Chapter 14.PDF

Chapter 14 Living Well: Stress, Coping, and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood Learning Objectives After reading this chapter, you should be able to: 14.1 Identify needs that must be met for adults to have subjective and psychological well-being, and suggest approaches that meet needs and support life satisfaction. 14.2 Assess levels of stress and the effects of stress on the individual and suggest interventions for coping, building resilience, and cultivating physical and emotional wellness. John, age 48, is a marketing executive. Because of his company’s recent merger, his job description has changed, and some of his previous responsibilities will now be shifted to subcontractors. In order to maintain his role in the company, he has been offered the opportunity to relocate from the firm’s urban headquarters to a more rural area in another state. Alternatively, he could accept a downsized position in the company headquarters with a salary reduction. His only child is in college, so he and his wife have some flexibility should they wish to move. John has always been told that he was effective at his job, and he considered his income, which provided for a good life in the city, proof of his high-status position in the firm. Clients liked him, and he felt success- ful despite some ups and downs over the years. A younger colleague was promoted over him recently, and John believed it might have happened because this person was more familiar with media marketing and other technological innovations. At the urging of his wife, John scheduled a medical check-up to ask about his chronic fatigue. His doctor advised him to make some lifestyle changes because test results indicated borderline metabolic syndrome. John doesn’t exercise regularly, except for an occa- sional game of golf with clients, and he has trouble sleeping. Every January he makes a resolution to lose weight, but it’s been getting tougher each year. It’s so much easier to eat fast food or take-out from the local restaurants after a busy day. The changes in his job situation have hit him hard, and he finds himself worrying much more about his future. But when he is honest with himself, he admits he’s often questioned whether his job was all that satisfying in the first place. Even though John considers himself too old to try another career, he knows there are other things he’d like to do with his life. Although young adults often feel as though life is still “about to happen,” dur- ing middle adulthood people see themselves as having “grown up.” Their lives have all the trappings of adults in their culture. For North Americans this is likely to mean 554 Living Well: Stress, Coping, and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood 555 they are married or have a life partner, have children, are owners or leasers of major possessions like a car or a house, and have substantial commitments to their work, place of worship, or other community organizations. So how does it feel to be all grown up? Are most people satisfied with their lives? What does it take to be happy as an adult? Western philosophers have debated the ingre- dients of “the good life” since the days of the ancient Hebrews and Greeks. Religious traditions throughout the world champion virtues that constitute “right living,” and that lead to true happiness, either in this life or the next. For helping professionals, the question of what constitutes well-being is at the heart of their work. Although amelio- rating psychopathology is an important clinical objective, it is subsumed by the broader goal of promoting well-being, happiness, and the fulfillment of human potential. Happiness is currently a focus of intense research interest, at both individual and societal levels of analysis (Diener, 2000; Myers, 1993; Veenhoven, 1984). Subjective well-being (SWB) is frequently used synonymously with happiness, possibly because its dimensions have been well studied (Busseri, 2015), and we use these terms synony- mously in this chapter. The most commonly used measurements of SWB incorporate three separable factors: overall life satisfaction, and frequency of positive and of nega- tive moods (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985; Diener et al., 2009). Measuring life satisfaction usually involves asking people to rate their level of agreement with statements like “So far I have gotten the important things I want in life” or ranking one’s place on a ladder where the top rung is the very best life possible and the bottom is the worst (Cantril, 1965; see Box 14.1). Box 14.1: Question from Cantril’s Ladder Best possible life Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to ten at the top. Suppose we say that the top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder do you feel you personally stand at the present time? SOURCE: Based on Bjørnskov, C. (2010). How Comparable Are the Gallup World Poll Life Satisfaction Data? Journal of Happiness Studies 11 (1), 41–60. Worst possible life Frequencies of positive and of negative affective experiences are measured by ask- ing people to rate how many times they felt a variety of emotions (e.g., joyful, angry, good, or bad) over a certain period of time. The life satisfaction estimate of SWB rep- resents the cognitive aspect of happiness whereas reports of positive-negative experi- ence represent its more emotional elements. Retrospective self-reports are not the only methods used in this kind of work. Box 14.2 presents a description of another promis- ing way to assess emotional experience. Because of the complexity of this topic and its overlap with constructs like happiness and meaning, there is still some disagreement about SWB measurement and conceptual- ization. Additional research is needed going forward to clarify structural dimensions of SWB and to distinguish it from other closely related concepts (Metler & Busseri, 2017). A rapidly growing body of studies from the social science literature has led to some surprising revelations about what is really important for people to sustain a sense of well-being as they negotiate the complex and frequently stressful realities of adulthood. It should be noted, however, that this is an active research area, so avail- able findings are not necessarily conclusive. More robust measures will most likely lead to a stronger knowledge base (Tay, Chan, & Diener, 2014). 556 Chapter 14 Box 14.2: Measuring What Makes People Happy In most cases, the constructs of life satisfaction and subjec- life satisfaction report that people believe their children to be a tive well-being are studied by asking respondents to complete source of great happiness. In this study, the activity of taking care questionnaires. Participants might be asked to respond on a of children ranked close to the bottom of enjoyable activities. scale of 1 to 10 to questions like “I believe that I make enough Only working, housework, and commuting had lower positive rat- money” or “I am getting what I want out of my life.” Such survey ings. The authors suggest that this finding may be due to the fact results can be very enlightening, but they cannot answer some that DRM taps experience instead of the kind of global beliefs of the most interesting questions about people’s lived experience that are assessed in traditional life satisfaction surveys. Respon- in a real-time context. For that data, researchers can utilize the dents may feel less constrained by socially appropriate or “belief- technique called the experience sampling method (ESM). As you based generic judgments” (Kahneman et al., 2004, p. 1777) such learned in Chapter 9, those who use this methodology give par- as the valuing of children. With this method, they report on the ticipants beepers that are programmed to beep at various points reality of their lived experience. Activities that were associated during the day. The beep alerts participants to record what they with the most positive affect were intimate relations, socializing, are doing and how they are feeling at that moment. This strategy and relaxing. This methodology reveals how enjoyable people’s is a good way to observe lives as they unfold. However, it can be lives are on a day-to-day basis instead of global estimates of life expensive and intrusive to participants. Furthermore, events are satisfaction. recorded as discrete snapshots instead of as a reflection of the Similar to other research reported in this chapter, the life ebb and flow of well-being across situations. circumstances of these women, such as income, religion, and Kahneman and his associates (Kahneman, Krueger, education, made only modest contributions to the affective Schkade, Schwartz, & Stone, 2004) developed an alternative quality of their daily lives. What did matter? Things that made approach called the day reconstruction method (DRM), which for a happy day were related to their personality and mental combines elements of experience sampling with elicitation of health (like absence of depression) and, notably, the q uality memories of affective experience. One major difference is that of their sleep! The authors found very large differences in DRM does not require beepers or present-moment reporting of women’s enjoyment of home-related activities as a function of experience. Instead, participants are asked to recall the previous good or poor sleep, which had a surprisingly powerful impact day and to construct a running account or diary that describes on the quality of their satisfaction and enjoyment of life overall. the day’s events. The instructions direct participants to “think of In the work arena, job pressure exerted a similarly large effect. your day as a continuous series of scenes or episodes in a film. Although factors like job security and the presence of adequate Give each episode a brief name that will help you remember it (for benefits were important predictors of job satisfaction, they did example ‘commuting to work’, or ‘at lunch with B?’)” (p. 