Lower Life Satisfaction Research Articles

Life Satisfaction, Hope and Self Esteem among Working and Non-Working Parous Married Women Living in Joint Families

The aim of the current study is to investigate if there are differences in hope, life satisfaction, and self-esteem between working and non-working married women living in joint families. The sample had 144 parous married women working as well as non-working women living in joint families. The age range was 24–55 years. Participants were from urban and rural areas. The hope scale, life satisfaction scale, and self-esteem scale were used. Results showed that there areconsiderable differences in hope, life satisfaction, and self-esteem between working and non-working married women living in joint families. Self esteem and life satisfaction have a significant positive relationship with hope. Therapies and counselling may help improve self-esteem and life satisfaction. Findings have vital implications for practice and underscore the requirement to help and encourage married women in their lifestyle. The results highlight the need for mental well-being promotion and also prevent low self-esteem in non-working women as an appropriate response to enhance their hope and life satisfaction. There is a requirement to be hopeful and positive in order to deal with low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.

Anxiety, Attachment Styles and Life Satisfaction in the Polish LGBTQ+ Community.

Poland is one of the most discriminatory places in Europe. The political situation, legal policies, and society's attitude towards people from the LGBTQ+ community in Poland clearly indicate the need to study the mental health and well-being of this group of individuals. Based on Meyer's minority stress theory, Bowlby's attachment theory, the Ainsworth attachment framework, Diener's subjective well-being model, and provided empirical evidence, this study examined the significance of attachment styles and anxiety as predictors of life satisfaction among the Polish LGBTQ+ community. It also explored the differences between LGBTQ+ and heterosexual individuals in the levels of tested variables. A total of 414 participants took part in this study, of whom most study participants were young adults (M = 24.50; SD = 6.94). Of those, 130 participants identified themselves as heterosexual, while 284 declared themselves members of the LGBTQ+ community. The Satisfaction with Life Scale, Plopa's Attachment Styles Questionnaire, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were used. Data demonstrate that anxiety and attachment styles were significant predictors of life satisfaction in the LGBTQ+ community. Moreover, LGBTQ+ individuals had higher non-secure attachment styles and anxiety scores, and lower life satisfaction scores in comparison to heterosexual individuals. The presented study is the first Polish study to test such relationships in the Polish LGBTQ+ community. It draws attention to lower life satisfaction among study participants representing the LGBTQ+ community in comparison to cisgender heterosexual individuals. This indicates that researchers, clinical specialists and practitioners should try to improve the levels of subjective well-being in Polish LGBTQ+ individuals, for example, through psychoeducational and supportive programs. In addition, the presented results highlight the possible important role of attachment styles in the functioning of the presented group.

Life Satisfaction Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand.

Objective: To investigate prevalence of life satisfaction in the Thai population before and during the COVID-19 epidemic, and factors associated with life satisfaction during the epidemic. Methods: Multistage sampling was used to draw a sample from the Thai population. A total of 3,115 Thai participants age 15years or older from a nationally-representative longitudinal survey in 2019 and in 2021 were included in this study. The study applied the Scale with Life Satisfaction (SWLS) instrument to measure life satisfaction among the Thai population before and during the COVID-19 epidemic. Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the association between life satisfaction and other variables. The follow-up survey response rate for individuals was 44.8%. Results: An average life satisfaction score during the COVID-19 epidemic (in 2021) was 22.4 which decreased from 25.5 before the COVID-19 epidemic (in 2019). More than one-third of the participants (36.5%) reported having less life satisfaction during the epidemic, which was nearly 20 percentage points higher than before the epidemic (17.7%). Controlling for life satisfaction in 2019, the analysis found statistical associations between demographic and economic characteristics and health-related behaviours, and life satisfaction during 2021. People in the older age cohorts (p ≤ 0.001), in a rural area (p ≤ 0.05), having higher education (p ≤ 0.001), still being employed (p ≤ 0.01) and becoming unemployed (p ≤ 0.01) had higher life satisfaction. The possibility of higher life satisfaction was also found in people who maintained good health (p ≤ 0.01), sufficient physical activity (p ≤ 0.001), and fruit and vegetable intake (p ≤ 0.01). People with income loss during the epidemic had lower life satisfaction (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: The findings suggest that policies and systems for resilience and social protection are needed for empowering individuals-especially the poor and vulnerable-to cope with crises, and improve health and wellbeing outcomes.

