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Background and Objectives: The decline in GDP caused by the global economic recession of 2008 and that caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the poor economy of countries around the globe with increased rates of unemployment and adverse job conditions. This systematic review aims to identify the impact of a Financial crisis on Psychological well-being, Life satisfaction, Health Satisfaction, and Financial Incapability. Methodology: The literature included in the review was searched from Feb 1, 2023, to March 26, 2023, by using the PUBMED database as the search engine. Studies discussing the impact of the financial or economic crisis on psychological well-being, Health, Life satisfaction, and Financial Incapabilities published in the English Language were included in this review whereas systematic reviews and metanalysis, case reports, articles published in languages other than English and articles with limited access were excluded. Result(s): Of the 26 articles found eligible for the study, there were 22 Quantitative studies, 2 qualitative studies, and 2 Mixed Method Studies. Most of the articles included in this study discussed the Global Economic crisis caused by COVID-19 and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Almost 80% of the studies included in this review discussed psychological well-being and the prevalence of psychological disorders including Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Fear, Loneliness, Burnout, and Suicide whereas the rest of the articles discussed mortality regarding mental disorders. Conclusion(s): Financial crisis or economic recession results in an increased prevalence of common mental disorders affecting psychological well-being by increasing rates of unemployment and adverse job conditions. Policymakers with competitive financial behavior and knowledge are essential elements for psychological well-being and life satisfaction.Copyright © 2023 Lahore Medical And Dental College. All rights reserved.
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INTRODUCTION: Anti-Asian racism was a feature of the social response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and its impact on the well-being of Asian communities warrants closer examination. The current study aimed to gauge whether the sense of belonging mitigated the adverse effects of racism on life satisfaction for self-identified Asian New Zealanders.METHODS: This analysis included 1341 responses to a cross-sectional online survey conducted in 2021. Descriptive analyses outline how components of a sense of belonging were distributed among participants and those who experienced racism during the Covid-19 pandemic. We used linear regression to examine the role of a sense of belonging as a potential pathway variable in the association between experiencing racism and life satisfaction.FINDINGS: In this survey, four out of 10 participants reported experiencing racism in the first 18 months of the pandemic. Participants' life satisfaction decreased slightly since January 2020 (p<0.001). Experiencing racism was associated with decreased life satisfaction. All the components of sense of belonging reduced the magnitude of this negative association between racism experience and life satisfaction, in particular, expressing one's own ethnic identity and belonging in Aotearoa.CONCLUSIONS: Given that anti-Asian racism is currently a feature of life and a significant stressor during the pandemic, this study provides empirical evidence of the protective role of a sense of belonging against anti-Asian racism. This study focused on Asian members in Aotearoa New Zealand, but its practical implications have the potential to support other minoritised ethnic communities who also experience racism during the pandemic and beyond.
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In this article, we analyse the level of and development in students' academic stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We devote particular attention to students that first entered university in 2020, ‘the COVID cohort', who had fewer opportunities to integrate in ways that theoretically should mitigate the impact of pandemic-induced disruption to their studies. Using four waves of data, collected 2020–2022, we find evidence of both pandemic and cohort effects among Swedish university students (N = 3138). During the pandemic's first year academic stress due to COVID-19 increased regardless of pre-pandemic university experience. The stress, in turn, negatively impacted students' life satisfaction, a factor theoretically linked to key student outcomes like persistence and academic performance but had limited effect on students' long-term optimism. The COVID cohort expressed higher levels of academic stress and experienced a greater drop in life satisfaction compared to the most senior students (3 years or more), but largely overlapped with students with some university experience (1–2 years). These group differences persisted in spring 2022. Finally, we found that the higher levels of pandemic-induced academic stress in the COVID cohort were mitigated by experiences that foster academic and social integration, specifically by teacher support and social cohesion. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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BACKGROUND: Although life satisfaction is a predictor of depressive and anxiety symptoms, the mechanisms underlying this association are poorly understood. This study examined how psychological capital (PsyCap), a positive psychological state, mediated the association between life satisfaction and depressive and anxiety symptoms among Chinese medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at three medical universities in China. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 583 students. Depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, life satisfaction, and PsyCap were measured anonymously. A hierarchical linear regression analysis was performed to explore the effects of life satisfaction on depressive and anxiety symptoms. Asymptotic and resampling strategies were used to examine how PsyCap mediates the association between life satisfaction and depressive and anxiety symptoms. RESULTS: Life satisfaction was positively associated with PsyCap and its four components. There were significant negative associations between life satisfaction, psychological capital, resilience, optimism, and depressive and anxiety symptoms among medical students. Self-efficacy was negatively associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. Psychological capital (a×b = -0.3201, BCa 95% CI: -0.3899, -0.2446; a×b = -0.2749, BCa 95% CI: -0.3817, -0.1996), resilience (a×b = -0.2103, BCa 95% CI: -0.2727, -0.1580; a×b = -0.1871, BCa 95% CI: -0.2520, -0.1414), optimism (a×b = -0.2100, BCa 95% CI: -0.3388, -0.1150; a×b = -0.1998, BCa 95% CI: -0.3307, -0.0980), and self-efficacy (a×b = -0.0916, BCa 95% CI: 0.0048, 0.11629; a×b = 0.1352, BCa 95% CI: 0.0336, 0.2117) significantly mediated the association between life satisfaction and depressive and anxiety symptoms. LIMITATIONS: This was a cross-sectional study, and causal relationships between the variables could not be ascertained. Self-reported questionnaire instruments were used for data collection, which may have recall bias. CONCLUSIONS: Life satisfaction and PsyCap can be used as positive resources to reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms among third-year Chinese medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological capital and its components (self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism) partially mediated the relationship between life satisfaction and depressive symptoms, and completely mediated the relationship between life satisfaction and anxiety symptoms. Therefore, improving life satisfaction and investing in psychological capital (especially self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism) should be included in the prevention and treatment of depressive and anxiety symptoms among third-year Chinese medical students. Additional attention is needed to pay for self-efficacy in such disadvantageous contexts.
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COVID-19 , Personal Satisfaction , Students, Medical , Humans , Anxiety/epidemiology , China/epidemiology , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/psychology , Cross-Sectional Studies , Depression/psychology , East Asian People , Hope , Optimism , Pandemics , Resilience, Psychological , Students, Medical/psychology , Self EfficacyABSTRACT
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a very low interest rate policy was economically applied in Korea, and various investment activities through loans were activated. Real estate and stock prices rose rapidly, and many people became involved in stock investments because of economic instability. However, hastily started investment behavior resulted in economic loss and addictive behavior in stocks. The phenomenon of using stock investment to satisfy individual sensation seeking or addictive dependence on stocks due to lowered life satisfaction expectancy can become a serious social problem. However, the improvement of distress tolerance and the ability to endure pain despite frequent stock price fluctuations or lowered life satisfaction expectancy would be good alternatives to prevent stock addiction tendency. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to test the moderating effect of distress tolerance on the effect of adults' sensation seeking and life satisfaction expectancy in stock addiction tendencies. The participants were 272 adults with stock investment experience. As a result, distress tolerance significantly moderated the positive effect of sensation seeking on stock addiction tendency. In addition, life satisfaction expectancy did not significantly increase in the group with high distress tolerance even if life satisfaction expectancy was lowered. These results suggest that stock addiction can be prevented by enhancing distress tolerance.
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Adolescents all over the world are vulnerable in facing developmental challenges. Recent studies have evidenced that the unexpected interruptions of school learning during the COVID-19 pandemic have raised concerns about the well-being of adolescents. This present study sought to investigate the relationship between mindfulness, stress, savoring beliefs, and satisfaction of life among adolescents in Hong Kong during COVID-19. A total of 240 Hong Kong Chinese adolescents between 15 and 19 years of age (M = 15.60; SD = 0.70) from schools with different religious backgrounds completed an online survey. Findings from hierarchical linear regression indicated that statistically, mindfulness negatively predicted stress and positively predicted life satisfaction and savoring beliefs. Students with faiths did not show any significant differences in mindfulness and other variables in this study from students without faiths. In terms of implications, these findings provide positive evidence that mindfulness may be an important aspect for interventions designed to enhance life satisfaction and savoring beliefs, and reduce stress of adolescents over challenging times. Overall, this study suggests youth service providers to develop effective strategies in schools and communities for further promoting wellbeing and resilience of adolescents.