1778). not influence women’s daily enjoyment at work. What made for After the day’s “scenes” are remembered and described, par- a happier workday was less pressure to work quickly and more ticipants respond to more structured questions about each one, opportunities to talk with coworkers. Overall, life satisfaction, including how they felt while each was happening. Indices of based upon results of this study, was determined by the dif- positive affect (happy, friendly, enjoying myself) and negative ference in net negative and net positive affect. This study sug- affect (frustrated, depressed, hassled, angry, worried, criticized) gests that it may be the little things in our day-to-day lives that are gathered. The result is a chronology of daily events linked to can make us happy. subjective ratings of positive or negative feeling. Although this method is intuitively interesting, some problems This method was used to gather information about the life with reliability, conflation of responses with mood, and external satisfaction of a sample of 909 racially diverse, middle-class events, and so forth have been observed. In particular, refine- women. The average age of participants was 38 years. Results ment of experience sampling methods using electronic devices demonstrate that this method can access information that may make these methods a better way to collect real-time data other methods generally cannot. For example, most surveys of on current experience (Diener & Tay, 2014). Life Satisfaction: What Is a Well-Lived Life? 14.1 Identify needs that must be met for adults to have subjective and psycho- logical well-being, and suggest approaches that meet needs and support life satisfaction. Worldly Goods and Well-Being First, let’s consider the importance of money. Although we would probably all con- cede some truth to the saying “money can’t buy happiness,” research indicates that Living Well: Stress, Coping, and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood 557 most of us believe that even a little more income would improve our lives and make us happier (Myers, 2000). On the whole, happiness and income FIGURE 14.1 Economic growth and happiness in the U.S. are correlated, but the relationship is complicated. Easterlin’s famous paradox (1974, 1995) contradicted the conventional $20,000 100% notion that happiness increases concurrently with income, giving rise to $18,000 Personal Income 90% (in 1995 dollars) a surge of research on this topic. Easterlin found that the percentage of $16,000 80% North Americans who claimed to be very happy remained level or declined $14,000 70% slightly even as per capita income and standard of living rose steadily from $12,000 60% the mid 1950s through the late 1990s (see Figure 14.1). $10,000 50% At the same time, rates of depression and other pathologies soared. Percentage Very Happy 40% $8,000 Extrapolating on Easterlin’s paradox, Myers (2000) called the inverse ratio $6,000 30% of affluence to pathology “the American paradox.” The materialistic goals that motivate many Americans do not appear to guarantee happiness, and $4,000 20% they seem to have some toxic side effects. Over 25 years of cross-national $2,000 10% data on values revealed that U.S. values were most materialistic, compared $0 0% 56 63 970 977 984 991 998 to trends from the six other nations (United Kingdom, Germany, France, 19 19 1 1 1 1 1 Spain, Italy, and Sweden). In contrast to the United States, these European SOURCE: Based on Myers, D. G. (2000). The funds, countries prioritized family, friends, and socially valuable work over money friends, and faith of happy people. American Psycholo- gist, 55, 56–67. and possessions. Table 14.1 shows the U.S. ranking on various aggregated variables assessed over a quarter century (Bartolini & Sarracini, 2017). Research on the relationship between wealth and happiness has produced some contradictory conclusions, with some data supporting Easterlin’s analyses and some data refuting it. Discrepancies in research findings may be related to aforementioned measurement issues and to different ways of conceptualizing the research questions. TABLE 14.1 U.S. Summary Ranking on Values Related to Materialism Compared to Other Nations over 25 Years VALUE RANKING OF U.S. COMPARED TO 6 COUNTRIES Importance of friends in life 5 Less valued More emphasis on family life 6 Least valued Importance in a job of meeting people 6 Least valued Importance in a job of having pleasant people 6 Least valued to work with Importance of leisure time in life 5 Less valued Importance in a job of not having too much 5 Less valued pressure Importance of having an interesting job 5 Less valued Importance of having a job that meets one’s 5 Less valued abilities More emphasis on individual self-actualization 6 Least valued Importance of having a useful job for society 5 Less valued Importance of having good pay 4 Valued Decreasing emphasis on money and material 2 U.S. reported lower materialism levels at the possession in the country beginning of the 25 year period and Europe reported higher levels. At the end of the period, U.S. emphasis on money increased, far exceeding declining European trends. More emphasis on a simple and more natural 5 Less valued lifestyle in the country 1 = best trends (smallest increase or greatest decrease of materialism) 6 = worst trends (smallest decrease or greatest increase in materialism). SOURCE: Republished with permission of Springer from Twenty-five years of materialism: Do the US and Europe diverge? Social Indicators Research, by Bartolini, S., & Sarracino, F. (2017), 133(2), 787–817; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. 558 Chapter 14 Or, contradictory evidence may be due to the presence of certain moderating vari- ables. We need to probe these questions, despite their difficulty, because the answers are important for countries, communities, and businesses that aspire to increase the well-being of citizens (Frey & Stutzer, 2002; Piekałkiewicz, 2017). Let’s consider some evidence that supports Easterlin’s original finding. It is true that the poor are not as happy as the rich. But people with adequate though modest incomes report nearly the same levels of life satisfaction as the wealthiest individuals, both within and between cultures and subcultures (see Table 14.2). Even people who have a sudden economic windfall, like those who win a lottery, “typically only gain a temporary jolt of joy from their winnings” (Myers, 2000, p. 61). Now for some contradictory findings. Stevenson and Wolfers (2013) tested Easterlin’s claim by examining well-being data from 155 countries. Their work did not show a satiation effect at which point the effects of income on happiness stabilize or even decline. Rather, their analyses revealed a steady linear relationship between income and measures of well-being. These results have also been supported by others (Lien, Hu, & Liu, 2017). So does this mean that wealthier people are happier and more satisfied with their lives after all? Clearly, differences in outcome measures of happi- ness, well-being, and life satisfaction are likely sources of variability. It also appears that asking more nuanced questions might ultimately knit these disparate threads together. For example, do certain conditions in countries or communities moderate the relationship between wealth and well-being? Decoupling actual household income level from GDP (a summary measure of national economic productivity), Diener, Tay, and Oishi (2013) showed that actual household income level was related to all dimensions of SWB. Over the course of this 7-year study, individuals’ satisfaction with rising incomes was more than a t ransitory blip, suggesting these increases had a long-lasting cumulative effect. The rise in family income appeared to affect SWB if it offered increased purchasing power and was accompanied by optimism about the future. Compared to earlier studies indicating that increased incomes did not augment happiness (Diener, Lucas, & Scollon, 2006; Diener & Seligman, 2004), this study may represent an advance because of the size and representativeness of the sample as well as the use of consistent measurements. It’s important to note, however, that the observed relationship between income and SWB did not occur unless the average person in the country, not just its wealthy citizens, experienced the income gains. Some have also suggested that the 7-year period covered in this analysis was not long enough to test effects sufficiently. TABLE 14.2 Life Satisfaction for Various Groups GROUP RATING Forbes magazine’s “richest Americans” 5.8 Pennsylvania Amish 5.8 Inughuit (Inuit people in northern Greenland) 5.8 African Maasai 5.7 Swedish probability sample 5.6 International college-student sample (47 nations in 2000) 4.9 Illinois Amish 4.9 Calcutta slum dwellers 4.6 Fresno, California homeless 2.9 Calcutta pavement dwellers (homeless) 2.9 NOTE: Respondents indicated their agreement with the statement “You are satisfied with your life” using a scale from 1 (complete disagreement) to 7 (complete agreement); 4 is a neutral rating. SOURCE: Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Beyond money: Toward an economy of well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5, 1–31. Reprinted by permission of Blackwell Publishing. Living Well: Stress, Coping, and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood 559 So rising incomes appear to make people happy if a number of other conditions are met. To parse this even further, Mikucka and colleagues (Mikucka, Sarracino, & Dubrow, 2017) studied effects of income on happiness in countries with developed and developing economies as well as countries in transition (i.e., moving from pov- erty to self-sufficiency). Their results support Easterlin’s finding for countries with well-developed economies, whereas the opposite held true for countries in transition. In places where people were transitioning out of poverty towards economic stability, increased