The Role of Emotional Intelligence in the Impact of Mindfulness on Life Satisfaction and Mental Distress

The present study tested the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the impact of mindfulness on life satisfaction and mental distress in a sample of Chinese adults and the widespread or limited mediators between the different groups in demographic factors, e.g., gender, students and non-students. Three hundred and twenty-one participants completed the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, the Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the General Health Questionnaire. Path analysis showed that emotional intelligence mediated partially the impact of mindfulness on life satisfaction and mental distress. Moreover, multi-group analyses indicated that no significant path in the final model differed by gender, but non-students with high levels of mindfulness are more likely to perceive greater life satisfaction than students. The findings corroborate an important role for emotional intelligence in mindfulness exerting its beneficial effects.     

Loneliness and Subjective Happiness as Mediators of the Effects of Core Self-evaluations on Life Satisfaction Among Chinese College Students

The primary goal of this study was to investigate the mediator effects of loneliness and subjective happiness on the relationship between core self-evaluations and life satisfaction in Chinese college students. A total of 301 participants were all students who were attending three different Chinese colleges in Nanchang, Xi’an and Yan’an. Data were collected by using the Core Self-evaluations Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, Subjective Happiness Scale and Satisfaction with Life Scale. Path revealed that subjective happiness fully mediated the relationship between core self-evaluations and life satisfaction. Furthermore, the association between core self-evaluations and life satisfaction was not mediated by loneliness and subjective happiness partially mediated the association between core self-evaluations and loneliness. The final model also showed a significant path from core self-evaluations through subjective happiness to life satisfaction and loneliness. Limitations of the study are considered and implications of the results for increasing individuals’ life satisfaction are discussed.     

Is Extremely High Life Satisfaction During Adolescence Advantageous?

This study examined whether extremely high life satisfaction was associated with adaptive functioning or maladaptive functioning. Six hundred ninety-eight secondary level students completed the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale [Huebner, 1991a, School Psychology International, 12, pp. 231–240], Youth Self-Report of the Child Behavior Checklist [Achenbach and Edelbrock, 1991, Child Behavior Checklist and Youth Self-Report, Burlington, VT], Abbreviated Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire [Francis, 1996, Personality and Individual Differences, 21, pp. 835–844], Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (Muris, 2001, Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assesment, 23(3), pp. 145–149], and the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (Malecki and Demaray, 2002, Psychology in Schools, 39, pp. 1–18]. Three groups of students were created based on their life satisfaction reports: very high (top 10%), average (middle 25%), and very low (lowest 10%). Compared to students with average life satisfaction, students with very high life satisfaction had higher levels on all indicators of adaptive psychosocial functioning, except extraversion. Moreover, students with very high satisfaction had the lowest scores on all measures of emotional and behavioral problems. However, rates of clinical levels of behavior problems did not differ significantly between the very high and average groups. Finally, several necessary, but not sufficient factors for very high life satisfaction were identified. Taken together, the findings support the notion that very high life satisfaction is associated with positive psychosocial functioning. Furthermore, adolescents’ reports of their life satisfaction revealed differences in adjustment that were not captured by measures of psychopathology.     

Moderating Effects of Gender and Loneliness on the Relationship Between Self-esteem and Life Satisfaction in Chinese University Students

This study examined both the moderator effects of loneliness and gender on the relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction in Chinese university students. 615 college students completed the measures of loneliness, self-esteem and life satisfaction. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that loneliness moderated the association between self-esteem and life satisfaction. When students reported a low level of loneliness, those with high self-esteem reported higher scores in life satisfaction than those with low self-esteem. However, the high and low self-esteem group had low level of life satisfaction when loneliness was high. Moreover, gender also moderated the link between self-esteem and life satisfaction. Self-esteem tended to be a more significant determinant of life satisfaction in the females than the males. The significance and limitations of the results are discussed.     

