What “Age” Do We Live In?
Shift in Real Self
Institution
• Adhering to a high
standard
• Living up to one’s
standards
• Through achievements
• When in control of
feelings and behaviors
• Revealing life’s
perfection
Emotion
• Expressing wants and
feelings
• Not doing what one
enjoys
• Through discovery
• When constraint,
inhibitions removed
• Reveal life’s
imperfections
Consequences of Shift From Institution to Emotion
1)Appearances Masking Vulnerability and Fear
Jim Carrey’s Commencement Speech
2) Feeling - Functioning Disjunction
3) It about me
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante
4) Focus on what’s next?
5) What’s in it for me?
Texas Tech Undergraduates
Perceived Importance of Each Domain
of Flourishing
(Note: All paired samples t-test contrasts were significant at p < .05)
Not at All Important
Very Important
Texas Tech Undergraduates
Perceived Importance of Each Dimensions
of Flourishing
Not at All Important
Very Important
Adjusted Std. Coefficients of Perceived Importance
and Level of Subjective Well-Being
Texas Tech Undergraduates
Social Well-Being Importance
Psychological Well-Being Importance
Emotional Well-Being Importance
0.5
0.4
0.32
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.16
0.14
0.13
0.12
0.1
0.04
0.05
0.01
0
Social Well-Being Scale
Psychological Well-Being Scale
Emotional Well-Being Scale
Personal Growth Initiative
•
I know how to change specific things that I want to change in my life.
•
I have a good sense of where I am headed in my life.
•
If I want to change something in my life, I initiate the transition process.
•
I can choose the role that I want to have in a group.
•
I know what I need to do to get started toward reaching my goals.
•
I have a specific action plan to help me reach my goals.
•
I take charge of my life.
•
I know what my unique contribution to the world might be.
•
I have a plan for making my life more balanced.
Support Family, Friends, and Faculty
• Important for Social Well-Being and
Flourishing
• Items:
– How much they care about you.
– How much they understand the way you feel
about things.
– How much you can rely on them for help if
you have a problem.
– How much you can open up to them if you
need to talk about your worries or concerns.
Adolescents
Closeness to Others
How Do We Create More For
Our Young Folks?
• Closeness to Others: how close they felt
toward six individuals
•
•
•
•
•
•
mother (or stepmother),
father (or stepfather),
sibling,
friends,
teacher,
other adults outside of school.
Integration into School
How Do We Create More For
Our Young Folks?
• School Integration: how often youth felt
–
–
–
–
“part of your school,”
“close to people at your school,”
“happy to be at your school,”
“safe at your school”
Global Self Concept
How Do We Create More For
Our Young Folks?
• Global Self Concept scale
–
–
–
–
–
–
“I have a lot to be proud of,”
“I can do things as well as most people,”
“I’m as good as most other people,”
“Other people think I am a good person,”
“When I do something, I do it well,”
“A lot of things about me are good.”
Connection: Flourishing and Social WellBeing in College
Kathryn Graff Low (2011)
Kathryn Graff Low (2011)
College Students
(main effect of mental health)
College Students
(no main effect of mental health)
Adjusted Log Odds
• Any Drug
–
–
–
–
CMI = 1.60
EWB = .91
PWB = .90
SWB = ns
• Binge Drinking
–
–
–
–
CMI = 1.19
EWB = .92
PWB = .90
SWB = 1.17
We Are Wired to Connect
• Vulnerability
– http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_
on_vulnerability.html
• Love, Loss
• Connection, Disconnection
• Shame (fear of disconnection)
– something about me that if others see it I will
not be worthy of connection
• not good enough, not fit enough, not pretty
enough…
• we must allow ourselves to be seen for
connection to happen
What We Need To Do More Of
• Courage (tell the story of who you are with your whole
heart)
– Courage to be imperfect
• Worthiness of being loved
• Kind to themselves and others
• Authenticity
– Let go of who they should be to be who they were
• Embrace vulnerability
– Believe that what made them vulnerable made them beautiful
– Vulnerability is not comfortable; it is necessary
– ACT intervention
Flourishers
1) “Just do it”
2) Self Control
3) Capable
4) Deliberate
5) Apologize
6) Malleable Mindsets
7) Curiosity
8) Learn from Adversity
9) Motivated by Mastery
10) Loved