Topic
Happiness
About: Happiness is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 22093 publications have been published within this topic receiving 728411 citations. The topic is also known as: joy & happy.
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01 Mar 2006-Epidemiologia E Psichiatria Sociale-an International Journal for Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences
TL;DR: Adolescents' self-efficacy beliefs to manage positive and negative emotions and interpersonal relationships contribute to promote positive expectations about the future, to mantain a high self-concept, to perceive a sense of satisfaction for the life and to experience more positive emotions.
Abstract: Aims – The present study is part of a longitudinal project aimed at identifying the personal characteristics and the developmental pathways conducive to successful adaptation from childhood to adulthood. The study examined the concurrent and longitudinal impact of self-efficacy beliefs on subjective well-being in adolescence, namely positive thinking and happiness. Positive thinking has been operationalized as the latent dimension underlying life satisfaction, self-esteem and optimism. Happiness has been operationalized as the difference between positive and negative affects, as they are experienced in a variety of daily situations. Methods – In a group of 664 Italian adolescents, a structural model positing adolescents' emotional and interpersonal self-efficacy beliefs as proximal and distal determinants of positive thinking and happiness has been tested. Results – Findings attest to the impact of affective and interpersonal-social self-efficacy beliefs on positive thinking and happiness both concurrently and longitudinally. Conclusions – Adolescents' self-efficacy beliefs to manage positive and negative emotions and interpersonal relationships contribute to promote positive expectations about the future, to mantain a high self-concept, to perceive a sense of satisfaction for the life and to experience more positive emotions.Declaration of Interest: none.
221 citations
TL;DR: In this article, happiness was correlated with national economic and cultural living conditions, and both characteristics correlated strongly and positively with happiness, but when exploring the independent influence on happiness of either predictors, only economic prosperity persistently correlated with happiness.
Abstract: In forty countries, happiness was correlated with national economic and cultural living conditions. Both characteristics correlated strongly and positively with happiness. Need theory predicts this observed pattern quite well. However, when exploring the independent influence on happiness of either predictors, only economic prosperity persistently correlated with happiness. The relation between culture and happiness proved to be spurious. When subgroups of countries were studied, within the group of rich countries a positive first order correlation was found between happiness and culture, whereas in the group of free countries a positive correlation between happiness and economic prosperity was found, when controlling for culture. Especially the study of countries in transition is helpful in discovering causal relations between economic prosperity, culture and happiness.
221 citations
TL;DR: The relation between happiness and consumption of stimulants follows an inverted U-curve, spoilsports and guzzlers are less happy than modest consumers as discussed by the authors, while the observed relations may be spurious or due to the effects of happiness on hedonism rather than the reverse.
Abstract: Hedonism is a way of life, characterised by openness to pleasurable experience. There are many qualms about hedonism. It is rejected on moral grounds and said to be detrimental to long-term happiness. Several mechanisms for this 'paradox of hedonism' have been suggested and telling examples of pleasure seekers ending up in despair have been given. But is that the rule? If so, how much pleasure is too much? An overview of the available knowledge is given in this paper. The relation between hedonism and happiness has been studied at two levels: that of the nation and the individual. At the national level average happiness is correlated with moral acceptance of pleasure and with active leisure. At the individual level it is similarly linked with hedonistic attitudes and also correlated with hedonistic behaviours such as frequent sex and use of stimulants. In most cases the pattern is linearly positive. The relation between happiness and consumption of stimulants follows an inverted U-curve, spoilsports and guzzlers are less happy than modest consumers. Yet these data cannot settle the issue, since the observed relations may be spurious or due to the effects of happiness on hedonism rather than the reverse. Even if we can prove a positive effect of (mild) hedonism on happiness, there is still the question of how that gains balances against a possible loss of health. A solution is to assess the effect of hedonistic living on the number of years lived happily.
221 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the association between social skills and psychological well-being, operationalized through a variety of positive psychological states, and found that social skills were consistently and positively associated with all indicators of psychological wellbeing.
219 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that positive affective states are linked to favorable health outcomes through their influence on health-related biology, and may be particularly relevant in old age, when the accumulation of risk factors leads to increased risk of chronic disease.
219 citations