income was associated with all aspects of SWB. For countries with devel- oped economies, higher incomes were associated with greater SWB only when social trust and reduced income inequality also existed. Social trust is a form of social capital, or “networks of shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate cooperation within or among groups” (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2001, p. 41). Once a basic standard of living is achieved, it appears that money is not enough to ensure happiness. When social trust is lacking and income inequality is great, people’s sense of connection and ability to trust others, both profound sources of satisfaction and security, can fray. The important role that income inequality plays in societal well-being has been demonstrated in other studies as well (Oishi & Kesebir, 2015). Rich countries appear to have a lot to gain in terms of the well-being of their populations when trust is high and inequality is reduced. Finally, in another nuanced look at these interrelationships, Kahneman and Deaton (2010) analyzed Gallup poll data in a way that separated life satisfaction scores from emotional experience. When people were asked to evaluate the quality of their life on the Cantril ladder, their evaluations ascended in relationship to their income and educational level. Think of this as being asked to appraise your life from afar. Presumably, the higher your status and income, the higher your subjective assessment of life satisfaction might be. From this perspective, John might assess his pre-merger life satisfaction to be quite high. However, when asked to assess the emotional warp and woof of life, the joys, sadness, stresses and strains, people’s income level failed to correlate with their actual experience of happiness after reaching approximately $75,000 in yearly income, even if they were very wealthy. This figure might be higher now, if the study were repeated, given rising costs of living. Nonetheless, the point is that after a certain income threshold, one’s emotional life does not change much and well-being satiates. Conversely, living below a certain income level, in poverty or near poverty, significantly decreased life satisfaction and increased sadness and stress. This paradox may have many sources; we will mention a few. First, it may be linked to what is described as the “hedonic treadmill” (Brickman & Campbell, 1971). When people are driven to strive for material gain, they are often quickly h abituated to each new level of wealth and thus can’t be satisfied (Kasser & Ryan, 1996). Pittman (1985) argued, “Wealth is addictive. It enticingly offers happiness, but it can- not provide satisfaction, so those who attain some of it keep thinking more of it will provide satisfaction” (p. 470). Ironically, the more an individual strives for further material gain, the less attention he is likely to give to other pursuits that are more strongly linked to satisfaction, like having supportive social relationships. Second, the lifestyle that affluence makes possible may reduce some of the forces that ordinarily help create supportive relationships (Luthar, 2003). For example, p eople who can buy services from the marketplace, such as child care and elder care, are less likely to turn to family, friends, and neighbors for those kinds of support (Putnam, 2000). Further, people living in affluent societies rarely need to rely on others for phys- ical support in “tough times,” such as help with food, clothing, and shelter, and so opportunities for friends and neighbors to demonstrate “genuine friendship” by mak- ing sacrifices for one another are minimal. Absent such opportunities, it may be more difficult for people to feel that others in their lives can be relied upon. This emotional distance can reduce empathy and generosity, and increase cynicism and objectification of others, further compromising relatedness. Third, having material resources allows people to make choices and to control much of their lives. But the more control people have, the more likely they are to expect a “perfect” life (Schwartz, 2000). Of course, perfection is impossible to achieve. However, when people fail to do so, they blame themselves, creating fertile ground for 560 Chapter 14 depression and regrets. They may also blame others for their disappointments, accu- mulating a backlog of grievances. Because materialistic cultures foster the belief that material gain brings happiness, affluent people who do become depressed often feel confused and guilty, making it difficult to reach out to friends and share their distress (Wolfe & Fodor, 1996). Simon’s (1955) influential work on decision making elucidated how “maximiza- tion” (i.e., having more choices in a wealthy society, but being less satisfied) could help explain this paradox. “Maximizers” (Nenkov, Morrin, Ward, Schwartz, & Hulland, 2008; Schwartz et al., 2002) can be identified by virtue of their heightened exploration of alter- natives, difficulty with decision making, and high standards. Compared to “satisficers” (i.e., those who believe that “good enough” is acceptable), maximizers never settle for second best. They expend much more effort to achieve their desired outcome compared to satisficers, who balance desirability with feasibility (Luan & Li, 2017a). The unwhole- some consequences of the maximizing style, unhappiness, pessimism, depression, and lower self-esteem, have been well documented. These outcomes appear to be related to maximizers’ entrenched belief that there actually is an objectively “best” choice, if only they can find it. Clearly, one can never know, in a world of virtually unlimited choice, that the decision you end up making is objectively the best one. Thus, disappointment, second guessing, and dissatisfaction can ensue (Luan & Li, 2017b). Finally, some research with a U.S. sample examined the contributions of income to positive and negative emotional experience. Wealth can reduce the chances of experiencing some kinds of sadness in everyday life (like food insecurity, loss of housing, lack of medical care, etc.) because it allows for real and perceived control over certain adverse events. Greater wealth, as we have seen, had little relationship to positive emotional experience (Kahnemann & Deaton, 2010; Kushlev, Dunn, & Lucas, 2015). The same pattern of results was found for a German sample (Hudson, Lucas, Donnellan, & Kushlev, 2016). Wealth, while providing some protection from sadness, does little to enhance happiness and may even reduce it. The focus on wealth may diminish the capacity to savor mundane events and to experience the pleasures found in the simple things of life. John, our marketing executive, probably should consider the social and personal costs of staying at or leaving his company before making a decision solely based on income. Overall, material gain is a source of well-being, but decision-making style, personality, cultural context, and supportive relationships can also be. In the sections that follow we will explore several additional factors that are positively correlated with well-being. We’ll begin with the characteristics of the individual himself. Personality and Well-Being Could personality be more important than external conditions for explaining life satisfaction? Personality traits like extroversion and neuroticism are correlated with subjective well-being measures, much more so than external factors like wealth (Diener, Oishi, & Lucas, 2003; Realo, 2016). Extroverts, who tend to focus interest on things outside the self, are happier than introverts, who focus more attention on their own interior experience. Not surprisingly, neuroticism, which includes tendencies to be self-conscious, anxious, hostile, and impulsive, is negatively correlated with hap- piness. Conscientiousness, which includes planfulness and self-control, is positively correlated with later life well-being in some studies (Bogg & Roberts, 2013) but less so in others (Harris, Brett, Starr, Deary, & Johnson, 2016). These relationships are difficult to assess directly, although stable personality traits may play a moderating role in health and well-being during life. Personality can operate by influencing what information people pay attention to and remember. Infor- mation that is congruent with an individual’s personality is more likely to be fully processed. For example, extroverts process rewarding stimuli for longer periods than introverts (Derryberry & Reed, 1994). In addition, people who approach situations dif- ferently may construe the same life events in different ways (Lyubomirsky, 2001). Could personality moderate the impact of money on happiness? It appears that it does. Let’s consider a person high in neuroticism. By definition, he feels the slings and Living Well: Stress, Coping, and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood 561 arrows of daily life more intensely. When income level does not match expectations, this perceived lack might have a more powerful impact on his overall well-being than it would for a less anxious person. High neuroticism is linked to more active social- comparison processes (Olson & Evans, 1999) that can also exaggerate perceived defi- ciencies. Studies of adults from large representative samples in Germany, Australia, and the UK bear this out. Soto and Luhmann (2013) found that income had a more powerful influence on SWB for individuals high in neuroticism than it did for their more extroverted and less anxious peers. Reciprocity appears to exist between personality traits and well-being, with each side fostering the other. People with higher baseline levels of agreeableness, extraver- sion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability experience more positive and less neg- ative affect. Over time, this sustained emotional pattern results in even higher levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability (Soto, 2015). Relationships and Well-Being As we saw in Chapter 12, many theorists, like