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....

Humility is an understudied virtue in positive psychology. Both conceptual and methodological challenges have retarded its study. In this article we discuss how humility has been defined....

This repeated measures psychophysiology experiment studied three responses to a past interpersonal offense (38 females and 33 males). We compared rumination with two offense reappraisal strategies....

This article is a contribution to the debate about eudaimonism started by Kashdan et al. and Waterman in a previous issue of The Journal of Positive Psychology [Kashdan T.B. Biswas-Diener R. & King L.A. (2008). Reconsidering happiness: The costs of distinguishing between hedonics and eudaimonia....