Examining Mediator Role of the Social Safeness on the Relationship Between Vengeance and Life Satisfaction

The aim of the present study is to examine the mediating role of social safeness on the relationship between vengeance and life satisfaction. Participants were 305 university students who completed a questionnaire package which includes the Vengeance Scale, the Social Safeness and Pleasure Scale, and the Life Satisfaction Scale. According to the results, social safeness and life satisfaction were predicted negatively by vengeance. On the other hand, life satisfaction was predicted positively by social safeness. In addition, social safeness mediated the relationship between vengeance and life satisfaction. Together, the findings illuminate the social processes underlying the association of vengeance with life satisfaction.     

Family Life Quality and Emotional Quality of Life in Chinese Adolescents with and Without Economic Disadvantage

Chinese secondary school students (N = 2758) responded to measures of perceived family life quality (parenting quality and parent–child relational quality) and emotional quality of life (hopelessness, mastery, life satisfaction and self-esteem). Parenting quality included different aspects of parental behavioral control (parental knowledge, expectation, monitoring, discipline and demandingness as well as parental control defined in terms of indigenous Chinese concepts), parental psychological control, and parental responsiveness whereas parent–child relational quality included satisfaction with parental control, child’s readiness to communicate with the parents, parental trust of the child, and child’s trust of the parent. Results showed that parenting quality and parent–child relational quality in poor families were generally poorer than those of non-poor families and the differences were more pronounced in paternal parenting quality and father–child relational quality than in maternal parenting quality and mother–child relational quality. Emotional quality of life of adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage was also found to be poorer than that of adolescents not experiencing economic disadvantage. The present findings replicate the previous research findings in the literature and generate a pioneering dataset based on Chinese adolescents at Secondary 2 level in Hong Kong.     

Positive Youth Development,Life Satisfaction and Problem Behaviour Among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong: A Replication

The purpose of this replication study was to examine the relationships among life satisfaction, positive youth development and problem behaviour. The respondents were 7,151 Chinese Secondary 2 (Grade 8) students (3,707 boys and 3,014 girls) recruited from 44 schools in Hong Kong. Validated assessment tools measuring positive youth development, life satisfaction and problem behaviour were used. As predicted, positive youth development was positively correlated with life satisfaction, and positive youth development and life satisfaction were negatively correlated with adolescent problem behaviour. Based on a series of structural equation models, the present findings replicated the previous findings that adolescents with a higher level of positive youth development were more satisfied with life and had lesser problem behaviour, with higher level of life satisfaction and lower level of problem behaviour mutually influencing each other. These replicated findings provide a further advance in the literature on positive youth development, particularly in the Chinese context. Implications for future research and intervention were discussed.     

Subjective Well-Being,Discrimination and Cultural Conflict: Iranians Living in The Netherlands

This study focuses on subjective well-being of Iranian refugees in the Netherlands. Relations with perceived discrimination and cultural conflict with life satisfaction, and positive and negative affect were examined. Additionally, the mediating role of self-esteem, mastery and ethnic identity was studied as well as demographic variables. A path model showed two pathways leading to well-being. In a first path perceived discrimination led to higher ethnic identification which had a negative effect on mastery, which in turn led to lower well-being. In a second path, cultural conflict had an indirect effect on negative affect via self-esteem, and a direct effect on positive affect and life satisfaction. Legal status, level of education, lenght of residence and number of family members in the country had an independent effect on different aspects of the path model.     

Purpose,Mood, and Pleasure in Predicting Satisfaction Judgments

We examined the extent to which satisfaction with life, with one’s self, and with one’s day are predicted by pleasure, purpose in life, interest, and mood. In a sample of 222 college students we found that both satisfaction with life and self-esteem were best predicted by positive feelings and an absence of negative feelings, as well as purpose in life. By contrast, satisfaction with individual days was predicted by negative feelings, and very strongly predicted by positive feelings, but not by purpose in life. In predicting life satisfaction purpose in life provided a buffering effect for lower levels of mood. People high in purpose in life reported high levels of life satisfaction even with moderate levels of mood. Thus, what makes a satisfying day is different from what makes a satisfying life or self. Life and self satisfaction were predicted significantly by purpose in life even after controlling for physical pleasure and affect balance, suggesting that they are more than just hedonic variables.     