Freud and Erikson, have emphasized the importance of “love” for happiness. Evidence strongly supports this view. Regardless of personality characteristics, social relationships appear to be essential ingredients of well-being. Both extroverts and introverts report more pleasant emotions in social situations (Pavot, Diener, & Fujita, 1990). Receiving social support is clearly linked to better coping with life’s stresses, as you will see later in this chapter, but having oppor- tunities to give social support is also a key ingredient in happiness. Life is more stress- ful for people who have limited opportunities to be a source of support to others or who experience limited success in their efforts to do so (Brown, Nesse, Vinokur, & Smith, 2003). A wide variety of converging evidence links the quality and quantity of social rela- tionships with life satisfaction in adulthood. In a study of “very happy people,” Diener and Seligman (2002) found that all of their happiest respondents had “excellent” social relationships. People with more friends also experience greater happiness than people with fewer friends (Hintikka, Koskela, Kontula, Koskela, & Viinamaeki, 2000). Women with at least one confidante are less susceptible to depression than women with no confidantes (Antonucci, Lansford, & Akiyama, 2001), and Hammen (1996) suggests that without strong, positive interpersonal bonds, both men and women are particu- larly vulnerable to depression. Marriages (and comparable long-term intimate part- nerships) are a major source of companionship in Western societies. In surveys that include tens of thousands of people from the United States and many other countries, married women and men report more happiness than unmarried people (Wadsworth, 2016). Being married is also associated with a lower risk of depression (Myers, 2000). Do social relationships cause happiness, or are happy people more likely to be involved in social relationships? There is evidence that it works both ways. People who are more secure, who have more positive attitudes and better social skills are more likely to successfully make friends, develop confidantes, and create long-term partnerships, as we have seen in our earlier discussions of friendship and marriage. But when we study life satisfaction within individuals over time, we find that social relationships do affect people’s happiness as well. The same people are happier when they are with oth- ers than when they are by themselves. For example, Kahneman and colleagues tracked women’s affective states during 15 daily activities—like exercising, resting, commut- ing, and so on—and found that emotions were more positive when people were with others than when they were alone (Kahneman et al., 2004; see Box 14.2). People whose closest relationships end, as with divorce or death of a partner, may show precipitous declines in well-being. Their life satisfaction recovers only slowly and not usually to the same level as before the loss (Diener & Seligman, 2004; see also Figure 14.2). The importance of social relationships for well-being and health is consistent across cultures (Holt-Lunstad & Smith, 2012). When people feel supported by fam- ily, friends, and community they weather life’s difficulties more effectively. But fine-grained analyses demonstrate that the way people derive support from their interpersonal connections differs across cultural groups. 562 Chapter 14 FIGURE 14.2 Life satisfaction before and after divorce or death of a spouse. 7.5 7.3 7.1 6.9 Life Satisfaction 6.7 6.5 6.3 6.1 5.9 5.7 5.5 –5 –4 –3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 4 5 Year Divorce Widowhood SOURCE: Based on Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Beyond money: Toward an economy of well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5, 1–31. A useful way to explore this issue is to review support-seeking behavior in indi- vidualistic and collectivistic cultures. As you would expect, people from U.S. cultures with Northern European, Protestant roots definitely value family relations but mani- fest different operating patterns with regard to them. Spending time with family on one’s own terms, moving away from home for college or career, voluntarily begin- ning or ending relationships, and choosing partners and professions independently all reveal an individualistic orientation (Schug, Yuki, & Maddux, 2010). People from collectivistic cultures tend to view themselves as more interdependent. Yet, there are important differences even within collectivistic cultures that influence their manner of support seeking, emotion regulation, health, and well-being. Campos & Kim (2017) reviewed evidence of some key differences in support seeking that are of interest to helpers. These authors highlighted East Asian and Latino groups because, although both are collectivistic, they show how different patterns of support seeking affect well- being. For East Asians, harmony collectivism is the norm. While family relationships are primary, care is taken to avoid causing interpersonal conflict or burdening oth- ers. High levels of positive emotions towards others are not manifested directly but rather through more practical expressions, like offering advice, solving problems con- jointly, or offering practical help. Moderating emotions is the preferred strategy. In collectivistic Latino cultures, direct expression of positive emotions is valued within relationships, a style called convivial collectivism. In these cultures, lively and explicit expression of positive emotion serves to create family cohesion. Life decisions often take family into account, time is spent celebrating important events, and high levels of assistance and support are provided. Expressive affirmation of family connections is preferred. So much of how people relate emotionally is based on cultural experience and assumptions, making it critical for helpers to exercise cultural humility when apprais- ing these patterns (Campos & Kim, 2017). Kim et al. (2008) posit that: People in more individualistic cultures share the cultural assumption that individuals should proactively pursue their well-being and that others have the freedom to choose to help according to their own volition. In contrast, people in the more collectivistic cul- tures may be relatively more cautious about bringing personal problems to the atten- tion of others for the purpose of enlisting their help because they share the c ultural Living Well: Stress, Coping, and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood 563 assumption that individuals should not burden their social networks and that others share the same sense of social obligation. (p. 519) Work, Achievement, Generativity, and Well-Being As theorists like Freud and Erikson proposed, work experience and the general sense of oneself as a competent worker are also important predictors of happiness. Feeling that one is making progress towards challenging goals, both in work and in nonwork settings, is thus correlated with well-being (see Ryan & Deci, 2003). Similarly, scores on measures of generativity are predictors of well-being (Ackerman, Zuroff, & Moskow- itz, 2000). As we have seen, generativity is a sense that one’s skills and efforts are cre- atively or productively contributing to the world—to family, coworkers, community, or future generations. Work experiences in general are often associated with subjective well-being. In the study by Kahneman et al. (2004) comparing affective states during daily tasks, people generally reported positive emotions at work, although not as positive as during sex or socializing after work. Congruence between personality characteristics and the skills MyLab Education Video Example 14.1 and qualities required for a job is part of what makes work satisfying. But there are also Mary at age 42 is happy and seems many characteristics of the workplace itself that contribute to h appiness. O pportunities to have balance between work and for personal control, the variety of tasks, the support of the supervisor, interpersonal the rest of her life. She has a good contact and coworker relationships, good pay and fringe benefits, respect, and status job, two wonderful children, and can all influence the degree of satisfaction people derive from work (e.g., Chiaburu & looks forward with wonder. What Harrison, 2008; Warr, 1999). will the next 20 years bring? We should remember that balance between work and the rest of one’s life is proba- bly the best prescription, no matter how engrossing work might be. Some research sug- gests that the old adage “all work and no play” actually does lead to a diminished life. Whillans and colleagues (Whillans, Dunn, Smeets, Bekkers, & Norton, 2017; Whillans, Weidman, & Dunn, 2016) found support for the fact that people who prioritized time over money were happier. Helping people consider the trade-offs they make for their work, as in John’s case, can be an important goal for helping professionals. Universal Needs and Values and Well-Being In sum, material success, beyond a basic level of comfort, is not the primary ingredient in creating the good life for adults. Personality characteristics that support an “other” rather than a “self” orientation do seem to help promote happiness. Good social rela- tionships are particularly important, and productive work opportunities support life satisfaction as well. What can we deduce from this overview of factors that either do or do not promote well-being? One approach to understanding and integrating these and other findings on well-being is to propose that what really counts is living a life that meets our most fundamental and universal needs. Extrapolating from the insights of philosophers through the ages, the views of personality theorists from many different traditions, and the available research, modern theorists propose that there are basic psychologi- cal needs, and meeting these needs is the source of well-being. Waterman (1993a), for example, argued that people