Developing a Scale About Subjective Well Being Increases Strategies for Adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale of enhancement in subjective well being of adolescents. A totally of 190 (92 male and 98 female) participants who were adolescents between ages of 14-17 (mean=15.50) were included in the study. In this study, exploratory factor analysis was used for data analysis. According to results, the scale which has 59 % explained variance and yielded to five dimensions (“taking positive feedback from others “, “participating in religious activities”, “giving positive feedback to others”, “fulfilling wishes” and “protecting subjective well being”). Satisfactory reliability and validity coefficients were obtained. The scale was entitled as “Subjective Well Being Enhancement Strategies Scale for Adolescents.”

Keywords

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Ergenler İçin Öznel İyi Oluşu Arttırma Stretejileri Ölçeğinin Geliştirilmesi

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın amacı, ergenler için öznel iyi oluşu artırma stratejilerini ölçen bir ölçme aracı geliştirmektir. Çalışma, 14-17 yaşlan arasındaki lise öğrenimi gören 98 kız ve 92 erkek olmak üzere toplam 190 ergen üzerinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Çalışmada, açıklayıcı faktör analizi ve bazı güvenirlik analizleri yapılmıştır. Çalışmadan elde edilen bulgulara göre, açıklanan varyansı % 59 olan beş boyutlu bir ölçek elde edilmiştir. Ölçeğin boyutları, “çevreden olumlu tepkiler almak”, “dinî inancın gereğini yerine getirmek”, “çevreye olumlu tepkiler vermek”, “istekleri doyurmak” ve “öznel iyi oluşu korumak” olarak isimlendirilmiştir. Ölçeğin güvenirlik ve geçerlik değerleri tatminkâr düzeyde bulunmuştur. Geliştirilen ölçeğe “Ergenler İçin Öznel İyi Oluşu Artırma Stratejileri Ölçeği” ismi verilmiştir. Bu ölçekle, gelecekte çeşitli araştırmalar yapılarak alanın gelişmesine katkıda bulunulabilir.

Keywords

• Ergen, öznel iyi oluş stratejileri, ölçek

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26. DEVELOPING A SCALE ABOUT SUBJECTIVE WELL BEING INCREASES
27. STRATEGIES FOR ADOLESCENTS Ali E YILMAZ
28. The achievement of happiness is one of the most
29. important goals of humankind (Fordyce, 1977, 1983).
30. There has been a great deal of research on what
31. constitutes happiness for individuals (Lyubomirsky,
32. ) while little scientiŞc research has focused on the
33. question of how happiness can be enhanced
34. tLyubomirsky, Sheldon and Schkade, 2005). Studies have found that the demographic factors of
35. age, sex, income, race, education, and marital status
36. accounted for less than 20% of the variance in
37. happiness. Life events (winning lottery or loosing part
38. of body) had weak effects on people’s current
39. happiness and no effects at all on projected future well
40. being (Deiner, 1984) Personality is another important factor of in
41. predicting happiness. Extraversion and neuroticism are
42. important traits for subjective well being (Deiner,
43. ). In addition to these social relationships are
44. important for happiness and health. Social ties may
45. fester a sense of meaning or coherence in life.
46. Emotional support may help minimize stress.
47. Literature shows that activities such as working for
48. one's goals participating in close social relationship,
49. experiencing physical pleasures, experiencing mental
50. pleasure contribute to individuals’ happiness. According to Fordyce (1977; 1983) there are some
51. strategies that can enhance wellbeing (i.e., spending
52. time socializing / close relationship, being active and
53. keep busy, being productive at meaningful work,
54. positive optimistic thinking, eliminating negative
55. feelings and stopping worrying). Buss (2000)
56. recommends increasing closeness of extended kin /
57. develop deep friendship the fulŞllment of desire /
58. satisfying the taste of high quality food, professional
59. success, selecting similar mate/achieving intimacy,
60. eliminate competition and promoting cooperation as
61. some strategies contributing to well being. Likewise,
62. Tkach and Lyubomirsky (2005) mention social
63. afŞliation, partying active leisure / passive leisure,
64. attempt to goal pursuit, and also mental control as
65. factors improving subject well being. These strategies
66. are derived from university students and adult
67. Dr., All ERYILMAZ, Psikolojik Danışman, Ankara (Anadolu) Lisesi,
68. crali76©h0tmaîlcom populations. On the other hand, what kinds of Strategies are related with adolescents” usage is not clear.
69. Therefore, the purpose of this study was identify
70. adolescents’ perceptions of happiness and ways in
71. which they perceive their sense of well being is enhanced. Method The purpose of this study was to develop a
72. subjective well being enhancement scale for adolescents. Participants: A total of 190 (92 male and 98
73. female) high school students between ages of 14-17
74. (mean:15.50) were included in the study. Results In this study, explanatory factor analysis and
75. reliability analysis were used for data analysis. The
76. results showed that the scale accounted for 59 %
77. variance. It resulted in Şve dimensions which were
78. named as “taking positive feedback from others “,
79. “participating in religious activities", “giving positive
80. feedback to others”, “fulŞlling wishes” and “protecting
81. subjective well being.” Reliability and validity
82. estimates of the scale were found satisfactory. The scale
83. was entitled as “Subjective Well Being Enhancement
84. Strategies Scale for Adolescents” is developed. Discussion Results of this study were overall in agreement
85. with those of previous research. There were three
86. studies by whom Buss (2000}, Fordyce (1983), and
87. Tkach and Lyubomirsky (2005) that speciŞcally
88. addressed subjective well being strategies. The scale resulted in Şve dimensions were
89. identiŞed. The Şrst strategy which was named as taking
90. positive feedback from others and also the second
91. strategy which was named as giving positive feedback
92. to others are similar with the Buss’s (2000) strategy
93. which is increase closeness of extended kin and develop
94. deep friendship, with the Fordyc’s (1977; 1983)
95. strategy named develop an outgoing social personality,
96. and also with the Tkach and Lyubomjrsky’s (2005) strategy called social affiliation. The third strategy was named participating in religious activities was similar with the religion strategy by Tkach and Lyubomirsky’s
97. (2005). The fourth strategy was named fulŞlling wishes
98. was parallel to Buss’s (2000) strategy entitled
99. fulŞllment of desire. Finally, the last strategy is named
100. protecting subjective well being has similarities with
101. Tkach and Lyubomirsky’s (2005) strategy named
102. mental control. The results of the study suggest that Turkish
103. adolescents’ subjective well being strategies is similar
104. with other research. According to Lyubomirsky (2001)
105. subjective well being enhancing research is still in its
106. infancy. Results of this study might be used in guiding
107. well being improvement interventions for adolescents.
108. Turkish Psychological Counseling and Guidance Journal