers or just selective answers. Another disadvantage is its costly execution. However the validation and reliability of the ESM are supported by many research results (i. e. Cskszentmihlyi & Larson, 2006). The ESM has been used in a lot of recent research (i. e. Cskszentmihlyi & Hunter, 2003; Moneta, 2004). The method has been improved many times: the best innovation of the method is the feedback function for the subjects (ES+feedback, Hsieh, Li et al., 2008), the development of reconstruction possibilities for the experience sampling day (Khan, Markopoulos et al., 2008), and the introduction of different mobile and computer applications (Khan & Markopoulos, 2009; Chen, Wigand & Nilan, 1998). Contrary to the interview or the ESM methods, paper-pencil tests are used when the purpose is not the identification of flow dimensions but their measurement, and the exploration of differences in the occurrence of flow experience, or between situations or persons (Nakamura & Cskszentmihlyi, 2005). According to Novak and Hoffmans typology (1997), research which used narrative description/survey approach gives a general flow description (e. g. Jackson & Roberts, 1992) for subjects, then they make a short, narrative and specific description about the situation in which they had the exact experience, after which they evaluate the activity on a scale. This is the most general and least specific level of flow measurement. Delle Fave, Massimini and Bassi (2011) note that surveys with more items are more psychometrically reliable, but when choosing the measurement the researcher needs to focus on the aim of the study. In the last decades several situation-specific procedures have been developed for measuring flow. The activity/survey approach (Novak & Hoffmann, 1997) can also be used in laboratory contexts; it is a proper tool for examining specific activities. It is important to decide when the participants should evaluate the level of their flow experience: during or after the activity. It is considered that questionnaires which are filled-in right after the activity have higher validity. The focus of the situation-specific flow questionnaires is mainly work, sports, leisure time activities and human-computer interactions, a widerange of self-report instruments have been offered. Table 1. Situation-specific questionnaires of flow Author(s) (date) Instrument Number of items Dimension(s) Autotelic experience Clear goals Challenge-skill balance Concentration on task at hand Paradox of control Unambiguous feedback Action-awareness merging Transformation of time Loss of selfconsciousness
Jackson and Marsh (1996)
Flow State Scale
36 Jackson, Kimiecik et al. (1998) Dispositional Flow Scale
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Flow State Scale-2 Jackson and Eklund (2002) Dispositional Flow Scale-2
Jackson, Martin and Eklund (2008) Martin and Jackson (2008) Novak and Hoffmann (1997)
Short Flow Scales (dispositional and state) Core Flow Scales (dispositional and state) Flow questionnaire for internet users
9 10 77
Unidimensional flow construct Sum of skills and challenges Difference of skills and challenges Flow Operator Feedback Communication place Communication tool Autotelic experience Time distortion Playability Challenge Goals Feedback Story Concentration Control Flow Anxiety Boredom Apathy Absorption during work Enjoyment of work Intrinsic work motivation
Choi and Kim (2004)
Questionnaire for measuring the flow state (computer-situation)
18
Kiili (2005)
Flow Scale-1
23
Olh (2005)
Situation-Specific Flow Questionnaire
26
Bakker (2008)
WOrk-Related Flow Inventory
13
These paper-pencil measures are able to examine big samples and the experience and personal flow skill can be evaluated by specific dimensions. Some of these questionnaires construe the original Cskszentmihlyi phenomenon in various ways (Novak, Hoffmann & Yung, 1998), they usually involve some other constructs as well in flow questionnaires (i. e. Bakker, 2008). The measurement of the concept of flow has been changed over the decades and several measuring method has been established based on many different designs as the previous section described. The different aspects of measurement captured flow in different ways, although they are mostly followed the original phenomenological direction offered by Cskszentmihlyi (1975/2000). However through the time a lot of differently structured analyzing process and operationalization have been available. According to
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the recent studies there is a need to integrate the different approaches, to reveal a basic structure behind the construct of flow as a kind of standardization (e. g. Moneta, 2012). The presented study aims to develop a measure which considers the previous findings of the operationalization and measurement of flow as an integrating goal, and aims to establish a tool with this exploratory function for being able to sort out the inherent and inevitable factors of flow through which the construct can be captured the. The phenomenological character of flow theory and the instability of factor structures (Cskszentmihlyi, Abuhamdeh & Nakamura, 2005) induce us to further study flow dimensions or if it is empirically and statistically reasonable to revise the flow theory induced methods. For testing these questions the Flow State Questionnaire (PPL-FSQ4) was established which is stable, based on empirical studies and previous research of flow measurement. It is an appropriate tool for measuring the basic meta-dimensions of flow, and can be used in different test situations for the better understanding of the studied phenomena: that subjective state, where the person is intensively involved in a challenging task, excluding other stimuli and with fully-invested attention (Cskszentmihlyi, Abuhamdeh & Nakamura, 2005).
Calculation
The first step of developing the PPL-FSQ was the review of literature about measuring flow (Jackson & Roberts, 1992; Chen, 2006; Olh, 2005; Ghani & Deshpande, 1994; Novak & Hoffmann, 1997; Webster, Trevino & Ryan, 1993) and then the items were composed based on these previous findings above. The original item bank had items associating with the following flow dimensions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. unambiguous goals which are possible to reach, direct feedback about the headways in the process, intensive and focused attention on the exact activity which is being done, fusion of activity and sense (consciousness), those perceived challenges which can just be performed by extant skills, loss of self-consciousness, feeling control over the activity, transformation of time perception.
The establishment of the original item bank was done by five researchers of the Positive Psychology Laboratory at Etvs Lornd University. Those statements were composed which represented the scales previously revealed in the literature. The next step of the development was the filtration of duplicated items, and so the first version of the PPL-FSQ was finished: it contained 40 items which could be evaluated on a 5-point Likert scale (1-Strongly disagree to 5-Strongly agree). For testing this version a study was designed (N = 214). According to the original theory (Cskszentmihlyi, 1975/2000), flow is a different territory of experiences than antiflow states so there is a need to find those measuring items which can discriminate these qualitatively different mental states. In alignment the analysis of the first database was based on this discriminating aim, as the first study proved data of the first version of the PPL-FSQ in three different situations: flow, anxiety and boredom states. This discriminating design is mainly followed nowadays in the physiological study of flow experience (e. g. Peifer, 2012).
PPL-FSQ: Flow State Questionnaire of the Positive Psychology Lab
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With the scale-edition, the aim was to analyze the discrimination characteristic of the items between flow and antiflow situations; the first goal was not to search for and reveal a latent, well-implemented structure. In the phase of item selection the first step was a post hoc analysis. The items which could discriminate between flow and antiflow situations were analyzed, and got a result of a scale version with 12 items. Exploratory factor analysis was made on the selected item collection for testing the detachment of scales and resulted in two factors. There were 4 items in the post-hoc analysis which discriminated each situation from the others, therefore from a theoretical approach and with an aim for future testing these items were added to the 12-itemed structure. In the next step of the development 7 further items were added, so the result is a version of 23 items. These 7 items were based on the feedback of the participants in the first study with the tetris design, in which subjects were asked to say statements which describe their experiences during the activity in the study as the study was based on the induction of flow and antiflow experiences the statements by the subjects were expected to describe these subjective states. The second version of the questionnaire was tested in two different studies (30 and 100 people, 2-2 occasions, N = 260), after which the structure was tested by exploratory factor analysis again. The final version consists of 20 items of 2 factors.
Method Subjects
The development of the PPL-FSQ was executed through three different studies with various research questions, through different designs. In these three studies different measures were administered but PPLFSQ was used in all these three studies. The first 40-itemed version of the PPL-FSQ was tested on a sample of 214 university students (MAge = 22.29; SDAge = 3.11; NWomen = 139, NMen = 75) in a study which focused on the discriminative experience-induction regarding flow and antiflow states through the calibration of the individual appropriate speed of an online Tetris game. The second 23-itemed version of the PPL-FSQ was used in two laboratory studies on an overall sample of 260 university students (MAge = 22.45; SDAge = 3.80; NWomen = 84, NMen = 166, with 10 missing data in the male and female samples). These subjects filled in the same version of the PPL-FSQ, though they participated in different studies: in the first study the focus was on the appearance of flow during motor learning associated with the focus of attention, then in the second study the scope of the questions was about the subjective and common experiences during a challenging, cooperative activity. The research samples were recruited at university courses, participation was voluntary.
Procedure
In the testing phase of the PPL-FSQ with 40 items the subjects played an online tetris game where speed was varied. There were three cases: too fast, too slow or optimal speed for the subject (speed was set on individual basis, the induction of flow and antiflow experiences were executed by the fitting of the difficulty and personal skill level). Participants filled in the online PPL-FSQ after each game session. The second version of the PPL-FSQ was tested in two studies of playing interactive computer games (Nintendo Wii Snowboard / Tennis). In the first study the role of flow experience in acquiring motor skills were observed during a snowboard game where the intrinsic or extrinsic attention focus (Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2010) was manipulated. After the game they filled in the PPL-FSQ (N = 60). In the second study the aim was to differentiate flow experience in individual and social contexts through double tennis games with the computer and a real partner. After the games they filled in the PPL-FSQ (N = 200). The
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studies were permitted by the Ethical Committee of the Institute of Psychology at Etvs Lornd University.
Measures
Different measures were administered in the three studies as in this paper the focus is on the development and description of PPL-FSQ. In the first study the PPL-FSQ with 40 items was used, based on the original flow theory and literature. The reliability of this version was low (Cr = .393), the development of the questionnaire was reasonable. In the second study the modified PPL-FSQ with 23 items was administered. The reliability of this version fulfilled the psychometric expectations (Cr = .841).
Results Study 1
The first version of PPL-FSQ with 40 items was applied in Study 1. During the item selection the items were examined by post hoc analysis (LSD) for testing which items are those that differentiate between flow and boredom, and flow and anxiety states. The result of the analysis is a 12-item structure: there were 8 items which differentiate between flow and boredom states, and 4 items which differentiate between flow and anxiety states in a statistically reliable way (p < .001). In the next step, in order to check the structure, factor analysis (Maximum Likelihood, Varimax rotation) was executed: the aim with the orthogonal rotation was to provide the independence of scales, because in this case the purpose was to differentiate between flow and antiflow situations. The KMO statistic (.865) and the significance level of the Bartlett test (df = 66, p < .000) was psychometrically acceptable, items intercorrelated enough, so this item bank with 12 statements was suitable for finding latent structure. The analysis of the eigenvalues referred to a two-factor solution, the two factors explained 59.23% of the total variance. Factor scores were acceptable in every item, the result was a factor with 8 items and another with 4 items (Flow-Boredom and Flow-Anxiety factors, which support the results of the earlier post hoc analysis). Table 2. Exploratory factor analysis of the selected PPL-FSQ (with 12 items) Items 11. The activity totally engrossed my attention. 23. It was boring for me.* 8. I forgot about the progress of time all along. 16. My attention was not engrossed at all by the task I had to do.* 38. I found the task interesting. 5. I forgot about the progress of time. 21. I forgot about my close environment. 14. Time passed faster than I thought it did. 1. My mind worked in total harmony with my body. 9. I felt that what I had to do matched my skills well. 24. I acted according to requirements regarding myself. 3. I knew what I wanted to achieve. Flow-Anxiety factor), * signs the reverse-scored items. Factor 1 2 .085 -.184 .253 -.200 .308 .033 -.023 Communalities h2 .604 .630 .617 .578 .596 .479 .448 .372 .598 .565 .320 .298
.773 -.772 .743 -.733 .708 .691 .669

