Pressure to not feel bad among (different-sex) romantic partners: prevalence, and correlates

Western society generally highly values happiness. As a result, people sometimes experience pressure not to feel negative emotions. In this study, we comprehensively investigated this pressure, and how it manifests itself, in adult romantic relationships. Specifically, we first examined when, how often and how intensely people experience pressure not to feel bad from their romantic partners (94 different-sex couples). Additionally, we investigated (both between- and within-person) how this pressure is related to context (presence of, contact and or conflict with a partner), emotional processes (i.e. experienced sadness and anxiety, emotion suppression, and how their partner perceived their affect), and relationship well-being. Using experience sampling methodology data (6/14 reports per day over one week) we found that although participants generally did not experience strong pressure from their partner, they experienced some feelings of pressure about 50% of the time. Furthermore, within-person predictors associated with negative processes/emotions (i.e. negative emotions, conflict, emotion suppression) were related to the momentary frequency (odds) and/or intensity of perceived pressure not to feel bad. At the between-person level, individuals who experience more sadness, anxiety and reported suppressing their emotions more often tended to experience more and/or stronger pressure. Only weak associations with relationship well-being were found.

On the beauty of sadness: it's okay to say, I am sad, thank you

We live in times when our culture is obsessed with happiness. The value of almost every aspect of our lives is increasingly judged in terms of their contribution to our happiness. Happiness has become the ultimate goal by which values and priorities are constructed and the only thing for which any action in pursuit of does not require justification. In contrast, sadness is increasingly abnormalized and pathologized. In this paper, an effort is made to counteract the narrative that sadness, a critical aspect of human life is abnormal or a pathological condition. The evolutionary benefits of sadness and its place in human flourishing are discussed. A rebranding of sadness is proposed that emphasizes the free expression of sadness in everyday greetings to remove it from its current negative state and promote many of its benefits including post-traumatic growth and resilience.

Do people who highly value happiness tend to ruminate?

Previous studies have suggested that an extremely strong desire for happiness might ironically reduce a person's well-being, particularly among Western people. According to the goal progress theory and the theory of valuing happiness, rumination might explain the relationship between valuing happiness and well-being. Based on these theoretical rationales, this study examined the following hypotheses: (1) valuing happiness is significantly associated with rumination, (2) people who experience low life stress have a stronger association between valuing happiness and rumination, and (3) people with more interdependent self-construal have a weaker association between valuing happiness and rumination. University students in Japan participated in a cross-sectional study (N = 350; Study 1) and a 4-weeks longitudinal study (N = 329; Study 2). They responded to a packet of questionnaires assessing valuing happiness, trait rumination, depressive symptoms, negative events, and interdependent self-construal. Consistent with our hypothesis, valuing happiness was concurrently and longitudinally associated with increased rumination after controlling for depressive symptoms. However, negative events did not moderate the association between valuing happiness and rumination. Furthermore, Study 1, but not Study 2, indicated that the association between valuing happiness and rumination was stronger among students with highly interdependent self-construal than those with less interdependent self-construal. The preset findings indicated that valuing happiness might be a factor that perpetuates rumination. More sophisticated evidence on the influence of valuing happiness on rumination can lead to effective psychotherapies for decreasing rumination and depression.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-04131-6.

Have a good day! An experience-sampling study of daily meaningful and pleasant activities

We organize our daily lives with a relatively high degree of freedom. Some things must be done; others are optional. Some we find meaningful, some pleasant, some both, and some neither. The present study looks at such evaluations of daily activities and how they relate to perceived meaning in life. Sixty-two students from an Austrian university first completed the meaningfulness scale from the Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe). They then participated in a 1-week experience-sampling assessment, wherein they completed a short questionnaire at five random time-points per day. They indicated their current activity and then reported, on a 6-point Likert scale, how pleasant and meaningful they perceived it to be. Activities could thus be categorized as meaningful, pleasant, both, or neither. Results reflected that activities grouped under culture/music, communication, intimacy, and sports are experienced as both highly meaningful and pleasant. A two-level hierarchical linear regression suggested that people with high trait meaningfulness experience their daily activities as more meaningful than people with lower trait meaningfulness if they also enjoy what they are doing. People with low trait meaningfulness, however, tended to experience their daily activities as rather meaningless, even if they enjoyed them very much. Thus, when looking for advice on how to have a good day, clarifying one’s meaning in life seems to represent the best starting point.

