Wellbeing Study Research Articles

Two-Dimensional Latent Physical Activity Self-Efficacy and Its Relationships with Physical Activity: A Secondary Data Analysis

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to improve measurement of physical activity self-efficacy (PASE) in adults with obesity by evaluating relationships between responses to a new battery of PASE Scales and physical activity (PA). Specifically, relationships between a recently proposed two-dimensional (shorter and longer durations) latent PASE conceptualization and PA was evaluated across intensities (moderate, vigorous) and domains (work, transport, domestic, leisure) measured by the PASE Scales. Longitudinal secondary data (N = 461) from the Well-Being and Physical Activity (ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT03194854) study, which deployed the Fun For Wellness (FFW) intervention, were analyzed. A positive direct effect (latent PASE→PA) was observed for the shorter (but not the longer) duration in each domain at both intensities. A positive indirect effect (FFW→latent PASE→PA) was observed for the shorter (but not the longer) duration in each domain at a moderate (but not vigorous) intensity. These results have implications for PA-promotion in this at-risk population.

Protective Factors Against e-Cigarette Use Among First Nations People Aged 16-24 in the Next Generation Youth Wellbeing Study.

Adolescent e-cigarette use is increasing and is associated with subsequent smoking. This study examines potential protective factors associated with not vaping among First Nations adolescents in Australia to inform community programs. The 'Next Generation: Youth Wellbeing Study' is a cohort study of First Nations adolescents aged 10-24 years from urban, rural and remote communities in Central Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales. Analysis of self-reported vaping from 16 to 24-year-olds, collected 2018-2020, using multi-level mixed-effects Poisson regression to estimate age-site-adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs) for never-vaping in relation to various factors. Among 419 participants, 65% were female, 75% had never vaped, 49% had never smoked and 82% lived in smoke-free homes. Never vaping was more common among those who had: never-smoked (PR = 1.78, 95%CI: 1.56-2.04); never used cannabis (1.89, 1.60-2.24); non-smoking friends (1.38, 1.26-1.51); good mental health (1.15, 1.01-1.30), never diagnosed with depression (1.21, 1.01-1.46) or anxiety (1.31, 1.08-1.57); and no experiences of racism (1.21, 1.08-1.36), no negative criminal justice system experiences (1.25, 1.11-1.41), or vicarious racism through negative media (1.24, 1.10-1.39). Most First Nations adolescents have never vaped, with potential protective factors being better mental health, no other substance use and fewer experiences of racism and justice system interactions. Comprehensive community adolescent prevention programs are needed to prevent vaping and protect future health, including preventing nicotine addiction and future smoking. SO WHAT?: Policies and programs must address e-cigarettes directly as well as structural factors, promoting broader adolescent wellbeing, centring culture and family in a strengths-based approach.

Urban marginalization experiences and social etiology of Indigenous migrants' sleep disturbance.

In recent decades, many Indigenous people in Taiwan have left their tribes and migrated to cities. However, there has been limited research focused on understanding the psychological processes that link these migrants' experiences in urban environments and their sleep, a crucial but overlooked aspect of health. This study conducted and qualitatively analyzed 40 interviews with urban Indigenous migrants aged 25-60 to examine how everyday life experiences in cities shape their sleep. The analysis finds that urban Indigenous migrants have a high prevalence of sleep disturbance that is attributable to three psychosocial mechanisms that result from experiences of marginalization in their urban lives: (a) enduring stress and unstable schedules in the journey toward better opportunities; (b) feeling marginalized from the ways and cultural logic of urban life that normalizes a fast pace and prioritizes efficiency; and (c) having limited psychosocial resources from an urban social network that is weaker and creates alienation. These psychosocial mechanisms fundamentally interfered with urban Indigenous migrants' sleep time, generated heightened stress, and lowered their resilience during difficult times, which in turn increased the likelihood of sleep disturbance. The findings (a) document the underlying psychosocial processes of marginalization experiences that cause sleep disturbance among urban Indigenous migrants in Taiwan and (b) contribute empirical evidence from a non-Western society to the global literature on Indigenous health and psychology and to the literature on the psychosocial studies of minority well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Does High Self-Control Accelerate Epigenetic Aging in Low-Income Adolescents?