.606 .133 .376 -.159 .237
.072 .762 .650 .543 .492
Note: the factor loadings of each factor are with italic numbers (Factor1: Flow-Boredom factor; Factor2:
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According to the analysis, the reliability of Flow-Anxiety factor is reasonable (CrF-A = .718), but FlowBoredom factor did not have an acceptable reliability (CrF-B = .307). As this factor structure is not the final one, the exploratory factor analysis was executed just to support the scale development. The correlation of these two factors was moderate (r = .358, p < .01). There were 4 statements in the item bank during post hoc analysis which differentiated flow from boredom and anxiety situations (p < .001) as well, so these items were added to the questionnaire during the progress of development. This version had 16 items and got augmented by 7 further statements, so the second version of the PPL-FSQ contained 23 items.
Study 2
In the second step of the questionnaire development an exploratory factor analysis (Maximum Likelihood) of the 23 items was executed to decide if the items are appropriate to use, and to reveal a possible latent structure. Promax rotation ( = 4) was applied, because the aim was to reveal the dimensional structure of flow, and it is methodologically reasonable that factors dont need to be orthogonal (Delle Fave, Massimini & Bassi, 2011). The KMO statistic (.901) and the significance level of the Bartlett test (df = 253; p < .000) was psychometrically acceptable, items intercorrelated enough, so this item bank with 23 statements was suitable for finding a latent structure. Eigenvalues predicted a three factor solution, but the factor loadings were unacceptably low on the third factor, therefore the three-factor model was rejected. The two factors explained 53.64% of the total variance. Those 3 items were excluded which had a factor loading lower than .5, so the result was a stable, well-fitted two-factor model with 20 items. The coherent items could have been interpreted well, the first factor was labeled as Balance between challenges and skill (11 items), and the second was labeled as Absorption in the task (9 items). Table 3. Final factor structure of the PPL-FSQ and communalities Items 23. I was able to keep up with the challenges. 9. I felt I can meet the requirements of the situation. 17. I had a grip on the events. 14. I felt I was in control over the situation. 18. I knew I was able to solve the task. 1. I knew exactly what I had to do, and I acted accordingly. 19. This task was not too difficult. 4. I felt that what I had to do matched my skills well. 1. I could effortlessly perform well. 22. My skills were in balance with the challenges of the activity. 5. My mind worked in total harmony with my body. 8. My attention was not engrossed at all by the activity. 12. It was boring for me.* 6. The activity totally engrossed my attention. 3. I forgot about the progress of time all along. 16. I found the task interesting. 2. I forgot about the progress of time. 7. Time passed faster than I thought it did. Factors 1 2 -.116 -.046 .016 .068 .009 .017 -.130 .165 -.112 Communalities h2 .651 .658 .640 .601 .549 .531 .455 .510 .395 .445 .429 .655 .651 .654 .638 .575 .517 .405
.825 .821 .796 .757 .739 .725 .692 .658 .645