Psychological inflexibility and valuing happiness: Dangerous liaisons

Previous evidence has shown that excessive valuing happiness may relate to lower psychological wellbeing across cultures. Considering the lack of data with Spanish population, we examined the relation between tightly holding happiness emotion goals and subjective wellbeing in a sample of Spanish women, and explored the mediation role exerted by psychological inflexibility components (namely, cognitive fusion and experiential avoidance) in the relation between valuing happiness and subjective wellbeing. A female adult sample (n = 168) filled out measures of excessive valuing happiness, psychological inflexibility, positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. Valuing happiness only showed positive total effects on negative affect and strong direct effects on both cognitive fusion and experiential avoidance. Analyses revealed the mediating roles exerted by psychological inflexibility components, with experiential avoidance leading to lower pleasure; and cognitive fusion leading to greater displeasure and lower life satisfaction. Psychological inflexibility components explained between 40 and 80% of the total effect of valuing happiness on our outcome variables. Our findings highlight the need for further research on the benefits of hedonic vs. values-based approaches to happiness.

Toward a Unified Framework for Positive Psychology Interventions: Evidence-Based Processes of Change in Coaching, Prevention, and Training

Since 2000, research within positive psychology has exploded, as reflected in dozens of meta-analyses of different interventions and targeted processes, including strength spotting, positive affect, meaning in life, mindfulness, gratitude, hope, and passion. Frequently, researchers treat positive psychology processes of change as distinct from each other and unrelated to processes in clinical psychology. This paper presents a comprehensive framework for positive psychology processes that crosses theoretical orientation, links coherently to clinical psychology and its more dominantly "negative" processes, and supports practitioners in their efforts to personalize positive psychological interventions. We argue that a multi-dimensional and multi-level extended evolutionary approach can organize effective processes of change in psychosocial interventions, by focusing interventions on context-appropriate variation, selection, and retention of processes, arranged in terms of key biopsychosocial dimensions across psychological, biophysiological, and sociocultural levels of analysis. We review widely studied positive psychology constructs and programs and show how this evolutionary approach can readily accommodate them and provide a common language and framework for improving human and community flourishing. We conclude that Interventions should start with the person, not the protocol.

Perceiving societal pressure to be happy is linked to poor well-being, especially in happy nations

Happiness is a valuable experience, and societies want their citizens to be happy. Although this societal commitment seems laudable, overly emphasizing positivity (versus negativity) may create an unattainable emotion norm that ironically compromises individual well-being. In this multi-national study (40 countries; 7443 participants), we investigate how societal pressure to be happy and not sad predicts emotional, cognitive and clinical indicators of well-being around the world, and examine how these relations differ as a function of countries’ national happiness levels (collected from the World Happiness Report). Although detrimental well-being associations manifest for an average country, the strength of these relations varies across countries. People’s felt societal pressure to be happy and not sad is particularly linked to poor well-being in countries with a higher World Happiness Index. Although the cross-sectional nature of our work prohibits causal conclusions, our findings highlight the correlational link between social emotion valuation and individual well-being, and suggest that high national happiness levels may have downsides for some.

Valuing Happiness is Not a Good Way of Pursuing Happiness, but Prioritizing Positivity is: A Replication Study

Numerous studies confirm the merits of positive psychology. However, an emerging literature brings nuances, with one particular question concerning the impact of pursuing happiness: is this always positive? Some data suggest that an excessive level of valuing happiness may partly diminish the happiness felt, but that prioritizing positivity may increase subjective well-being. The aim of the present study was to replicate these findings. Participants (N = 683, 75% female) completed the prioritizing positivity scale (PPS) and the valuing happiness scale (VHS), as well as four well-being scales: the subjective happiness scale (SHS), the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS), the psychological well-being scales (PWB) and the center for epidemiological studies – depression (CES-D). Regression analyses showed that prioritizing positivity was positively associated with subjective happiness, life satisfaction and psychological well-being, but that it was negatively linked to depression. Opposite results partly emerged for valuing happiness. This cross-sectional study confirms that the way people pursue happiness, by prioritizing positivity or valuing it, may promote or partly hinder well-being.