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The article describes the trends of modern Russian education, analyzes the changes that have taken place in the educational settings of modern students. An empirical study was carried out, the purpose of which was to identify and compare changes in time attitudes and subjective indicators of the quality of life among students during the forced transition to a distance (online) learning model in the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and when studying in a mixed model during the post-pandemic period. The authors present the results of a comparative study of the relationship between time settings and life satisfaction among students during the COVID-19 pandemic (when they were forced to study only in the distance version: November - December 2021) and post-pandemic (when learning is carried out in a mixed model: September - October 2022). A study conducted by a cross-sectional method on a random sample of university students showed the stability of indicators over time in terms of subjective assessments of the quality of life and the level of anxiety, attitudes to time both during the period of forced online learning and during the transition to a blended learning model. An analysis of life satisfaction indicators for two sections showed that in both cases the value is higher than the normative ones, while there is an increase in the level of life satisfaction from the first section to the second at the trend level. In the structure of time attitudes, the attitude towards the future is of the greatest importance. In relation to him, students have a cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, it is perceived as filled with active actions (i. e., subjective), and on the other hand, the attitude towards the future and all life tasks associated with this negatively affect dissatisfaction with life in the present. Students experience difficulties with the realization of the need for autonomy - the desire to independently control their own actions and behavior, to be their independent initiator, the desire to feel the choice and their own determination of behavior. The predictors of life satisfaction among students during the post-pandemic period are connectedness as a basic psychological need, attitudes towards the past, present and future. At the same time, the "attitude towards the future" indicator has a negative coefficient. In general, the educational space is perceived by students positively and does not cause anxiety. The difficult situation of a forced change in educational approaches did not cause negative consequences and rejection among students. And although at the initial stages, a certain part of teachers and students experienced stress reactions, over time, most of the respondents formed a rather positive attitude towards the change in the educational environment. According to the authors, the opportunities that open up as a result of the introduction of a mixed educational environment outweigh the problems that have arisen.
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Before COVID-19, perceived freedom in leisure (PFL) was rarely considered based on academic majors. This study examined student PFL during COVID-19 lockdowns. 340 Iranian students studying physical education, non-physical education, and medical sciences took an online Witt and Ellis (1985) scale survey in July and August 2021. The one-sample t-test showed that students' PFL (M = 3.78) exceeded the hypothesized value (test value = 3). ANOVA showed a significant difference in PFL means between the three groups (F = 7.530, P < 0.01). Medical sciences students had the lowest PFL (3.45), and physical education students had the highest (3.86). Iranian students' high PFL likely indicates they don't have lessons or schoolwork, giving them a sense of freedom even during pandemics.
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Introduction: Grounded in the perspective of "Positive Youth Development" (PYD), resilience is an important developmental asset shaping human development. Although many studies have examined the impact of resilience on child developmental outcomes, relatively few studies have focused on the predictors of resilience, in particular familial antecedents of resilience in Chinese children and adolescents. In addition, the degree to which life satisfaction contributes to the mechanism by which family functioning impacts the development of children's resilience over time needs to be clarified. Besides, there is a scarcity of studies that incorporate family functioning, resilience as well as life satisfaction in a single comprehensive investigation to analyze the mediating impact of life satisfaction on the linkage between family functioning and resilience under COVID-19. Methods: The study investigated the predictive role of family functioning on resilience as well as the mediating effect of life satisfaction within the context of COVID-19, using data gathered in two waves before the onset of the pandemic and after the resumption of school during the pandemic, with 6 months apart. We employed the 33-item "Chinese Family Assessment Instrument" to evaluate family functioning, the 7-item "Chinese Resilience Scale" to assess resilience, and the "Satisfaction with Life Scale" with 5 items to measure life satisfaction. Results: As per the responses of 4,783 students in Grades 4 through 7 recruited in Sichuan, China, family functioning significantly predicted resilience concurrently and longitudinally. After controlling for resilience scores in Wave 1, results demonstrated that family functioning examined in Wave 1 predicted an increase in resilience reported in Wave 2. In addition, family functioning significantly predicted life satisfaction, which also significantly predicted resilience. Multiple regression using PROCESS analyses indicated that life satisfaction mediated the predictive relationship between family functioning and child resilience. Discussion: The findings spotlight the significant involvement of family functioning as well as life satisfaction in shaping children's resilience in the Chinese context. The study also supports the hypothesis that perceived satisfaction with life serves as a mediator between family functioning and child resilience, suggesting interventions and support should concentrate on the family level for enhancing resilience in children.