The role of social support and social identification on challenge and threat cognitive appraisals, perceived stress, and life satisfaction in workplace employees.

There is an emergent literature highlighting the positive role of social support and social identification in buffering against the deleterious effects of psychological stressors. Yet, we have limited understanding of how exactly these social factors fit within contemporary stress and coping theory. To advance and gain a greater understanding of these social factors, we explore the associations of social support and social identification on individuals' challenge and threat cognitive appraisals and how this then relates to perceived stress, life satisfaction, turnover intentions, and job performance. A total of 412 workplace employees from private and public sector occupations completed state measures around a recent most stressful experience at work. Results revealed atemporal associations between cognitive resource appraisals with both social support and social identification. Specifically, greater identification with colleagues and lower threat were related to less perceived stress, while having greater social identification (with colleagues and organisation), social support, and lower threat, were related to greater life satisfaction. Greater perceived stress, and lower social identification and life satisfaction, were also related to greater turnover intentions. While greater identification with the organisation and life satisfaction, along with lower perceived stress were related to greater job performance. Taken together, this research provides evidence that social support and social identification play a positive role when trying to promote more adaptive responses to stressful situations.

Subjective economic inequality is associated with lower well-being through more upward comparison and lower trust.

Individuals often misconstrue the actual degree of economic inequality, which might account for the ambiguity in the literature about the role that inequality plays in well-being. Instead of focusing on objective inequality, we propose a subjective inequality approach by investigating the long-term association between subjective economic inequality and well-being (N = 613). We found that subjective inequality predicted lower life satisfaction and higher depression one year later, which were accounted for by more upward socioeconomic comparison and lower trust. Furthermore, the negative association between subjective inequality and well-being remained constant, regardless of individuals' objective socioeconomic status (SES), subjective SES, and mindset of SES. The long-term association between subjective inequality and well-being remained robust after controlling for prior levels of well-being and multiple covariates. Our findings revealed that subjective inequality is detrimental to well-being and opens a new window into psychological research on economic inequality.

The impact of residents' perceptions of urban shrinkage on overall life satisfaction – The case of Yichun, China

Research focusing on the impact of urban shrinkage on residents' lives shows that the overall quality of life and satisfaction in shrinking cities are not necessarily as low as people generally believe. To provide an insightful explanation for such a phenomenon, this article investigates the mechanisms of residents' overall life satisfaction in shrinking cities. Existing research has explored this question from objective and macro perspectives. However, it has not explained why a decline in the objective environment may not necessarily lead to residents' dissatisfaction. Therefore, this study aims to provide additional explanations based on individual perceptions of urban shrinkage and differences between groups. We employed the structural equation model (SEM) and multiple group analysis to conduct an empirical study in Yichun, a shrinking city in north-eastern China. Our findings indicate that positive perceptions of urban shrinkage, policy and planning practices, and urban development prospects positively impacted residents' overall life satisfaction. In contrast, negative perceptions of urban shrinkage negatively influenced overall life satisfaction. Furthermore, residents' varying perceptions can affect each another. Finally, groups differentiated by gender, age, retirement status, and length of residence demonstrated notable differences. The overall life satisfaction of men, older individuals, retired residents, and those who had lived in Yichun for over 20 years was more strongly influenced by their perceptions. This study establishes that residents' perceptions of different aspects of urban shrinkage significantly impact their overall life satisfaction. This finding provides a more in-depth explanation of why and how residents in shrinking cities might experience higher or lower life satisfaction levels. The policy implications of this research are that the government should concern more about the perceptions of the remaining residents and strengthen public communication and policy announcements.

