Unconditional Positive Self-Regard, Intrinsic Aspirations, and Authenticity: Pathways to Psychological Well-Being

Abstract

Unconditional positive self-regard (UPSR) is regarded by humanistic psychologists as an important determinant of well-being. However, until recently, it has received little empirical attention. The current study aims to examine the association between UPSR and several key constructs consistent with the ideas of well-being within contemporary humanistic and positive psychology. Study 1 is a confirmatory factor analysis of the UPSR scale. The significant best fit for the data was a related two-factor model. Study 2 used the two-factors of the UPSR scale to explore the association with intrinsic aspirations. The study showed positive self-regard was significantly positively correlated with the intrinsic aspirations-total scale and with each of the separate scores for intrinsic aspirations-importance and intrinsic aspirations-chance. Unconditionality of regard was significantly negatively correlated with intrinsic aspirations-importance but was not significantly correlated to either the intrinsic aspirations-total or intrinsic aspirations-chance scores. Study 3 considers the association between UPSR, intrinsic aspirations, and authenticity. Unconditionality of regard was significantly positively correlated with the authenticity scale score. Only intrinsic aspirations-chance scores showed a statistically significant and positive correlation with authenticity. The remaining correlations between intrinsic aspirations and authenticity were not statistically significant. Results call for further empirical attention to UPSR within humanistic and positive psychology research.