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PurposeThe pandemic presented many new challenges is all spheres of life including faith communities. Around the globe, lockdowns took pace at various stages with varying restrictions that included the closure of places of worship which significantly affected the way people serve God and gather as a community. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the wellbeing and resilience of members of Christian faith communities in Melbourne (Australia) who had experienced one of the longest lockdowns in the world.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw on online survey N = 106 collected between November 2021 and May 2021. Participants were over the age of 18 from Catholic, Anglican, Uniting Church, Baptist and Pentecostal/Evangelical faith communities. They employ thematic analysis to analyze, and code open-ended responses from four questions in relation to the research question: In what ways has your wellbeing been impacted during the pandemic?FindingsMelbourne experienced one of the longest lockdown periods in the world between 2020 and 2021 when blended modes of worship forced people to congregate in new and different ways. The empirical insights of participants express their views in relation to celebrating faith and hope, connecting with community, pursuing leisure activities and pursuing leisure in relation to the PERMA model of wellbeing. The findings may resonate with other faith communities in Melbourne and around the globe. They may also lead to new and innovative ways of planning and envisioning modes of worship that may be helpful in a variety of faith contexts.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was limited by its sample size (N = 106) and its geographical restriction of Christian faith communities in the Melbourne metropolitan area. This means that broad generalizations cannot be made. Nevertheless, the findings may resonate with other faith communities in Australian and in other parts of the world.Practical implicationsIn highlighting the impact COVID-19 had in Australia and ways people balanced their sense of faith and wellbeing, this study raises concerns about the lack of funding that supports mental health initiatives in faith settings and the wider community. The study recommends that faith community leaders and members use informal communication channels to foster hope building wellbeing and resilience, and that pastoral care networks be established in the wider community to promote leisure activities that nurtures social connection, builds faith and resilience.Social implicationsWhilst the pandemic has provided new openings for members of faith communities to engage with God, the scriptures, each other and leisure, it remains "a balancing act of keeping the faith and maintaining wellbeing". Such a balancing act may positively enliven a sense of wellbeing and resilience as people continue to navigate the uncertainty inherent in a milieu beginning to be named as "post-Covid".Originality/valueThis is an original work carried out by the authors. It raises concerns about the lack of funding that supports mental health initiatives in faith settings and the wider community. While much research, news and social media discussed the pandemic's impact on communities, there is an urgent need for ongoing research that encourages, supports and connects people to faith and to leisure activities in order to promote a continued sense of wellbeing as communities begin to transition to a "post-Covid" world. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge about the impact COVID-19 had in Australia and ways people balanced their sense of faith and wellbeing.
