In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented.

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Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales.

A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.

The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.

We developed a multidimensional coping inventory to assess the different ways in which people respond to stress. Five scales (of four items each) measure conceptually distinct aspects of problem-focused coping (active coping, planning, suppression of competing activities, restraint coping, seeking of instrumental social support); five scales measure aspects of what might be viewed as emotional-focused coping (seeking of emotional social support, positive reinterpretation, acceptance, denial, turning to religion); and three scales measure coping responses that arguably are less useful (focus on and venting of emotions, behavioral disengagement, mental disengagement). Study 1 reports the development of scale items. Study 2 reports correlations between the various coping scales and several theoretically relevant personality measures in an effort to provide preliminary information about the inventory's convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 uses the inventory to assess coping responses among a group of undergraduates who were attempting to cope with a specific stressful episode. This study also allowed an initial examination of associations between dispositional and situational coping tendencies.

Assessing Coping Strategies: A Theoretically Based Approach

The literature on subjective well-being (SWB), including happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect, is reviewed in three areas: measurement, causal factors, and theory. Psychometric data on single-item and multi-item subjective well-being scales are presented, and the measures are compared. Measuring various components of subjective well-being is discussed. In terms of causal influences, research findings on the demographic correlates of SWB are evaluated, as well as the findings on other influences such as health, social contact, activity, and personality. A number of theoretical approaches to happiness are presented and discussed: telic theories, associationistic models, activity theories, judgment approaches, and top-down versus bottom-up conceptions.

Subjective Well-Being

W. Wilson's (1967) review of the area of subjective well-being (SWB) advanced several conclusions regarding those who report high levels of "happiness". A number of his conclusions have been overturned: youth and modest aspirations no longer are seen as prerequisites of SWB. E. Diener's (1984) review placed greater emphasis on theories that stressed psychological factors. In the current article, the authors review current evidence for Wilson's conclusions and discuss modern theories of SWB that stress dispositional influences, adaptation, goals, and coping strategies. The next steps in the evolution of the field are to comprehend the interaction of psychological factors with life circumstances in producing SWB, to understand the causal pathways leading to happiness, understand the processes underlying adaptation to events, and develop theories that explain why certain variables differentially influence the different components of SWV (life satisfaction, pleasant affect, and unpleasant affect).

Subjective Well-Being: Three Decades of Progress

This study administered the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (NEO-PI-3), a more readable version of an adult measure of the Five-Factor Model, to 449 boys and girls aged 12 and 13, who described themselves or a peer. Analyses of readability, reliability, factor structure, and convergent and discriminant validity suggested that the NEO-PI-3 can be appropriately used in this age group. Personality traits in children of this age closely resemble in structure and functioning the traits of older adolescents and adults. Most gender differences known from studies of adults are found in this age group, and mean levels show continuity with older groups. The NEO-PI-3 appears to be a useful instrument for research, and potentially for clinical applications, in middle-school-aged children.

Incipient adult personality: The NEO-PI-3 in middle-school-aged children

Alker and Gawin (1978) proposed that happiness or well-being is higher among more psychologically mature individuals, and that happiness is qualitatively different for individuals of different levels of maturity. Using the Loevinger Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Loevinger & Wessler, 1970) as a measure of developmental maturity, together with the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale (Bradburn, 1969) and two additional measures of subjective wellbeing in a sample of 240 adult males, the present study failed to replicate the association of maturity with well-being. Further, the personality dispositions of neuroticism and extraversion were found to show significant relations to happiness regardless of maturity level of subjects. It was proposed that developmental level may determine the occasions or interpretations of happiness or unhappiness but that the quality and quantity of the experience of subjective well-being itself is independent of maturity. Theory and research on the nature of happiness (or the closely related constructs of life satisfaction, morale, and subjective wellbeing) have resulted in a growing understanding of its determinants. Survey research (Andrews & Withey, 1976) has shown the modest contributions of sociodemographic variables to well-being. Adaptation-level theory has been used to explain the unexpectedly small differences in happiness between groups sharply contrasted in objective quality of life (Brickman, Coates, & Janoff-Bulman, 1978). The role of the enduring personality dispositions of neuroticism and extraversion in predicting characteristic levels of well-being has been demonstrated using a variety of measures of both personality and well-being, with predictive intervals of over 10 years (Costa & McCrae, 1980a; Costa, McCrae,

Robert R. McCrae

Papers

Incipient adult personality: The NEO-PI-3 in middle-school-aged children

Psychological maturity and subjective well-being: Toward a new synthesis.

Trait and Factor Theories.

A reformulation of Axis II: Personality and personality-related problems.

The NEO Inventories as Instruments of Psychological Theory