Investigating Validity Evidence of the Satisfaction with Life Scale Adapted for Children

This study introduces the Satisfaction with Life Scale adapted for Children (SWLS-C) and presents psychometric findings regarding its validation. The SWLS-C was adapted from the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al. 1985), which is one of the most commonly used measures to assess satisfaction with life in adults. Three subject matter experts adapted the SWLS by changing the wording of the item stem and response format in order to make it more understandable for children. A stratified random sample of 1,233 students (48% girls) in grades 4–7 (mean age 11 years and 7 months) provided data on the SWLS-C and measures of optimism, self-concept, self-efficacy, depression, emphatic concern, and perspective taking. The SWLS-C demonstrated a unidimensional factor structure and high internal consistency. Furthermore, differential item functioning and differential scale functioning analyses indicated that the SWLS-C measures satisfaction with life in the same way for different groups of children (i.e., with regard to gender, first language learned at home—English vs. other language(s) than English—and across different grades) at the item and at the scale level. Associations between scores on the SWLS-C and demographic variables were statistically non-significant or of small effect size. In addition, the SWLS-C showed evidence of convergent and discriminant validity in relation to the other measures. Our results indicate that the SWLS-C is a psychometrically sound instrument that demonstrated evidence of construct validity for this age group. Limitations and future directions are discussed.     

Hope and happiness: A comparison of some discrepancies

This paper presents a comparison of Canadian and American university students on happiness and satisfaction as measured by the Satisfaction and Happiness Survey (Michalos, 1985). For the American sample, the findings for other measures of satisfaction and happiness, as well as for hope as measured by the Hope Index (Staats and Stassen, 1986), are also reported. American students had slightly higher means on both overall satisfaction and happiness with life as a whole than the Canadian students. The greatest perceived gap for American students was between what one has now and expects to have in the future while for Canadian students it was between what one has and what one needs. Both Canadian and American students reported greatest satisfaction with health and lowest satisfaction with financial security and paid employment. For the American sample, of the other satisfaction, happiness, and hope measures, a global happiness measure had the highest correlation with both overall satisfaction (r=0.62, p<0.0001) and=" happiness=" with=" life=" as=" a=" whole=">r=0.55, p<0.0001). reasons=" for=" the=" observed=" differences=" between=" the=" two=" samples=" are=" suggested=" and=" future=" research=" directions=" are=">     

Positive and Negative Affectivity as Mediator and Moderator of the Relationship between Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Turkish University Students

The main purpose of this study is to examine the mediator and moderator role of positive and negative affectivity variables on the relationship between optimism and life satisfaction in university students. 397 university students, ranging in age from 18 to 27 (M = 20.98), attending different departments of the Faculty of Education, at Pamukkale University in Turkey participated as subjects in the study. Data were collected by using PANAS, LOT, and SWLS. The relationship between optimism and satisfaction was partially mediated by both positive and negative affectivity. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that positive and negative affectivity did not moderate the relationship between optimism and life satisfaction.     

Social Relations and School Life Satisfaction in South Korea

This study pays special attention to adolescents who are at the critical stage of social, cognitive and emotional development and their satisfaction with school life which is important for their educational experience and adult life. The purpose of this study is to examine how students’ relationships with friends, teachers and parents are associated with their school life satisfaction. We conducted hierarchical linear modeling with nationally representative data on 3,790 high school seniors in the consideration of different school types (general and vocational high schools) reflecting the contextual characteristics of South Korean education system. Our findings show that all those relations are associated with school life satisfaction and that some distinctive dimensions of each relation matter for students’ school life satisfaction. In particular, teacher-student relationship was found to shape students’ satisfaction with school life both at individual and school level. In spite of several limitations, the broad investigation of students’ social relations provided a policy implication for improving adolescents’ satisfaction with their school lives.     