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Minimizing the effects of COVID-19 is one of the world's highest priorities, and India is taking essential measures to curb the outbreak. Many businesses promoted social distancing through the announcement of compulsory work-from-home. In this backdrop, Remote Work has become a significant model mainly to retain talent and attrition. The present study analyses whether work-life integration and work-life satisfaction are related to psychological well-being. Research hypotheses are formulated based on the investigation of the literature review. This data was collected in India during July and October 2020 while the Covid pandemic was coming down to normal. The survey was aimed at people who work in Indian-based companies. Workers received an electronic version of the questionnaire, and organizations received e-mail requests. The decision was made to use the comfort sampling method. During the pandemic, a sample of 400 employees from the Information Technology industry in the cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore, India. Work-Life integration leading to Psychological Well-being were analyzed considering the role of work-life satisfaction as a mediator. This research focuses on job and life satisfaction, showing the mechanisms that help workers in remote working conditions stay mentally healthy during a pandemic. This mediation study revealed that Work-life satisfaction has an optimistic and robust relationship with psychological health, with this relationship being influenced by work satisfaction and life satisfaction among the Indian IT companies surveyed. These studies' findings suggest that a successful workfrom-home community is built on a foundation of work-life integration based on contentment. The research findings are that positive work-life integration contributes to employees' positive levels of psychological well-being. We found that the higher the job and life satisfaction, the better the psychological well-being. Since the current study is a cross-sectional analysis, there are some restrictions on how long the investigation can last. Longitudinal research should be conducted to improve the results of the studies.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a world health crisis, but also an ordeal for people's mental health and psychological well-being. The period of the COVID-19 lockdown has changed everyday life and increased anxiety, fears, and stress from habitual activities such as meetings, shopping, and the use of public transport. As the worry and nervousness increase, they threaten the cognitive (Life-satisfaction) and emotional (Happiness) components of well-being. Emotional regulation strategies are a mechanism to cope with the threat. Objective. This study assessed the impact of anxiety, perceived stress from COVID-19, and emotional regulation strategies on well-being during the first weeks of the lockdown in Russia. Design. Questionnaire-based surveys were conducted online from March 31 to April 30, 2020. A total of 589 participants (18 to 73 years of age) were recruited. The Subjective Happiness Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Zung's Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Perceived Source of Stress from COVID-19 scales were used. Results. Among the various sources of stress, only that from restrictions on everyday life impacted well-being. High anxiety, but not perceived stress, decreased the feelings of Happiness and Life-satisfaction. Additionally, emotional regulation strategies played different roles in their impact on well-being: Cognitive reappraisal lowered negative emotions, but emotional suppression increased dissatisfaction with life. Conclusion. These findings suggest that people's effective and relevant regulation of their emotions during public health emergencies and ability to avoid losses caused by crisis events, have become urgent needs, requiring the development of psychological interventions to support well-being. © 2023, Psychology in Russia: State of the Art. All Rights Reserved.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the fear of being infected, losing relatives, and measures taken to prevent contamination (e.g., lock-downs, quarantining, spatial distancing, etc.) have all increased the risk of depression, anxiety and stress. In the present study, the relationship be-tween psychological distress, meaning in life, and life satisfaction was ex-plored among individuals who were infected and not infected with COVID-19 during the pandemic. The present study is the first to examine these variables simultaneously. The sample comprised 687 adult individuals over the age of 18 years (mean=30.51 years). Results indicated that adult individuals with high life satisfaction had lower levels of psychological dis-tress, find life more meaningful, and seek meaning less. Psychological dis-tress was positively related with the search for meaning in life and nega-tively related with the existence of meaning in life. Moreover, depressive symptoms and the existence of meaning in life were significant predictors of life satisfaction. © 2023, Universidad de Murcia Servicio de Publicaciones. All rights reserved.
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Purpose: Cultural festivals have started to be held face-to-face with masks and distance measures after the gradual lifting of restrictions following the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, the risk of COVID-19 transmission continues. This study aimed to test the relationship between participants' experience quality and life satisfaction and the moderator role of the COVID-19 risk perception in this relationship within the scope of the Festival on Wheels (Gezici Festival) as a cultural festival. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected by face-to-face and online survey techniques in Ankara, Sinop and Kastamonu cities in the context of the 26th Festival on Wheels. A total of 130 questionnaires were collected, and structural equation modelling was applied to the data analysis. Findings: According to the findings, the experience quality with the dimensions of entertainment and escape has a significant effect on life satisfaction. On the other hand, the perceived risk of COVID-19 does not have a statistically significant effect on this relationship. Originality/value: The results indicate that experience quality directly affects subjective life satisfaction, while the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on event experiences and outcomes has begun to disappear. