Reliability of Positive and Negative Life Experiences Reported by Inmates: A Pilot Study

We explored how positive and negative life experiences of caregivers are associated with household food insecurity. The Midlands Family Study (MFS) was a cross-sectional study with three levels of household food security: food secure, food insecure without child hunger and food insecure with child hunger. Ordinal logistic regression analysis was used for analyses of negative and positive life experiences (number, impact, type) associated with food insecurity. An eight-county region in South Carolina, USA, in 2012-2013. Caregivers (n 511) in households with children. Caregivers who reported greater numbers of negative life experiences and greater perceived impact had increased odds of household food insecurity and reporting their children experienced hunger. Each additional negative life experience count of the caregiver was associated with a 16 % greater odds of food insecurity without child hunger and a 28 % greater odds of child hunger. Each one-unit increase in the negative impact score (e.g. a worsening) was associated with 8 % higher odds of food insecurity without child hunger and 12 % higher odds of child hunger. Negative work experiences or financial instability had the strongest association (OR = 1·8; 95 % CI 1·5, 2·2) with child hunger. Positive life experiences were generally not associated with food security status, with one exception: for each unit increase in the number of positive experiences involving family and other relationships, the odds of child hunger decreased by 22 %. More research is needed to understand approaches to build resilience against negative life experiences and strengthen positive familial, community and social relationships.

One of the most important questions in personality psychology and psychopathology is whether working models of attachment change during lifetime. It is assumed that early childhood experiences influence the formation of secure or insecure internal working models of attachment The belief that attachment representations formed in childhood are relatively stable is no longer so obvious: new reports have appeared, according to which important life experiences may lead to a change in attachment style from insecure to secure or the other way around. The main aim of the present project was to investigate whether and in what manner positive and negative life experiences lead to changes in internal working models of attachment. The specific style of attachment to mother, father, partner, and friend was measured with the ECR-RS, while global attachment was assessed based on the SAAM and ECR-RS G. The number and intensity of positive and negative life experiences was assessed by means of the LES-M. We analyzed the results for a sample of 156 adults. The study revealed significant relations between the level of positive life experiences and global and specific styles of attachment to a friend and partner. However, no significant relationships were observed between the intensity of negative life events and attachment style. Between-group comparisons showed that in the group in which a change of attachment style from insecure to secure had taken place the experience of positive events was significantly stronger than in the group in which there had been no such change. The compared groups did not differ in the level of negative life experiences. The study supports the hypothesis about a change of global attachment style and selected specific aspects of insecure attachment to a secure style as a result of experiencing positive life events.

Negative and positive life experience among men and women in selected occupations, symptom awareness and visits to the doctor

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between metacognitive learning strategies, positive– negative life experiences, and cognitive emotional regulation in adolescents. In addition, adolescents’ metacognitive learning strategies, positive– negative life experiences, and cognitive emotional regulation variables were examined by addressing demographic variablessuch as gender, grade level, family income level, and family attitudes. The sample of the study was 623 students in Ereğli district of Konya. Because of the research, there is a significant difference between adolescents’ positive and negative life experiences and gender. There was no significant difference between adolescents’ positive and negative life experiences and grade level. There is a significant difference between adolescents’ positive and negative life experiences and parental attitude variables. There was no significant difference between adolescents’ positive and negative life experiences and income level variables.

Purpose The purpose was to synthesize qualitative literature and identify indicators of life success (positive life outcomes and experiences) that can help in understanding resiliency in the context of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods This scoping review involved searching nine online databases for population (TBI) and context (qualitative literature). Searches retrieved 42 852 articles and, after two-stage screening, 76 articles met the inclusion criteria of reporting indicators of life success from the perspective of individuals with TBI. Results Most studies were conducted in North America, Australia, or Europe. Participants were people living with TBI (mild to severe), of all age ranges. Positive life experiences were organized within four domains: understanding of oneself and one’s life, social relationships and interaction, doing (engagement in activities, sense of control and accomplishment), and hope for the future. Conclusions The positive life experiences reflect both processes and outcomes (indicators of success) and highlight the need for a multidimensional approach when seeking to understand resiliency following TBI. The transactional framework of life experiences can be applied in future TBI resiliency research to understand how individuals negotiate adversity through experiences promoting understanding of oneself and the world, social relationships, engagement in activity and hope. Implications for rehabilitation Rehabilitation services should consider how to afford opportunities for engagement in activity, social interaction, meaning making (i.e., coming to new understandings), and hope. With respect to engaging in activity and social relationships, having social interaction, being understood, being active and productive, having autonomy, and having accomplishments, reflect important experiences to enable within rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation professionals should consider how providing opportunities for their clients to have positive life experiences may contribute toward an adaptive and empowered mindset.

Socioeconomic disparities in physiological well-being may be a pathway to the poorer health outcomes observed in those of lower socioeconomic status (SES). The present research examined greater frequency of positive life experiences (POS) as a route through which greater cumulative SES (CSES) may be linked to lower allostatic load (AL), a multisystem index of physiological dysregulation, and assessed whether the association between POS and AL varies along the socioeconomic spectrum. These associations were examined using data from the Midlife Development in the United States Biomarker Project (N = 2,096). Analyses included tests of whether positive experiences mediated the CSES-AL association, whether CSES moderated associations of positive experiences and AL, and whether CSES moderated positive experience mediation of the CSES-AL association (moderated mediation). The observed association between CSES and AL was weakly mediated by POS. CSES moderated the POS-AL association, such that POS was associated with AL only at lower levels of CSES. The moderated mediation analysis showed that POS mediated the association between CSES and AL only at lower levels of CSES. The results suggest complexity in associations between cumulative socioeconomic advantage, positive life events, and physiological well-being. Positive life events may play a stronger role in physiological health in those of lower socioeconomic advantage, as one of multiple pathways through which lower SES is linked to poor health. Given the modifiability of access to, and frequency of, positive life events, the potential role of positive experiences in lessening health disparities warrants further study. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A comparison of memory for homicide, non-homicidal violence, and positive life experiences

Association of positive and negative life events with cognitive performance and psychological status in late life: A cross-sectional study in Northern Portugal.