The interrelationships of positive affect,negative affect,and life satisfaction in an adolescent sample

A total of 266 adolescent students responded to two self-report well-being measures, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al., 1988) and the Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (Dew and Huebner, 1994). The findings supported multidimensional models of subjective well-being. Similar to findings with adults and younger children, three separable factors of well-being were identified: positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. Demographic variables correlated differentially with the three factors. Considered together with findings from other research, the results suggest the structural invariance of subjective well-being from middle childhood through adulthood.     

Affective Mediators of the Influence of Gratitude on Life Satisfaction in Late Adolescence

The aim of this study is to examine the mediation effects of positive affect and negative affect on the link between gratitude and life satisfaction in late adolescence. Three hundred and fifty-four Chinese university students were asked to conduct the Gratitude Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Structural equation modeling analyses supported fully mediators of positive affect and negative affect of the association between gratitude and life satisfaction. Furthermore, a multi-group analysis found that females with low negative affect scores were more likely to get greater life satisfaction than males, whereas males with high gratitude scores were more likely to get more positive affect than females. The significance and limitations of the present findings are discussed.     

The influence of peers and parents on youth life satisfaction in Hong Kong

This investigation attempts to measure the relative influence of peer and parental influence on the perceived life satisfaction of two groups of secondary students in Hong Kong. Data on 1906 students from 30 schools were collected through the use of a self-administered questionnaire. Respondents were asked to rate their level of satisfaction on 26 different domains of life on a seven-point scale, ranging from very satisfied to very dissatisfied, as well as their satisfaction with life in general. These 26 items were combined to form six summary indices of life satisfaction: school life, family life, acceptance by others, government, media, and living environment. Two independent variables were used in the analysis of life satisfaction: peer orientation, and parent orientation. Both are composite indices and measure the adolescent's attachment to and identification with his peers or parents. It was found that parent orientation is a better predictor of life satisfaction than peer orientation. Adolescents who are high on parent orientation are more satisfied with every domain of life. They are also more satisfied with life in general. The relationship between peer orientation and life satisfaction is not a clear-cut one. Adolescents with strong peer orientation are more satisfied with school, media, government, and acceptance by others, but are less satisfied with family. There is no significant relationship between peer orientation and environment. The younger adolescents in our sample tend to perceive a higher level of satisfaction than the older adolescents in every domain of life as well as life in general.     

Preliminary Validation of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS)

Two studies investigated the psychometricproperties of the Brief MultidimensionalStudents' Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994). In Study 1, 221 middle schoolstudents completed the Brief MultidimensionalStudents' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS),Multidimensional Students' Life SatisfactionScale, Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS:Huebner, 1991a), Positive and Negative AffectSchedule-Children's Version (Laurent et al.,1999), Children's Social Desirability Scale(Crandall et al., 1965), and a one-item globallife satisfaction rating (GLLS). Students alsorated the importance of the BMSLSS five lifesatisfaction domains (Family, Friends, School,Self, Living Environment). The results revealedacceptable internal consistency reliability,criterion-related validity, and constructvalidity for the BMSLSS Total score forresearch purposes. Furthermore, evidence ofconvergent and discriminant validity for theBMSLSS domain scores was also obtained throughmultitrait-multimethod analyses. Finally, theresults failed to provide strong support forthe usefulness of importance scores inpredicting overall life satisfaction;unweighted BMSLSS scores were highly related toglobal life satisfaction (GLLS) scores. InStudy 2, 46 high school students completed theBMSLSS and MSLSS to test the generalizabilityof the convergent and discriminant validityfindings with older adolescents. The findingsrevealed stronger evidence of validity withthis age group. Overall, the findings offered preliminary support for the reliability andvalidity of the BMSLSS, suggesting that it canserve as a useful alternative to the longerMSLSS in studies with adolescents in whichbrevity is an important consideration.