Inducing Amusement in the Laboratory and Its Moderation by Experiential Approach

The relative ability of four comedic sketches to induce amusement in the laboratory and its moderation by dispositional differences in experiential approach as a form of positive emotion regulation were investigated. College student participants reported significant and equivalent diminished levels of negative affect relative to baseline following each sketch, while the level of positive affect induced by The Office exceeded that elicited by two of the three other sketches as well as by a top-ranked French comedic film clip. Regression models indicated that the two subscales of the Experiential Approach Scale and their interaction accounted for significant variability in negative mood reductions following the sketches. Unexpectedly, college student participants who enjoyed the greatest decrement in negative affect reported a regulation style in which anxiously clinging to positive emotions dominates over sustaining and savoring them. The limitations of this project and implications of its findings for laboratory inductions of amusement, as well as further investigations of its possible moderation by experiential approach as form of positive emotion regulation are discussed.

Will Happiness-Trainings Make Us Happier? A Research Synthesis Using an Online Findings-Archive

Most people want to be happy and many look out for opportunities to achieve a more satisfying life. Following a happiness training is an option, but the effectiveness of such training is being questioned. In this research synthesis we assessed: (1) whether happiness training techniques add to the happiness of their users, (2) how much happiness training techniques add to happiness, (3) how long the effect of happiness training lasts, (4) what kinds of training techniques work best, and (5) what types of groups of people profit from taking happiness training. We took stock of the available research and found 61 reports of effect studies on training techniques, which together yielded 179 findings. These findings are available in an online "findings archive," the World Database of Happiness. Using links to this source allows us to condense information in tabular overviews, while providing the reader with access to much detail. Happiness training techniques seem to do what they are designed to do: 96% of the studies showed a gain in happiness post intervention and at follow-up, about half of the positive results were statistically significant. Studies with cross-sectional designs and studies that used control groups showed more mixed results. The average effect of happiness training was approximately 5% of the scale range. We conclude that taking a form of happiness training is advisable for individuals looking for a more satisfying life. Since happier workers tend to be more productive, organizations would be wise to provide such training techniques for their workforce.

Effortful Emotion Regulation as a Unique Form of Cybernetic Control

Emotion regulation is important for psychological well-being, yet we know relatively little about why, when, and how hard people try to regulate emotions. This article seeks to address these motivational issues by considering effortful emotion regulation as a unique form of cybernetic control. In any domain of self-regulation, emotions serve as indices of progress in regulation and inform the expected value of regulation. In emotion regulation, however, emotions also serve as the very target of regulation. This interdependence gives rise to ironic processes that may render people less likely to exert effort in emotion regulation, precisely when they need it most. The proposed analysis complements and extends existing theories of emotion regulation, sheds new light on available findings, carries implications for psychopathology and well-being, and points to new hypotheses that could lead to theoretical and applied advances in the field.

The Upside to Feeling Worse Than Average (WTA): A Conceptual Framework to Understand When, How, and for Whom WTA Beliefs Have Long-Term Benefits

Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are shaped in critical ways by our beliefs about how we compare to other people. Prior research has predominately focused on the consequences of believing oneself to be better than average (BTA). Research on the consequences of worse-than-average (WTA) beliefs has been far more limited, focusing mostly on the downsides of WTA beliefs. In this paper, we argue for the systematic investigation of the possible long-term benefits of WTA beliefs in domains including motivation, task performance, and subjective well-being. We develop a conceptual framework for examining these possible benefits, we explore the usefulness of this framework to generate novel insights in an important psychological domain (skill learning), and we conclude with broader recommendations for research in other domains such as friendship formation, moral, and political decision making.

Pediatric Career Choice: Insights From a Novel, Medical School Pathway Program

OBJECTIVE

Research on how medical students choose a career in pediatrics is either dated or conflated with primary care career choice. Capitalizing on student participation in an innovative, time-variable, competency based pathway program, Education in Pediatrics Across the Continuum (EPAC), the authors explored the process of career decision-making in students at 5 medical schools (including 4 EPAC sites) who begin medical school with an interest in pediatrics.

METHODS

Individual, semistructured interviews were conducted with students in 5 groups: Group 1: accepted into EPAC, n = 8; Group 2: accepted into EPAC, opted-out, n = 4; Group 3 applied to EPAC, not accepted, pursued pediatrics, n = 4; Group 4: applied to EPAC, not accepted, did not pursue pediatrics, n = 3; Group 5: pursued pediatrics at a non-EPAC site, n = 6. Data collection and analysis occurred iteratively, with inductive coding of data revealing patterns in data explored in subsequent interviews and refined in the final analysis.