need to express their “true selves.” If their activities are congruent with their own deeply held values and they are fully engaged, then people can achieve a state of “personal expressiveness,” meaning that they feel intensely alive and authentic. Waterman devised measures of personal expressiveness and found that they correlated highly with traditional measures of subjective well-being. But sub- jective well-being, with its emphasis on happiness and positive emotion (what has also been called hedonic well-being) was not exactly the same as the kind of feeling that Waterman called personal expressiveness. The latter has been called eudaemonic well-being, and describes feeling a sense of purpose, growth, and mastery. Ryff and her colleagues (e.g., Ryff & Keyes, 1995; Ryff, 2017) differentiated psychological or eudaemonic well-being from subjective well-being, defining it as the striving to realize one’s true potential. They list six fundamental elements of psycho- logical well-being: autonomy, personal growth, self-acceptance, life purpose, mastery, and positive relatedness. Questionnaire measures of these six aspects of experience are 564 Chapter 14 highly correlated with measures of positive affect in which individuals are asked to describe how intensely they usually experience 20 different positive feeling states (e.g., interest, excitement, strength, etc.; Urry et al., 2004). In what is called self-determination theory, Ryan and Deci (2000; see also Deci & Ryan, 2008; Ryan, Huta, & Deci, 2008) have also argued that self-realization is at the core of eudaemonic well-being. They suggest that life satisfaction is derived from the fulfill- ment of fundamental psychological needs for autonomy (feeling that one’s behaviors are self-endorsed), competence (expressing one’s talents and skills), and relatedness (oppor- tunities to feel cared for and valued by others). These psychological needs, like hunger and other basic physiological needs, are energizing. Their relative salience and the ways in which they are satisfied can be different across the life span and in different cultures. MyLab Education But there is cross-cultural evidence that satisfaction of these needs supports feelings of Video Example 14.2 Modern theorists propose that there well-being in general (e.g., Deci et al., 2001; Ryan et al., 1999). A recent meta-analysis are basic psychological needs, and of studies from health care settings showed that promotion of autonomy, competence, meeting these needs is the source of and relatedness by providers had positive effects on patient physical and mental health well-being. In this video, Jeff at age (Ng et al., 2012). In extensive studies of U.S. adults, hedonic and eudaemonic well-being 45 reflects on his life and his current were significantly related to lower rates of metabolic syndrome, less smoking, lower lev- well-being and happiness. els of alcohol use, healthier diet, and more exercise (Boylan & Ryff, 2015). Despite our best intentions to meet hedonic and eudaemonic needs in some balanced way, life decisions, once made, may privilege certain needs over others. Previously we noted the tradeoffs that may exist when career success is pursued singlemindedly. Although attainment of status and increase in income from a career can be satisfying, lack of time and demands of a stressful position may compromise life satisfaction (Abele, Hagmeier, & Spurk, 2016). People who have highly demand- ing careers may find their needs for competence and autonomy amply met but they suffer from the inability to cultivate relationships. Or, like John our marketer, they may feel limited in exploring other options. Research on well-being demonstrates that some skills of living are modifiable, thus raising the intriguing question of whether hedonic and eudaemonic needs should be the targets of intervention for many norma- tive health and lifestyle-related issues of midlife (Ruini, Albieri, & Vescovelli, 2015). The Importance of Meaning, Religion, and Spirituality MEANING AND WELL-BEING Many observers of human nature have proposed that the well-lived life is one that is grounded in the conviction that life has meaning. Park and Folkman (1997) define meaning as simply the perception of significance, and they propose that the need to find meaning may be intrinsic to human beings. They differentiate between “global mean- ing,” a sense of what the universe and human existence is about, or what is universally true, and a sense of “situational meaning,” which is finding a purpose for one’s own life. Generally, they see the second category as heavily dependent on the first. Baumeister (1991) argues that we humans have a need to understand our lives, to see them as making sense, and he proposes four reasons why people seek meaning. First, they feel a need for their lives to have a purpose, which basically is synonymous with having goals. Such goals help people place their current actions in context, pro- viding a connection between past, present, and future. In other words, they help us see our lives as coherent and making sense. Second, when people have a sense of meaning in their lives, they feel like they have control, that what they do is consistent with a purpose they endorse, helping them meet what self-determination theory describes as the need for autonomy (see Ryan, Huta, & Deci, 2008). Third, a sense of meaning helps people define what actions are legitimate and what actions are not. In this way, people can justify their actions and construct or identify values, morals, and ethics to help guide their behavior. Fourth, a sense of meaning helps people value themselves, fostering self-worth. Baumeister also suggests that becoming part of a social group helps people feel valued and valuable and enhances their sense of meaning. As we have seen, despite the growth of wealth in the United States and other affluent nations in the last several decades, depression and other mental health Living Well: Stress, Coping, and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood 565 problems have been on the rise (Diener & Seligman, 2004). When materialism substi- tutes for a philosophy of life that provides a deeper sense of meaning and purpose, it may block the development of true life satisfaction. Some of the reasons for seeking meaning that Baumeister proposes are associated with the basic self-actualization needs or values that Ryan and Deci and others have specified, such as needs for a utonomy and relatedness. In fact, one way to construe self-realization is that it means to find your true meaning or value—where and how you fit into a larger whole. Because religious traditions are in large part institutionalized meaning systems, they can help people establish global meaning, which in turn can support the creation of situational meaning. Spirituality and Meaning For many people around the world, religion and spirituality offer a profound source of meaning and contribute to a sense of purpose. Personality theorists have sometimes argued that spirituality is built into the human psyche. Carl G. Jung in particular felt that religion and spirituality are expressions of an innate need “to find meaning in life, to create a sense of wholeness or completeness, and to connect with something larger than the individual self” (Compton, 2005, p. 210). Modern researchers make a distinction between spirituality and religion (or religiosity). A person can have a spiri- tual side or spiritual strivings without practicing a particular religion, although the two are closely allied for many people (Hill et al., 2000). Both are concerned with “a search for the sacred” (Zinnbauer, Pargament, & Scott, 1999), which means attempting to identify, articulate, or move towards an understanding or association with a divine being, divine object, or some kind of ultimate reality or truth (Hill et al., 2000). Religion also involves affiliation with “a covenant faith community” that has prescriptive and revelatory teachings and may include rituals, all of which are intended to support the search for the sacred and to encourage morality (Dollahite, 1998). Religion also may serve nonsacred goals, like creating a social identity (Hill et al., 2000). The empirical study of spirituality and religion is beginning to paint a picture of the role that both play in adults’ everyday psychological functioning. RELIGIOSITY AND WELL-BEING A majority of the world’s population report that religion is an important part of their lives (Diener, Tay, & Myers, 2011). Large numbers of children across the globe are socialized within the context of some religious framework that provides beliefs, prin- ciples, and practices aimed at fostering a happy, meaningful, and moral life (King & Boyatzis, 2015). In fact, large representative studies do show that religion increases SWB for p eople in the United States, even after their life circumstances are taken into account (Lim, 2015). Across the world’s four major religions––Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam––adherents tended to report higher SWB in each of its three dimensions compared to nonreligious counterparts. But are there certain life circum- stances that moderate this relationship? Diener and colleagues (2011) showed that economic development and security contribute to religiosity both at individual and societal levels. In countries where life circumstances were more difficult, levels of religiosity tended to be high and being religious added to SWB. Nonreligious indi- viduals in religious societies tended to report the least SWB, especially in terms of social support and positive affect. An inverse relationship was found for relatively advantaged countries where, in general, level of need was low and security was high. In these societies, organized religion was rated as less important to overall happi- ness. Nonreligious individuals in economically developed, nonreligious societies also reported high levels of SWB. It is possible that the positive relationship between