A study was conducted to investigate whether or not the occurrence of recent negative and positive life experiences moderates the relationship between “irrational” beliefs and life satisfaction. Subjects completed the Sarason, Johnson, and Siegel (1978) measure of negative and positive life change; the Hawkins, Bugen, and Snell (1981) quality-of-life measures for leisure, love, health, and financial satisfaction; and an “irrational” beliefs measure related to Ellis' theory of Rational-Emotive Therapy (Ellis and Harper, 1976). The data were analyzed separately for those individuals experiencing high and low levels of negative (and positive) life change, using canonical correlation procedures. The results revealed different relationships between the measures of irrational beliefs and the life satisfaction indicators as a function ofboth negative and positive life experiences.

Background: Changes in a person's life from adolescence to adulthood are accompanied by experiences in college life. Self-esteem, positive and negative life experiences, and student life satisfaction can be interesting topics to study in more depth. Objective: The objective of this study is to identify the correlation between self-esteem, positive experiences, negative experiences, and life satisfaction in university students. Method: The study used The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE), and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The data analysis used Spearman's correlation technique. Results: (1) There is a positive correlation between self-esteem and life satisfaction, (2) there is a positive correlation between positive experiences and life satisfaction, and (3) there is a negative correlation between negative experiences and life satisfaction. Conclusion: Based on the results of the study, it can be indicated that there is a correlation between self-esteem, positive experiences, negative experiences, and life satisfaction of university students.

In this study we examined autobiographical memory for emotional experiences from an integrative perspective, analyzing nature, distribution, content and phenomenological assessment of the experiences. Undergraduate students produced positive or negative life experiences, dated them and indicated their emotional level. Afterwards, they chose an experience to narrate, and rated their memory for the experience. The positive and negative experiences were grouped into 14 categories, although most of them fell into four areas: studies, family, friends and couple. The number of positive and negative experiences progressively increased from very few childhood memories to a larger percentage of more recent events. The distribution was equivalent, except during adolescence, in which a greater number of negative than positive experiences were recorded. The negative narratives included more emotional details, references to cognitive processes, mental rehearsal and justifications than the positive narratives. But the positive experiences obtained higher ratings in vividness and sensorial details than the negative experiences.

Most studies about life experiences and their long-term impact have relied on retrospective assessments and cross-sectional designs. However, there are concerns about the inconsistency of reports, which have been addressed in a limited scope. This study aimed to compare differences on inconsistency between positive and negative experiences to describe potential patterns and to identify sociodemographic, experiences-related and design-related predictors of inconsistency. Adults from community (N = 171) reported their life experiences twice, through self-report or interview. An overall trend of overreporting was found for positive and negative experiences. Additionally, inconsistency on positive experiences was higher than on negative although both variables were correlated. Regarding predictors of inconsistency, the model explained greater variance for negative experiences than for the positive ones. Nevertheless, most variables did not predict inconsistency, with few exceptions: impact for positive experiences, total of experiences for negative experiences, and time interval was marginally significant for both. Available data comparing inconsistency on positive and negative experiences as well as associated predictors are incipient. Overall, it seems that we know more about variables not involved in inconsistency than those that matter. Due to its relevancy, this issue should be further examined.

This article develops and validates the Positive and Negative Adolescent Life Experiences (PANALE) scale, a 11-item tool that enables researchers to measure adolescent stressors in a more valid and efficient manner than existing adolescent stressors scales. The PANALE presents good psychometric qualities, in terms of construct validity (factorial structure, measurement invariance, and composite reliability) and concurrent validity with regard to eustress and distress symptoms in a French sample of high school adolescents ( N = 1513). Overall, the PANALE provides a viable alternative to existing methods for conducting quantitative research on adolescent stress processes, notably those related to school disengagement and dropout processes.

Previous research showed that positive and negative life events influence the development of depression. However, it is less clear how life events interact with depressive symptoms and self-esteem. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating effects of self-esteem on the relationship between life events and depressive symptoms in adulthood. The Traumatic Antecedent Questionnaire, Multidimensional Self-esteem Scale (MSWS), and Becks Depression Inventory were administered in 173 psychiatric inpatients (mean age 39.69±14.56years, ranging from 18 to 76years). At the time of assessment, all patients suffered from depressive symptoms caused by an affective disorder (major depression, bipolar I, dysthymia). Path analyses showed that the individual level of self-esteem (measured by MSWS) fully mediated the association between positive life events and depressive symptoms. The current study indicates that future therapy programmes for patients with depressive symptoms could include interventions focusing on the improvement of self-esteem, as increasing self-esteem may be beneficial for recovery. To date, this is the first study exploring the pathways from positive/negative life events to depressive symptoms. The relationship between positive life experiences and depressive symptoms was fully mediated by self-esteem. Strengthening self-esteem in therapy might lower the vulnerability for depression.

This study tested the potential to elicit a broadened attentional focus through writing about a positive life experience and to derive health benefits from such writing. Participants (n = 38) wrote for 20 min each day for 3 consecutive days about either a positive life experience or a control topic. Writing about positive experiences led to improved physical health (measured 4–6 weeks after writing) compared to control and higher levels of global cognitive focus after writing mediated this effect. Notably, while the positive writing condition was more broadened than control, positive affect was not responsible for this difference. Implications for disclosive writing and the broaden and build model are discussed.