Persistent self-control in the context of upward mobility in low-income adolescents, especially those of color, may have physiological costs, such as greater risks of developing cardiometabolic diseases in young adulthood. One potential mechanism linking self-control to cardiometabolic health is epigenetic age acceleration (EAA). However, little is known regarding the association between high self-control and EAA, as well as what factors may play protective roles. Therefore, we evaluated (1) the association between self-control and EAA and if this association varies by race and ethnicity, and (2) whether neighborhood collective efficacy (NCE) and school connectedness moderate the association in low-income adolescents. This study used data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Participants included 772 adolescents with a household income <300% of poverty level (mean age: 15.6years). Self-control, NCE, and school connectedness were all self-reported. EAA was assessed in saliva and estimated using Horvath, Skin and Blood, and Pediatric-Buccal-Epigenetic clocks. Multiple linear regression and PROCESS analyses were employed. Higher self-control was positively associated with EAA estimated by the skin and blood clock in low-income adolescents of color. Further, the association of higher self-control with EAA was not significant among low-income adolescents of color with higher NCE. No significant association was found among low-income White adolescents. The results suggest that supportive resources like neighborhood collective efficacy could mitigate adverse associations of high self-control with health in low-income adolescents of color.

Adolescent Depression and Cognition Risk for Suicide: An Investigation of Risk Factors and Gene Environment Interactions.

Prior research has been conducted to understand the connection between maternal physical health and its effects on children and adolescents. Much less research has focused on maternal mental health and gene-environmental factors that influence children's and adolescent's development. This study investigated the risk factors and gene-environment interactions in relation to maternal mental health and adolescent depression and cognition risk for suicide. The data and sample utilized in this research were obtained from The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. The cohort comprises a total of 4898 children and their corresponding caregivers, of which 1829 had complete data and were used in this study. To account for missing data, the list wise deletion approach was employed for all analyses. The variables were tested using Likert scales and/or other similar scales designed to specifically measure the variable. Hypotheses were tested with multiple regressions and bootstrapping. Multiple comparisons were controlled with the Benjamini Hochberg false discovery approach, and BH adjusted p-values are reported with each statistically significant result. The analyses revealed four significant relationships: (1) poverty status is a strong predictor of adolescent mental health, (2) toddler attachment is affected by maternal mental health but does not interact with maternal mental health to predict adolescent mental health, (3) maternal mental health affects suspected childhood sexual abuse associations with adolescent mental health, and (4) serotonin transporter alleles (SLC6A4) exert specific effects on adolescent mental health cognitions previously linked to suicide risk. In summary, this study concludes that the experiential factors and genetic variation have interconnected influences on the mental well-being of children and adolescents. Therefore, interventions aimed at addressing child trauma would be enhanced by integrating a component that specifically addresses the mental well-being of mothers.

Early Childhood Income Instability and Mental Health in Adolescence: Parenting Stress and Child Maltreatment as Mediators.

Ample research has examined how point-in-time or static measures of economic deprivation are associated with children's mental health outcomes. Less is known about the relationship between early childhood unstable income and mental health outcomes. Using the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study examined (1) the latent patterns of early childhood economic well-being, predicted by income level and instability (i.e., direction and frequency of income change); (2) the association of income deprivation patterns with subsequent anxiety and depression symptoms, paying particular attention to the mediating roles of parenting stress and child maltreatment risk. The latent class analysis results suggested four distinct groups representing different combinations of income level and instability. Structural equation modeling results indicated indirect links between income deprivation patterns and mental health outcomes, through parenting stress and physical and psychological abuse. Findings indicated the importance of policies and programs promoting economic stability over the long run.