RESULTS

All students described intrinsic guiding principles, that is, "doing what you love," that attracted them to pediatrics. They described extrinsic, phase-specific experiences before medical school, before clerkship, and in clerkship that shaped their perceptions of a career in pediatrics and shed light on collective values of different specialties. Student's assessment of how their guiding principles aligned with the collective values of pediatrics, which students encountered in the clerkship phase, was a key to making career decisions.

CONCLUSIONS

Intrinsic and extrinsic factors do not act alone but interact in clerkships, and influence career choice of students who enter medical school with an interest in pediatrics.

Valuing happiness predicts higher well-being: The moderating role of acceptance

Recent research has found that individual tendencies to pursue positive hedonic states, defined as Valuing Happiness (VH), might bring about negative well-being outcomes. However, there lacked consistent evidence to support VH's paradoxical effects beyond European American contexts. The current study aimed to investigate how VH influences individual well-being within a highly interdependent culture, and additionally, the moderating role of acceptance in their relationship. We surveyed 266 participants online to assess their levels of VH, acceptance (a facet of dispositional mindfulness), well-being (indicated by life satisfaction, hedonic balance, and psychological well-being), and depression symptoms. Results showed that VH positively predicted life satisfaction and positive affect in a Chinese sample, even controlling for age. Moreover, the interaction between VH and acceptance was significant for psychological well-being. VH had a stronger effect on well-being for people who were low in acceptance than for those who were high in acceptance. These findings suggest that being motivated by happiness values might enhance well-being in an interdependent context, particularly for those who were less likely to accept their internal experiences. Implications were discussed in light of the motivational processes involved in individual happiness pursuits.

Does Neutral Affect Exist? How Challenging Three Beliefs About Neutral Affect Can Advance Affective Research

Researchers interested in affect have often questioned the existence of neutral affective states. In this paper, we review and challenge three beliefs that researchers might hold about neutral affect. These beliefs are: (1) it is not possible to feel neutral because people are always feeling something, (2) neutrality is not an affective state because affect must be positively or negatively valenced, and (3) neutral affect is unimportant because it does not influence cognition or behavior. We review the reasons these beliefs might exist and provide empirical evidence that questions them. Specifically, we argue that neutral affect is a felt experience that provides important valence-relevant information, which influences cognition and behavior. By dispelling these beliefs about neutral affect, we hope to shine a light on the assumptions that researchers hold about the nature of affect and to provide novel theoretical and methodological perspectives that help advance our understanding of the affective landscape.

Benefits Associated With Experiential and Material Purchases May Depend on Culture

Spending money on experiences, compared to materials, is often associated with more happiness. This experiential advantage, however, is developed based on samples from Western cultures. To investigate the boundaries of this effect, we studied participants from three divergent cultures (Iran, Malaysia, and the United States; N = 1,718) and examined the benefits associated with different purchase types across material–experiential and solitary–social dimensions. Results indicated a cross-culturally robust experiential advantage in terms of affiliative outcomes (i.e., positive other-focused emotions and relational enhancement), even when we accounted for the sociality of the purchases. However, the results were less consistent with the experiential advantage in terms of happiness and self-focused outcomes (i.e., self-focused emotions and self-elevation). Interestingly, experiential-solitary purchases were associated with stronger self-focused benefits among Iranians. We discuss possible explanations for this effect and offer recommendations for future research. Data and analysis code are publicly available at https://osf.io/n39gj/

Multivariate associations of ideal affect with clinical symptoms

Prior research has indicated that ideal affect (i.e., the affective states that people value and would ideally like to experience) may be relevant to mental health outcomes. Studies to date, however, have not used comprehensive multivariate models that account for covariation among facets of ideal affect and incorporate multiple clinical outcomes. In the present studies, we used structural equation modeling to examine the multivariate effects of ideal affect on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse in 2 moderately large samples of undergraduates (N = 293 and N = 146). Exploratory results of Study 1 indicated that valuation of high arousal positive affective states was significantly associated with lower depression symptoms but higher anxiety and alcohol abuse symptoms and that valuation of high arousal negative states was specifically associated with greater anxiety symptoms. These results were shown to be structurally invariant across samples and ethnicities in Study 2, which also found that ideal-actual affect discrepancies were significantly associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. These findings support and extend the hypothesis that ideal affect is implicated in clinical outcomes by highlighting the importance of jointly considering multiple facets of ideal and actual affect as they relate to a range of clinical syndromes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The Interactive Effect of Happiness Emotion Goals and Emotion Regulation Self-Efficacy on Anxiety and Depression