.644 .630 .112 .102 -.023 -.069 .085 .123 .035
.082 .086 -.828 -.824 .814 .812 .773 .681 .628
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2. I fused with the task. 11. I forgot about my close environment.
.274 .101
.607 .543
.520 .330
Notes. The factor loadings of each factors are with italic numbers (Factor1: Balance of challenges and
skills factor; Factor2: Absorption in the task factor); * signs a reverse-scored item.
Reliability is acceptable in both factors (CrC-S = .921; CrA = .907). Intercorrelation between the two factors is low and significant (r = .221, p < .01). The two factors support the theoretical hypothesis which states that the basic deterministic factors of flow are balance between skills and challenges, and then absorption in the task, so they are the essential conditions of flow experience.
Discussion
In this research the focus was on the measuring methods of flow experience. The primary aim was to develop a correct questionnaire which has empirical basis, but it can be well-interpreted in the frames of Cskszentmihlyis original theory (Cskszentmihlyi, 1975/2000) and can be used in several different situations (activity/survey approach, Novak & Hoffmann, 1997). Until these days there have not been too many exploratory research which overstepped the theoretical concept of flow and aimed to find an autonomous structure (Delle Fave, Massimini & Bassi, 2011; Novak, Hoffmann & Duhachek, 2003), as well as examined the existence of a possible dimensional construction which may be different from the original theoretical description of flow experience. The development of the PPL-FSQ finally resulted in a structure of two factors of 20 items which can be well interpreted. The first version of the PPL-FSQ was developed on theoretical basis, every item belonged to the original factors (Cskszentmihlyi, 1975/2000; Kawabata & Mallett, 2011), and thus there was a possibility to have a result of the hypothetical factor structure. According to our analysis, flow experience can be identified with two meta-dimensions: Balance between challenges and skills and Absorption in the task. These two factors include the other dimensions of the original conception items about clear goals, control, concentration, transformation of time perception. The Balance between challenges and skills factor refers to the activity (the context) it covers the areas of skills-challenges balance, control and clear goals. In the early ESM studies Cskszentmihlyi, Rathunde and Whalen (2010) defined flow experience as the optimal rate of perceived challenges and skills (both of them are on high levels and in balance with each other). Kawabata and Mallett (2011) found that when there is balance between skills and challenges, the person is likely to get into the flow channel. The Absorption in the task factor refers to living through the experience it is about engagement, the quality of the experience and the accompanying factors of it (change of time perception, forgetting about the environment). Cskszentmihlyi (1997) defined flow as a state with deep absorption, which is intrinsically enjoyable and means total attention focus on the activity and solving of the task. Absorption in the task depends on the attitude of the person towards the activity (Diaz, 2011), whether there is the mobilizable, essential potential for development. There are some proximal factors considered in developing flow (Kawabata & Mallett, 2011): high and optimal rate of challenges and skills are needed to achieve the possibility to get into the flow channel, as well as the subjective experience, the operation in the flow channel itself has its own characteristics, which are identified by the absorption in the task. The main limitation of the presented research is studying flow in specific contexts; in some cases under laboratory conditions, which may decrease its ecological validity because circumstances may have had an influence on the completion of the surveys.
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In the presented studies the first step of the PPL-FSQ development was executed by post hoc analysis and exploratory factor analysis. The future task is to make confirmatory factor analysis in different contexts, samples [even in an international, cross-cultural frame for checking the question of universality, as Cskszentmihlyi and Cskszentmihlyi (1988) said the context of flow varies in each culture, but its dynamics is universal (Moneta, 2004)], activities, and situations, so the adequacy of the resulted two-factor structure in this research can be supported. Another remarkable question whether the questionnaire and its factors are able to differentiate between flow and non-flow experiences in different inductive contexts (Delle Fave, Massimini & Bassi, 2011). It is reasonable to examine the PPL-FSQ by structural equation modeling: the whole theoretical model can be tested and the sub-factors can be revealed under the two meta-dimensions. This presented research supports the hypothesis that flow experience has two indispensable basic factors: the balance between the persons skills and the challenges of the situation, and then the absorption with the activity that is being done by the person which is in accordance with Cskszentmihlyis flow concept (Cskszentmihlyi, Abuhamdeh & Nakamura, 2005).
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the tenders of Social Renewal Operational Programme 4.2.1./B09/1/KMR-2010-0003 and the Hungarian Research Fund K69 038.
References
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Secure attachment style, coping with stress and resilience among university students
niversite rencilerinde gvenli balanma stili, stresle baa kma ve kendini toparlama gc erife Terzi1
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the role of a secure attachment style and coping strategies and their interactions on the resilience of a sample group of Turkish college students. The sample consisted of 225 students from a state university in Ankara. The List of Determining Risk Factors Resilience Scale, Relationship Scale Questionnaire and Coping Questionnaire Inventory have been used in the research. Data have been analyzed by hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to predict resilience. The results indicated that secure attachment style, and coping styles of active planning, avoidance/biochemical, and acceptance/cognitive restructuring were significant predictors of resilience. It was found that when secure attachment style scores were low, the presence of acceptance/cognitive restructuring orientation increased the resilience scores; while when the secure attachment style scores were high, acceptance/cognitive restructuring did not influence the resilience scores. Keywords: Resilience, secure attachment style, coping.
zet
Bu almann amac gvenli balanma stili ve stresle baa kma stratejilerinin niversite rencilerinin kendini toparlama gc zerindeki roln incelemektir. Aratrmaya 225 niversite rencisi katlmtr. almada veri toplama aralar olarak Risk Faktrleri Belirleme Listesi, Kendini Toparlama Gc lei, Baa kma Tutumlar Envanteri ve liki lekleri Anketi kullanlmtr. Aratrmada gvenli balanma stili ve baa kma stratejilerinin kendini toparlama gc zerindeki yordayc rollerini test edebilmek amacyla hiyerarik regresyon analizi yaplmtr. Sonular gvenli balanma stili ile baa kma stratejilerinden aktif planlama, kama/biyokimyasal ve kabul/bilisel yeniden yaplandrmann kendini toparlama gc puanlarn anlaml biimde yordadn gstermitir. Gvenli balanma stili puanlar dtnde kabul/bilisel yeniden yaplandrma baa kma stratejisi kendini toparlama gc puanlarn artrrken; gvenli balanma stili puanlar yksek olduunda kabul/bilisel yeniden yaplandrma baa kma stratejisi kendini toparlama gc puanlarn etkilememektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Kendini toparlama gc, gvenli balanma stili, baa kma
Introduction
In recent years, studies about people who are able to adjust successfully in spite of difficult life conditions have drawn much attention in the mental health field. Certain studies (Campbell-Sills, Cohan & Stein, 2006; Charney, 2004; Fraser, Richman & Galinsky, 1999; Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000; Mangham, McGrath, Reid & Steward, 1998; Masten, 2001) in which the focus has been on the ability of individuals to cope with stress, trauma and difficult life conditions, and their potential to grow stronger after managing to overcome such difficulties, have centered around the concept of resilience. Rutter (1990, p.181) defines resilience as a positive pole of the ubiquitous phenomenon of individual differences in peoples response to stress and adversity, as well as hope and optimism in the face of severe risk or adversity; while Garmezy (1993) considers resilience to be the power of recovery and the ability to return once again
1
Assoc. Prof. Dr., Gazi University Faculty of Education, Department of Counselling and Guidance. E-mail: terziserife@yahoo.com
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to those patterns of adaptation and competence that characterized the individual before undergoing extreme stress. Fraser, Richman and Galinsky (1999, p.136), on the other hand, describe resilience as the ability of individuals who adapt well to the extraordinary, achieving positive and unexpected outcomes in the face of adversity. In this study is defined as the personality characteristic that moderates the negative effects of stress and promotes adaptation as suggested by Wagnild and Young (1993, p.165). In almost all the above definitions a central notion exists that resilience, as a dynamic process, involves successful coping and positive adaptation in the face of significant risk, adversity or trauma. Sometimes resilience is used to refer to the general coping skills and mechanisms that help overcome the common challenges of everyday life (Mandleco & Peery, 2000; Masten & Coatsworth, 1998; Masten & Powell, 2003). Resilience is a superordinate construct subsuming two distinct dimensions (Luthar, Cicchetti & Becker, 2000): (1) Stressful life events, such as living on a low income or in a disadvantaged neighborhood, abuse, bereavement, trauma, separation, migration, disability, physical or mental health problems in self or key others, peer rejection, and perinatal problems; and (2) positive outcomes, which is used to refer to competence in both the academic and social domains. Positive behavior, such as the presence of social and academic achievements, the presence of culturally desired behaviors (developmental tasks), happiness and life satisfaction; or the absence of maladjustments such as mental illness, emotional stress, criminal behavior or risk-taking behavior are a few examples of competence or good adaptation (Masten & Coatsworth, 1995). Resilience is also explained through risk and protective factors (Baldwin, Baldwin, Kasser, Zax, Sameroff & Seifer, 1993; Garmezy, 1993; Hawkins, 1992; Rutter, 1987; Werner, 1994). Risk factors refer to the presence of one or more factors that increase the probability of a negative outcome for an individual. Risk factors can be placed under one of three headings: Individual risk factors (premature birth, negative life events and chronic illness/hospitalization), familial risk factors (parental illness/psychopathology, parental divorce, separation or single-parent home, teenage motherhood) and environmental risk factors (Low SES and poverty, abuse, war and natural disasters, family adversity, community violence, homelessness). Protective factors are defined as the quality of a person or context or their interaction that predicts better outcomes, particularly in situations of risk or adversity (Wright and Masten, 2005, p.19). Resiliency theory is based on defining the protective factors within the individual, family, school and community; and university life requires examination taking into account all the related problems and complexities. Nowadays, the responsibilities faced by university students and their developmental tasks are more complicated and broader than ever before. In this sense, university life brings with it many different sources of stress, meaning that developing resilience is essential in the stress management process of the individual. In addition, the concept of resiliency has an important place in attachment theories. It has been shown previously that a strong attachment pattern is a factor of adequate functionality, and that it affects all types of relations in the life-cycle of the individual (Grene, 2002). In this study, secure attachment and coping with stress are discussed as individual protective factors. Attachment is a strong emotional bond with others that individuals see as important and highly valuable (Bowlby, 1982). Theoretically, it is expected that styles of attachment develop out of the earliest relationships with the primary care giver, and are carried over into adult life (Scharf, Mayseles & Kivenson-Baron, 2004; Schmidt, Nachtigall, Wuethrich Martone & Strauss, 2002; Waller, Scheidt & Hartmann, 2004). Early attachment theories identified three basic attachment styles: Secure, anxious/ambivalence and avoidance (Ainsworth, 1989). Ainsworth, Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991) proposed four adult attachment styles using dichotomous combinations of the individuals image of self and image of other: security, preoccupation, fearful and dismissing. In this classification, secure attachment is defined as a positive self-image and a sense of being worthy of love, and with a positive
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expectation that others will be responsive and accepting in times of need. Preoccupation is defined as a negative self image and a sense of unloveability, combined with a positive evaluation of others. Fearful individuals have negative working models of both the self and others, believing that they are unlovable and that significant others are rejecting them. Dismissing individuals have a negative working model of others, but a positive model of self (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). A secure attachment influences the individuals perception of social interactions, and thus lays a social foundation on which other traits such as resilience can be developed (Kumpfer, 1999; Masten, 2001). Secure attachment has been postulated as being a protective factor for resilience (Axford, 2007; Friedman, 2007), and is seen as a possible resilience factor that emerges early in life (Luthar, Cicchetti & Becker, 2000; Masten & Coatsworth, 1995; ODougherty-Wright & Masten, 2006). This may protect individual well-being in the face of risk and adversity because it is regarded as reflecting the ability to effectively regulate and mitigate the strength of emotional responses to adverse personal or health events (Bartley, Head & Stanfeld, 2007). Another protective factor for resilience is coping. Lazarus and Folkman (1984) define stress as a transaction between the person and the environment, in which the individual considers that the environmental demands outweigh their ability to meet those demands. Coping is defined as constantly changing cognitive and behavioral effort to manage specific external and internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person (p.141). Folkman and Lazarus (1980) suggested two types of coping that they labeled emotion-focused and problem-focused. Problem-focused coping is defined as changing the components of the situation causing stress, and also increasing the amount of stress-causing situations in cognitive/behavioral attempts. Emotion-focused coping, on the other hand, involves a denial of the reality of the stress-causing situation, and a retreating from the problem and sharing of the negative emotions (Lazarus, 1993; Matud, 2004). Resilience is considered as the ability to recover quickly from disruptions in functioning that result from stress appraisals, and to the ability to return to the previous level of functioning (Carver, 1998). Resilient individuals tend to show high motivation in coping with negative life events and use problem-focused coping (Dumont & Provost, 1999; Lynch, Keasler, Reaves, Channer & Bukowski, 2007; Steinhardt & Dolbier, 2008; Terzi, 2008). Being at a transition stage between puberty and young adulthood; college students have to cope with certain problems brought by college life as well as trying to accomplish their developmental tasks (Akaydn, 2002; Erdoan, anl & Bekir, 2005; Erkan, Ozbay, Cihangir-ankaya & Terzi, 2012; Heppner, Kivlighan, Good, Roehlke, Hills & Ashby, 1994; Soliman, 1993). In this sense, there are many different sources of stress. therefore development of resilience is essential in the stress management process.. Resilience is also related to attachment. It is known that a strong attachment pattern is a factor for adequate functionality, and that this may affect all types of relations the individual enters into through life (Grene, 2002). Lazarus (1999) indicated that individuals' beliefs about self and the world may influence coping strategies. Although the effect of secure attachment and coping strategies on resilience seems to be clear, the extent to which it influences resilience has not been well explored. This study addressed how attachment and coping relates to resilience . The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a secure attachment style and coping strategies and their interactions on the resilience of Turkish college students.
Method Participants
For resilience to occur, the individual should have been exposed to risk or difficulty, and at the end of this process should have succeeded in various aspects of life in spite of the negative conditions (Luthar and Cicchetti, 2000). In order to analyze resilience, relevant literature has been analyzed to determine individuals with risk factors, for which a List of Determining Risk Factors has been developed by the
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author. The list contains 30 risk factors in three areas; individual risk factors (low self-confidence, chronic sickness etc.), family risk factors (mother/father using alcohol or drugs, violence in the family), and social risk factors (low socio-economic status, immigration, unemployment etc.). The respondents were requested to answer yes or no to the risk factors they faced in their developmental years. This list was applied to 732 students. The students who have chosen at least one of the risk factors of the list have been included in the study group. Accordingly, the sample consisted of 225 students from a public university in Ankara, Turkey; 70% of the participants were female (n=158) and 30% were male (n=67). The respondents were aged between 1826, with a mean age of 21.63 (SD.=1.65). The risk factors of the students in their childhood and adolescence are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Prevalence of risk factors Risk Factors Low family income Having to work while in college Experience of natural disasters Single parent household Divorced parents Victim of physical violence Alcohol/drug abuse Victim of sexual abuse
%
75.11 36.44 19.11 17.33 9.33 7.55 6.66 4.0
N
169 82 43 39 21 17 15 9
Among the participant students, 75% reported that they had a low income, 36% reported that they had to work during the school term to earn money, 19% reported that they had been exposed to a natural disaster (earthquake), 17% reported that they had lived with only one parent since childhood, 9% reported that their parents were divorced, 7% reported that they had been exposed to violence, 6% reported that their parents had used alcohol or drugs, and finally, 4% reported that they had been exposed to sexual abuse.
Instruments
Resilience Scale (RS): The RS was developed by Wagnild and Young (1993) and adapted into Turkish by
Terzi (2006) to measure the degree of resilience of an individual. Resilience is considered as a positive personality characteristic that enhances the ability of an individual to adapt. The RS is a self report questionnaire consisting of 24 items and rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale (1=strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree). The factor structure of the Turkish version RS is examined in the factor analysis study. Shared variance of factors on each variable ranged from .47 to .74. A factor analysis of the RS in initial studies confirmed the multi-dimensional nature of resilience. To test the criterion-related validity, correlations between the scores from the RS and the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale were calculated, and it was found that there was a significant relationship between the scores of the two scales (r = .83). The alpha coefficient for the scale was found to be .82. Test-retest correlation coefficient was .84. In the present study, the alpha reliability coefficient for the total RS was found to be .89 for the respondent Turkish college students.
Relationship Scale Questionnaire (RSQ): The RSQ was developed by Griffin and Bartholomew (1994),
and was adapted into Turkish by Sumer and Gungor (1999). The scale has 17 items and uses a 4-point Likert-type scale, where 1 stands for not at all like me, and 4 stands for very much like me. In the adaptation study of RSQ four factors were identified; secure attachment style, fearful attachment style,
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preoccupied attachment style and dismissing attachment style. In the first factor, the secure attachment style was loaded with a factor loading of -.84, and the fearful attachment style with .80. In the second factor, the preoccupied attachment style was loaded with a factor loading of -.84 and the dismissing attachment style with a factor loading of .76. The alpha coefficient was found to be between .27 and .61. Test-retest correlation coefficients ranged between .54 and .78. For the present study, the alpha reliability coefficient of a secure attachment style was found to be. 58.
Coping Questionnaire Inventory (CQI): The CQI was developed by Ozbay (1993), and was adapted into
Turkish by Ozbay and Sahin (1997). The scale has 43 items and uses a 5-point Likert-type scale, where 0 stands for never and 4 stands for usually. There are six subscales of the scales; turning to religion, seeking external help, active planning, avoidance/behavioral, mental, avoidance/biochemical, acceptance/cognitive restructuring. The internal consistency of the scale is .81. To test criterion-related validity, correlations between the CQI scores and Ways of Coping with Stress were calculated, from which a significant relationship was found between the scores of the two scales (r = .54). The internal consistency Cronbach's Alpha reliability was .83 for the present study.
Procedure
The research instruments were administrated to college students during regular class hours. Verbal instructions on the purpose of the study and how to fill out the questionnaire were given by the researcher. Participation was voluntary, and the administration of the questionnaire took approximately 30 minutes.
Statistical Analysis
Data analyses were conducted using a Statistics Package or a Social Sciences (SPSS) Program, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to answer the research question. The method recommended by Aiken and West (1991) was used to test the possible interaction between secure attachment style and coping. The evaluation of the results were based on the 0.05 and 0.01 relevance level.
Results
Table 2 shows the means, standard deviations, and Pearson correlations of the variables considered in the study. Table 2. Inter-correlations, mean scores, standard deviations for the variables 1 1.Resilience Total Scores 2.Secure Attachment Style 3.Turning to Religion 4.Seeking External Help 5.Active Planning 6.Avoidance/Behavioral, Mental 7.Avoidance/Biochemical 8.Acceptance/Cognitive Restructuring 2 .37** 3 .09 .03 4 .12* .19** .30** 5 .53** .23** .13* .26** 6 -.08 -.14* .13* .30** -.09 7 -.21** -.01 -.24** -.03 -.09 .25** 8 .29** .13 .29** .28** .35** .37** .21** Mean (SD) 126.78(21.73) 13.36(2.44) 2.55(.98) 2.55(.70) 2.68(.52) 1.72(.63) .48(.73) 2.15(.59)
Note: For the correlations n=225 **Correlation is significant at the .01 level. *Correlation is significant at the .05 level.
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Correlations of resilience total score with active planning, secure attachment style, acceptance/cognitive restructuring, avoidance/biochemical and seeking external help were .53, .37, .29, -.21 and .12 respectively. These correlations indicate that resilience demonstrates a strong positive relationship with active planning and secure attachment style (p.01). Resilience also demonstrated a small but statistically significant positive relationship with acceptance/cognitive restructuring (p.01), seeking external help (p.05) and small but statistically significant negative relationship with avoidance/biochemical (p.01). Resilience demonstrated a non-significant relationships with turning to religion and avoidance/behavioral, mental. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed in order to examine the impact of a secure attachment style, coping strategies (turning to religion, seeking external help, active planning, avoidance/behavioral, mental, avoidance/biochemical and acceptance/cognitive restructuring) and their interaction on the total Resilience Scale scores. Table 3 presents the summary statistics for the hierarchical multiple regression analysis, with the total RS scores used as the dependent variable. Table 3. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses Variable Model 1 SAS Model 2 CQI-Tr CQI-Seh CQI-Ap CQI-Abm CQI-Ab CQI-Acr Model 3 SAS x CQI-Tr SAS x CQI-Seh SAS x CQI-Ap SAS x CQI-Abm SAS x CQI-Ab SAS x CQI-Acr .37 -.06 -.09 .41 .01 -.24 .20 -.12 -.24 .61 .53 .65 2.03
T
5.97** .99 1.45 6.86** .31 4.06** 3.01* .32 .60 1.34 1.62 1.83 4.44**
Pr
.37
R adj.
.13 .39
Rchange
.14 .27
(df) F
(1,223) 35.62** (7.217) 21.40**
-.07 -.09 .42 .02 -.27 .20 .44 -.02 -.04 .09 .11 .13 .29 .07 (13,211) 14.61**
Note: SAS, Secure Attachment Style; CQ-Tr, Coping Questionnaire Inventory Turning to Religion subscale score; CQ-Seh, Coping Questionnaire Inventory Seeking External Help subscale score; CQ-Ap, Coping Questionnaire Inventory Active Planning subscale score; CQ-Abm, Coping Questionnaire Inventory Avoidance/Behavioral, Mental subscale score; CQ-Ab, Coping Questionnaire Inventory Avoidance/Biochemical subscale score; CQ-Acr, Coping Questionnaire Inventory Acceptance/Cognitive Restructuring subscale score. **p.001, *p .05 To test the research hypotheses specifically, all the variables were entered as blocks in three separate steps in all the regression analyses. A secure attachment style was the first variable entered into the equation, and accounted for 14% of the variance (F [1,223] = 35.62, R2 = 13, p < .001), and SAS (pr = .37, = .37, t [223] = 5.97, p < .001) had a significant relationship with the total RS scores. After excluding this v a r i a n c e , i n t h e s e c o n d s t e p C Q I s c o r e s w e r e e n t e red into the equation, and accounted for 27% of the total variance (F [7,217] = 21.40, R2 = 39, p < .001), and the CQI-Ap (pr = .42, = .41, t [217] = 6.86, p
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< .001), CQI-Ab (pr = -.27, = -.24, t [217] = -4.06, p < .001), CQI-Acr (pr = .20, = .20, t [217] = 3.01, p < .05) scores significantly predicted the total RS scores. Finally, the interaction term for the SAS and CQI scores weakly, but significantly, improved the explained variance (F [13,211] = 14.61, R2 = 44, p < .001), and the interaction term had a significant association with the total RS scores (pr = .29, = 2.02, t [211] = 4.44, p < .001). The procedure outlined by Aiken and West (1991) was followed to allow a better understanding of the nature of this significant interaction between a secure attachment style and an acceptance/cognitive restructuring strategy. Following this procedure, simple regression lines for moderated variables are plotted for significant interaction effects by using centered data. Figure 1 suggests that an acceptance/cognitive restructuring strategy orientation affected individuals differently, depending on their level of secure attachment, in determining a resilience score. To better understand the pattern of this interaction, whether the gradient of these two regression lines significantly differed from zero was tested (Aiken & West, 1991). These probes revealed that for subjects with low acceptance/cognitive restructuring, the resilience level was lower among those with low acceptance/cognitive restructuring when compared to those with high acceptance/cognitive restructuring (simple slope = .63, t [221] = 7.28, p < .001). However, for participants with a high secure attachment, the simple gradient was not significant, indicating that their levels of resilience were low regardless of their coping strategies. In other words, when SAS scores were low, the presence of acceptance/cognitive restructuring orientation increased the RS scores; and when the SAS scores were high, acceptance/cognitive restructuring did not influence the RS scores.
160
150
140
130
120
110
CQ-Acr Total RS
100 1,56 low 2,73 high 18,25
90 8,47
SAS
Note: RS, Resilience Scale; CQ-Acr, Coping Questionnaire Inventory acceptance/cognitive restructuring subscale; SAS, Secure Attachment Style. Figure 1. Interaction between acceptance/cognitive restructuring strategy and secure attachment in the
prediction of resilience.
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Discussion
This study aimed to evaluate the impact of secure attachment and coping strategies, and their interactions on the resilience of college students. As predicted, a secure attachment style was a predictor of resilience, which is consistent with the findings of the effects of stress in handling negative situations (Hawkins, Howard & Oyebode, 2007; Wei, Heppner & Mallinckrodt, 2003). As a result, if a secure attachment figure is obtained, then a secure attachment style is functional in reducing the negative effects of stress. Individuals with a secure attachment style have more self-confidence in controlling negative emotional states caused by stress (Mikulincer & Florian, 1995), and in accommodating negative emotional states (McCarthy, Moller & Fouladi, 2001). It is also stated that these individuals use problem-focused coping strategies such as positive reinterpretation and active planning (Howard & Medway, 2004; Jackson, 2005; Kaya & Kaya, 2009; Lopez & Gormley, 2002; Ming-Hui, 2008; Vocatuno, 1999). When the secure attachment level is lower, higher levels of acceptance/cognitive restructuring strategies act as a protective factor, and therefore resilience increases. Other studies have shown that an insecure attachment style results in ineffective coping styles such as denial when faced with stress, reactionality and being stuck in a problem (Janssen, Schuengel & Stolk, 2002; Lopez, Maurico, Gormley, Simko & Berger, 2001; Ognibene & Collins, 1998). Additional results of an insecure attachment style can be stated as high levels of negative avoidance behaviors (Howard & Medway, 2004; Lussier, Sabourin & Turgeon, 1997), and usage of alcohol and drugs (Caltabiano & Grosset, 2009). In some other studies, it is found that insecurely attached individuals experience more negative emotions, anxiety and depression, and that their level of well-being is low (Scott & Cordova, 2002; Simonelli, Ray & Pincus, 2004). From this point of view, an improvement in coping styles is a necessity for successful adjustment when faced with compelling and threatening circumstances. In addition, it is important when individuals that have grown up with risk and traumatic living conditions are able to succeed, in spite of all the negative circumstances that have threatened their development. This understanding can play an important role in future preventive studies conducted with individuals under similar conditions of risk. Findings from this study support the notion that individuals with insecure attachment style may benefit from psycho-education and interventions focused on developing their coping skills. It can be suggested that college counselors may be able to design interventions to improve attachment and coping skills, which would, in turn, lead to increased resilience. In this study an attachment measure that has assessed attachments in adult relationships was used. The outcomes from adult attachment measures are predicted by childhood attachment, however this could not be controlled for in the current study. As such, a longitudinal study could shed additional light on the influence of childhood attachment on coping and resilience. On the other hand, emphasizing the stronger sides of the individual has an important role in the therapeutic process. The individual will have a greater self-value if they realize that most individuals who are faced with a major loss can deal with it, and also that strength mostly shows itself when times are hard and when suffering significant loss. In this sense, it is important that counselors make sure their clients develop secure attachments and strong coping strategies. This is the first study carried out in Turkey related to resilience and protective factors in young adults. Keogh and Weisner (1993) stressed that the ecological and cultural contexts should be taken into account if risk factors and protective factors are to be understood. The ecological and cultural perspective sees behavior as a result of the interaction of multiple and complicated individual and environmental interactions. In this context the results of this study can support other possible studies carried out into resilience in Turkish culture. Many individuals in Turkey are faced with risk factors from such issues as poverty (Aksan, 2012; Arun & Diker, 2009; TK, 2012), unemployment (TK, 2012), family breakdowns (Babakanlk Aile ve Sosyal Aratrmalar Genel Mdrl, 2006; Battal, 2008) and exposure to natural disasters (Munich Re Group, 2012). When this is evaluated considering the mental health service system, in Turkey psychological
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counseling services are provided mostly after the problem has become evident. There is less emphaisis on preventive counseling services. Additionally, it is seen that the effectiveness, attainability and content of protective services are insufficient; and for this reason it is very important to conduct studies on protective/intervention strategies that include internal/external protective factors, which provide resiliency. In conclusion, resilience is an essential element of adaptation. It is important for researchers to examine resilience deeply both from public health and mental health perspectives. The findings of the present study contribute to the understanding of psychological resources leading to positive outcomes of Turkish college students. This study has several limitations. The first is related to the generalization of research results. The sample only included college students. These findings may not be generalized to clinical settings and the general public; instead it can only provide an empirical base. Secondly, the instruments were all self-report scales. Since the participants responses to the scales were guided by their subjective perceptions, the accuracy of the data may have been subjectively influenced. The third limitation is related to the sample of this study, in which resilience and its relationship with protective factors is evaluated within a heterogeneous group. In relevant literature, studies of high risk groups such as individuals lacking resilience, sexually abused individuals, individuals living in war environments, and individuals exposed to natural disasters can be found. As a result, in subsequent studies, resilience-related variables may be assessed better in studies with homogenous groups. Another recommendation might be related to data collection and statistical methods. The results gathered from the present research are based on quantitative methods. It would be inspiring to replicate the study with qualitative methods in order to explore the core elements in resilience.
References
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The role of moral emotions in happiness