To Study the Mental Health and Psychological Well-being of Subjects Who Take Daily Walk as an Exercise

Diet, exercise, sleep is very important for our health. It has been claimed that vigorous physical and mental activity has positive effects on physical &amp; mental health and/or psychological well-being among clinical and non-clinical populations. For the purpose of explore the importance of walk and its impact of mental health and psychological well-being present study taken it. In this research total 120 subjects are included in which 60 are males and 60 are females. Data was purposefully collected in the Sangli district who walk as an exercise. The age of subjects in the range between 30-60 years. For the purpose of data collection Mental Health Scale by Dr.Kamlesh Sharma and Psychological Well-being Scale by Carlos D. Ryff used. We used Two Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), mean, standard deviation, and‘t’ test for the data analysis. The result showed that, there is high mental health and well being too among the subjects who walk more than subjects who less as an exercise. There is high mental health as well as well being of subjects who walk regularly than subjects who walk irregularly. These study research revealed the importance of daily walk to keep their mental health and psychological well-being.

A positive empathy intervention to improve well-being on Instagram.

With more than half the global population on social media, there is a critical need to understand how to engage it in a way that improves rather than worsens user well-being. Here, we show that positive empathy is a promising tool. Participants who received brief positive empathy instructions before 10 min of browsing their own Instagram feed showed greater affective well-being (Studies 1-4) and life satisfaction (Study 4) at posttest relative to participants who were instructed to browse as usual. The positive empathy intervention showed an average effect size on well-being of about a quarter of a standard deviation (mean Cohen's d = 0.25). We included unique active control groups in each study. We found using positive empathy on social media was about as beneficial to well-being as watching a nature video (Study 1, N = 298) and was better than instructions to focus on positive content (Study 2, N = 302), empathize with all emotions (Study 3, N = 301), or reappraise one's own emotions (Study 4, N = 426). We used structural equation modeling to demonstrate the effect of the intervention on subjective well-being is mediated by changes in positive emotion sharing, appreciative joy, and self-compassion. These experiences form a latent factor we term positive empathy. Our results show that a brief intervention successfully manipulates positive empathy on Instagram, which increases well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Racial Differences in Adverse Childhood Experiences: Timing and Patterns.

Traditional research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) often retrospectively assesses ACEs and treats ACEs as a composite score, potentially overlooking the distinct effects of specific ACE patterns and their critical timing, which may influence health outcomes differently. It is crucial to explore variations in the patterns and timing of ACE exposure across racial/ethnic groups to improve ACE screening and intervention strategies. In 2023, this study analyzed data of the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) initially conducted in 1998. FFCWS sampled children from three racial/ethnic groups (N_Black = 2,587; N_Latine = 1,577; N_White = 770). ACEs were assessed through seven indicators from ages three to 15, including physical and psychological abuse, neglect, witnessing maternal intimate partner violence (IPV), parental depression, separation, and material hardship. Using Longitudinal Latent Class Analysis (LLCA), this research aimed to identify distinctive patterns and timing of ACEs among White, Black, and Latine youth. The analysis revealed a 9-class model applicable to these three racial/ethnic youth groups. Classes combining material hardship with other ACEs and those featuring adolescent abuse were more prevalent among Black and Latine youth. This study also identified a class displaying a temporal pattern, such as early maternal IPV followed by late parental separation. This study highlights the necessity of analyzing diverse class structures and the timing of ACEs across different racial/ethnic groups. Understanding these nuances is vital for developing culturally tailored interventions to reduce health disparities.