Compulsive exercise and its relationship with mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in recreational exercisers and athletes.

Better understanding of compulsive exercise is needed in sports medicine. Whilst compulsive exercise may impact mental health, the limited research exploring the relationship between compulsive exercise and psychosocial outcomes is equivocal. The majority of studies have examined eating disorder populations where the eating disorder pathology might account for distress. This study explores relationships between compulsive exercise and mental health. Cross-sectional observational study. Australian recreational exercisers and athletes (N = 1157; Mage 36.4, standard deviation = 12.9, 77 % female) recruited through sporting organisations, clubs, and gyms, completed measures of compulsive exercise, depression, anxiety, stress, life satisfaction, social physique anxiety, and self-esteem. Regression analyses examined relationships between dimensions of compulsive exercise and wellbeing. After adjustment for eating disorder symptoms and sporting level, compulsive exercise was associated with increased risk of clinically-significant anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms. Compulsive exercise was also associated with lower life satisfaction and self-esteem, and higher social physique anxiety. Notably, different dimensions of compulsive exercise had varying relationships with outcomes, and avoidance and rule-driven behaviour and lack of exercise enjoyment were associated with poorer mental health and wellbeing. Results suggest that compulsive exercise is uniquely associated with a range of psychosocial and mental health outcomes. Results support the need to improve identification and treatment of compulsive exercise in sport and exercise settings. Results highlight that mental health intervention is an important component of treatment, and treatments targeting symptoms related to avoidance and rule-driven behaviour, and anhedonia may be valuable treatment components for those with compulsive exercise.

Sleep and subjective well-being among chinese adolescents

Introduction: The relationships among sleep, resilience, and subjective well-being (SWB) are less studied in adolescents. This study aimed to examine the associations between multiple sleep domains (sleep duration and quality, and chronotype) and SWB in Chinese adolescents, and whether resilience mediated these relationships. Methods: We enrolled 455 adolescents in Jintan and Nanjing cities (Jiangsu Province, China) in 2017–2018. Sleep variables included sleep duration (time in bed [TIB], interval between bedtime and waketime), sleep quality (global score of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]), and chronotype (mid-sleep time on weekends corrected for sleep debt). We used the Chinese version of the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale to measure resilience, and the satisfaction with Life Scale and Subjective Happiness Scale to measure SWB. Mediation analyses were performed using structural equation modeling with a bootstrap approach. Results: The associations between sleep duration/sleep quality and SWB were fully mediated by resilience. Specifically, longer TIB (B = 2.04, P = 0.03) and lower PSQI scores (B = −1.60, P < 0.001) were associated with greater resilience, which in turn, was associated with greater latent SWB constructed from happiness and life satisfaction (BTIB = 0.12, BPSQI = 0.11, P < 0.05). Later chronotype was associated with lower happiness (B = −0.52, P = 0.01) and life satisfaction (B = −0.76, P = 0.02) but not resilience and latent SWB. Conclusion: Sleep duration and sleep quality were positively associated with latent SWB, and resilience is a mediator. Later, chronotype was independently associated with lower levels of SWB indicators, including happiness and life satisfaction. The study findings highlight the importance of optimal sleep in promoting resilience and SWB during adolescence.