Mutlulukta ahlaki duygularn rol Vidya S. Athota1
Abstract
Research on human happiness has traditionally been associated with positive and negative emotions, rather than its foundations in moral emotions. Using concepts of happiness taken the works of Aristotle and the field of moral psychology, this paper investigated how happiness relates to moral emotions and human virtues as a way of explaining the roots of happiness. As a part of this explanation, the paper explores the emotional side of neuroplasticity, that is the brains ability to learn and adapt to happiness. This is complimented with an investigation of the subjective experience of happiness through moral emotions, which illustrates that being sensitive and acting on moral emotions with reference to virtues can promote human happiness. In the final analysis, this paper suggests that moral emotions not only help to provide a code of conduct they are also provide a guiding mechanism for happiness. Keywords: Happiness, moral emotions, virtues, positive psychology, neuroplasticity
zet
nsan mutluluuna ilikin aratrmalar geleneksel olarak, ahlaki duygulardaki temellerinden ziyade olumlu ve olumsuz duygularla ilikilendirilmitir. Bu almada, Aristotle'nun almalarn ve ahlaki psikoloji alann gz nnde bulundurarak mutluluk kavramlarndan yararlanmak suretiyle, mutluluun kklerini aklamann bir yolu olarak mutluluun ahlaki duygularla ve insan erdemleriyle nasl ilikili olduu tartlmtr. Bu aklamann bir paras olarak, beynin mutluluu renme ve ona uyum salama becerisi olan nroplastisitenin duygusal yn ele alnmtr. Bu aratrma ahlaki duygularla znel mutluluk deneyimine ilikin bir inceleme ile tamamlanm olup, sz konusu inceleme, hassas olmann ve erdemlere ilikin olarak ahlaki duygularla hareket etmenin insan mutluluunu tevik ettiini gstermektedir. Son analizde, ahlaki duygularn yalnzca bir davran kural salanmasna yardmc olmad, ayn zamanda mutlulua ynelik bir klavuz mekanizmas da temin ettii gr ele alnmtr. Anahtar szckler: Mutluluk, ahlaki duygular, erdemler, pozitif psikoloji, nroplastisite
Introduction
Happiness is an emotion that is generally associated with enjoying life (Ness & Ellsworth, 2009) and that positive emotions those associated with happiness, provide mechanisms to lead a happy life (Carver, 2003). Fordyce (1977) argues that the emotional component of happiness is the result of an evaluation of pleasant and unpleasant experiences from the past and potential present. Happiness has been associated with a mental state of wellbeing (Kahneman & Krueger, 2006) and positive emotions in general are thought to provide a buffer to lifes difficult situations (Seligman, 2002). The emotional state of happiness is an important source for personal growth, as well as the social and economic growth of a society (Gilbert, 2006). Therefore, much of the research (Ness & Ellsworth, 2009; Seligman, 2002) has focussed on the influence of positive and negative emotions on happiness. However, this narrow focus has led to a paucity of research on the influence of moral emotions on happiness. Therefore this paper aims to
Dr. The University of Notre Dame Australia, New South Wales Australia, sagar.athota@nd.edu.au
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explore the influence of moral emotions on happiness arguing for the inclusion of a moral component to the mechanisms of happiness. Happiness has been discussed, debated and researched since ancient times. The recent emergence of positive psychology has resulted in happiness becoming a popular focus of research and indeed, a buzzword among the academic community particularly in the discipline of psychology. Traditionally psychology has concentrated on psychopathology and related issues associated with negative emotions like sadness, anxiety and depression. Positive psychology, in contrast, seeks to readdress the balance in psychology by studying positive emotions, positive personality traits and virtues, and positive intuitions (Seligman, 2002). Much of the thinking in positive psychology was inspired by Aristotles concept of eudaimonia (Seligman, 2002). In the happiness literature, the role and study of positive emotions has typically taken centre stage, whereas the role and study of virtue has been neglected. For Aristotle, happiness was impossible without being morally good. In his book Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle notes that living well and doing well are the same as being happy (eudaimonia translates as happiness or wellbeing) (p. 3). Living well and doing well are specifically associated with the intellectual, moral and physical realms of human life (Spieker, 1999). Kristjansson (2006) explains that Aristotles interpretation of happiness consists in the realization of intellectual and moral (including emotional) virtue, as well as in the fulfilment of our other specifically human physical and mental capabilities (p. 45). Therefore, a good life is the result of acting according to virtues, and habitual virtuous activity eventually moves one towards sustainable happiness. As implied above, the concept of happiness in positive psychology is philosophically unsophisticated (Kristjansson, 2010), as it is often being associated with positive emotions rather than Aristotelian virtues for example. However, in his 2011 book Flourish, Martin Seligman admits that his former emphasis on the concept of authentic happiness was inadequate, partly due to its focus on positive emotion as the rock-bottom meaning of happiness (p. 13). In Flourish Seligman redefines happiness in terms of the Aristotelian concept of flourishing or wellbeing. There is something missing between the Aristotelian concept of happiness and the notion of happiness in much positive psychology, and seems now that Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, would agree. In contributing to a more philosophically sophisticated understanding of happiness, this paper argues that current research on neuroscience in relation to moral emotions can partially explain this missing link between consequences and determinants. Neuroscience can also help us to understand the roots of the Aristotelian concept of happiness as well as some of the deficiencies in the positive psychological notions of happiness.
Emotions and Brain