Longitudinal Dyadic Associations Between Maternal Monitoring, Household Environment and Mother–Adolescent Closeness

ABSTRACTThere is a wealth of existing research supporting the importance of mother–adolescent closeness for short‐ and long‐term positive outcomes. Employing the bioecological systems model and the family resilience model, the present study aimed to explore modifiable components of this critical dyad's relationship and shared environment to promote relationship closeness. Longitudinal data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study were used to explore the associations between maternal monitoring, household environment and relationship closeness for 2795 mother–adolescent dyads via actor–partner interdependence mediation modelling. From both mothers' and youths' perspectives, higher levels of monitoring in middle childhood were positively associated with relationship closeness in adolescence. Further, partner effects were discovered such that one's own perception of monitoring was positively and significantly correlated with the other's report of closeness. Direct pathway, partial mediation, actor and partner effects were found for household environment with relational closeness and maternal monitoring. These findings point to dyadic interactions among maternal monitoring, the household environment and mother–adolescent closeness. It is recommended to consider and attend to the shared context, including the household environment, when working with mothers and youths. Findings also underscore the importance of considering dyadic accounts of the relationship and environment, rather than relying on individual reports.

Whose “wellbeing” are we talking about? Culture change and the politics of the legal profession’s wellness turn

ABSTRACT Recent years have witnessed growing concern internationally in the topic of wellbeing and mental health across the legal community, an interest reflected in the emergence of a multitude of research studies, policy initiatives, guidelines, networks and reports (e.g. International Bar Association 2021; LawCare 2021). Within recent studies of lawyer wellbeing there has been a growing call to change the culture of law in order to create mentally healthy workplaces. Yet all too often it is unclear what culture change might involve within specific workplace contexts. This paper presents a socio-legal critique of the law's ‘wellbeing turn' and interrogates the underlying conceptualisation and politics of wellbeing in these debates. Following Soon et al. (2023) it suggests there has been insufficient nuanced consideration of the contextual influences that have shaped the wellbeing dynamic law within discrete workplace contexts. It explores how a distinctive kind of ‘wellbeing problem' has emerged across different areas of the law and, grounding the law's turn to wellbeing in a wider social, economic and political context, brings to light questions and concerns about wellbeing, professional identity and commitment relating to ‘life in the law’ in the social justice sector all too often side-stepped in debates about lawyer wellbeing.

"I Look in the Mirror and Say 'You Know What, There Is Hope for You'"-An Interpretative Qualitative Study of Current and Future Well-Being in Black African Women Older Than 50 Years With HIV in the United Kingdom.

Effective antiretroviral treatment means that people with HIV are living for longer. This includes Black African women, who represent a large proportion of people aging with HIV in the United Kingdom. Despite this, the impact of living and aging with HIV on the well-being of Black African women aging with HIV has not been investigated. Interpretative phenomenological analysis of interviews with eight Black African women ages 50 years and older living with HIV developed six superordinate themes. Findings demonstrated how experiences of HIV-related stigma negatively affected social, occupational, and psychological well-being. Perspectives on living and aging with HIV into the future included experiences of acceptance, uncertainty, anxiety, and hope. Recommendations are made, including developing clinical practice to consider needs relating to social and psychological well-being, as well as physical well-being, for women aging with HIV.

Child routines across preschool and associations with socioemotional adjustment.

Although a large body of research has documented the importance of routines for children's development, the role of developmental timing of routines has received less attention. The present study examined how use of routines across the preschool period is linked to children's socioemotional adjustment. We used Year 3 and Year 5 data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,353; 48% female). Child routines were measured through maternal reports of routines, including household chores, play, mealtime, and bedtime. Latent profile analysis revealed four groups based on timing and number of routines: stable-high, increasing, decreasing, and stable-low. In Year 5, parents reported on children's attentional, externalizing, and internalizing problems and social skills. Latent transition analysis indicated that most children (n = 1,782; 75%) maintained the same profiles over time. Regression analyses showed that profiles were differentially related to outcomes. After controlling for a set of confounding variables, children in the stable-high group had significantly lower attentional, externalizing, and internalizing problems than the decrease routines group (βs range from .23 to .40, p < .05). These findings contribute to the understanding of how routines are associated with child functioning and highlight the potential importance of the continued use of routines across early childhood. Children who had consistently high routines demonstrated better adjustment compared to those whose routines decreased across the preschool period. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Neighborhood collective efficacy reduces child maltreatment through decreasing parenting stress: A longitudinal path model.