Mental Health of Nurses Employed in Surgical and Non-invasive Treatment Wards

Introduction. The nursing profession requires employees to be highly resistant to stress. Assisting patients in their experience of pain, illness, helplessness is a stressful experience can be a traumatic experience especially in the face of an immediate threat to a patient’s life. Nursing staff working in treatment wards is exposed to particularly intense stress, in contact with a patient experiencing fear of a surgery and a patient after a surgery experiencing postoperative pain and requiring specialist care.
 Aim. The exploratory goal of the study was to diagnose the level of mental health in case of the nurses working in two types of wards: surgical and non-invasive treatment ones. The nurses working in hospital non-invasive treatment wards were expected to have better mental health than the ones working in treatment units.
 Material and Methods. An anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted among N=244 nurses of randomly selected hospital wards in a district town in the north of Poland. In the study there were used: General Health Questionnaire GHQ-28 by D. Goldberg and Life Satisfaction Scale by E. Diener and co-workers.
 Results. Contrary to the expectations, nurses from non-invasive treatment wards experienced stronger anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction and lower life satisfaction than their colleagues from surgical units.
 Conclusions. Counter to the intuitively imposing image of the work of a nurse in various types of hospital wards, professional burden and mental condition, the need for mental health prevention of nursing staff applies primarily to staff employed in non-invasive treatment wards. With the aging of the population, it is becoming increasingly important to equip these nurses with the skills to cope with prolonged exposure to occupational stressors. (JNNN 2023;12(2):69–73)

GENDER SPECIFICITIES IN PERCEPTIONS OF HAPPINESS ACROSS AGE GROUPS

Purpose. The article addresses the topical problem of gender – specific perceptions of happiness. The paper aims to study gender differences in the notion of happiness across age groups.
 Materials and Methods. The study involved the use of a questionnaire to assess the significance of the characteristics of the concept of “happiness” with the help of a modified Likert scale. The scale included the characteristics of the concept of “happiness” that relate to the following levels: physiological, socio-psychological, personality-psychological, and spiritual (transcendental). The empirical base of the study consisted of 300 participants: 143 men and 157 women. The sampling was broken into these age groups: 18-24, 25-34, and 35-44.
 Results. The description of the concept of “happiness” in a gender and age-specific dimension is provided. Gender differences and similarities in the semantic meaning of the phenomenon of happiness typical of the respondents across age groups are traced. The findings show that at different ages both men and woman tend to change major sources of happiness. In women’s groups, regardless of age, one can observe semantic similarities between happiness and family relationships, family well-being: in fact, the older the person, the more meaningful this factor is. Unlike women, men associate happiness with attributes of success: social recognition and career. For men, happiness is tied up with self-realization and the search for individual meanings.
 Conclusion. The results of the study can be used in psychological counselling, psychotherapy, trainings in addressing family relationship issues, personal difficulties linked to low life satisfaction.

A cross-national comparison of problematic gaming behavior and well-being in adolescents

The popularity of playing games among adolescents has increased during the last decades, possibly affecting the prevalence of problematic gaming behavior. The current study aimed to compare country-level prevalence rates of adolescents' problematic gaming behavior in five countries and identify cross-cultural similarities and differences in the relationship between problematic gaming and well-being (life satisfaction, psychological complaints, and peer support). Cross-national data from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study were used. The sample comprised 14,398 gamers (61% boys) aged 11 to 16 (average age between 13.31 and 13.85) from Azerbaijan, England, Serbia, Slovenia, and the Netherlands. The findings showed that the prevalence of problematic gaming differs between countries. The highest prevalence of problematic gaming was seen in Azerbaijan (16.1%) and the lowest in the Netherlands (4.3%). In contrast, Azerbaijan reported the lowest gaming intensity, whereas the Netherlands and England showed the highest gaming intensity. Additional analyses revealed that problematic gaming was associated with lower life satisfaction, more psychological complaints, and lower peer support in all countries, although the strength of these associations varied between countries. The current study's results are consistent with the assumption that problematic gaming negatively affects adolescents' social and mental well-being. These findings are further discussed in light of the normalization theory which suggests that cultural gaming norms (i.e., the percentage of gamers per country) would influence the strength of the relationship between problematic gaming and adolescents' well-being. The present findings highlight the need for adequate prevention strategies aiming at problematic gaming among youngsters.