Both the Aristotelian and positive psychological concepts of happiness can be explained by neurological activity occurring in the brain. Davidson et al. (2003) explain the importance of prefrontal cortex fires as an indication of positive and negative emotional states. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has revealed higher blood flow in the left prefrontal cortex of patients, indicating that they were experiencing positive emotional states and feelings of happiness. The left prefrontal cortex is responsible for positive emotions and hence is normally associated with happiness (Lutz, Slagter, Dunne, & Davidson, 2008). This reinforces the Aristotelian and positive psychological concepts of happiness as a state of being that is intimately associated with positive emotions as evidenced by some of the findings in neuroscience. Neuroscience has demonstrated that the prefrontal cortex is activated when people practice compassion. Through cultivating positive emotions such as love, kindness, and compassion, Lutz et al. (2008) found that neurons created an empathetic response to anothers pain. This is consistent with previous findings
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that severe negative emotional experiences lead to functional and structural alterations in the brain (Kolassa & Elbert, 2007). Similarly, compassionate experiences lead to healthy structural and functional alterations in the brain and help to increase immune function (Davidson et al., 2003). Based on this new evidence from neuroscience, this paper argues that focusing on eliciting moral emotions (e.g., compassion) is relevant and perhaps vital to understanding the concept of happiness, and may also shed some light on how people can increase their level of happiness.
Moral Emotions
As briefly outlined above, understanding and acting on moral emotions is pivotal for increased happiness. Moral emotions are those complex emotions that arise in response to thoughts and actions that concern right and wrong (Kroll, Egan, Erickson, Carey, & Johnson 2004). The ability to understand and control emotions, both in the self and in others is defined as emotional competence (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). An empirical study by Athota et al. (2010) showed that the moral component is an integral part of emotional competence. Haidt (2003) also suggests that acting on moral emotions increases emotional wellbeing. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that when individuals fail to act on moral emotions in the face of an ethical demand or a conflict in values, resultant neurological reactions could be experienced as feelings of unhappiness. Aristotles view of happiness includes appropriate expression of emotions. He pointed out that it is virtuous to express emotions toward the right objects, at the right time, and to the right degree (Goleman, 1995). Kristjansson (2006) explains that for Aristotle, the general aim of emotional virtue like another virtue, lies in its connection to the fundamental good of human life: eudaimonia, for the sake of which we do all other things (p. 45). Training emotions to appropriately respond to pleasure and pain leads to eudaimonia or flourishing (Spieker, 1999). For Aristotle, emotional regulatory fit (expressing emotions at the right time to the right degree) is associated with virtuous living as well as happiness. Research suggests that a psychological and moral component is intrinsically associated with emotional regulatory fit. Moral emotional regulatory fit that what feels right is right and violation feels wrong has cognitive dissonance effect on human wellbeing (Camacho, Higgins, & Luger, 2003). Generally, individuals seek consistency among moral emotions and behaviour. Lack of consistency among moral emotions and behaviour may cause incongruity, and this incongruity is uncomfortable and individuals will seek to minimize the dissonance to find consistency by responding with empathy. The significant key component of moral emotions is empathy. Others moral emotions like compassion, anger, gratitude, and disgust can be understood through empathy (Hoffman, 2000). Specifically, morally significant emotions like compassion, empathy, and gratitude can have a significant positive influence on human wellbeing (Tangney, Stuewig, & Mashek, 2007). Lutz et al. (2008) found that empathy is the source of loving, kind, and compassionate emotions. Therefore, emotional regulatory fit is intrinsically associated with empathy. Empathy is the ability to experience events and emotions the way another person experiences them. Empathy also enables one to take into consideration others motives and their need for help (Eisenberg, Shea, Carlo, & Knight, 1991; Munro, Bore, & Powis, 2005). The moral component of empathy plays an important role in promoting positive social interaction and others wellbeing (Eisenberg et al., 1991; Haidt, 2006; Pizzaro, 2000). Responding to empathetic feelings of compassion promotes positive outcomes, and suppressing empathy leads to disastrous and unhappy consequences (Pizarro & Salovey, 2002). Empathy is a necessary component for social and emotional wellbeing. An inability to show empathy can have serious negative social and emotional consequences. Psychopaths and sociopaths do not experience empathy; this is reflected in their low experience of happiness and in
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the lack of activity in their prefrontal cortex (Hare, 1993). Eisenberg (2000) suggests that responding to empathetic emotions plays an important role in moral behaviour. For healthy individuals, empathetic moral emotions act as agents in promoting the wellbeing of others, whereas psychopaths and sociopaths often lack these moral emotions. As Kroll et al. (2004) explain, moral emotions may be evidence of a healthy character which show that ones moral monitor, ones conscience, is properly operative (p. 682). For example, remorse for some wrong can lead to confession and the motivation for a constructive approach to set the regretted behaviour right (Eisenberg, 2000). Neuroscience points out that responding to moral emotions influences the amygdale activation in the human brain (Yang et al., 2002). Therefore, it is logical to say that morally significant emotions influence changes in neural brain structure. As mentioned above, moral emotions create significant emotional experiences that influence the structure of the brain. This can be viewed as neuroplasticity, the process by which the brain and nervous system produce morphological and structural changes in the brain in response to environmental stimuli (Vence, Roberson, McGuinnies, & Fazel, 2010, p. 29). The increased activity in the prefrontal cortex leads to neuroplasticity, which may result in the increase in connections and the creation of new neurons (Berger, Kofman, Livneh, & Henik, 2007; Davidson & Lutz, 2008). Moral emotions create internal stimuli that influence neurological structures in the brain. Bingaman (2011) argued that Christian meditative practices can work as powerful stimuli in causing positive structural changes in the brain. Evidence indicates that repeated practice of compassion leads to neuroplasticity in the brain and increased happiness (Davidson & Lutz, 2008). This concept suggests that virtues of living might lead to the same kind of brain activity evident during positive emotional states. Therefore, being sensitive to moral emotions can help stimulate the neuroplasticity mechanism, that is the brains ability to adapt and learn optimism, which will eventually lead to greater happiness. Findings in the neuroscience of happiness challenge the traditional set-point theory of happiness. According to Set-point theory, genetics play a large part in determining happiness (Lykken & Tellegen 1996). In the Set-point theory of happiness, Lykken and Tellegen (1996) found in their 10-year longitudinal twin study that genetic factors may account for at least 4452% of subjective wellbeing. The set-point theory fails to provide enough explanation of the importance of the role of virtues, fulfilment and meaning in happiness (Haidt, 2006). As mentioned earlier, advanced research in the neuroscience of happiness indicates that human brains have the capacity to form new neurons as a result of repeated virtuous activities (Berger et al., 2007; Davidson & Lutz, 2008). It is important to note that moral emotions can positively influence virtuous activities (Eisenberg, 2000). Based on these new findings, set-point theory may require substantial revision or even total replacement by a new theory that more accurately reflects the latest research. These new findings suggest that one can go beyond set-point theory towards increased happiness with disciplined, mindful practice.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the roots of happiness can be better explained through the understanding of moral emotions. Aristotles concept of happiness stems from undertaking virtuous activity and regulating ones emotions. In contrast, positive psychology has tended to focus on positive emotional experiences as the foundations of happiness. Expressing the moral emotion of compassion, and perhaps other moral emotions, is virtuous; so the practice of positive moral emotions should contribute to greater happiness as defined by Aristotle. Neuroscience can now demonstrate that practising compassion, or other positive moral emotions, influences activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which gives some indication of the roots of happiness. In other words, the Aristotelian and positive psychological concepts of happiness
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can be explained by the same kind of neurological activity. Our brains begin to change as we repeatedly engage in compassionate actions. Moral emotions can influence neuroplasticity and help increase the brains ability to learn and adapt to happiness. Therefore happiness can be increased by being sensitive to moral emotions and engaging in moral activities. Acknowledgements: My sincere thanks to Associate Professor Sandy Lynch and Dr. Matthew McDonald from the University of Notre Dame for providing valuable discussion and feedback toward this paper.)
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The role of perceived social support in predicting subjective well-being in Lebanese college students
Lbnanl niversite rencilerinde, alglanan sosyal destein znel iyi olu zerindeki yordayc rol Diala Ammar1 Diane Nauffal 2 Rana Sbeity3
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the role of perceived social support (PSS) on subjective well-being (SWB) in Lebanese college students. All students were undergraduate students and followed the American educational system. Life satisfaction was assessed using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and the affective dimension of well-being was measured using the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The degree of PSS was measured using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Findings suggested that Lebanese college students were generally satisfied with their lives general and experienced more positive than negative affect. Female participants experienced more negative affect (NA) than male participants. The high income level group scored greater on the SWLS scale and perceived higher PSS. Lebanese youth perceived great levels of PSS and PSS was found to be an important positive predictor of subjective well-being. In conclusion, these findings reconfirm the importance of perceived social support as predictor of subjective-well-being among youth. Keywords: Perceived social support, satisfaction with life, subjective well-being
zet
Bu almann amac, Lbnanl niversite rencilerinde, alglanan sosyal destein znel iyi olu zerindeki yordayc roln incelemektir. almaya katlan tm renciler, Amerikan eitim sistemine dayal olarak eitimlerine devam etmektedirler. almada yaam doyumunu deerlendirmek zere Yaam Doyumu lei (YD), znel iyi oluun duyusal boyutunu lmek iin ise, Pozitif-Negatif Duygu lei (PND) kullanlmtr. Alglanan sosyal destei lmek iin ise, ok Boyutlu Alglanan Sosyal Destek lei (BASD) kullanlmtr. Aratrma bulgular Lbnanl rencilerin genel olarak yaamlarndan memnun olduklarn ve pozitif duygular negatif duygulardan daha ok yaadklarn ortaya koymutur. Kadn katlmclarn negatif duygular erkek rencilerden daha fazla deneyimledikleri sonucuna ulalmtr. Yksek gelir dzeyine sahip rencilerin yaam doyumu ve alglanan sosyal destek puanlarnn daha yksek olduu grlmtr. Lbnanl rencilerin yksek dzeyde sosyal destek aldklar ve alglanan sosyal destein znel iyi oluun, pozitif ynde nemli bir yordaycs olduu sonucuna ulalmtr. Sonu olarak bu sonular, sosyal destein, znel iyi olu asndan nemli bir deiken olduunu belirlemitir. Anahtar kelimeler: Alglanan sosyal destek, yaam doyumu, znel iyi olu
Assist. Prof. Dr., Lebanese American University, Department of Social Sciences, Beirut, Lebanon, diala.ammar@lau.edu.lb Assist. Prof. Dr.Diane Nauffal, Lebanese American University, Department of Social Sciences, Beirut, Lebanon, diane.nauffal@lau.edu.lb 3 Lebanese American University, Department of Social Sciences, Beirut, Lebanon
1 2
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Introduction
The role of perceived social support (PSS) and its relationship to mental and physical well-being has been the subject of considerable attention and research in recent years. Generally defined, PSS consists of social resources that individuals perceive as accessible and offered to them (Cronkite & Moos, 1995). Research shows robustly that PSS is associated with positive physical and mental health (Ben Ari, & Gil, 2004; Clara, Cox, Enns, Murray, & Torgrude, 2003; Cohen, 2004; Sarason, Sarason, & Gurung, 2001; Uchino, Cacioppo, & Kiecolt-Glaser, 1996). In turn, limited PSS could have serious health deficits including physical and psychological health (Dennis et al., 2005). For example, Holahan, Valentier, and Moos (1995) reported that first year students with higher levels of perceived parental support scored higher on well-being and happiness and showed less depression and anxiety than students with low perceived parental support. Subjective well-being (SWB) is defined as the peoples evaluation of their own lives associated with positive feelings (Pinquart & Sorensen, 2000). SWB refers to a construct that includes emotions, domain satisfactions, and overall judgments of life satisfaction (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999, Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). SWB includes two main components: cognitive judgments and affective experiences. Cognitive judgments are the individuals satisfaction with life. Affective component consists of positive and negative emotions including positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) (Diener & Lucas, 1999; Lucas, Diener, & Suh, 1996). It is important to measure SWB by investigating both the affective and cognitive components because each of these components could be influenced in different ways and by different variables (Chamberlain, 1988). People experience SWB when they are satisfied with their lives, and experience more positive and desirable emotions than unpleasant ones. There is general agreement that PSS and SWB are positively related (Cohen, Gottlieb, & Underwood, 2000). Some research has also suggested that PSS is indispensable for SWB (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Diener & Seligman, 2002). Measures of SWB have been found to be positively associated with individual difference variables, such as income (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2002), gender and education (Argyle, 2001; Diener et al., 1999) that could influence the level of SWB in individuals. Generally, more educated people tend to be more efficient in safeguarding their SWB from adverse conditions using external (money) and internal (coping strategies) (Piquart & Sorensen, 2000). Research findings also suggest a positive correlation between income and SWB (Diener, 2009; Diener, Diener, & Diener, 1995; Howell & Howell, 2008; Karlsson & Archer, 2007) where high income individuals reported slightly higher levels of SWB. However, when income within countries increased, people did not report more happiness. That is, when people have more money, they are not necessarily happier. In other words, the effect of income on SWB occurs only at the level of poverty (Howell & Howell, 2008). In contrast, few studies suggested a moderate correlation between SWB and SES (Diener, Suh, et al., 1995) or no relation between the two (Myers, 2000). In fact, Biswas-Diener and colleagues (2004) reported differences in SWB between two homeless populations (Calcutta and U.S.A) suggesting no correlation between SES and SWB but a strong correlation between family support and SWB. Several studies explored the effect of gender on the level of SWB showing that females report higher level of NA (Diner, 2009; Tesch-Romer et al., 2008). However, research findings for positive affect and satisfaction with life are still inconclusive. While some studies showed that women experience greater PA and satisfaction with life, other findings reported no gender differences in PA and satisfaction with life (Diener, 2009; Karlsson & Archer, 2007; Tesch-Romer et al., 2008). Biological and social factors have been identified to account for gender differences in SWB, with women generally scoring lower (Karlsson & Archer, 2007;
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Tesch-Romer et al., 2008). In fact, research findings indicated that reaching personal goals increases satisfaction with life and makes individuals happier (Diener, 2000). Moreover, the level of SWB varies across different cultures. Different cultures differ in the positivity level, individual goals, coping patterns, degree of regulation of peoples desires, so levels of SWB vary across cultures (Diener, 2000). Previous studies showed that on average, individuals from collectivist cultures report being less satisfied compared to those from individualistic cultures (Diener, Diener, & Diener, 1995; Diener, Oishi, Lucas, 2003). However, suicide and divorce rates remain much higher in individualistic nations (Diener, Oishi, Lucas, 2003). Moreover, individuals in collectivist cultures are offered high levels of social support (Diener, 2000). Political instability and social disruption may influence peoples evaluation of their lives leading to a lower level of satisfaction and lower level of SWB. (Diener, Oishi, & Lucas, 2003).
The Case of Lebanon