Neighborhoods and families are crucial contexts for child maltreatment, yet research into mechanisms of neighborhood effects on child maltreatment remains limited. This study examined longitudinal associations between neighborhood collective efficacy, maternal parenting stress, and child maltreatment. The study drew data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS). Participants included 2890 mothers who were interviewed when their children were born and at ages 3, 5, 9, and 15. A longitudinal path model was utilized to analyze direct and indirect effects of neighborhood collective efficacy on child maltreatment via parenting stress. Neighborhood collective efficacy and parenting stress demonstrated temporal stability over time (ages 3 to 15). Child maltreatment had carry-over effects during childhood (ages 3 to 9) but not into adolescence (age 15). Higher parenting stress in earlier years was associated with increased child maltreatment in childhood (ages 3 to 9), but not in adolescence (age 15). Neighborhood collective efficacy was associated with reduced parenting stress over time. In early childhood (ages 3 to 9), neighborhood collective efficacy protected against child maltreatment through larger direct effects than indirect effects via reduced parenting stress. In later years (ages 5 to 15), however, neighborhood collective efficacy had neither direct nor indirect effects on childhood maltreatment. Findings highlight early, targeted prevention and intervention strategies for child maltreatment. Programs aimed at reducing parenting stress, increasing community-based child protection practices, and strengthening neighborhood closeness could mitigate child maltreatment.

Community Threat, Positive Parenting, and Accelerated Epigenetic Aging: Longitudinal Links from Childhood to Adolescence.

Early Life Adversity (ELA) has been linked to accelerated epigenetic aging. While positive parenting is hypothesized to buffer the detrimental effects of ELA on child development, its role in mitigating epigenetic age acceleration remains unclear. Data from 2,039 children (49.7% female) in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) were included in the current study (46.7% Black, 26.5% Hispanic, 19% White non-Hispanic). Home and community threat and observed parenting were measured from ages 3 to 9. Salivary epigenetic age acceleration was measured at ages 9 and 15. Positive parenting reduces the pace of epigenetic aging in low, but not high, community-threat environments. Interventions across home and community environments may be necessary to prevent ELA's biological embedding.

Frequent Alcohol Use of Adolescents in Low-Income Families: Application of the Multiple Disadvantage Model

Background: This study investigated relationships between low-income adolescent drinkers’ frequent alcohol use and five factors: social disorganization, social structural, social integration, mental health, and access to healthcare. Objective: A sample of 1,256 low-income adolescent drinkers and caregivers were extracted from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Results: Logistic regression yielded results showing adolescent drinkers’ weekly drinking to be associated positively with Hispanic adolescents, drinking peers, adolescents’ depression/anxiety, and caregiver’s daily drinking. Adolescent drinkers’ weekly drinking was associated negatively with caregiver’s age, family income below 100% of federal poverty level, caregiver supervision, and having usual place for health care. Conclusions/Importance: Implications included support of adolescents’ selection of desirable peers, promotion of caregiver supervision (especially among Hispanic adolescents), provision of assistance to families in poverty, provision of substance use treatment for caregivers and adolescents, and provision of mental health services to adolescents with depression or anxiety.

Can science help discover the nature of well-being?

In recent years the study of well-being has attracted considerable attention, fostering hope that the scientific community will ultimately succeed in discovering its very nature, thereby emulating successful scientific projects in other disciplines. However, there have been recurring worries about how to measure and define well-being. In this context, Hersch (Br J Philos Sci 73:1045-1065, 2022) has recently argued that we could progressively alleviate these worries through an iterative dialogue between theory and measurement, by seeing them as stemming from a coordination problem. In this article, I argue that the concept of well-being fails to meet the prerequisites for Hersch's approach. If the latter is the best defense of the capacity of science to uncover the nature of well-being, it follows that the science of well-being should probably relinquish this ambition.

Resilience factors counteract intergenerational risk for adolescent maladjustment related to family mental health history and childhood adversity.