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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Purpose: Given the high incidence of injury duringmarathon training, a better understanding of the factors associated with injury is needed. The purpose of the study was to investigate an expanded set of baseline factors of marathon runners to determine the association with injury during training. Method(s): Adult registrants of the 2022 New York City Marathon were recruited by email for a 16-week observational study. The baseline survey included demographics, running/injury/COVID history, race goal, orthotic use, grit scale, risk-taking scale, injury risk self-assessment, happiness and life satisfaction scales, and perceived risks of running. Injury surveys were collected weekly during training. Result(s): A total of 894 runners registered for the study and were uninjured at the start of the study. Average age was 44.5 years (standard deviation 11.8), 55% were female, and 76% had previously participated in a marathon. During the 16 weeks before the race, 221 of 894 (24.7%) experienced an injury, including 36 of 894 (4.0%) who did not participate in the race. Each of the baseline factors were assessed in a logistic regression model controlling for age, sex, body mass index, base weekly mileage, and number of prior marathons. The baseline factors associated with injury were orthotic use (odds ratio [OR] 1.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12-2.74, P = 0.01), happiness (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.58-0.88, P = 0.001), and injury risk self-assessment (OR 1.13 for each 10% selfassessed risk, 95% CI 1.05-1.21, P = 0.001). There was no association with age, sex, body mass index, running/injury/ COVID history, race goal, grit, risk-taking behavior, life satisfaction, and perceived risks of running. Conclusion(s): Although age, sex, experience, and history of injury have been previously identified as risk factors for running-related injury, this was not the case in this large cohort of runners training for a marathon. Instead, orthotic use and self-assessed risk of injury were associated with higher rates of injury training, and a higher level of happiness was associated with lower rates of injury. Significance: The results show the value of a comprehensive running injury risk assessment, which could be standardized to facilitate comparative research. Accounting for these factors is important when assessing future injury prevention interventions.
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BACKGROUND: As a global trauma event, the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) hugely impacts people's mental health and well-being. The purpose of our study is threefold: first, investigate the relationship between exposure to COVID-19 and life satisfaction among a large sample in China; second, test the mediating role of hyperarousal in the association between exposure to COVID-19 and life satisfaction; third, explore the moderating/mediating role of affective forecasting in the association between hyperarousal and life satisfaction. METHOD: The current study recruited 5546 participants to complete a set of self-report questionnaires online from April 22, 2020 to April 24, 2020. The moderated mediation and chain mediation model analyses were conducted using the SPSS software and PROCESS macro program. RESULTS: Exposure to COVID-19 negatively predicted life satisfaction (Effect = -0.058, p < 0.001). This relationship was partially mediated by the hyperarousal level (Effect = -0.018, CI = [-0.024, -0.013]). The moderating role of forecasted positive affect (PA)/forecasted negative affect (NA) between hyperarousal and life satisfaction was significant (ß = 0.058, CI = [0.035, 0.081]; ß = 0.037, CI = [0.014, 0.06]). The chain mediating effect of hyperarousal and forecasted PA/forecasted NA on the relationship between exposure to COVID-19 and life satisfaction was also significant (Effect = -0.003, CI = [-0.004, -0.002]; Effect = -0.006, CI = [-0.008, -0.004]). LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional design precludes causal inference. CONCLUSION: Greater exposure to COVID-19 was associated with more severe hyperarousal symptoms, decreased life satisfaction. Forecasted PA and forecasted NA could moderate and mediate the negative impact of hyperarousal on life satisfaction. The moderating/mediating role of forecasted PA/NA implied that future interventions targeting at improving affective forecasting and reducing hyperarousal might be helpful to improve life satisfaction during the post-COVID-19 era.
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COVID-19 , Humans , Cross-Sectional Studies , China/epidemiology , Mediation Analysis , Arousal , Personal SatisfactionABSTRACT
The present study aimed to identify the impact of social distancing measures on adolescents' physical activity (PA) levels and well-being during the implementation of COVID-19 restrictive measures. There were 438 participants (207 boys and 231 girls), aged 12 to 15 years old (M = 13.5, SD = 0.55). They completed online questionnaires on well-being and PA in three waves (December 2020, February 2021, and June 2021). Correlation analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between well-being and PA variables in the three measurements. Additionally, separate three-way repeated-measures ANOVAs were conducted to capture possible differences in students' moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels, life satisfaction, and subjective vitality among the three measurements due to gender, age, and interaction between gender and age. A significant relation emerged between the MVPA variables and well-being. In all measurements, adolescents' PA levels did not meet the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations of at least 60 min per day in MVPA. Students' MVPA levels, life satisfaction, and subjective vitality were significantly higher in the third measurement compared to the first and second ones. Moreover, significant differences emerged in life satisfaction and subjective vitality between boys and girls in the first and third measurements, respectively. The COVID-19 restrictions appeared to negatively influence adolescents' PA and well-being. Policymakers aimed at facilitating adolescents' well-being in a similar situation in the future should not adopt measures restricting the participation of adolescents in PA.
