Predicting Life Satisfaction Based On Spiritual Intelligence and Psychological Capital in Older People

Spiritual intelligence: a scoping review on the gateway to mental health

Spiritual Intelligence (SI) is an independent concept from spirituality, a unifying and integrative intelligence that can be trained and developed, allowing people to make use of spirituality to enhance daily interaction and problem solving in a sort of spirituality into action. To comprehensively map and analyze current knowledge on SI and understand its impact on mental health and human interactions, we conducted a scoping review following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology, searching for 'spiritual intelligence' across PubMedCentral, Scopus, WebOfScience, and PsycInfo. Quantitative studies using validated SI instruments and reproducible methodologies, published up to 1 January 2022, were included. Selected references were independently assessed by two reviewers, with any disagreements resolved by a third reviewer. Data were extracted using a data extraction tool previously developed and piloted. From this search, a total of 69 manuscripts from 67 studies were included. Most studies (n = 48) were conducted in educational (n = 29) and healthcare (n = 19) settings, with the Spiritual Intelligence Self Report Inventory (SISRI-24) emerging as the predominant instrument for assessing SI (n = 39). Analysis revealed several notable correlations with SI: resilience (n = 7), general, mental, and spiritual health (n = 6), emotional intelligence (n = 5), and favorable social behaviors and communication strategies (n = 5). Conversely, negative correlations were observed with burnout and stress (n = 5), as well as depression and anxiety (n = 5). These findings prompt a discussion regarding the integration of the SI concept into a revised definition of health by the World Health Organization and underscore the significance of SI training as a preventative health measure.

Introducing a new concept: Psychological capital of older people and its positive effect on mental health

Objective

This study aimed to explore the structure of psychological capital (PsyCap) and its positive effects on mental health among older people.

Methods

Study 1 used grounded theory to analyze the semi-structured interviewing data of 17 Chinese older people (60-96 years old) to develop a primary PsyCap questionnaire for older people. Study 2, respectively, applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with 198 Chinese older people (M = 69.2; SD = 6.685) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with 370 Chinese older people (M = 73.84; SD = 9.416) to test a seven-factor structure for PsyCap. Study 3 used 328 participants (M = 79.73; SD = 9.073) to examine the correlation between PsyCap and mental health.

Results

Study 1 identified that PsyCap of older people contains 'resilience,' 'self-efficacy,' 'optimism,' 'ease and content,' 'gratitude and dedication, 'wisdom,' and 'meaning in life' and generated a primary seven-factor questionnaire. Study 2 proved the overall and internal structure reliability of PsyCap were good (Cronbach's alphas ranged 0.809 ~ 0.935), and the seven-factor measurement model fitted the data well (χ ²/df = 2.07, RMSEA = 0.05, RMR = 0.05, CFI = 0.95, IFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.94, NFI = 0.91). The PsyCap scale was also proved to an excellent convergent validity, discriminant validity, calibration validity, and measurement invariance across different groups. Study 3 found that PsyCap and its seven factors significantly correlated with depression (r = -0.419 ~ -0.163, p < 0.01) after controlling the demographic variables.

Conclusion

These findings provide a reliable and valid assessment for quantitative empirical research of PsyCap among older people and show significant impacts on mental health among older people, which offers new insight into improving mental health from the perspective of positive psychology.

Positive Organizational Practices, Life Satisfaction, and Psychological Capital in the Public and Private Sectors

Public and private sector employees confronted stressful life circumstances that affected the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, new knowledge on possible psychological and organizational resources is needed. This study aimed to explore positive organizational practices, psychological capital, and life satisfaction of employees in the public and private sectors. The survey applied the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Psychological Capital Questionnaire—PCQ-24, validated in the Lithuanian population (the Lith-PCQ-21), and the Positive Organizational Practices Questionnaire. The sample consisted of 582 employees, including 443 public sector and 139 private sector employees. The respondents’ mean age was 42.0981 years (SD = 13.23083). The CFA results confirmed the six-factor structure of positive organizational practices, χ2 = 270,884.785; Df = 406; CFI = 0.996; TLI = 0.996; NFI = 0.995; RMSEA = 0.074 [0.070–0.078]; SRMR = 0.043, the four-factor structure of psychological capital, χ2 = 32,780.109; Df = 190; CFI = 0.983; TLI = 0.980; NFI = 0.978; RMSEA = 0.082 [0.076–0.088]; SRMR = 0.067, and one factor structure of life satisfaction, χ2 = 10,588.246; Df = 10; CFI = 0.999; TLI = 0.999; NFI = 0.999; RMSEA = 0.022 [0.000–0.066]; SRMR = 0.014. The findings revealed that private sector employees demonstrated higher scores of dignity, support, care, forgiveness, and overall positive organizational practices than public sector employees. Private sector employees demonstrated higher optimism scores than public sector employees, and public sector employees demonstrated higher self-efficacy scores than private sector employees. Male employees demonstrated significantly higher scores on dignity, meaning, and forgiveness than females. Significant positive correlations were found between age and resilience, care and age, care and number of working years, care and number of working years in the current organization. Psychological capital mediated the link between positive organizational practices and life satisfaction. Positive organizational practices were linked to life satisfaction and psychological capital in both employees’ groups, but the features of links were distinctive in the public and private sectors. These results signify the importance of positive organizational practices and psychological capital for the life satisfaction of employees.

Psychosocial Resources for Hedonic Balance, Life Satisfaction and Happiness in the Elderly: A Path Analysis

We explored possible paths from physical and mental health-related quality of life, self-efficacy, optimism, and social support to happiness in older adults, considering hedonic balance and life satisfaction as mediators. A total of 154 Spanish male and female (50%) older adults (65–96 years old, M = 77.44, SD = 8.03; 64% noninstitutionalized elderly) voluntarily participated in this correlational, cross-sectional study. The participants completed self-reports on their perceived health status, self-efficacy, social support, optimism, and global subjective well-being (SWB) as well as its dimensions. Path analysis was used to examine direct and indirect relationships. The final model had an excellent fit with the data (χ2(10) = 11.837, p = 0.296, χ2/df = 1.184; SRMR = 0.050, CFI = 0.994, RMSEA = 0.035), revealing the unique causal effects of all the included predictors on happiness. With the exception of self-efficacy, the psychosocial resources predicted older adults’ current happiness, and this relationship was fully mediated by hedonic balance and life satisfaction, which were found to be putative intermediary factors for SWB. Self-efficacy in turn predicted the remaining psychosocial resources. Our findings extend the existing evidence on the influences of health-related quality of life, self-efficacy, optimism, and social support on SWB. Furthermore, they support the proposal of hedonic balance and life satisfaction as dimensions of SWB, thus supporting the tripartite hierarchical model of happiness. These results may inform future interventions seeking to improve happiness in late adulthood.

The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital between Motivational Orientations and Their Organizational Consequences

Just as we can speak of different personality traits, it is also possible to identify distinct motivational traits, which may be related to a series of organizational consequences. In this sense, understanding how these traits are related to workers performance is fundamental. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to test the mediating role of psychological capital in the relationship between such traits and organizational citizenship behaviors and counterproductive work behaviors, which is expected to be more significant in the first case. The study was carried out using a panel design, with a sample group of Spanish employees aged over 40 (n = 741), in two waves (with a 4-month interval). The results support the hypothesis that psychological capital resources may play a mediating role in some of the relationships explored and that approach orientation traits are mainly related to a better performance, fostering organizational citizenship behaviors and diminishing counterproductive work behavior. The findings show that employees who develop their personal resources may have a positive impact on their organizations. The implications of this study for counseling practices are discussed.