Intergenerational risk within families, stemming from familial history of mental health problems and encompassing exposure to childhood adversity, poses challenges to adolescent adjustment. However, it is important to recognize that negative developmental outcomes associated with intergenerational risk are not inevitable. To better understand resilience in this context, there is a need for studies that systematically compare different models of resilience. Further, few studies have estimated what level of adjustment should be expected for youth with high intergenerational risk but also a diverse set of strengths and competencies. Here, an intergenerational risk pathway and compensatory and protective resilience models were evaluated in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,897, 52% female, 49% non-Hispanic Black at the age 15 assessment). The link between history of mental health problems in maternal grandparents and adolescent maladjustment (depressive symptoms, substance use, delinquent behavior, and troubles at school) was serially mediated through maternal mental health problems and its association with children's exposure to adversity. Data-driven trajectory analyses identified participants characterized by increased exposure to multiple types of adversity across childhood. Chronic exposure to multiple adversities, in turn, predicted increased adolescent maladjustment. Yet, resilience factors, including childhood social skills, perseverance, and connectedness at school, effectively offset intergenerational risks. Adolescents with high intergenerational risk who experienced high levels of these childhood assets demonstrated adjustment that was comparable to their average-risk and low-risk peers. These findings advance our understanding of pathways of intergenerational risk and provide new evidence for a compensatory model over a protective model of resilience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

The protective effect of frequent religious service attendance on pregnancy loss

BackgroundAccumulating evidence suggests that spirituality and religiosity may be associated with improved health outcomes. However, few studies have examined maternal religiosity as a protective factor for perinatal outcomes. We explored the association between maternal religious attendance and pregnancy loss.MethodsData were drawn from the Future Families & Child Wellbeing Study’s first and second waves and medical records (n = 1874). Religious attendance was a self-reported response to the question “About how often do you attend religious services?” Pregnancy loss was measured from responses to the second wave survey question, “Since focal child’s birth, have you had any miscarriages/abortions/stillbirths?” Logistic regression estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between maternal religious attendance frequency and pregnancy loss. Models were adjusted for sampling weights, religious preference, socioeconomic and behavioral factors.Results8% (n = 164) of mothers reported having a pregnancy loss. Of those with a pregnancy loss, 28% (n = 46) attended services hardly ever and 20% (n = 20) attended services once a week or more. Women who attended services more frequently had 58% increased odds of not experiencing a pregnancy loss (OR:1.58;95%CI:1.01,2.48) after adjusting for potential confounding. A post hoc analysis found no difference in pregnancy loss type or subsequent reproductive history based on attendance level.ConclusionsResults suggest that higher maternal religious attendance frequency may be a protective factor for pregnancy loss. Further research is needed to understand the association between maternal religious attendance and mechanisms for pregnancy loss.

Pathways to transform urban food systems: feminist action research from Cape Town and Nairobi

This paper offers a feminist reflection on the findings of an ongoing study of health and wellbeing associated with urban food security in Nairobi and Cape Town. It offers five pathways through which a strengthened informal sector can contribute to transforming urban food systems: identifying stronger entry points for institutionalized collaboration between local governments and community-based organizations; enhancing government capacities to collaborate with grassroots actors; the potential, and challenges, of controlled-environment agriculture; rethinking and shifting the regulatory environment surrounding the informal economy; and responding to detailed new data on the state of food security in South African informal settlements. Conducted in partnerships between the Urban Food Futures program and people who were permanently displaced during the colonial era, the study is informed by an emerging body of analysis that responds to the complex trauma of undernutrition, and approaches health as something far beyond an individual’s own somatic/bodily state of being. Participation in the study enabled communities living in a near-permanent state of precarity and food insecurity, in the absence of culturally appropriate and readily-available supports to mental health, to move beyond an isolated focus on food to explore feelings of psychic safety and security, and also environmental wellbeing, including access to clean air and water, decent and affordable housing, safe and dignified work, and freedom from violence of all forms.