User:Bika f/Subjective well-being

Definition & Significance
Subjective well-being (see also subjective life satisfaction) is an analogous term for emotional well-being or happiness elaborated by the positive psychologist Ed Diener et al. The article by Diener and colleagues "The Psychology of Subjective Well-being" (2004) seeks to further legitimize the study of happiness or well-being as within the reaches of science where previously it had been viewed by many as rather a subject confined to philosophy or religion because these subjects are considered somewhat abstract. Additionally, Snyder & Lopez define subjective well-being in their text Positive Psychology (2007) a tenet of theories of happiness in which "individual's appraisals of their own lives capture the essence of well-being." According to Snyder and Lopez consideration of different types of well-being (subjective, objective, psychological, social, etc.) provides a more comprehensive understanding of mental health.

Overview

 * Diener phrases subjective well-being in "The Psychology of Subjective Well-being" as “people's evaluations of their own lives, including both cognitive and emotional components.” He outlines here also three targets of study for subjective well-being as: positive affect-the presence of pleasant emotions such as joy, contentment, and affection, negative affect-the relative absence of unpleasant emotions such as fear, anger, and sadness, and personal judgments-about satisfaction with life. Judgments about satisfaction with life, according to Deiner, could be general or specific, ranging from recorded response by research participants to statements like "I am happy with my life" to "I am happy with my marriage."


 * Under this same paradigm of Diener's measuring subjective well-being, a person who is happy is one who is “frequently cheerful, only occasionally sad, and generally satisfied with his or her life.” Diener and colleagues (2004) believe that measuring happiness is both possible and sophisticated. Such measurement had often been achieved by him through self-report methods, which some researchers criticize. However, he states in the same article that most researchers at the time of his article publication rely on a “multi-method” approach to measuring happiness that incorporates a plurality of evaluation methods for possibly greater accuracy.

Body and Mind

 * Some researchers correlate subjective well-being with additional benefits like increased longevity. This would be to say that people who feel happier would be able to live longer. Friedman et al. measured subjective well-being by varying methods and related it to physical well-being, or here, longevity. The researchers of this study find it no surprise that poor mental health is related to poor physical health; on the contrary, their goal here is to research the opposite: that good mental health can be related to good physical health.

Gender and Subjective Well-being

 * Subjective well-being has also been scrutinized for gender differences by Burns and Machin. Their 2009 article about gender differences in relation to subjective well-being included psychological well-being (self-referent attitudes of mastery and self-acceptance) as an important factor along with subjective well-being in future well-being research. These two terms are here gathered under the blanket term “positive well-being” in this study.

General Subjective Well-being & Positive Attitudes & Emotions

 * Ayyash-Abdo and Alamuddin (2007)studied some predictors of subjective well-being when they studied college students in Lebanon. These researchers studied self-esteem, optimism, and positive affect as related to subjective well-being. They also used Diener et al.'s Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, the Rosenberg self esteem scale, and the revised Life Orientation Test. Their results showed them that the subjects' subjective well-being was positively correlated with self-esteem, optimism, and positive affect.

Promoting Subjective Well-being
These individuals performed one of six prayer types (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, reception, and obligatory prayer). Washington & Scher found positive correlations with measurements of subjective well-being and three prayer types: The relation of subjective well-being to the other three prayer types was found to be negative or null. This study demonstrates how researchers and other individuals are seeking means to increase subjective well-being through practical methods that many people would have easy access to.
 * Washington & Scher (2010) relate increased subjective well-being to some types of prayer. In their 2010 publication for the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, they used some specific measures of subjective well-being on research participants:
 * self-esteem
 * optimism
 * meaning of life
 * satisfaction with life
 * adoration
 * thanksgiving
 * reception

Subjective Well-being & Relationships

 * Martini and Busseri's 2010 study of subjective well-being in older mother-adult daughter "helping relationships" demonstrates how proactive strategies that would be endorsed by positive psychology can increase overall subjective well-being in these individuals. The approach of positive psychology in increasing subjective well-being in individuals in society and interpersonal relationships would be to focus on improvement of baseline states for subjective well-being and happiness on an individual and social level rather than focusing on psychological disorders or deficits in individual functioning in relation to "normal" society.

Subjective Well-being & Health

 * A study by Jingping & Roberts (2010) connects subjective well-being and its components (positive feelings, domain life satisfaction, and positive affect) to increased longevity. This may suggest after further research that people with a strong sense of subjective well-being can actually live longer, healthier lives. Subjective well-being is one of many goals of positive psychology aimed at increasing both length and quality of life.

External Links for Further Study

 * example.com
 * Subjective well-being in 97 Countries
 * Book results for subjective well-being
 * Article: A Short Introduction to Subjective Well-being
 * Article: The Assessment of Subjective Well-being [mason.gmu.edu/~tkashdan/publications/happy.pdf]
 * Measuring Subjective Well-being: A Summary Review of the Literature