religi- osity and SWB observed in the United States is due to this country’s economic advan- tage and moderate religiosity (Diener et al., 2011). In addition to life satisfaction and meaning, religious affiliation has been associated with better health outcomes, such as reduced coronary disease, lower blood pressure, less suicidality and lower overall mortality (Masters & Hooker, 2013). Bailey’s (1998) work with Christian-identified groups in Great Britain distinguished between explicit (church-attending Christian) and implicit (non-church attending) groups in order to 566 Chapter 14 assess whether religiosity provided some of these advantages to both groups. Those considered implicitly religious endorsed the statement “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.” Members of the implicitly religious group had experienced religious upbringings and endorsed participation in rites of passage rituals for major life events, like baptisms and funerals, despite not attending services or engaging in daily prayer. Both implicit and explicit religiosity was associated with more positive well-being, although church attendance offered some protections, particularly against suicidality, that were not seen for the implicitly religious group (Francis & Penny, 2013; 2016). Does religion contribute to increased positive emotions? Both Eastern and W estern religions and philosophies prescribe regulation of negative or destructive emotions, like anger and envy. Some religious movements (e.g., charismatic movements) also emphasize cultivating strong positive emotions, but others foster moderation of all emotional reactions (Emmons & Paloutzian, 2003). In traditional Buddhist teachings, the presence of compassion and serenity and the absence of destructive emotions, like envy and anger, are cultivated through meditative practices. Davidson and his colleagues (2003) have found that areas of the brain associated with positive mood showed increased activity during the practice of meditation. They have also found that the most experienced practitioners, such as Tibetan monks, show the most extreme shifts towards positive emotional states. Many less striking studies have demonstrated that adherence to religious prac- tices by people of many different faiths is moderately correlated with measures of emotional well-being in the United States. For example, widowed women who wor- ship regularly report more joy in their lives than those who do not (e.g., Siegel & Kuykendall, 1990). Indeed, after many kinds of negative life experiences—divorce, unemployment, death of a child, and so on—religious people seem to recover more happiness more quickly than the nonreligious (e.g., Ellison, 1991). These benefits are more likely to accrue to people who are active religious participants (attending ser- vices, praying, meditating) than to those who describe themselves as pro-religious but are not active practitioners (Berthold & Ruch, 2014). In survey assessments of spiritual commitment (e.g., asking whether people agree with statements like “My religious faith is the most important influence in my life,” or “I feel very close to God”), those who score highest are also more likely than those who score lowest to rate themselves as “very happy” (Myers, 2000). BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF RELIGIOSITY Another important reason why religious belief benefits people may be that religious communities provide their members with social support, a critical ingredient in well- being (Myers, 2000). The role of religion in fostering hope and optimism may also be important. Seligman (2002) describes a survey of religious congregations in which level of hope was the best predictor of feelings of well-being. Diener and colleagues (2011) also suggested that religion may increase happiness through the mechanisms of social support, feelings of respect, purpose, and meaning. It should be noted that religions, like all human institutions, also have their darker side. Although some religious doctrines and practices foster positive feelings, such as hope and compassion, others foster emotions and attitudes, such as guilt and fear of retribution, which can be harmful in excess. Some religious doctrines and beliefs encourage a distrust or intolerance of others, especially outgroup mem- bers, or promote retribution or revenge against those who are construed as evil or guilty (Chatters, 2000). For some individuals, religion engenders profound personal struggles and doubts about beliefs and practices that can lead to depression, anxiety, and health problems (Ellison & Lee, 2010). Freud, having seen the dark side, assumed that religion must be “corrosive to happiness” (Myers, 2000, p. 63). Indeed, current evidence suggests that only positive elements of religious doctrine are correlated with well-being (Pargament, Smith, Koenig, & Perez, 1998). U.S. Muslims who used posi- tive religious coping after the attacks of September 11 showed more resilience com- pared to peers who engaged in negative religious coping. Those who coped positively called on a basic sense of trust in the divine and perceived the tragic events as out of their control. Those who used negative coping were more likely to view the challenges Living Well: Stress, Coping, and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood 567 they faced after the attacks as a punishment for their lack of devotion (Abu-Raiya & Mahoney, 2011). Several categories of problems related to spirituality or religion, called religious/ spiritual struggles (Exline, Pargament, Grubbs, & Yali, 2014; Wilt, Grubbs, Exline, & Pargament, 2016), are important for helpers to recognize. Just as cultural c ompetency is considered essential for ethical practice, so may be religious competency, given its central role for so many clients. Struggles in this area have been linked to depression, anxiety, and lower well-being (Abu-Raiya, Pargament, Krause, & Ironson, 2015; Wilt, Grubbs, Pargament, & Exline, 2017). Religious/spiritual struggles may include (1) divine struggles (concerns about God’s punishment or anger directed towards God because of past disappointments, etc.), (2) demonic struggles (beliefs that one is being tormented by evil spirits), (3) interpersonal struggles (differences with others in beliefs about religion or resentment towards organized religion in general), (4) doubt-related struggles (issues related to existence of God or loss of faith), (5) moral struggles (concerns about disobeying commandments or other perceived failures), and (6) u ltimate meaning struggles (questioning whether one’s life has meaning). Each of these kinds of struggles should be taken seriously by helpers, even if helpers them- selves do not share clients’ belief systems. SPIRITUALITY, RELIGION, AND PERSONALITY One question that researchers have asked is whether there is a link between s pirituality or religiosity and personality. Do personality characteristics, like the Big 5 (see Chapter 13), affect the degree to which people are drawn to spiritual exploration or religious involvement? One meta-analysis found that across a large number of studies, high agreeableness and conscientiousness were associated with religiousness (Saraglou, 2002). Personality traits of neuroticism and openness have also been linked to greater frequency of religious/spiritual struggles (Wilt et al., 2017). One interesting set of studies by Piedmont and colleagues suggests that there may even be a sixth personality trait that specifically relates to spirituality or spiritual transcendence, which can be defined as the ability to view life from a perspective that transcends space and time and to achieve a sense of fundamental unity with nature. Spiritual transcendence is viewed as a motivating force that directs individuals’ behavior towards specific ends, such as caring for others, and so forth. These investigators consulted theologi- cal experts from many different Eastern and Western faith traditions to develop an assessment of spiritual transcendence that seemed to be common to all faiths. They then developed the “spiritual transcendence scale,” which required individuals to rate how true spiritually based statements are of them, statements such as “I find inner strength and/or peace from my prayers or meditations” and “I feel that on a higher level all of us share a common bond.” Piedmont has found that adults’ scores on spiri- tual transcendence improve prediction of important characteristics like interpersonal style above and beyond their scores on the Big 5 personality traits (Lace, Haeberlein, & Handal, 2017; Piedmont, 2007). DEVELOPMENTAL SHIFTS IN SPIRITUALITY AND FAITH In what ways does the understanding and experience of spirituality and faith change across the life span? Fowler (1981) interviewed over 350 individuals, ranging in age from 3 to 84 years, exploring their past and “life-shaping experiences,” their values and commitments, and their religious thoughts and feelings. From these interviews, he derived a description of six stages in the development of faith. His definition of faith is “our way of finding coherence in and giving meaning to the multiple forces and relations that make up our lives” (p. 4). Faith and religion are not synonymous in his view. People with no religious commitments still develop faith, construed as “an orientation of the total person, giving purpose and goal to one’s hopes and strivings, thoughts and actions” (p. 14). He acknowledged that because his interviewees were all reared in Judeo-Christian traditions, it remained to be seen which elements of his descriptions represented universal features of faith development and which were spe- cific to Western culture. As always with stage theories, the ages are approximate and there is substantial variability, with some individuals moving more slowly than others, 568 Chapter 14 and many not progressing past the first few stages. Fowler found only one person who had achieved Stage 6. Note that the most advanced middle-aged