This paper is an invited response to Kashdan Biswas-Diener & King (2008) and to Waterman's (2008) commentary. Kashdan et al. assert that the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being is unwarranted philosophically and scientifically....

Three studies examined the meaning ascribed to events varying in intensity and valence and how meaning detection and construction relate to the experience of meaning in life events....

Meaning in life is widely considered a cornerstone of human functioning but relatively little is known about the factors that influence judgments of meaning in life. Four studies examined positive affect (PA) and social relatedness as sources of information for meaning in life judgments....

Meaning in life is thought to be important to well-being throughout the human life span. We assessed the structure levels and correlates of the presence of meaning in life and the search for meaning within four life stage groups: emerging adulthood young adulthood middle-age adulthood and older adulthood....

This study provides a preliminary examination of the efficacy of the Reflected Best Self Exercise. We conducted a field quasi-experiment with 108 adolescent leaders assigned to a 2 × 2 design: (1) valence of feedback (i.e. strengths-only versus strengths and improvement-oriented) and (2) source of feedback (i.e....

The burgeoning field of positive psychology has highlighted the need to discover what makes life worth living. Within this framework is the exploration of how youths perceive their lives and achieve happiness....

Contemporary theories of hope and optimism provide two explanations for how positive expectancies can shape human behavior and promote well-being....

Across five studies and three samples of early and late adolescents from suburban areas (N = 2198) this research provides a theoretical and empirical examination of a new construct engaged living which consists of social integration and absorption....

This study investigated an Aristotelian model of eudaimonic and hedonic well-being that distinguishes between goal orientations in which the means and ends are separable (instrumental) and in which the means and ends are inherently related (constitutive)....

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey this paper assesses the relationship between life satisfaction and religious practice. It is shown that individuals who become more religious over time record long term gains in life satisfaction while those who become less religious record long term losses....