Few studies have discussed dimensions of well-being as related to Lebanese Youth (Kazarian, 2005). As mentioned earlier, different contextual and internal perspectives could influence levels of SWB. Generally, Lebanese are highly focused on family and family relationships but this focus has declined gradually (Faour, 1998). In other words, researchers believe that Lebanese are collectivist in nature but that the youth is moving towards individualism (Ayyash-Abdo, 2001, Faour, 1998; Khalaf, 2002). Youth are still very connected to their nuclear families but less so to their extended families (Barakat, 1977; Faour, 1998). However, gender differentiation is still present where boys are usually given more privileges and are expected to assume more crucial social roles in the household and in the society at large. As mentioned previously, studies have been inconclusive regarding the effect of income on SWB (Diener et al., 2003). Previous studies have reported no correlation (Myers, 2000), a weak correlation (Inglehart, 1990) or a moderate correlation (Diener et al., 1995) between income and SWB. Lebanon is still considered a developing country were the minimum wage (333$) remains very low as compared to wealthier countries (Lebanese Ministry of Finance, 2011). The purpose of this present study was to examine the effect of PSS on SWB among Lebanese college students. More specifically, the main objectives included determining 1) the whether there is a relationship between life satisfaction and the different levels of PSS as reported by Lebanese youth, 2) whether Lebanese college students are satisfied with their lives or not; 2) whether Lebanese college students perceive receiving social support from family, friends and significant others; 3) and finally 4) the importance of gender and income in predicting SWB
Methods Participants
The data was collected in the summer semester of the 2009-2010 academic year. Participants were 168 undergraduate Lebanese college students (89 women, 79 men), with an age range of 17 to 24 (Mean= 20 years and 5 months) (Table 1) enrolled in three institutions in Lebanon following the American educational system. All surveys were administered to introduction to psychology classes. This course is a service course offered to all students from all majors at these institutions where the language of instruction is English. Students voluntarily completed the surveys inside the classrooms and signed informed consent forms.
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Table 1. Demographic characteristics of study sample of Lebanese college students (n=168), based on self-
reported data
Variable Gender Female Male Total responses No response Income Level Low (0-$15,000) Middle ($15,000-$35,000) Upper ($35,000-above) Total Responses No response f 168 89 79 168 0 168 47 41 67 155 13 Response Rate (%)* 53 47 100 0 28 24 40 92 8
*Percentage of responses were calculated out of the number of responses in each particular category, not out of the total number of participants in the study (N = 168)
Instruments
Subjective well being: Life satisfaction was assessed using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener,
Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). SWLS has been found to demonstrate adequate internal consistency (Cronbachs alphas ranging from 0.79 to 0.89) and stability across time (Pearson rs of 0.84 for 1 month and 0.54 for 4 years; Pavot & Diener, 1993) and occasions (Eid & Diener, 2004). This scale measures the cognitive dimension of well-being. Respondents rated their global life satisfaction on a Likert-scale measure that included five items. Each item has a score ranging from one (strongly disagree) to seven (strongly agree), yielding a possible total possible score range from five to 35 with a possible standard deviation as large as 5 (Pavot & Diener, 2008). The neutral point on the scale is the score of 20, where the respondent would have reported an equal satisfaction and dissatisfaction with live as a whole. A score below 20 (between five and 19) indicate dissatisfaction with life, and a score above 20 (between 21 and 35) indicate that the respondent is satisfied. The affective dimension of well-being was measured using the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). The Positive Affect scale represents the extent of positive, enthusiasm, excitement, and determination. The Negative Affect scale reflects a general dimension of unpleasant engagement and subjective distress that subsumes a broad range of aversive affects including fear, nervousness, guilt, and shame. The PANAS scales show excellent psychometric properties; Watson et al. (1988) reported Cronbachs alpha coefficients for the various time reference periods ranging from .86 to .90 for the Positive Affect scale and .84 to .87 for the Negative Affect scale. This scale has been translated into several languages including Estonian (Allik & Realo, 1997), German (Krohne, Egloff, Kohlmann, & Tausch, 1996) and Turkish (Gencoz, 2000). The PANAS consists of 20 items which describe different emotions. Participants used a five-point scale that ranged from one (not at all) to five (extremely) to indicate how frequently they felt each emotion. Ten of these items can be grouped into a PA scale, and the other 10 items into NA scale. The positive affect (PA) score was the average of the scores of the 10 items that described positive emotions: interested, excited, strong, enthusiastic, proud, alert, inspired, determined, attentive, and active. On the other hand, the NA score was obtained by calculating the average of the scores of the 10 items
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that described negative emotions: distressed, upset, guilty, scared, hostile, irritable, ashamed, nervous, jittery, and afraid. The positive and negative affect scores can range from 10-50 with higher scores representing higher levels of positive affect and negative affect. The momentary and weekly standard deviation values are 7.9 and 7.2 and 5.4 and 6.2 for positive and negative affects respectively Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). The affective balance score (ABS) was obtained by subtracting the negative affect from the positive affect score.
Perceived Social Support (PSS): The degree of PSS was measured using the Multidimensional Scale of
Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Zimet et al. 1988). The MSPSS has been shown to be psychometrically sound with coefficient alphas for the subscales range from .85 to .91 and test-retest correlations ranging from .75 to .85 (Dahlem, Zimet, Walker, 1991; Zimet et al. 1988). This scale has been translated into several languages including Turkish (Eker & Arkar, 1995), Urdu (Rizwan & Aftab, 2009) and Chinese (Chou, 2000). The MSPSS consists of 12-items that measures social support from three domains: family, friends, and a significant others. Respondents used a seven-point Likert scale that ranged from one (very strongly disagree) to seven (very strongly agree). The total score ranged from 12 to 84 with a possible deviation as large as 12 (Dahlem, Zimet, Walker, 1991; Zimet et al., 1988). Higher scores suggest higher perceived social support.
Statistical Model and Data Analysis

