Do I Need to Be Positive to Be Happy? Considering the Role of Self-Esteem, Life Satisfaction, and Psychological Distress in Portuguese Adolescents’ Subjective Happiness

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the relationships between gender, age, positive (self-esteem, life satisfaction) and negative/distress psychological variables (anxiety, depression, stress), and subjective happiness. A total of 910 adolescents (51.0% girls, mean age of 13.89 years) answered measures of subjective happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and stress. Girls showed lower life satisfaction and self-esteem and greater distress symptoms than boys. Older age was associated with lower subjective happiness, life satisfaction, and self-esteem and greater distress symptoms. Being girl, younger, having lower levels of depressive symptoms, and higher levels of life satisfaction and self-esteem were associated with greater subjective happiness. Self-esteem was a moderator between depressive symptoms and subjective happiness, and stress and subjective happiness. Life satisfaction was a moderator between depression and subjective happiness. Results highlight the role of life satisfaction and self-esteem as a positive functioning dimension for adolescents to manage, regulate, or minimize their psychological distress and to build higher levels of subjective happiness as a source of positive mental health.

Expanding Social, Psychological, and Physical Indicators of Urbanites’ Life Satisfaction toward Residential Community: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

“…Flow can be characterized by high involvement, deep concentration, intrinsic motivation, and the perception of exhilarating challenges matched by adequate personal skills [37,38], and it also describes a highly positive state of the individual, who experiences intense engagement and enjoyment from various types of self-defining activities [35,39]. By reviewing prior studies, flow experience is summarized by the following characteristics: (1) devoting oneself to the things they are doing, (2) the combination of action and consciousness, (3) the loss of self-consciousness, (4) the balance between skills and challenges, (5) clear and realizable goals, (6) immediate and clear feedback, (7) a sense of control over one's behavior, (8) distorted time perception, and (9) experience of the activity is intrinsically rewarding [40][41][42]. As a universal activity experience emphasizing the purpose and meaning of life [43,44], flow has been applied in a variety of fields and research contexts such as workplace, education, marketing, and sports/leisure [45][46][47].…”

“…Life satisfaction refers to a judgmental process in which individuals assess the quality of their lives on the basis of their own unique set of standards [6], and attention on, and interest in, life satisfaction has increased worldwide. Studies have shown that people with high life satisfaction experience many positive outcomes in their lives, which are usually related to income, education, health, employment status, social capital, self-esteem, and so forth [7,8]. However, research on life satisfaction towards the dwellers' residential community of place is mainly from western countries [9][10][11], and the sparse literature from China is solely focused on a specific age group of the elderly population [10,12].…”

Linking Childhood Maltreatment and Psychological Symptoms: The Role of Social Support, Coping Styles, and Self-Esteem in Adolescents

“…A cross-sectional study showed the link between more childhood maltreatment and higher levels of psychopathology and lower levels of overall well-being under the regulation of self-esteem (Greger et al, 2017). Freire et al proved that self-esteem can be a positive tool for adolescents to better manage, regulate, or minimize their psychological distress and to create higher levels of subjective happiness as a source of more positive mental health (Freire & Ferreira, 2020). Our findings substantiated the fitness of the ecological theory model (Bronfenbrenner, 2005;Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, 1994), by confirming that childhood maltreatment posed a risk of psychological symptoms among adolescents via its negative impact on their own characteristics (coping styles and self-esteem) and peer or parent relationships (social support).…”

“…Journal of Interpersonal Violence 00(0) childhood maltreatment experiences increase the probability of low selfesteem (Mwakanyamale et al, 2018), which may endanger individuals in a greater risk of further psychological symptoms (Freire & Ferreira, 2020;Kalemi et al, 2019). Kalemi et al (2019) detected the association between lower self-esteem and higher levels of aggression among women.…”

The Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy on Children’s Self-Esteem

“…It is an important variable in psychology research because of its significant correlation with emotional wellbeing [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Cultivation of self-esteem in early childhood reinforces positive values that can help children optimally cope with dynamic life situations [3,[9][10][11][12][13], and is related to several markers of wellbeing, such as happiness, life satisfaction, self-confidence in social situations, sociability, and optimism [14,15]. However, low self-esteem among children is associated with negative thoughts, avoidance of new experiences, difficulty in managing conflicts [1,16], poor physical and mental health later in life [17], depression [18,19], loneliness [20], suicidal thoughts [21], suicide attempts [22], eating disorders [23,24], anxiety [25], behavioral problems [26], drug and alcohol addictions [27], as well as criminal and anti-social behavior [27].…”