Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.6115/khea.2012.50.1.089

Effects of Optimism and Orientations to Happiness on Psychological Well-Being of College Students  

Kim, Kyung-Min (Department of Home Economics, Korea University)
Lim, Jung-Ha (Department of Home Economics, Korea University)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association / v.50, no.1, 2012 , pp. 89-101 More about this Journal
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate college students' psychological well-being influenced by optimism and orientations to happiness. The participants were 412 college students aged from 20 to 28. Data were analyzed using Cronbach's alpha, frequencies, percentiles, means, standard deviations, two-way ANOVAs and hierarchical regression analyses. The major findings were as follows. 1) In optimism, there were no significant differences in gender and the year of study in college. In orientations to happiness, male students pursued engagement in happiness more than female students and the seniors reported a significantly higher level of pursuit of happiness than freshmen did. In terms of psychological well-being, seniors scored significantly higher psychological well-being than freshmen. 2) Optimism and orientations to happiness were significant predictors of the psychological well-being of college students. With circumstances and optimism controlled, orientations to happiness still showed 13% variance in psychological well-being.
Keywords
college students; psychological well-being; optimism; orientations to happiness;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 Wood, W., Rhodes, N., & Whelan, M. (1989). Sex differences in positive well-being: A consideration of emotional style and marital status. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 249-264.   DOI
2 Yang, J-Y. (2010). The Relationship among orientations to happiness, religiosity and subjective wellbeing in Adolescents. Unpublished master's thesis, Myongji University, Seoul, Korea.
3 Ryff, C. D. (1995). Psychological well-being in adult life. Current Direction in Psychological Science, 4(4), 99-104.   DOI
4 Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revised. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719-727.   DOI   ScienceOn
5 Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S., & Bridges, M. W. (1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism(and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the life orientation test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 1063-1078.   DOI   ScienceOn
6 Schmutte, P. S., & Ryff, C. D. (1997). Personality and well-being: Reexamining methods and meanings. Journal of Social Psychology, 73, 549-559.
7 Seligman, M. E. P. (2006). Authentic happiness. (I-J, Kim, Trans.). Gyeonggi: Mulpure. (Original work published 2002)
8 Sheldon, K. M., & Houser-Marko, L. (2001). Self-concordance, goal-attainment, and the pursuit of happiness: Can there be an upward spiral? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 152?165.   DOI   ScienceOn
9 Sim, K-W. (2007). The effect of optimism on rejection sensitivity, emotional expressiveness, and life satisfaction. Unpublished master's thesis, Catholic University, Seoul, Korea.
10 Surra, C, A., & Longstrenth, M. (1990). Similarity of outcomes, interdependence and conflict in dating relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(3), 501-516.   DOI
11 Vella-Brodrick, D., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2009). Three ways to be happy: Pleasure, engagement and meaning-Findings from Australian and US samples. Social Indicators Research, 90(2), 165-179.   DOI   ScienceOn
12 Waterman, A. S. (1990). Personal expressiveness: Philosophical and psychological foundations. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 11, 47-74.
13 McCullough, M. E., Pargament, K. I., & Thoresen, C. E. (Eds.). (2000). Forgiveness: Theory, research, and practice. New York: Guilford Press.
14 Won, D-R., & Kim, K-H. (2005). How can we pursue psychological well-being. Korean journal of health psychology, 11(1), 125-145.
15 Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 111-131.   DOI   ScienceOn
16 Marsh, H. W., Richard, G. E., Johnson, S., Roche, L., & Tremayne, P. (1994). Physical self description questionnaire: Psychometric properties and a multi-trait method analysis of relations to existing instruments. Journal of sport & Exercise Psychology, 16, 270-305.
17 Myers, D. G. (2000). The funds, friends and faith of happy people. American Psychologist, 55, 56-67.   DOI   ScienceOn
18 Norem, J. K., & Chang, E. C. (2000). A very full glass: Adding complexity to our thinking about the implications and applications of optimism and pessimism research. In E. C. Chang (Ed)., Optimism & pessimism: Implications for theory, research, and practice(pp. 347-367). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
19 Oh, C-S., & Kim, J-H. (1999). Career choice and awareness for youth. The Journal of Humanities, 20, 187-211.
20 Oh, H-S., & Ha, J-H. (2010). The effects of regulatory focus, work motivation, self-efficacy, on psychological well-being and work performance in employees' of public enterprise. The Korean Journal of Counseling and Psychotherapy, 22(2), 515-532.
21 Park, S-J. (2009). Relationships on adolescents' optimism, gratitude and subjective well-being. Unpublished master's thesis, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
22 Peterson, C., Park, N., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2005). Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: The full life versus the empty life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6(1), 25-41.   DOI   ScienceOn
23 Lee, C-S. (2005). The relationships between the big five and psychological well-being among Korean college students. Unpublished master's thesis, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, Korea.
24 Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1069-1081.   DOI
25 King, L. A., Hicks, J. A., Krull, J. L., & Del Gaiso, A. K. (2006). Positive affect and the experience of meaning in life. Journal of personality and Social Psychology, 90(1), 179-196.   DOI   ScienceOn
26 Kwon, H-K. (2004). The effect of optimism on the career attitude maturity and degree of satisfaction toward school: mediated by achievement motivation and ego strength. Unpublished master's thesis, Catholic University, Seoul, Korea.
27 Lee, H-J. (2006). Personality types and occupational health. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
28 Lee, J-A., & Lee, H-S. (1998). A study on quality of life among college student in Korea. The Journal of Korean Society for Health Education, 15(2), 105-117.