A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the relationship between SWB measured through the variables SWLS, PA, NA, overall perceived social support (MSPSS) and the different levels of social support (family, friends and significant others). The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was employed as the variables in question are interval or ratio scaled variables. To determine whether Lebanese college youth are satisfied with their life and perceived receiving PSS above a set neutral point one sample t-tests were employed. These tests were extended to the three levels of MSPSSSWLA, PA and NA- and social support family, friends and significant others. With a sample of 168 students normality can be assumed according to the central limit theory. A paired t-test was conducted to determine whether there was a difference between the positive and negative experiences in the lives of Lebanese students. To investigate the potential effect of gender on the three measures of SWB, namely SWLS, PA, NA, the different measures of PSS, and overall perceived social support (MSPSS), independent t-tests were conducted. The independent t-test allows testing for differences between two independent groups (male, female). A one-way analysis of variance was performed to investigate the potential effects of socioeconomic status (high, medium and low) on each of the three measures of SWB and the measure of perceived social support MSPSS. These were followed by Tukeys post hoc tests to identify between which pair of socioeconomic levels the differences existed for each dependent variable. Regression analyses was then conducted to determine the level to which total MSPSS was predictive of SWB as measured by SWLS, PA subscale, and NA subscale. The independent variables were entered simultaneously into the regression equation. These three regression analyses were followed by three similar regression analyses aimed at determining the level to which the components of social support, family, friends and significant others, were predictive of SWB as measured by SWLS, PA and NA.
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Hierarchical linear regression was then implemented to determine the impact of the demographic variables, gender and socioeconomic status, and perceived social support on the dependent variable SWB as measured by SWLS, PA and NA. This method was chosen for its flexibility as it allows the researcher to determine the order of entry of the independent variables in the regression equation with each independent variable assessed at it point of entry for the additional explanatory power it contributes to the equation. Gender and socioeconomic status were accorded priority of entry into the prediction equation followed by total MSPSS. This order will assess (1) the importance of gender and socioeconomic status in predicting SWLS, PA and NA and (2) the importance of the unique information in SWB measured by SWLS, PA and NA that is accounted for by total MSPSS. A separate intercept was estimated for SWLS, PA and NA.
Results
PSS, Income, Gender and SWB
A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the relationship between SWLS, PA, NA and MSPSS and its components. Results are summarized in Table 2. As several correlations were computed a corrected significance level using the Bonferroni approach was adopted. SWLS was positively correlated with the MSPSS total score (r = 0.352, 166, p < 0.000) and its three subscales: the family subscale (r = 0.360, n = 167, p = 0.000), the friends subscale (r = 0.242, n = 167, p = 0.002), and significant other subscale (r = 0.268, n = 167, p = 0.001). The PA subscale correlated positively with MSPSS total score (r = 0.248, n = 165, p = 0.001) and the significant other subscale of MSPSS (r = 0.278, n = 165, p = 0.000). The MSPSS total score is correlated positively with its three subscales: the family subscale (r = 0.782, n = 167, p = 0.000), the friends subscale (r = 0.784, n = 167, p = 0.000), and significant other subscale (r = 0.860, n = 167, p = 0.000). Table 2. Pearson correlations for measures of subjective well-being Measures SWLS PA NA FAM FRE SO MSPSS Total SWLS PA 0.219 NA -0.158 -0.019 FAM 0.360* 0.116 -0.093 FRE 0.242* 0.216 -0.059 0.359* SO 0.268* 0.278* -0.081 0.565* 0.530* MSPSS Total 0.352* 0.248* -0.091 0.782* 0.784* 0.860* -
Note. SWLS = Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larson, & Griffin, 1985); PANAS = Positive
Affect Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Tellegen, & Clark, 1988); PA = Positive affect subscale of PANAS; NA = Negative affect subscale of PANAS; MSPSS = Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet GD, Powell SS, Farley GK, Werkman S, Berkoff KA. Psychometric characteristics of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. J Pers Assess 1990;55:610-7.); SES = Socioeconomic status. *p<0.0023
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We calculated the SWB levels of the sampled Lebanese university students. Table 3 summarizes the descriptive statistics of the three measures used. The samples mean score on the SWLS (M = 23.10, SD = 5.47) is above the neutral point (20). College students reported being more satisfied with their lives than college students in general (M = 23.10, SD = 5.47) and 20, t(165) = 7.30, p < .001 (Pavot and Diener 1993). A paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare the affective dimension of well-being in Lebanese youths lives. There was a significant difference between positive experiences PA (M = 35.83, SD = 7.70) and negative experiences NA (M = 24.28, SD = 8.59); t(163) = 12.70, p < 0.001, d = 1.54). Generally students experienced relatively more positive than negative affect in their lives. Finally, the t test revealed a statistically significant difference between the mean score of MSPSS for college youth in Lebanon than college students in general (M = 66.65, SD = 12.70), t(166) = 25.1 and 42, p < .001 (Pavot & Diener 1993).Thus, college youth in Lebanon seem to perceive high level of PSS. This finding extended to each of the subscales of MSPSS, namely families, friends and significant others. A one-sample ttest revealed significant differences in PSS above the neutral point 14 (Pavot & Diener 1993) for family (M = 22.57, SD = 5.0, t (166) = 22.14, p < 0.001, friends (M = 21.31, SD = 5.14), t(166) = 18.38, p < 0.001 and significant others (M = 22.85, SD = 5.32), t (166) = 21.50, p < 0.001. Table 3. Descriptive statistics of study participants scores on measures of subjective well-being Measures SWLS PANAS PA NA MSPSS Family Friends Significant others 3.58 2.43 66.65 22.57 21.31 22.85 0.76 0.86 12.70 5.00 5.14 5.32 3.6 0.24 69.00 22.00 24.00 22.00 1.10-5.40 (4.3) 0.10-0.91 (0.81) 21.00-84.00(63) 4.00-28.00(24) 4.00-28.00(24) 4.00-28.00(24) M 23.10 SD 5.47 MDN 24.00 Range 8-34 (26)
Note. SWLS = Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larson, & Griffin, 1985); PANAS = Positive
Affect Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Tellegen, & Clark, 1988); PA = Positive Affect, NA=Negative Affect
To investigate the potential effect of gender on the three measures of SWB, namely SWLS, PA, NA and the measures of PSS, and total MSPSS, independent t-tests were conducted. A one-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey post-hoc tests was performed to investigate the potential effects of socioeconomic status on each of the four measures.
Gender
Independent t-tests were used to explore the relationship between gender and the different measures of SWB (SWLS, PA, NA) and social support (MSPSS). Results indicated significant gender differences on NA.
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Female participants (M = 25.53, SD = 10.10) mean scores were higher than their male counterparts (M = 22.83, SD = 6.23), t (162) = 2.029 p < 0.05, d = 0.92 on the NA subscale of the PANAS. Female participants experienced more NA than male participants. However, no significant gender difference was found at the PA subscale. Data from SWLS showed that female (M = 22.84, SD = 5.065) and male (M = 23.38, SD = 5.907) Lebanese students are equally satisfied with their lives; however, no significant difference was found between female and male participants perceived level of social support (MSPSS).
Income
ANOVA and, when appropriate, Tukey post-hoc tests were used to determine the effect of the three different income level groups (as indicated by their reported monthly family incomes) on MSPSS, SWLS, and PANAS. Results indicated that participants belonging to different income level groups differed significantly in their levels of life satisfaction (as measured by SWLS) and their level of PA (as measured by the PA subscale of PANAS) (F (2,151) =3.184, p < 0.05, 2 = 0.040; F (2,149) = 3.661 , p < 0.05, 2 = 0.047, respectively). Tukey post-hoc tests revealed that participants in the medium income level group had, on average, significantly lower scores on SWLS (M = 21.27, SD = 5.040) than did participants in the high income level group (M = 23.97, SD = 6.155), p < 0.05. Furthermore, the low income level group had a significantly lower mean score on the PA subscale (M = 33.51, SD = 7.581) of PANAS than did the high income level group (M = 37.08, SD = 6.7570), p < 0.05. For PSS, Tukey post-hoc tests indicated that participants in the high income level group (M = 71.49, SD = 10.205) had, on average, significantly higher scores on the total MSPSS measure with family, friends and significant others subscales than those in the medium income level group (M = 61.95, SD = 14.805), p < 0.01and that the high income level group had, on average, significantly higher scores on the total MSPSS scale than the low income level group (M = 63.85, SD = 12.182), p < 0.001.
In light of these findings, three regression analyses were conducted, using the enter method (all independent variables were entered simultaneously), to identify the extent and degree to which the total MSPSS was predictive of SWB levels as measured by SWLS, PA subscale, and NA subscale. Results are displayed in Table 4. Perceived social support (or total MSPSS) was a significant predictor of SWLS, p < 0.001, accounting for more than a tenth of the variance in the SWLS (12.4%); followed by PA, p < 0.01, accounting for about six percent of the variance PA (6.2%). Furthermore, three additional regressions were conducted to identify the extent and degree to which the three subscales of perceived social support (family, friends, and significant other) were predictive of the measures of SWB (Table 5). All independent variables were entered simultaneously into the regression analysis. The three subscales of MSPSS are a significant predictor of SWLW, p < 0.001 and PA, p < 0.01 accounting for approximately 15% and 9% of the variance in SWLS and PA respectively. Of the three subscales, the family subscale FAM, t (161) = 3.36, p < 0.01 is a significant predictor of SWLW while the significant others subscale SO, t (160) = 2.60, p < 0.05 is a significant predictor of PA. The strong association of FAM and SO is evident through the value of relative standardized beta coefficient ()which is .296 and .261 for SWLS and PA respectively. Total MSPSS and its three subscales are not a significant predictor of NA.
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Table 4. Regression coefficients for predictor of subjective well-being DV IV B 95% CI for B SE LB UB SWLS PA NA MSPSS MSPSS MSPSS 0.151*** 0.151** -0.062 .089 .213 .059 .242 -.167 .043 0.031 0.046 0.053
Durbin Watson
0.352 0.248 -0.091
2.088 1.768 2.112
Table 5. Regression coefficients for the subscales of the predictor of subjective well-being DV IV B 95% CI for B Durbin SE Watson Lower Upper Limit Limit SWLS FRE FAM SO 0.117 0.324** 0.045 -.063 .133 -.151 .296 .514 .241 0.091 0.096 0.099 0.111 0.296 0.044 2.059
PA
FRE FAM SO
0.151 -0.102 0.379*
0112 .381 .090
.414 .177 .667
0.133 0.141 0.146
0.101 -0.066 0.261
1.735
NA
FRE FAM SO
-0.028 -0.118 -0.055
-.335 -.444 -.392
.279 .208 .282
0.156 0.165 0.171
-0.017 -0.068 -0.034
2.115
Finally, to identify the extent and degree to which the sources of social support and demographic variables, predicted subjected well-being we conducted three hierarchal regression analysis using perceived social support (MSPSS), income level, and gender as potential predictors of SWLS, PA and NA (Table 6). Priority of entry was accorded to the demographic independent variables of gender and SES as they were considered less related to the dependent variables. MSPSS was the independent variable entered at the second level of the regression analysis. Dummy coding was used for each of the demographic independent variables with male considered to be the referent gender and high income the referent income level. The results indicated that the three independent variables, MSPSS, income level and gender, are significant predictors of SWLS, p < 0 .001 and PA, p < 0.01 accounting for 12.6% and 11.7% of the variance in SWLS and PA respectively. Of the three independent variables, only MSPSS, is a significant predictor of both SWLW, t (148) = 3.75, p <
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0.001 and PA, t (146) = 3.31, p < 0.01. The strong association of MSPSS is evident through the value of relative standardized beta coefficient which is .31 and .28 for SWLS and PA respectively. The sources of PSS and the demographic variables of income and gender were not found to be significant predictors of NA. However a significant negative association of gender is evident through the value of relative standardized beta coefficient which is -0.17. No such significant gender differences were found at the PA subscale or for SWLS. Significant income level differences were recorded for NA only with high income student groups experiencing less NA than medium income groups. It is important to note that all intercepts are positive with initial NA higher than PA which is in turn higher than SWLS. Results indicated that if gender, income level and total MSPSS are ignored then Lebanese college youth tend to experience significant levels of SWLS followed by increased levels of PA and even higher levels of NA.
Table 6. Regression coefficients for predictors of subjective well-being SWLS B Intercept Level 1 Gender Low Income Medium Income Level 2 MSPSS Total 0.13*** 0.04 0.31 0.17** 0.51 0.28 -0.10 0.06 -0.14 14.16*** 0.81 0.011 -1.42 SE 2.67 0.87 1.06 1.08 0.7 0.00 -1.17
PA B 24.65*** 0.61 -2.22 1.82 SE 3.89 1.24 1.52 1.56 0.04 -0.13 0.11
NA B 33.44*** -2.10* 0.12 -3.69* SE 4.59 1.46 1.80 1.84 -0.17 0.01 -0.19
Referent Income Level is high; Referent gender is male *p<0.05. **p<0.01. ***p<0.001 Discussion The aim of this present study was to examine the relationship between different components of social support and subjective well-being (SWB). Findings revealed that Lebanese college youths are generally satisfied with their lives and tend to experience more PA than NA. These results are consistent with previous research using the same instrument to measure affective and cognitive well-being (Diener, Suh, et al., 1995; Lucas et al., 1996). Recently, numerous researchers have suggested that culture could impact the relation between agreeable and disagreeable emotions (Bagozzi, Wong, & Yi, 999; Heine, Lehman, Markus, & Kitayama, 1999). In addition, Triandis (1995) differentiated between collectivist and individualistic culture depending on the type of goals that individuals pursue. Previous studies suggested that attainment of personal goals could positively influence the individuals sense of well-being and life satisfaction (see Cantor &Blanton, 1996; Emmons, 1996, for review). According to Triandis (1995), individualist cultures usually pursue personal goals including personal wants and needs, while collectivist cultures generally pursue group desires and goals. Markus and Kitayama (1991) also highlighted the difference in goals between individual and collectivist culture and suggested that the goals of others may become so focal in consciousness that the goals of others may be experienced as personal goals (Markus and Kitayama, 1991, p. 229). Furthermore, individuals from western
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(more individualistic) countries generally show higher levels of affective well-being and life satisfaction as compared to individuals in collectivist countries (Diener, Suh, Oishi, & Trendis, 1998; Pavot & Diener, 1993). Consistent with previous studies, Lebanese students reported higher level of well-being compared to their Korean and Chinese counterparts (Cha, 2003). These findings could be explained by the shift of Lebanese youths from collectivism towards individualism (Faour, 1998). Lebanese college students are exhibiting features of individualism such as pursuing individual goals and making personal decisions about life in general such as marriage and career (Ayyash-Abdo, 2001). As for the relation between SWB and PSS, this study found that Lebanese youth perceived great level of PSS from their families, friends and significant other. PSS was found to be positively correlated to students wellbeing and a significant predictor of students life satisfaction and pleasant experiences. Particularly, the family was found to be a significant predictor of subjective well-being and the significant other a significant predictor of PA. Lebanon is generally considered a collectivist culture where individuals are encouraged to maintain intimate relationships, and to focus on the groups harmony and interdependence. In collectivist societies, according to Hofstede, (1991), people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout peoples lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestionable loyalty (p.51)). Although Lebanese college students are moving towards individualism, they are still preserving collectivist features of intimate and durable relationships (as compared to students from individualistic cultures). Norms and social expectations in the Lebanese culture still center support on the social network. Therefore, individuals tend to seek social support from this social network. Parallely, family, friends and significant others are likely to provide social support, guidance, and reassurance of worth. The present findings revealed that perceived social support particularly contributes to students life satisfaction and pleasant experiences most probably attributed to the nature of relationships in the Lebanese collectivist society. As for the effect of gender on SWB, female and male Lebanese students experienced no differences of pleasant affect and were equally satisfied (or dissatisfied) with their lives. In addition, both genders perceived similar levels of family, friends, and significant other support. However, female students experienced higher levels of NA as compared to their male counterparts. In addition, there was a negative correlation between gender and NA. Previous research has been inconsistent regarding the relationship of gender and PA among males (Diener & Suh, 2000). However, most studies have consistently shown that females tend to exhibit higher levels of NA as compared to males (Haring, Stock, & Okun, 1984). In Lebanon, higher levels of NA among females could be explained by the prevalence of gender inequalities and a patriarchal society. These findings are important and require further analysis since they do not support previous studies on Lebanese youth (Ayyash-Abdo & Alaumuddin, 2007). There is no consensus on the effect of income levels on SWB. In this study, a positive correlation was found between income and PA among Lebanese youth. Students from high income levels were generally more satisfied with their lives and perceived greater PSS than those from medium and low income. Income level is believed to be an important measure of SWB in poorer countries but not in wealthier ones (Diener & Oishi, 2000). In other words, increased income in wealthy nations does not contribute to increase in SWB. Lebanon has suffered economically in the past years because of political and economical turmoil. As mentioned earlier, the minimum wage remains way below average as compared to more developed countries which could explain the positive relationship found between income and SWB.
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The present study focused on Lebanese college students perceptions of social support from three different sources (family, friends, and significant other), and their effect on their subjective well-being. Two other demographic variables including gender and income were explored. Lebanese youth perceived high levels of PSS which was found to be a significant predictor of subjective well-being. Gender and income were also found to influence subjective well-being. These findings reconfirm the crucial role of PSS as a predictor of subjective well-being among youth in general and specifically among Lebanese youth. Further research is needed to further explore gender and income effects, cultural constructs and the role of families, friends and significant other and their impact on youths well-being. Such findings could provide important information related to promoting and optimizing the role of families, friends and significant others as social support agents among youth.
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Volume 1 Issue 2 July 2013