Low Level of Well-being in Young People With Physical-Mental Multimorbidity: A Population-Based Study

PurposeWe aimed to examine whether wellbeing, health behavior, and youth life among young people (YP) with co-occurrence of physical-mental conditions, that is, multimorbidity differ from YP with exclusively physical or mental conditions. MethodsThe population included 3,671 YP reported as having a physical or/and mental condition from a Danish nationwide school-based survey (aged 14–26 years). Wellbeing was measured by the five-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index and life satisfaction by the Cantril Ladder. YP's health behavior and youth life were evaluated in seven domains: home, education, activities/friends, drugs, sleep, sexuality, and self-harm/suicidal thoughts, in accordance with the Home, Education and employment, Eating, Activities, Drugs, Sexuality, Suicide and depression, and Safety acronym. We performed descriptive statistics and multilevel logistic regression analysis. ResultsA total of 52% of YP with physical-mental multimorbidity reported a low level of wellbeing, compared to 27% of YP with physical conditions and 44% with mental conditions. YP with multimorbidity had significantly higher odds of reporting poor life satisfaction, compared to YP with exclusively physical or mental conditions. YP with multimorbidity had significantly higher odds for psychosocial challenges and health risk behavior, compared to YP with physical conditions, along with increased odds for loneliness (23.3%), self-harm (63.1%), and suicidal thoughts (54.2%), compared to YP with mental conditions. DiscussionYP with physical-mental multimorbidity had higher odds for challenges and low wellbeing and life satisfaction. This is an especially vulnerable group and systematic screening for multimorbidity and psychosocial wellbeing is needed in all healthcare settings.

The distinction between irritability and anger and their associations with impulsivity and subjective wellbeing

Irritability, anger, and impulsivity have important associations with psychological well-being. However, studying the internal relationships between such emotional constructs is challenging, largely because of the lack of precise operational definitions and extensively validated measurement tools. The aim of this study was to examine relationships between the above emotional constructs and how they relate to satisfaction with life and perceived negative impact on different life domains. Participants (N = 471) completed a self-report questionnaire online. Correlational analyses showed that higher levels of irritability and trait anger were associated with lower life satisfaction. Impulsivity displayed complex relationships with life satisfaction, with some aspects (sensation seeking) showing a positive relationship and others (urgency, lack of perseverance) showing a negative relationship. A two-factor Confirmatory Factor Analysis treating irritability and anger as separate constructs showed a better fit compared with a one-factor model, indicating that irritability and anger should be treated as separate constructs. An exploratory moderation analysis showed that higher irritability predicted increased anger only for participants scoring average to high on urgency (a facet of impulsivity). Our findings increase the understanding of the relationship between these dispositional constructs and supports the conceptualization of irritability and anger as related but distinct constructs.

Gender Differences in School Effects on Adolescent Life Satisfaction: Exploring Cross-National Variation

BackgroundLevels and drivers of adolescent life satisfaction (LS) vary across nations. School is known to be an important aspect of life affecting adolescent LS, but there are gender differences in how schools may influence LS. However, little is known about how these gender differences vary across countries.ObjectiveA series of statistical analyses (bivariate associations, multilevel regression, and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analyses) using PISA 2015 data on 15-year-old students in 33 countries.MethodA series of statistical analyses (bivariate associations, multilevel regression, and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analyses) using PISA 2015 data on 15-year-old students in 33 countries.ResultsGirls report lower overall LS than boys on average in all the countries studied. Various cross-national patterns emerge regarding the role of schools. Although school is a life domain in which experiences related to overall LS tend to be more negative among boys than among girls (mainly via bullying and relationships with teachers), the opposite is observed for a few school-related factors (notably school anxiety). Furthermore, in some countries, the gender gap in overall LS varies across schools, which suggests that schools would play an important role in shaping students’ LS in different ways for girls and boys. Despite some cross-national patterns, substantial cross-country variation is also observed.ConclusionThe study of adolescent LS in schools may benefit from more nuanced approaches that account for cross-cultural differences in how schools may promote the subjective well-being of girls and boys in different ways.