29 Lee, J-H., & Kim, T-H. (2001). Sources of life's meaning and well-being of undergraduates. Journal of Student Guidance Research, 33(2), 31-45.
30 Lee, S-J. (2009). The effect of the adolescents' selfconsciousness and emotion regulation style on conflict resolution strategies in peer. Unpublished master's thesis, Busan University, Busan, Korea.
31 Lee, T-J. (2003). Th) Effect of flow experience on career attitude maturity and career decision efficacy. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea.
32 Lim, M-A. (2008). The effect of life stress on the aggressiveness of university students. Unpublished master's thesis, Myongji University, Seoul, Korea.
33 Jung, M-Y. (2010). A study of the process of searching for meaning in life: focused on the search for meaning in life, the presence of meaning in life, a view of life and death, and values. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
34 Lim, U., & Yoon, H-H. (2005). Development of the career development readiness inventory. The Journal of Career Education Research, 18(1), 116-132.
35 Lykken, D., & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological Science, 7, 186-189.   DOI   ScienceOn
36 Jung, M., & Noh, A-Y. (2008). The relationship among extraversion, neuroticism and psychological well-being of college students: The moderating effects of field independence-dependence cognitive style. The Korean Journal of Psychology, 27(2), 373-387.   DOI
37 Jung, S-W. (2010). The relationship of teachers' the big five, stress coping strategies and psychological well-being. Unpublished master's thesis, Kyungsung University, Busan, Korea.
38 Keyes, C. L. M., & Lopez, S. J. (2002). Toward a science of mental health: Positive directions in diagnosis and intervention. In C. R. Syneer & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 45-59). New York: Oxford University Press.
39 Kim, B-J. (2001). Development and validation of the Korean version of the physical self-description questionnaire(PSDQ). Korean journal of sport psychology, 12(2), 69-90.
40 Kim, H-J. (2007). The Influence of college students' major satisfaction and flow experience on career decision efficacy and career attitude maturity. Unpublished master's thesis, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea.
41 Kim, K-S. (2006). The development and application of a program for college students' psychological well-being. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Kyungsung University, Busan, Korea.
42 Fontaine, K. R., & Jones, L. C. (1997). Self-esteem, optimism and postpartum depression. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53(1), 59-63.   DOI   ScienceOn
43 Kim, M-S., Kim, H-W., & Cha, K-H. (2001). Analyses on the construct of psychological well-being(PWB) of Korean male and female adults. The Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology, 15(2), 19-39.
44 Kim, S-H. (2003). Psychological characteristics of realistic and unrealistic optimists. Unpublished master's thesis, Catholic University, Seoul, Korea.
45 Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective wellbeing in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377-389.   DOI   ScienceOn
46 Gallup Korea. (2006). Korean Happiness. http://www.gallup.co.kr/gallupdb/report Content.asp?pagepos=6&search=&searchKeyword=&selectYear=&seqNo=158에서 인출함.
47 Han, Y-M. (2010). The mediation effect of college students stress coping style on the relationship among family strengths, ego-resilience and depression. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea.
48 Hwang, H-S. (2010). Emotional and social characteristics of people who have hedonic perspective. Unpublished master's thesis, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
49 Hwang. J-W., & Kim, K-H. (2009). The relationship between orientations to happiness and subjective well-being among university students. The Korean journal of counseling, 10(1), 57-71.   DOI
50 Jang, H. (2010). The functions of flow in relational context. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
51 Jang, H-J. (2011). A study on the theory of happiness in epicurus' hedonism. Unpublished master's thesis, Dongeui University, Busan, Korea.
52 Argyle, M. (1999). Causes and correlates of happiness. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwartz(Eds.), Well-being: The foundation of hedonic psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
53 Jeon, B-J., Cha, K-H., & Hong, K-W. (2001). The consciousness of equality, and stereotyped gender differences, and psychological wellbeing. The Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology, 15(2), 173-187.
54 Jeon, S-H. (1999). Female youths' role-identity, role strain, and psychological well-being. Journal of Women's Studies, 14, 53-70.
55 Jung, J-R. (2007). The relations between the process of searching for meaning in life and subjective well-being. Unpublished master's thesis, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
56 Argyle, M. (2001). The psychology of happiness (2nd ed.). London and New York: Routledge.
57 Aspinwall, I. G., & Taylor, S. E. (1992). Modeling cognitive adaptation: A longitudinal investigation of the impact of individual differences and coping on college adjustment and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 989-1003.   DOI
58 Brunstein, J. (1993). Personal goals and subjective well-being: A longitudinal study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1061-1070.   DOI   ScienceOn
59 Buchanan, G. M., & Seligman, M. E. P. (Eds.) (1995). Explanatory style. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
60 Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1981). Attention and self-regulation: A control-theory approach to human behavior. New-York: Springer-Verlag.
61 Cha, K-H. (2004). Relationships between Subjective well-being and Psychological well-being among Korean and American college students. The Journal of Korean Youth Research, 11(3), 321-337.
62 Diener, E., Suh, E., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276-302.   DOI   ScienceOn
63 Chen, L. H., Tsai, Y. M., & Chen, M. Y. (2010). Psychometric analysis of the orientations to happiness questionnaire in taiwanese undergraduate students. Social Indicators Research, 98(2), 239-249.   DOI   ScienceOn
64 Clarke, S., & Haworth, J. (1994). 'Flow' experience in the daily lives of sixth-form college students. The British Journal of Psychology, 85, 511-523.   DOI   ScienceOn
65 Compton. (2005). An introduction to positive psychology. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.