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BACKGROUND: COVID-19 put older individuals at high risk for morbidity and mortality, isolation, reduced coping, and lower satisfaction with life. Many older adults experienced social isolation, fear, and anxiety. We hypothesized that successful coping with these stressors would maintain or improve satisfaction with life, a crucial psychological outcome during the pandemic. Our study investigated relationships between older people's coping and life satisfaction during the pandemic and their optimism, sense of mastery, closeness with spouse, family, and friends, and vulnerabilities from frailty, comorbid diseases, memory problems, and dependencies in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). METHODS: The study was based on a special COVID-19 sample of 1351 community-dwelling older adults who participated in the 2020 Health and Retirement Survey. A comprehensive structural equation modeling was used to test direct and indirect effects, with life satisfaction as the main outcome and coping as a mediator between the other variables and coping. RESULTS: Most survey respondents were female and between the ages of 65-74 years. They averaged 1.7 chronic conditions, one in seven was frail, about one-third rated their memory as fair or poor, and about one in seven reported one or more difficulties in IADL. As hypothesized-older people with increased sense of mastery and optimism were better able to cope and had greater life satisfaction. In addition, close relationships with friends and with other family members besides the spouse/partner or children contributed to more successful coping, while the interpersonal closeness of all types contributed directly to greater life satisfaction. Finally, older people with more IADL limitations reported greater difficulty coping and lower life satisfaction, and those older people who were frail or had multiple comorbid diseases reported lower life satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Optimism, sense of mastery and closeness with family/friends promotes coping and life satisfaction, whereas frailty and comorbidities make coping more challenging and lead to lower life satisfaction particularly during a pandemic. Our study improves on prior research because of its nationally representative sample and formal specification and testing of a comprehensive theoretical framework.
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COVID-19 , Frailty , Child , Humans , Female , Aged , Male , Independent Living , Frailty/epidemiology , Pandemics , Activities of Daily Living , COVID-19/epidemiology , Adaptation, Psychological , Personal SatisfactionABSTRACT
Being grateful to one's partner matters for a diverse range of interpersonal and individual well-being outcomes. However, there is little investigation on the psychological benefits of expressing gratitude to partners during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Using a short-term longitudinal design, this study of undergraduate students (Mage = 20.31; SDage = 1.81; n = 268) in the United States explores the link between expressing gratitude in romantic relationships, subsequent relationship self-efficacy, life satisfaction, psychological well-being, and the COVID-19 anxiety. Results demonstrated that expressing gratitude in relationships positively predicted subsequent relationship self-efficacy and life satisfaction even after controlling for age, gender, ethnic background, trait gratitude, and auto-regressor effects. These findings show that relational gratitude had incremental validity in predicting relational self-efficacy and subjective well-being above and beyond the effects of demographic factors and dispositional gratitude. This research emphasizes the psychological payoffs of cultivating gratitude in relational contexts.
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Studies related to the assessment of the non-market values of culture typically employ methods based on stated or revealed preferences. In this paper, we implement a new emerging non-market valuation technique, namely the life satisfaction approach. In particular, we quantify in monetary values, the additional utility that people benefit from cultural experiences, as well as the additional disutility suffered by cultural consumers specifically due to the closure of cultural organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the pandemic provides a unique setting. Using a survey conducted in Denmark in the spring of 2020, we confirm the link between cultural participation and well-being by estimating a life satisfaction model, instrumenting for both income and cultural participation to avoid simultaneity problems. Furthermore, we show that fervent cultural consumers have experienced an additional welfare loss during the lockdown period, controlling for all other known life dimensions affected by the pandemic. Our results aim to highlight the role of cultural participation in sustaining life satisfaction and, consequently, to support a well-being evidence-based cultural policy that facilitate cultural accessibility as a mean to increase the individual well-being.