Overvaluation of happiness might be a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology. However, emotion regulation self-efficacy may influence the association between happiness emotion goals and psychopathology. The purpose of the present study was twofold. First, we sought to replicate prior findings showing that happiness emotion goals and depressive symptoms are positively related, but only among those with lower emotion regulation self-efficacy. Second, we examined whether the noted interaction effect would relate to generalized anxiety symptoms in a sample of general population adults (N = 504). Results from regression analyses were consistent with our predictions suggesting that individuals with unrealistic happiness emotion goals and low emotion regulation self-efficacy may be particularly prone to experiencing negative emotional states and psychological distress. Further, study findings suggest the possibility that the noted interaction has transdiagnostic value and it may be important to target emotion regulation self-efficacy in the service of alleviating internalizing psychopathology.

The Mediating Roles of Happiness and Cohesion in the Relationship between Employee Volunteerism and Job Performance

This study investigated the mediating effects of happiness and cohesion in the relationship between employee volunteerism, in-role behavior, and helping behavior. The study surveyed 312 full-time employees in South Korea, and regression analyses and the bootstrapping method were used to test the hypotheses. The study found happiness and cohesion to mediate the relationships between employee volunteerism and in-role and helping behavior. The findings suggest that employee volunteerism can promote a healthy working environment through increased feelings of happiness and cohesion as well as by improving performance behaviors.

Successfully Striving for Happiness: Socially Engaged Pursuits Predict Increases in Life Satisfaction

Happiness is considered a highly desirable attribute, but whether or not individuals can actively steer their lives toward greater well-being is an open empirical question. In this study, respondents from a representative German sample reported, in text format, ideas for how they could improve their life satisfaction. We investigated which of these ideas predicted changes in life satisfaction 1 year later. Active pursuits per se-as opposed to statements about external circumstances or fortune-were not associated with changes in life satisfaction ( n = 1,178). However, in line with our preregistered hypothesis, among individuals who described active pursuits ( n = 582), those who described social ideas (e.g., spending more time with friends and family) ended up being more satisfied, and this effect was partly mediated by increased socializing. Our results demonstrate that not all pursuits of happiness are equally successful and corroborate the great importance of social relationships for human well-being.

The psychological health benefits of accepting negative emotions and thoughts: Laboratory, diary, and longitudinal evidence

Individuals differ in the degree to which they tend to habitually accept their emotions and thoughts without judging them-a process here referred to as habitual acceptance. Acceptance has been linked with greater psychological health, which we propose may be due to the role acceptance plays in negative emotional responses to stressors: acceptance helps keep individuals from reacting to-and thus exacerbating-their negative mental experiences. Over time, experiencing lower negative emotion should promote psychological health. To test these hypotheses, Study 1 (N = 1,003) verified that habitually accepting mental experiences broadly predicted psychological health (psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and depressive and anxiety symptoms), even when controlling for potentially related constructs (reappraisal, rumination, and other mindfulness facets including observing, describing, acting with awareness, and nonreactivity). Next, in a laboratory study (Study 2, N = 156), habitual acceptance predicted lower negative (but not positive) emotional responses to a standardized stressor. Finally, in a longitudinal design (Study 3, N = 222), acceptance predicted lower negative (but not positive) emotion experienced during daily stressors that, in turn, accounted for the link between acceptance and psychological health 6 months later. This link between acceptance and psychological health was unique to accepting mental experiences and was not observed for accepting situations. Additionally, we ruled out potential confounding effects of gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and life stress severity. Overall, these results suggest that individuals who accept rather than judge their mental experiences may attain better psychological health, in part because acceptance helps them experience less negative emotion in response to stressors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Contextual Positive Psychology: Policy Recommendations for Implementing Positive Psychology into Schools

There has been a rapid growth in positive psychology, a research and intervention approach that focuses on promoting optimal functioning and well-being. Positive psychology interventions are now making their way into classrooms all over the world. However, positive psychology has been criticized for being decontextualized and coercive, and for putting an excessive emphasis on positive states, whilst failing to adequately consider negative experiences. Given this, how should policy be used to regulate and evaluate these interventions? We review evidence that suggests these criticisms may be valid, but only for those interventions that focus almost exclusively on changing the content of people's inner experience (e.g., make it more positive) and personality (improving character strength), and overemphasize the idea that inner experience causes action. We describe a contextualized form of positive psychology that not only deals with the criticisms, but also has clear policy implications for how to best implement and evaluate positive education programs so that they do not do more harm than good.

