The current investigation tested predictions from the interactionist model (IM) of socioeconomic influences on the development of negative personality traits with respect to feelings of alienation and low well-being. The model tested proposed that lower family socioeconomic status would lead to fewer parenting and material investments in the next…

Positive education, as a method for the positive development of students' personality, embodies the 24 character strengths that Peterson and Seligman developed in their studies and that are necessary for new professional profiles. This new social and work landscape inspired supranational institutions, such as the European Union, to develop…

Previous studies have revealed the benefits of character and meaning in life for individual well-being. However, little research has been conducted on elementary and junior high school teachers who teach students between the ages of 10-15 years (late childhood and early adolescence) in Indonesia. This study aims to explore teachers' perceptions…

Despite the robust link between dispositional optimism and well-being across the lifespan, the developmental origins of dispositional optimism are unknown. Understanding the pathways that lead to greater optimism during the transition from adolescence into young adulthood may be important given that this stage of the life course involves the…

Character Education initiatives within schools have gained both proponents and opponents over recent years and continue to garner mixed reviews. Proponents argue that the need is urgent and the increasing level of school disruption, antisocial behavior and violence requires a focus on values/virtues/moral education and claim this is synonymous…

There are numerous ways, positive and negative, in which social media impact college students. Understanding sheer volume of time and the type of activities for which college students use social networking sites is crucial for higher education administrators. Researchers have begun to empirically examine impacts on students' well-being and have…

We investigated the degree to which parent positive personality characteristics in terms of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability predict similar adolescent personality traits over time, as well as the role played by positive parenting in this process. Mothers and fathers of 451 White adolescents (52% female, mean age = 13.59…

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of social capital assessed in early adulthood in linking self-control in childhood with psychological and social functioning in middle age. Data collected at ages 8, 27, and 42 years were based on the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (159 females, 177 males).…

Although lost opportunities and mistaken expectations are unpleasant to think and talk about, these experiences may have a role to play in personality development. Drawing on research using narratives of lost possible selves, the authors review the relations of regrettable experiences to 2 important and independent aspects of maturity, happiness…

How do the goals we once cherished but can no longer pursue relate to maturity? The authors asked adults who have experienced challenging life transitions to describe the life goals they once sought but no longer do and those goals that motivate their lives now. The authors conducted research which examines how adults' views of their lost and…

Examined psychological maturity based on personal strivings in 108 adults ages 17 to 82 years. Results supported hypotheses that older people would list more strivings concerning generativity and ego integrity and fewer strivings concerning identity and intimacy, and that maturity and age would be positively associated with subjective well-being.…

The authors offer a new, integrative conceptualization of the relational self based on a synthesis of recent approaches to the self and significant others. This conceptualization provides a sharper and fuller definition of the relational self than does any existing approach alone and a common framework to interpret findings from separate…

Presents findings on the impact of economic pressure on the well-being of adolescents in Berlin. Shows that relative losses in purchasing power are related to decreased self-esteem in problematic family climates; school level, place of residence, and relative gain in purchasing power played a greater role in xenophobia and aggressive helplessness.…

In 2 studies (125 college students and 51 adults), 2 forms of growth goals (exploratory and intrinsic) were compared with 2 forms of personality development (social-cognitive maturity and social-emotional well-being). Participants whose narratives of major life goals emphasized conceptual exploration were especially likely to have high levels of…

This article discusses the nature of resilience in children, means to measure and verify it, and attempts to promote it through education; it also describes a study of parental, teacher and caregiver efforts to promote resilience in children. The International Resilience Project examined resilience factors children and their parents use in…