Can low-income people afford life satisfaction? The modifying effect of personality traits, a cross-sectional study

The aim was to investigate whether the "Big Five" personality traits modify the association between household income and life satisfaction (LF); and to evaluate the interaction and main effects of personality traits and income on LF. Data from the Dental Care and Oral Health Study (DCOHS, 2015–2016) was used for the cross-sectional study (n = 3,475). Multivariable Poisson regression models (adjusted for demographics and health behaviours) assessed the effect of personality traits (measured using the Ten-Item Personality Inventory) on the association between income and LF (measured by the Satisfaction With Life Scale) using prevalence ratios (PRs). The Relative Excess Risk due to Interaction (RERI) was calculated to assess the direction of effect modification. Among low-income respondents, low LF was less prevalent in those with high personality trait scores than those with low scores. The difference in the prevalence of low LF by personality traits was greater between low versus high income for openness (11.4% vs 7.7%), agreeableness (12.3% vs 9.4%) and emotional stability (26.1% vs 20.2%) categories. The combined effects of low income and low scores for these traits on LF also exceeded the sum of their individual effects, as shown by their positive RERIs. The association between low income and low LF was modified by high openness, agreeableness and emotional stability scores. Findings suggest that psychological interventions for improving LF would be most beneficial in low-income groups.

Disparities in Subjective Well-being by Sexual Orientation: Comparing Cohorts from pairfam’s (2008-09) and FReDA’s (2021) Baseline Waves

Significant expansion of legal rights and recognition of sexual minority populations triggered expectations that structural stigma, sexual minority stress and, consequently, previously well-documented disadvantages in health and well-being may decline over time. The empirical evidence on this issue is, however, still sparse and inconclusive. We contribute to this research by comparing baseline data from the German Family Panel (pairfam; 2008-09) and the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA; 2021). These data allow us to assess disparities in subjective well-being by sexual orientation and potential changes therein after legalisation of same-sex marriage in Germany in two adult cohorts interviewed more than a decade apart. We focus on two specific outcomes, namely life satisfaction and self-rated health. Two main findings emerged from our analysis: First, minority sexual orientation is associated with significantly lower subjective well-being, specifically lower life satisfaction. Second, there are no statistically significant changes in the sexual orientation-health nexus between cohorts. Our study, thus, neither lends support to “optimistic” expectations regarding the contribution of (further) reductions in institutional discrimination and structural stigma to (further) reductions in remaining disadvantages, nor does it lend support to “pessimistic” expectations suggesting that younger cohorts of sexual minority adults may experience an even larger gap in health and well-being than previous cohorts. We propose that the stability of sexual minorities’ disadvantages in subjective well-being during the first two decades of the 21st century in Germany be interpreted as the result of two opposing forces working in parallel: Reduced institutional discrimination and increased exposure to continued stigma. The legal recognition of same-sex relationships appears to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for the acceptance of sexual minorities. Remaining disparities by sexual orientation will thus not simply disappear when institutional discrimination of sexual minorities is eliminated. Currently, we may therefore find ourselves in a “transitory period” whose further evolution is difficult to predict. FReDA – with its evolving longitudinal dimension and the inclusion of self-reported measures of respondents’ sexual orientation – will constitute a powerful resource for future investigations of inequalities in yet understudied but increasingly visible sexual minority populations. * This article belongs to a special issue on “Family Research and Demographic Analysis – New Insights from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)”.

Low life satisfaction status among older people with and without an intimate partner: a nationwide cross-sectional study in China.

Focusing on older people with and without an intimate partner, this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of low life satisfaction in both groups, as well as the potential risk factors. The 2017-2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data were used, and 9960 individuals aged 60 years and above were included in the analyses. Factors evaluated in this survey included sociodemographic characteristics, clinical variables, physical and social activities, and economic and social factors. The associations of low life satisfaction with independent variables were analysed using multivariate logistic regression. Compared with those with an intimate partner (n = 2025), elders without an intimate partner (n = 7935) showed a higher prevalence of low life satisfaction (15.1 vs. 9.9%, P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression showed that ≥2 physical diseases (P = 0.024), poor self-reported health status (P = 0.012), and lack of community care service (P = 0.014) were risk factors for low life satisfaction among elders without an intimate partner, while poor self-reported health status (P < 0.001), ≥2 physical diseases (P = 0.001), being troubled with bodily pain (P < 0.001), lack of light physical activity >10 mins each time (P = 0.011), lack of moderate physical activity >10 mins each time (P = 0.001), lack of social activities in the previous month (P = 0.039), and lack of community care service (P < 0.001) were risk factors for elders with an intimate partner. Regarding the potential reasons for low life satisfaction in the elderly, dissatisfaction with current health status (28.0%) and air quality (15.6%) were most prevalent. Older people without an intimate partner have lower life satisfaction. Having ≥2 physical diseases, poor self-reported health status, and lack of community care service were common risk factors for low life satisfaction among older adults with or without an intimate partner.