adults in this model can be expected to move through Stages 4 and 5, as they come to understand the inher- ent inconsistencies in any spiritual perspective and how profoundly unknowable ulti- mate truth is. As you will see in Chapter 15, Fowler’s description of these stages is consistent with features of a definition of wisdom. Stage 1 (0 to 6 years): Intuitive-projective At these ages children are intuitive, egocentric, and not logical. Their under- standings of sex, death, and taboo begin, and they may be overwhelmed by a sense of danger with regard to doing what’s wrong versus right. Stage 2 (7 to 12 years): Mythic-literal At these ages children can narrate a life story of sorts. They tend to repeat what they have been taught by parents and other close adults about truths and beliefs, which then serve as their morals and rules. They still literally see God as a father, and they see distinct categories of right and wrong. Stage 3 (13 to 20 years): Synthetic-conventional By adolescence, the individual is constructing a life story. A “they” beyond the family is ascribed the authority to dictate values and beliefs, so faith remains conformist at this stage. Beliefs are not yet understood to be abstractions, and when others have different beliefs, they are judged to be wrong. Stage 4 (21 to 30 years): Individuative-reflective Authority is shifting from the “they” to the self. People can recognize inconsis- tencies and conflicts in the beliefs and morals they have been taught, and they can think critically about them. People take responsibility for making commit- ments to a worldview, lifestyle, beliefs, and attitudes. They see those commit- ments as individual, belonging to self. Stage 5 (31 to 60 years): Conjunctive In early midlife, some individuals begin to see both sides of a problem at once and are able to resolve the conflicts in their beliefs using dialectical (postformal) thinking. The individual begins to appreciate the unknowable—what must be the unfathomable complexity of ultimate truth. Stage 6 (over 60): Universalizing Transcending specific belief systems and part of a universal community, this individual lives in a way that is transformed by core values. Fowler (1991) described the transformation in this way. “Gradually, across the stages, there has been a widening of that process of taking the perspectives of others until, finally, those persons who can be described by the universalizing stage have completed the process of decentration. In a real sense we could say that they have identified with or they participate in the perspective of God. They begin to see and value through God rather than from the self. This does not mean that the self is not valued: The self is included in God’s loving and valuing of all creation. But the self is no longer the center from which one’s valuing is done. It is done from an identification with the transcendent... This decentration from self... leads to... a universalization of her or his capacity for care, for love, and for justice (p. 15). Culture and Well-Being So far, we’ve identified multiple influences on well-being: money, personality, relation- ships, achievement, values, meaning, and religion. Cross-cultural research offers us the opportunity to examine the relative influence of such factors on happiness among people all across the globe. Some have even suggested that there may be different definitions of what constitutes happiness across cultures. Chinese culture, for example, prizes peace of mind (peaceful, calm) over the kinds of positive experience (elated, excited) valued in Western cultures (Lee, Lin, Huang, & Fredrickson, 2013). Such cultural differences have important implications for assessment of SWB and for analyses of research results. As you have seen, money is related to happiness, but groups that differ widely in income (“Richest Americans” and African Maasai) report similar levels of SWB Living Well: Stress, Coping, and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood 569 (see Table 14.2). Researchers noted that the Maasai take great pride and satisfaction in their culture and its long history, possibly overriding the importance of exces- sive material goods in their prescription for happiness (Biswas-Diener, Vitterso, & Diener, 2005). Diener and colleagues (Diener, Ng, Harter, & Arora, 2010) asked people around the world whether they had friends or family to count on in times of need. Relative to the previous day, participants were also asked to report the level of respect they felt from others, the opportunities they had to learn something new, and the amount of control they had over their own time. These affective compo- nents were strongly related to well-being. Table 14.3 offers findings from a small group of countries. If you look closely at the findings from this study, you’ll notice that no country takes first place across all rankings. Generally, most people in the world report being relatively happy except for those who live in extreme circumstances. But take a closer look at Denmark, a high-income country that has consistently ranked near the top on cognitive and affective measures of SWB and has been called “chronically happy” (Biswas-Diener, Vitterso, & Diener, 2010; Gallup, Inc., 2007). The most recent U.N. hap- piness study gave the nod to Norway, but differences in rankings between the top two countries were very small (see Table 14.4). What might account for the rising tide of happiness in Scandinavia? Using multiple measures of life satisfaction, income, affect, and social resources, research- ers discovered that high levels of past, present, and predicted future happiness were best explained by relatively greater income equality in Scandinavia compared to the United States. In other words, Denmark’s poorest citizens were much more satisfied than their low-income peers in the United States, a phenomenon the researchers called “The Danish Effect.” Citizens of the United States were higher in emotionality (both positive and negative) than the Danes. However, while positive emotionality was higher for advantaged U.S. citizens, negative affect was also higher among the more disadvantaged. The Danes were less emotional by comparison and tended to show less extreme highs and lows in overall satisfaction. Perhaps their reported happiness has something to do with contentment, which is defined as an emotional state with a more modest level of arousal compared to other states associated with happiness like excitement, euphoria, or even with the experience of pleasurable events. Contentment has a long history in philosophy and many spiritual traditions. In contrast to some conceptions of happiness, contentment is not based on transitory mood states but arises from a sense of connection to oneself and the world and is marked by emotional features found in equanimity and acceptance (Cordaro, Brackett, Glass, & Anderson, 2016; McKenzie, 2016). TABLE 14.3 Dimensions of Well-Being Across the Globe COUNTRY INCOME/GDP— SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGI- WELL-BEING POSITIVE FEELINGS LOW NEGATIVE GROSS DOMESTIC CAL VARIABLES FEELINGS PRODUCT United States 1 19 16 26 49 Denmark 5 13 1 7 1 Israel 20 56 11 61 64 New Zealand 22 12 9 1 22 South Korea 24 83 38 58 77 Costa Rica 41 6 18 4 38 Sierra Leone 87 80 87 87 86 (1 = highest reported well-being; 89 = lowest reported well-being in ranking for 89 countries sampled) Selected Rankings of Countries (Out of 89) on Income, Well-Being, Social-Psychological Variables and Affect. SOURCE: Based on Diener, E., Ng, W., Harter, J., & Arora, R. (2010). Wealth and happiness around the world: Material prosperity predicts life evaluation, whereas psychological prosperity predicts positive feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 52–61. 570 Chapter 14 TABLE 14.4 Top 20 Countries Rankings* on Happiness (2014–2016) 1. Norway 11. Israel 2. Denmark 12. Costa Rica 3. Iceland 13. Austria 4. Switzerland 14. United States 5. Finland 15. Ireland 6. Netherlands 16. Germany 7. Canada 17. Belgium 8. New Zealand 18. Luxembourg 9. Australia 19. United Kingdom 10. Sweden 20. Chile * Rankings determined by summary measure combining per capita GDP, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perceptions of corruption. SOURCE: Helliwell, J., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. (2017). World Happiness Report 2017 New York, NY: Sustainable Development Solutions Network. MyLab Education Self-Check 14.1 Stress, Coping, and Well-Being in Midlife 14.2 Assess levels of stress and the effects of stress on the individual and suggest interventions for coping, building resilience, and cultivating physical and emotional wellness. In Chapter 13 you saw that nonnormative events are often the source of traumatic loss regardless of when they occur during the life span. The normative changes associated with growing older produce more predictable losses. Even when adults are healthy and self-sufficient, the physical changes of midlife and late life raise their awareness of getting older. Clearly, the capacity to adapt to stress and challenge with resilience is critical to survival at every stage of the life span. Resilience refers to the presence of healthy cop- ing and adaptation in spite of challenges and risks, or in the words of Ryff and Singer, “the capacity to flourish under fire” (2003, p. 15). Resilience can also be described as “bouncing back” after the inevitable struggles and setbacks of life. To understand and foster resilience, we must consider the nature of the risks and protective factors that mark each individual’s life and attend to the ways that these might change as a func- tion of age. We will also consider some important contributions to fostering resilience from research in positive psychology. Midlife brings its own set of challenges, not the least of which is the recognition of “time left to live,” slowly accumulating losses related to getting older, and often great demands in the areas of the family and workplace. Some