No abstract

Previous studies have suggested that only flow in the activity that one finds important contributes to well-being. This study was done in order to further investigate the role of flow in different activities and its impact on well-being in two types of students, i.e. nonworking students (NWS) and part-time working students (PWS). The sample comprised first and second year university students (85% female) at the University of Zagreb, 113 NWS and 110 PWS. Several questionnaires were administered in order to assess flow in different activities, well-being, and burnout. Also, students reported their grade point average (GPA). The results showed that in both groups flow in academic activities was the only stable positive predictor of well-being and academic achievement, and a negative predictor of burnout, in line with the finding that both groups of students assessed academic activities as the most important and most useful. Additionally, there were no differences between NWS and PWS in well-being, burnout, and GPA, suggesting that this PWS group was not yet experiencing any negative consequences of parttime working. The importance of introducing flow inducing activities in academic assignments is suggested as crucial for students' well-being.

In a sample of 347 elementary school subject teachers from Slovenia (N = 176) and Croatia (N = 171), the authors investigated teachers’ orientations to work (as a job, a career, and a calling) and their well-being with respect to different stages of teachers’ professional development. Results have shown the presence of a calling orientation to work and its positive relationship to job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Although significant differences between Slovenian and Croatian teachers were not expected due to shared historical, cultural and political background, some interesting differences were observed. The results of MANOVA showed that teachers differed significantly in their work orientations regarding nationality and the length of their working experience. Results were discussed in the context of stages of professional development and the social status of teachers in both countries.

"People who consider their work as a calling find it fulfilling, purposeful, and socially useful, thus leading to higher levels of well-being. Since work is a central part of the identity of people with calling orientation and represents one of the most important domains of their lives, we assume that they are more prone to craft their job. They tend to make the physical and cognitive changes in the task or relational boundaries of their work in order to make it more meaningful. Both experiencing work as a calling and job crafting are found to be associated with numerous positive outcomes such as increased job satisfaction, psychological well-being and sense of meaning. This study adds to literature by exploring simultaneously the role of both calling orientation and job crafting in primary teacher’s wellbeing. The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between teachers calling orientation, job crafting, work meaningfulness and well-being. In light of the literature on work meaningfulness and psychological well-being, a serial mediation model was proposed with job crafting and work meaningfulness mediating the relationship between teacher calling orientation and teacher flourishing. The sample consisted of 349 primary school teachers (95% female) from public schools in northern western region of Croatia. They have on average 22 years of teaching experience (ranged from 0-43 years). Self-report measures of calling orientation (Work-Life Questionnaire), job crafting (Job Crafting Scale), work meaning (Work Meaningfulness scale) and flourishing (Flourishing Scale) were used. The findings revealed that the job crafting via increasing structural job resources mediated the relationship between calling orientation and work meaningfulness. Furthermore, the results supported the proposed serial mediation between calling orientation and flourishing via increasing structural job resources and increasing work meaningfulness. Based on these findings, several practical implications can be noted. First, interventions aimed at helping teacher view their job as a calling should be promoted in schools. Second, teachers should be encouraged to cultivate job crafting as it is an important path to meaningfulness in work context and overall psychological wellbeing. This is specially the case for increasing structural job resources, such as autonomy and variety at work."

The aim of the present study was to explore whether teachers can be classified into groups according to their work orientations (job, career and calling orientation), and to examine differences between teachers of two transitional countries, Croatia and Slovenia according to their work orientation profiles. Work-life questionnaire (Wrzesniewski et al., 1997) and one item measuring job satisfaction were administered to 345 primary school subject teachers, 171 from Croatia and 176 from Slovenia. Cluster analysis identified two clusters of teachers with different work orientation profiles: intrinsically oriented (higher calling orientation/lower job/ career orientation) and extrinsically oriented teachers (lower calling orientation/ higher job/career orientation). The percentage of teachers in both countries was higher in the intrinsically oriented group but more teachers belonged to this group in the Croatian than the Slovenian sample (83% vs. 68% respectively). In both samples intrinsically oriented teachers had higher level of job satisfaction. It was concluded that transition period did not make teachers shift from the intrinsic to extrinsic work orientation neither in Slovenia nor in Croatia. Further studies are needed to explain higher percentage of intrinsically oriented teachers in Croatia. Findings from previous studies of higher job satisfaction of teachers with a calling orientation were confirmed.

The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between beliefs about costs and benefits of forgiveness, motivation to forgive and well-being. Motivation to forgive was measured by TRIM Inventory consisting of three scales -avoidance, revenge and benevolence motivation. Well-being was measured by Life satisfaction scale and PANAS. The scales for measuring beliefs about costs and benefits of forgiveness (CBFS) were specially developed for this study. Two factors of beliefs about benefits of forgiveness (benefits for oneself and benefits for the other/relationship) and two factors of beliefs about costs of forgiveness (failure to protect oneself and failure to educate the offender) were revealed. Results of multiple regression revealed two significant predictors of life satisfaction, belief in benefits of the forgiveness for the other/relationship as positive predictor and failure to protect oneself as cost of forgiveness as negative predictor. Failure to protect oneself and revenge motivation were positive predictors, and belief in benefits of the forgiveness for the other/relationship was negative predictor of negative affect. There were no significant predictors of positive affect. Results suggest that believing in benefits of forgiveness rather than in costs can improve our well-being by increasing life satisfaction and lowering negative affect.