Is Valuing Happiness Associated With Lower Well-Being? A Factor-Level Analysis using the Valuing Happiness Scale

Recent studies suggest that valuing happiness is negatively associated with well-being. Most of these studies used the Valuing Happiness Scale (Mauss, Tamir, et al., 2011). In the present paper, we examined the factor structure of this scale using data pooled from six independent samples (Ntotal = 938). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Valuing Happiness Scale is not unidimensional and that only one of its three factors correlates negatively with various indicators of well-being, whereas non-significant or positive correlations were found for the other factors. These findings indicate that valuing happiness may not necessarily be bad for one's well-being, and call for a better definition, theoretical foundation, and operationalization of this construct.

Culture shapes whether the pursuit of happiness predicts higher or lower well-being

Pursuing happiness can paradoxically impair well-being. Here, the authors propose the potential downsides to pursuing happiness may be specific to individualistic cultures. In collectivistic (vs. individualistic) cultures, pursuing happiness may be more successful because happiness is viewed--and thus pursued--in relatively socially engaged ways. In 4 geographical regions that vary in level of collectivism (United States, Germany, Russia, East Asia), we assessed participants' well-being, motivation to pursue happiness, and to what extent they pursued happiness in socially engaged ways. Motivation to pursue happiness predicted lower well-being in the United States, did not predict well-being in Germany, and predicted higher well-being in Russia and in East Asia. These cultural differences in the link between motivation to pursue happiness and well-being were explained by cultural differences in the socially engaged pursuit of happiness. These findings suggest that culture shapes whether the pursuit of happiness is linked with better or worse well-being, perhaps via how people pursue happiness.

Sad and Alone

Western culture has become obsessed with happiness, while treating negative emotions like sadness, depression, or anxiety as pathological and nonnormative. These salient cultural norms communicate social expectations that people should feel “happy” and not “sad.” Previous research has shown that these “social expectancies” can increase feelings of sadness and reduce well-being. In this study, we examined whether these perceived social pressures might also lead people to feel socially disconnected—lonely—when they do experience negative emotions? Drawing on a large stratified sample prescreened for depressive symptoms and utilizing both trait measures and moment-to-moment “experience sampling” over a 7-day period, we found that people who felt more negative emotions and also believe that others in society disapprove of these emotions reported more loneliness. Our data suggest that social pressures to be happy and not sad can make people feel more socially isolated when they do feel sad.

Valuing happiness is associated with bipolar disorder

Although people who experience happiness tend to have better psychological health, people who value happiness to an extreme tend to have worse psychological health, including more depression. We propose that the extreme valuing of happiness may be a general risk factor for mood disturbances, both depressive and manic. To test this hypothesis, we examined the relationship between the extreme valuing of happiness and risk for, diagnosis of, and illness course for bipolar disorder (BD). Supporting our hypothesis, the extreme valuing of happiness was associated with a measure of increased risk for developing BD (Studies 1 and 2), increased likelihood of past diagnosis of BD (Studies 2 and 3), and worse prospective illness course in BD (Study 3), even when controlling for current mood symptoms (Studies 1-3). These findings indicate that the extreme valuing of happiness is associated with and even predicts BD. Taken together with previous evidence, these findings suggest that the extreme valuing of happiness is a general risk factor for mood disturbances. More broadly, what emotions people strive to feel may play a critical role in psychological health.