research suggests that stress is higher among young and middle-aged adults than it is for older adults (Chiriboga, 1997). Older adults are often more skilled at managing their emotions and sustaining joy. But it may also be that the life space adults occupy in their middle years is filled with more conflicting pulls on time and attention than it is for older individuals. Middle-aged adults are frequently in positions of increased responsibil- ity and authority at work; they may have obligations to children and grandchildren; they may also take on the physical, emotional, or financial care of aging parents. All these situations can increase risk load. These circumstances are a defining charac- teristic of the sandwich generation, namely that group of individuals described in Chapter 13 who have caregiving responsibilities for generations both younger and older than themselves. Living Well: Stress, Coping, and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood 571 Who, then, are the resilient people? Questions about who thrives and why they do so defy easy answers. True to the principles of multifinality and equifinality, eventual life outcomes are dependent upon a whole array of variables that interact in complicated ways. What we are learning, however, is that pathways to adult disorder and well-being are not random but have their roots in the experiences of childhood and each succeeding stage. And, as with earlier parts of the life span, there are mul- tiple pathways to well-being as well as to disorder. The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (Singer & Ryff, 1999), one early, comprehen- sive study of adult development, offers a look at the lives of adults who graduated from Wisconsin High Schools in 1957. This study of 10,317 men and women provides extensive information about participants’ education, IQ, employment, marriage/fam- ily status, experience of stressful life events, accomplishments, goals, social support, and history of depression gathered over three data collections. Participants, parents, spouses, and siblings of original participants have contributed to data collections in 1957, 1964, 1975, 1992, 2002, and 2011 (Carney, 2014). Such a rich body of information offers many windows into adult development. One subgroup that was studied intensively was the group of resilient women. Resilient women were defined as those who had experienced depression sometime during their lives but who had subsequently regained a high level of well-being (Singer, Ryff, Carr, & Magee, 1998). Aggregating the life stories of this group, the authors identified four pathways to wellness following the experience of adversity. Their life stories reflected a diversity of experiences in the following major areas: edu- cational level of parents; alcoholism in the home as a child; marriage or cohabitation with an alcoholic as an adult; being a single parent; upward or downward mobility at work; and comparisons with parents and siblings with regard to education, finances, and occupation. One group of resilient women had more cumulative advantages than the other groups, namely, educated parents, family financial stability, stable marriages, and so on. These women, however, did experience stressful life events, like the death of a parent or the onset of chronic illness, that presumably were related to their depres- sion. A second group experienced more childhood adversity, including growing up in a family where there were problems with alcoholism. Women in this group also experienced similar losses and illness in adulthood. A third group was advantaged in childhood but experienced important setbacks in adulthood, like involuntary unem- ployment or divorce. The fourth group had lives that incorporated mixtures of advan- tages and disadvantages throughout early childhood and adulthood. What this work most clearly illustrates is the presence of multiple pathways to resilience. All four groups of women had at least one experience with depression, yet found their way out of it to reclaim a sense of well-being. Although not directly assessed in this sample, the ways in which these women perceived their difficulties and dealt with them most likely played a role in their resilient outcomes. Another analysis of the Wisconsin Study data sought to examine the later life health and satisfaction of participants who took traditional and nontraditional ways of moving into adulthood in the 1950s and 1960s (Reifman, Oblad, & Niehus, 2017). Groups were clustered around marriage, children, and educational attainment. Fast- starters married early, had children, and did not go on to higher education. A very educated/partnered group went on to obtain higher education degrees and marry, but they tended to have children later. Educated/singles resembled the former group except that they did not marry. The moderately educated/family oriented group attended some college, married, and had children early. People who served in the military or other- wise worked before marrying comprised additional cohorts. Some of these trajectories were considered quite nontraditional in the 50s and 60s (e.g., very educated groups, especially for women) even though they bear close resemblance to today’s emerging adults. Studying their pathways can reveal potential consequences of social timing and life decisions on later well-being. When participants were in their 50s and 60s, both very educated/partnered and moderately educated/family oriented groups scored lowest on symptoms of depression. The authors hypothesize that possible success in meeting professional and personal 572 Chapter 14 needs might have played a part in their good fortune. Fast starters reported more depression later on, despite their success in family-related areas. Perhaps their lack of education put limits on their income down the road and affected their well-being. It’s also important to consider the impact of historical economic conditions in the 1980s and 1990s when interpreting this finding. Educated singles displayed high lev- els of professional satisfaction but also relatively high levels of depressive symp- toms. Possibly, their violation of societal expectations to marry and have children, so prevalent when they were young adults, may have contributed to unhappiness in this area over time. The stressful circumstances of middle age frequently include a taxing set of demands related to managing family and work in the context of diminishing resources, such as time and energy. When circumstances exist that buffer the effects of competing role demands, such as good social support and adequate income, these demands may be perceived as less stressful. However, when the demands are too great given available resources, role strain (Goode, 1960) can occur, taking a toll on health and well-being. Perrone and Worthington (2001) found that having more resources, including income and social support, was associated with greater marital satisfaction among their sample of dual-income couples and presumably compensated for some of their work strains. Some others have demonstrated that multiple roles can be benefi- cial when they buffer the negative effects of one role with the protective function of a more satisfying one. Rozario, Morrow-Howell, and Hinterlong (2004) found that older caregivers with multiple productive roles reported more positive health outcomes compared to those without such roles. Social support, as found in marriage or other close relationships, can be a potent protective factor in managing stress and promoting health. In a sample of middle-aged rural adults, Wickrama and associates found that unsupportive or distressed marital relationships were linked to early onset of hypertension for both husbands and wives. Problematic relationships with children contributed independently to the early onset of hypertension for mothers, but not for fathers. Husbands’ satisfaction with employ- ment, particularly the opportunity for advancement in the workplace, was negatively related to early onset of hypertension (Wickrama et al., 2001). These results suggest that chronic exposure to stressors in relationships can have direct negative effects on health and that these effects may be further exacerbated by gender-salient roles and expectations. Work, children, spouses, friends, money, health, family... it’s obvious that there are many challenges in adulthood, and some of these are certainly outside of our control. But what part can our attitudes play in supporting resilience? Let’s review some features of stress and coping and then explore what research is learning about the role of a healthy mind in living well. Stress: A Review The nature and effect of stress on individuals is important to review because of its clear impact on emotional and physical health. Some have argued that the term stress is vague and open to many interpretations (Kemeny, 2003); consequently we adopt the recommended term stressors. Stressors have been divided into two varieties: life events (Holmes & Rahe, 1967) which are discrete, often traumatic, events that have a clear onset (like a death or accident) and daily hassles (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), which are chronic, problematic situations (like day-to-day care of a sick relative or chronic illness). Research has suggested that chronic daily stress is very important in the development of psychological (Compas, Davis, Forsythe, & Wagner, 1987) as well as physical symptoms (Selye, 1980). For example, the stress of keeping a job while caring for a sick child or older relative may cause a person to go without sleep for a prolonged period of time. As a result the caregiver might succumb to illness herself due, in large part, to physical exhaustion. In some cases, stressors aggregate in people’s lives, often subsequent to a traumatic event, and with this accumulation, their power amplifies the allostatic load (Garmezy, 1993). Caregivers like the

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