A cross-sectional study of mental health and well-being among youth in military-connected families.

The study objective was to compare the mental health and risk-taking behaviour of Canadian youth in military-connected families to those not in military-connected families in a contemporary sample. We hypothesized that youth in military-connected families have worse mental health, lower life satisfaction and greater engagement in risk-taking behaviours than those not in military-connected families. This cross-sectional study used 2017/18 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children in Canada survey data, a representative sample of youth attending Grades 6 to 10. Questionnaires collected information on parental service and six indicators of mental health, life satisfaction and risk-taking behaviour. Multivariable Poisson regression models with robust error variance were implemented, applying survey weights and accounting for clustering by school. This sample included 16 737 students; 9.5% reported that a parent and/or guardian served in the Canadian military. After adjusting for grade, sex and family affluence, youth with a family connection to the military were 28% more likely to report low well-being (95% CI: 1.17-1.40), 32% more likely to report persistent feelings of hopelessness (1.22-1.43), 22% more likely to report emotional problems (1.13-1.32), 42% more likely to report low life satisfaction (1.27-1.59) and 37% more likely to report frequent engagement in overt risk-taking (1.21-1.55). Youth in military-connected families reported worse mental health and more risk-taking behaviours than youth not in military-connected families. The results suggest a need for additional mental health and well-being supports for youth in Canadian military-connected families and longitudinal research to understand underlying determinants that contribute to these differences.

Longing for grandparenthood: Its association with life satisfaction in late middle adulthood.

The present study applies the life-span theoretical concept of life longing (Sehnsucht) to grandparenthood as an important normative transition of middle and late adulthood that can be hoped for but not acted upon. A cross-sectional online study was conducted with N = 477 parents (73.5% women; age range: 40-81 years) whose adult children have not (yet) had offspring. Longing for grandparenthood was measured with a grandparenthood-specific adaptation of an established self-report questionnaire (Life Longing Questionnaire) and by employing a bifactor exploratory structural equation model (ESEM). As expected, strong expressions of longing for grandparenthood were associated with lower life satisfaction. Emotional support by the partner (here, perceiving the partner as understanding this Sehnsucht) offset this negative relationship (as did dispositional optimism, which an ancillary analysis revealed). By contrast, control over the longing fantasies did not help to attenuate the association between longing for grandparenthood and life satisfaction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Adherence to emotion norms is greater in individualist cultures than in collectivist cultures.

It is generally assumed that there is greater pressure to conform to social norms in collectivist cultures than in individualist cultures. However, most research on cultural differences in social norms has examined norms for behaviors. Here, we examine cultural differences in norms for emotions. Relative to members of collectivist cultures, members of individualist cultures are more attuned to internal states and value them more. Therefore, we predicted that adherence to emotion norms would be greater in individualist than in collectivist cultures. In four studies with 119 samples from 69 distinct countries and over 200,000 participants, we estimated adherence to emotion norms in different cultures, and how deviation from emotion norms is associated with life satisfaction. As predicted, in countries higher in individualism, emotional experiences of individuals were more homogenous and more concordant with the emotions of others in their culture. Furthermore, in more individualist countries, deviation from the mean emotional experience was linked to lower life satisfaction. We discuss two complementary mechanisms that may underlie such differences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).