According to self-determination theory (R. M. Ryan & E. L. Deci, 2000), supports for autonomy and competence are essential for growth and well-being in any learning environment. Educational contexts differ in their relative support for these 2 needs. The authors examined the role of autonomy and competence in 2 German and 2 American university…

This study developed a dispositional path model of life satisfaction for community dwelling Chinese elderly living in Hong Kong. A sample of 117 elderly completed scales measuring life satisfaction, optimism, self-esteem, relationship harmony, self-construals, and perceived/expected health and financial status. Modeling revealed that life…

The Flemish government considers well-being of pupils as an important output indicator for the quality of education. The education inspectorate needed an instrument to measure this well-being in a school context, an instrument that should also be a basis for actions plans aimed at enhancing pupils' well-being. The development of this instrument is…

The experience of poverty has a pervasive impact on the health (including mental health) of children and their parent(s), on family functioning and on the life course of children. The aim of this paper is to consider the relevance of poverty to our understanding of the health (and mental health) of children with intellectual disabilities in the…

A series of instruments measuring various aspects of motivation, self-esteem, academic preferences, expectations, and well-being were administered to 182 first-year students at the University of Windsor. Scores did not differ between OAC-level students entering university and those entering after Grade 12. Some gender differences were found, but…

We compared the economic well-being and maternal employment of parents whose children did or did not have developmental disabilities. This prospective study is a secondary analysis of data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, collected when respondents were aged 18, 36, and 53, on average. Although the two groups were similar at age 18, income…

Over the last few decades, the energy literature has been dominated by a theory of transition. The theory of transition is based on the notion that households gradually ascend an "energy ladder", which begins with traditional biomass fuels (firewood and charcoal), moves through modern commercial fuels (kerosene and liquid petroleum gas…

The Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) is being developed for the cross-cultural measurement of subjective wellbeing (SWB). This paper reports the findings of its utility with the Hong Kong Chinese and Australian populations. An item on affect, "satisfaction with own happiness" was also investigated to determine whether it should be added to…

This study was carried out for the purpose of explaining the mediating effects of a number of psychological variables (strategies for coping with stress, competitiveness, mastery, locus of control, depression and self-esteem) in the relationship between poverty and the well-being of individuals. To carry out the study, a non-probabilistic,…

The relationships among emotional intelligence, social coping, and psychological distress were investigated in a sample of 624 Chinese gifted students in Hong Kong. A mediation-effect model specifying that emotional intelligence had an effect on psychological distress mediated by social coping was hypothesized and tested using structural equation…

Young people's lives have been directly and indirectly affected by the dynamics of decline in rural Australia. In early 1999, the Casterton region experienced the suicides of two young people. These events led to the funding of a rural youth education and support program at the town's secondary college. The program adopts a multi-layered approach…

The purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of attachment, separation, and Jewish identity to psychological well-being in a sample of 115 late adolescent Jewish women. Results from multiple regression analyses demonstrated that attachment to parents, separation from parents, and Jewish identity collectively accounted for variance in…

Central variables of social cognitive theory were adapted to forge an integrative model of well-being, which was designed to offer greater utility for therapeutic and self-directed change efforts than the dominant personality view of well-being. The authors present 2 studies using versions of the social cognitive model to predict domain-specific…

Numerous studies show that happy individuals are successful across multiple life domains, including marriage, friendship, income, work performance, and health. The authors suggest a conceptual model to account for these findings, arguing that the happiness-success link exists not only because success makes people happy, but also because positive…

This study integrates spillover research of stress transferring from work to home and crossover research of strains transferring from one spouse to another. A spillover and crossover model was tested among 191 (couples of) dual-earner parents. For both males and females, it was hypothesized that (self-reported and partners' rating of)…