The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between curiosity and well-being in the sample of university students. 318 college students from Faculty of Teacher Education and Faculty of Kinesiology (100 males and 215 females) participated in the study. The students ranged in age from 18 to 26. Four questionnaires were administered: Curiosity and Exploration Inventory - CEI-II (Kashdan, et al., 2009), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule - PANAS (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), Flourishing Scale – FS (Diener, et al. 2009) and Basic Needs Satisfaction Scale (Gagné, 2003). Results of ANOVAs showed that students of Faculty of Kinesiology had higher scores on both curiosity scales: Curiosity Stretching and Curiosity Embracing. Curiosity stretching reflects the motivation to seek out knowledge and new experiences while embracing dimension is related to willingness to embrace the novel, uncertain, and unpredictable nature of everyday life. They also scored higher on positive affect and lower on negative affect. There was no statistical difference between students from two faculties on flourishing scale and satisfaction of basic psychological needs. Gender differences were found only for negative affects, with females scoring higher on negative affect scale. Both curiosity scales were correlated to well-being scales, but as results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed, only Curiosity Stretching was significant predictor of basic needs satisfaction, positive affect and flourishing. This suggests the possibility of positive influence of curiosity on well-being and need to pay more attention to methods for developing curiosity at the university teaching and learning. Key words: curiosity; well-being; basic psychological needs; positive/negative affect; students - - - Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati odnos između radoznalosti i dobrobiti studenata. Sudjelovalo je 318 studenata Učiteljskog i Kineziološkog fakulteta (100 muškarca i 215 žena) u dobi između 18 i 26 godina. Primijenjena su četiri upitnika: Upitnik radoznalosti i istraživanja – CEI-II (Kashdan i sur., 2009, Skala pozitivnih i negativnih emocija – PANAS (Watson, Clark i Tellegen, 1988), Skala psihološkog napredovanja – FS (Diener i sur . 2009) i Skala zadovoljenja temeljnih psiholoških potreba (Gagné, 2003). Rezultati su pokazali da su studenti Kineziološkog fakulteta imali bolje rezultate na obje skale radoznalosti: Proširivanje i Prihvaćanje. Proširivanje radoznalosti odnosi se na motivaciju traženja novih znanja i iskustava, a Prihvaćanje je povezano sa spremnošću na prihvaćanje novih, neodređenih i nepredvidivih stvari u životu. Isti su studenti doživljavali više pozitivnih, a manje negativnih emocija. Na Skali psihološkog napredovanja i Skali zadovoljenja temeljnih psiholoških potreba nema značajne razlike. Rodne razlike pokazale su se samo na Skali negativnih emocija: studentice imaju više negativnih emocija.Obje skale radoznalosti u korelaciji su sa skalama dobrobiti, no prema rezultatima  hijerarhijskih regresijskih analiza jedino se Proširivanje radoznalosti pokazalo kao značajan prediktor za zadovoljenost temeljnih psiholoških potreba, pozitivne emocije i psihološkog napredovanja. Kod studenata Kineziološkog fakulteta motivacija za traženje novih znanja i iskustava ima veću ulogu u ostvarivanju dobrobiti. Rezultati istraživanja sugeriraju mogućnost pozitivnog utjecaja radoznalosti na dobrobit, ali i potrebu za tim da se obrati više pažnje na metode poticanja radoznalosti u visokoškolskom poučavanju i učenju. Ključne riječi: radoznalost; dobrobit; temeljne psihološke potrebe; pozitivne/negativne emocije; studenti.

According to recent studies, teachers' well-being is a significant contributor to teacher effectiveness in terms of students' academic achievement, so it would be worth finding out what contributes to teachers' well-being. By extending previous research that revealed the positive relationship between the calling orientation and well-being and the negative between job/career orientation and well-being, the present study aimed to explore the role of flow in different life domains as mechanisms underlying this relationship, with an accent on flow at work. Correlational research design was used to examine the relationship between work orientations, flow in different life domains and flourishing of 315 classroom teachers from Croatia. The following self-report measures were used: Work-Life Questionnaire, Swedish Flow Proneness Questionnaire, and Flourishing Scale. Three parallel mediations were performed to test the hypothesized mediation role of flow in different life domains on the relationship between work orientations and flourishing. Results showed that career orientation was insignificant for teachers' flourishing. Flow at work partially mediated the positive relationship between calling orientation and flourishing, and the negative relationship between job orientation and flourishing. The study provides empirical support for the role of flow at work relationship between calling and wellbeing, suggesting that flourishing of calling oriented teachers can be enhanced by experiencing flow at work.