Presentation on theme: "The Life Span: Human Development for Helping Professionals Edition 4"— Presentation transcript:

1 CHAPTER 14: Living Well: Stress, Coping and Life Satisfaction in Adulthood

The Life Span: Human Development for Helping Professionals Edition 4 Patricia C. Broderick and Pamela Blewitt © (2015, 2010, 2006) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved



2 Life Satisfaction: What is a Well-Lived Life?

Happiness is a focus of intense research interest Subjective well-being (SWB) is frequently used synonymously with happiness Includes cognitive and affective elements Overall life satisfaction Frequency of positive and negative moods Measured using interviews or questionnaires New ways to directly sample daily experience



3 Worldly Goods and Well-Being

Happiness and income are correlated, but the relationships are not simple People who are poor report less well-being Once basic needs are met, greater wealth is not strongly related to happiness Rising income appears to make people happier only if an number of other conditions are met Increasing income has a positive effect if it increases actual purchasing power When average national household income increases, average well-being increases No increase in well-being if only wealthiest citizens experience income gains



4 Paradox of Wealth “American paradox” characterizes wealthy nations

As standards of living have increased steadily, so have emotional problems like depression, anxiety Proposed explanations Pursuit of material gain puts people on an unsatisfying “hedonic treadmill” Affluence reduces need for support from others, limits connections with family and friends Wealth provides control but fails to create a “perfect” life, the mismatch fosters depression Counter-example of “chronically happy” Denmark Greater income equality, even poorest satisfied



5 Personality and Well-Being

Internal factors may be more important than external conditions for explaining life satisfaction Personality traits strongly correlated with SWB Extroverts are happier than introverts Neuroticism negatively correlated with happiness Conscientiousness positively correlated with SWB People may construe events in different ways Expectations may moderate impact Neuroticism linked to active social comparison, exaggerating perception of deficiency



6 Relationships and Well-Being

Social relationships are essential to well-being Having friends, confidants, and marriage partners all linked to well-being Both giving and receiving are important Receiving social support linked to better coping Giving social support linked to greater happiness Reciprocal mutual influence Happier people create better social relationships Better social relationships create more happiness Relationships can outweigh material circumstances In cultural groups with strong social connections, happiness reported even in difficult circumstances



7 Work, Achievement, Generativity, and Well-Being

People who feel generative report more well-being Making progress toward goals, work and non-work Having opportunities to exercise skills Congruence between personality and the skills and qualities required by a job makes work satisfying Workplace conditions also linked to happiness Opportunities for personal control Variety of tasks Support of supervisor Good coworker relationships and interaction Good pay and benefits Respect and status



8 Universal Needs and Values and Well-Being

Psychological well-being (eudaemonic), distinct from subjective well-being (hedonic) Psychological well-being specifically involves feeling a sense of purpose, growth, and mastery Two kinds of well-being are closely correlated People may have universal psychological needs that must be met to feel satisfied with life Autonomy Competence Relatedness Salience of these needs may vary across life span



9 Importance of Meaning Many people believe a well-lived life is one grounded in a conviction that life has meaning Baumeister argued we have a need to understand our lives, see them as making sense Proposed four reasons people seek meaning Having a purpose for life helps us set goals Meaning provides a sense of control, autonomy Meaning helps identify values, morals, and ethics by defining actions that are legitimate or not Meaning helps people value themselves, fosters self-worth



10 Religion and Spirituality

Majority say religion is important part of their lives Religious traditions institutionalize meaning systems Helps establish global and situational meaning Global meaning: Sense of meaning and purpose of the universe and of human kind Situational meaning: Sense one’s own life has meaning and purpose Researchers distinguish spirituality and religion May have spiritual striving without religious practice Two aspects are closely allied for many people National levels of religiosity related to economic hardship, social strife



11 Culture and Well-being

Many influences on well-being have been identified Money Personality Relationships Work Achievement Psychological needs Meaning and religion Cross-cultural research offers an opportunity to examine the relative influence of these factors Remember that cross-cultural research is challenging and should be interpreted with care