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Table of Contents ADVOCATING A PEDAGOGY OF HAPPINESS IN TESOL: ANTECEDENTS AND POTENTIALITIES 35

Reza Zabihi, Saeed Ketabi

Luz M. Garcini, Mary Short, William D. Norwood

C. Nalaka Wickramasinghe, Nobaya Ahmad

Diala Ammar, Diane Nauffal, Rana Sbeity

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Advocating a pedagogy of happiness in TESOL: Antecedents and potentialities

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Teaching Well-being in Education: Four Antecedents

World Health Organization (WHO)

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The Targeting Life Skills (TLS) Model

The UNESCO Institute for Education

Life Skills-Based Education (LSBE)

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On the concept of happiness: Is it teachable?

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Types of syllabus in English language teaching

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Advocating a pedagogy of happiness in TESOL

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Zealand Psychologist, 9, 57-64.

The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being 2013, 1(2)

The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being 2013, 1(2)

Literature, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.

The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being 2013, 1(2)

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The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being 2013, 1(2)

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140 (36.6) 110 (28.7) 64 (16.7) 53 (13.8) 16 (4.2)

Cognitive Component: Sense of Meaning

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Motivational Component: Values Structure

Affective Component: Trait Affect

The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being 2013, 1(2)

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The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being 2013, 1(2)

The Journal of Happiness & Well-Being 2013, 1(2)

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Are you ready for positive cognitive behavioral therapy?

Dr. Clinical Psychologist, Amsterdam The Netherlands, solutions@fredrikebannink.com

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Positive FBA Interview in 7 questions

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Changing The Viewing

Upward Arrow Technique

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