Previous thinking has often categorized emotions as either pleasant or unpleasant or examined to what extent they are functional or dysfunctional. We suggest that researchers should consider the positivity or negativity of discrete emotions on both dimensions: subjective feelings and constructiveness of outcomes. We discuss how, across contexts, a specific emotion can potentially be categorized differently within the framework. We further suggest that this approach is particularly useful in unique, complex contexts that involve clashes among goals, interests, or values, such as violent intergroup conflicts. Using this context, we demonstrate how emotions that feel good to people can lead to behaviors and attitudes that sustain violence and thwart conflict resolution, whereas emotions that promote conflict resolution are often unpleasant. Such clashes may depend on the presence of embedded contextual factors, such as group membership and relative power. Thus, this framework will be useful for examining specific emotions while taking contextual factors into consideration. Finally, we examine several important questions stemming from our framework and suggest directions for future research.
The long middle phase of parenting is neither sufficiently understood, not are there enough studies on the issue. The reported research was undertaken with the intention of revealing associations among three variables: perceived parental role, intergenerational ambivalence and parents' well-being with an examination of gender differences. Sixty mid-life Israeli parents with at least one offspring over the age of 25 constituted the population in this two-phase mixed methods research. Quantitative research tools included three questionnaires whose reliability and validity were established; semi-structured interviews comprised the qualitative research tools. The main quantitative findings indicated significant correlations among the research variables. There was a positive correlation between Self-Perceived Parental Role (SPPR) and Parental Well-Being (PWB), and a negative correlation with Intergenerational Ambivalence. Qualitative results suggested a direct and strong relationship between ambivalence expressed by parents and their evaluation of their perceived role and well-being as parents. This research enriches existing theoretical knowledge with regard to experiences of midlife parents, and in particular with regard to their parental role. The correlations identified between midlife parenthood variables as studied in this research may contribute to parents' quality of life, to improving family well-being when identifying problems and strengthening coping resources for cases that lead to stress and crisis.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.