Article
Structure and well-being of single-parent families In Russia
Basing on data of the third wave "Generation and Gender survey" (GGS), author analyzes characteristics of single-parent families' life, structure of single-parent families, their welfare and well-being, possibilities to combine work and family. Most of single-parent families consist of mother and her minor children. Economic activity of lonely mothers is tense, but only one third of lonely mothers has opportunity to combine work and family life. Despite high economic activity, lonely mothers estimate often their well-being and living conditions as bad.
The article covers researching of relation between innovation activity and well-being in world countries. Common methodologies of well-being and innovation activity assessment are descripted and a new way of well-being and innovation activity measurement is considered. Subsequent comparative analysis of world countries well-being and innovation activity indicators let to look on its relation and make conclusions on the topic.
The existing findings on the relationship between optimism and academic performance are rather contradictory. Two studies were undertaken to investigate thе relationship between attributional style, well-being, and academic performance. A new Russian-language measure of attributional style for positive and negative events (Gordeeva, Osin, Shevyakhova, 2009) with stability, globality, and controllability subscales was used. In the first study, optimistic attributional style for good events was associated with higher academic achievement in high school students (N=225) and mediated the effect of academic performance on self-esteem. In the second study, pessimistic attributional style for negative events predicted success in passing three difficult written entrance examinations in university entrants (N=108), and optimistic attributional style for good events predicted success with success expectations as a mediator. The results indicate that attributional styles for positive and negative events are not uniform in their relationship to performance in different academic settings and to well-being variables.
Positive Psychology has become a major approach to the scientific study of individual, social, community and cultural processes. This book includes a selection of papers presented at the 3rd European Conference on Positive Psychology, organized in Braga at the University of Minho, Portugal in 2006. The title of the book reflects its main purpose and a main concern for positive psychology - Understanding Positive Life - balanced between the two scientific pillars, the research and the practice. Several contributions concerning theory, research and practice are presented in three different parts: Happiness, Well-being and Life Satisfaction (Part I); Performance, Coping and Quality of life (Part II); and assessment, Intervention and Practice for a Positive Life (Part III). Each part includes eight chapters, with a great diversity of authors coming from different countries.
This book provides a reference tool to understand current developments in happiness studies. It provides an overview of the evolving body of happiness research and draws some of its future trajectories. This book collects the contributions of scientists from psychology, sociology, economics, political science and other scientific domains sharing the quest for improving people's quality of life. Building on this expertise, the book provides a compass to orient the reader in a burgeoning literature to document, inform and suggest ideas for future research.
Two studies were conducted investigating the relationship between the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) scales and well-being measures in British (N¼179) and Russian (N¼289) student samples. On the basis of person-oriented approach, a cluster-analysis operationalization of Balanced Time Perspective (BTP) using ZTPI was proposed and validated, demonstrating more evidence for its validity than the previously suggested cut-off-point approach. Four distinct time perspective patterns were discovered in both samples: future-oriented, present-oriented, balanced and negative. The clusters revealed significant differences in well-being, with members of the BTP cluster demonstrating the highest scores in both samples. The relationship between ZTPI and Temporal Life Satisfaction Scale in the British sample was found to be non-uniform for past, present and future. Based on these findings, a distinction between three aspects of time perspective is theoretically proposed, and its implications for the future development of the ZTPI are discussed.