DESPERATELY SEEKING HAPPINESS: VALUING HAPPINESS IS ASSOCIATED WITH SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS OF DEPRESSION

Culture shapes the emotions people feel and want to feel. In Western cultures, happiness is an emotion that many people want to feel. Although experiencing happiness is associated with increased well-being and psychological health, recent evidence suggests wanting to feel happy to an extreme degree, or, highly valuing happiness, leads to decreased well-being. To examine whether these effects of valuing happiness might extend to clinical outcomes, we examined the hypothesis that depression is associated with highly valuing happiness. To do so, we examined the relationship between valuing happiness and depression in two U.S. samples. As hypothesized, valuing happiness was associated with increased depressive symptoms in a community sample with remitted major depressive disorder (MDD), even when controlling for social desirability and neuroticism (Study 1). Furthermore, valuing happiness was elevated in a remitted MDD sample (vs. healthy controls), even when controlling for current depressive symptoms, general affect valuation, and extreme goal pursuit (Study 2). Taken together, these findings suggest that the culturally-pervasive value placed on attaining happiness can represent a risk factor for symptoms and a diagnosis of depression. More broadly, they indicate that a cultural approach can meaningfully extend our understanding of clinical phenomena.

Emotional reactivity and emotion regulation among adults with a history of self-harm: laboratory self-report and functional MRI evidence

Intentionally hurting one's body (deliberate self-harm; DSH) is theorized to be associated with high negative emotional reactivity and poor emotion regulation ability. However, little research has assessed the relationship between these potential risk factors and DSH using laboratory measures. Therefore, we conducted 2 studies using laboratory measures of negative emotional reactivity and emotion regulation ability. Study 1 assessed self-reported negative emotions during a sad film clip (reactivity) and during a sad film clip for which participants were instructed to use reappraisal (regulation). Those with a history of DSH were compared with 2 control groups without a history of DSH matched on key demographics: 1 healthy group low in depression and anxiety symptoms and 1 group matched to the DSH group on depression and anxiety symptoms. Study 2 extended Study 1 by assessing neural responding to negative images (reactivity) and negative images for which participants were instructed to use reappraisal (regulation). Those with a history of DSH were compared with a control group matched to the DSH group on demographics, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Compared with control groups, participants with a history of DSH did not exhibit greater negative emotional reactivity but did exhibit lower ability to regulate emotion with reappraisal (greater self-reported negative emotions in Study 1 and greater amygdala activation in Study 2 during regulation). These results suggest that poor emotion regulation ability, but not necessarily greater negative emotional reactivity, is a correlate of and may be a risk factor for DSH, even when controlling for mood disorder symptoms.

On the reciprocal association between loneliness and subjective well-being

Loneliness has been shown to longitudinally predict subjective well-being. The authors used data from a longitudinal population-based study (2002-2006) of non-Hispanic white, African-American, and nonblack Latino-American persons born between 1935 and 1952 and living in Cook County, Illinois. They applied marginal structural models for time-varying exposures to examine the magnitude and persistence of the effects of loneliness on subjective well-being and of subjective well-being on loneliness. Their results indicate that, if interventions on loneliness were made 1 and 2 years prior to assessing final subjective well-being, then only the intervention 1 year prior would have an effect (standardized effect = -0.29). In contrast, increases in subjective well-being 1 year prior (standardized effect = -0.26) and 2 years prior (standardized effect = -0.13) to assessing final loneliness would both have an effect on an individual's final loneliness. These effects persist even after control is made for depressive symptoms, social support, and psychiatric conditions and medications as time-varying confounders. Results from this study indicate an asymmetrical and persistent feedback of fairly substantial magnitude between loneliness and subjective well-being. Mechanisms responsible for the asymmetry are discussed. Developing interventions for loneliness and subjective well-being could have substantial psychological and health benefits.

History of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Is Associated with Increased Cognitive Reappraisal Ability

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) has been shown to be an effective treatment for mood and anxiety disorders. Little is known, however, about the specific psychological skills that may improve with MBCT. The present study investigated the relationship between history of MBCT and emotion regulation ability. Specifically, we examined cognitive reappraisal ability (CRA) in a sample of individuals with a history of MBCT compared with two control groups: a group without a history of any type of therapy and a group with a history of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Groups were matched on key variables including age, sex, education, working memory, emotional reactivity, and life stress. CRA was measured using a standardized laboratory challenge. Results indicated that participants with a history of MBCT demonstrated higher CRA than both the no-therapy control group and the CBT control group. These results suggest that, by guiding people to accept thoughts and feelings without judgment and to focus on the present moment, MBCT may lay the foundation for increased CRA.