12 Cross-cultural Comparisons

Different definitions of happiness Some Eastern cultures prize peaceful calm Many Western cultures prize elation, excitement Factors central to satisfaction vary Self-esteem central in individualist cultures Social relationships central in collectivist cultures Wide differences in income do not necessarily lead to wide differences in levels of well-being Richest Americans similar to African Maasai Conditions of poverty create similar levels of misery in both rich and poor countries Homelessness similar from California to Calcutta



13 Stress, Coping and Well-Being in Midlife

Capacity to adapt to stress is critical at every age Many stressors affect people at midlife Awareness of limited time left to live Accumulated losses related to aging Role strain of increased responsibilities and obligations to family and work Protective factors important to resilience Childhood factors (e.g., educated parents) Social attachments (e.g., confidants, spouses) Stable employment Positive social comparisons



14 Stress: A Review Two kinds of stressors

Discrete life events Chronic daily hassles Effects of cumulative stress, allostatic load May lead to psychological and physical symptoms Kindling-behavioral sensitization Diatheses-stress models Specific vulnerabilities (diatheses) of individuals explain why more sensitive to stress than others May be genetically based or acquired Personality traits like extroversion may encourage post-traumatic growth



15 Stressors and the Body-Mind Connection

Stressors engage the autonomic nervous system Mobilize energy resources for fight or flight Immune system also requires energy, competing for limited resources Chronic stress dysregulates immune functions Immunosuppression, maladaptive inflammation Evidence supports existence of bidirectional communication between brain and immune system Growing new field of psychoneuroimmunology Study of the interactions between the central nervous system, immune system and behavior



16 Coping with Stress Given that everyone deals with stressors, question becomes how best to manage stress Management of stress very similar to coping Binary models of coping are common Efforts aimed at changing the situation (problem-focused, problem-solving) Efforts directed toward emotion management (emotion-focused, tension-reduction) These models fail to capture true nature of coping All coping involves cognitive and emotional aspects Selection of coping response often related to values, beliefs, attitudes, cultural framework



17 Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory

Losses are primary stressors in midlife, aging Primary loss event (bereavement, injury) Transitions that involve loss (retirement) Threats to aspects of the self (demotion) Challenges with aspects of loss (job promotion) Individuals act in ways that conserve resources When stressed, people seek to minimize costs Seek to increase resources in nonstressful times Resources include material possessions, conditions (marriage, job), personal characteristics (self-esteem, hope), energies (time)



18 Wellness Among ways of conserving or rebuilding resources is to cultivate self-efficacy, mastery, and control Stress focuses attention on negative events and emotions, increases reactivity to stress Promoting positive affectivity can buffer impact of stress on the body The affectivity connection Cultivating healthy mental habits can serve as one antidote to reactivity Practice of mindfulness meditation and positive emotions promotes health, immune and cardiovascular functioning, reduce pain perception



19 Applications: Emotional Regulation

Good emotion regulation is associated well-being Promoting well-being supports coping and resilience Emotional affectivity and reactivity can be changed Helpful paths to well-being include Developing mastery and optimism Effective problem solving and decision making Developing social competence Health-promoting behaviors, diet and exercise Improving environmental circumstances



20 Applications: Mindfullness Practice

Mindfullness is paying attention in a particular way: On purpose, in the present, nonjudgmentally Core features of mindfulness include Developing ability to take note of thoughts, feelings, and sensations Working skillfully with negative ones Replacing automatic, habitual, judgmental reactions with relaxed observing and awareness Benefits of mindfullness practice include Improved physical and psychological functioning Stress reduction Improved immune system functioning



21 Applications: Forgiveness

Forgiveness does not involve excusing hurtful behavior, necessarily reconciling with offender, suppressing pain or forgetting the offense Involves shifts in thoughts, feelings and behaviors in a more positive direction in relation to offenders Forgiveness therapy offers a map for the process Uncovering phase: Examining the trauma Decision phase: Realizing burden of rage, benefit of forgiveness Work phase: Deeper processing to understand trauma and meaning of forgiveness Deepening phase: Integrating traumatic experiences into a meaningful life story

