Emotional experiences and psychological well-being in 51 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents challenges to psychological well-being, but how can we predict when people suffer or cope during sustained stress? Here, we test the prediction that specific types of momentary emotional experiences are differently linked to psychological well-being during the pandemic. Study 1 used survey data collected from 24,221 participants in 51 countries during the COVID-19 outbreak. We show that, across countries, well-being is linked to individuals' recent emotional experiences, including calm, hope, anxiety, loneliness, and sadness. Consistent results are found in two age, sex, and ethnicity-representative samples in the United Kingdom (n = 971) and the United States (n = 961) with preregistered analyses (Study 2). A prospective 30-day daily diary study conducted in the United Kingdom (n = 110) confirms the key role of these five emotions and demonstrates that emotional experiences precede changes in well-being (Study 3). Our findings highlight differential relationships between specific types of momentary emotional experiences and well-being and point to the cultivation of calm and hope as candidate routes for well-being interventions during periods of sustained stress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Personality maturation through sense of mastery? Longitudinal evidence from two education-to-work transition studies.

OBJECTIVE: Why personality changes in young adulthood remains a critical theoretical and empirical question. We studied personality change during the education-to-work transition, including mean-level personality change and its specific timing, the degree of individual variability in change, and the link between sense of mastery and personality change. METHODS: We used two intensive longitudinal studies. Study 1 included 5 waves of data across 2 years during the university-to-work transition (N = 309; mean-aged 25). Study 2 included 3 waves of data across 8 months during an internship-heavy teacher education program (N = 317; mean-aged 22). We measured personality traits and work-related mastery with questionnaires and personality states and general mastery with the experience sampling method. RESULTS: First, we found no evidence for mean-level personality maturation but decreases in trait Conscientiousness. Second, young adults differed significantly in personality trait and state change. Third, young adults with higher levels of work-related sense of mastery showed more positive changes in trait Conscientiousness. Decreases in general sense of mastery predicted later decreases in state Emotional Stability and vice versa. Change in general sense of mastery correlated with personality state change. CONCLUSIONS: Sense of mastery seems to be part of a dynamic short-term process underlying personality change in young adulthood.