Subjective well-being among Holocaust survivors: An examination of overlooked differentiations.

This study addressed the issue of adjustment among Holocaust survivors by multidimensional assessment of subjective well-being (SWB). Participants were Israeli Holocaust survivors incidentally included in a life-span study (Group 1; n?=?466) or purposely approached for studying Holocaust survivors (Group 2; n?=?178). Comparison participants had immigrated to Israel before World War II, with their parents either undergoing (Group 3; n?=?270) or not undergoing the Holocaust (Group 4; n?=?388); other comparison participants had immigrated after the war with parents not undergoing the Holocaust (Group 5; n?=?166). Results showed that Group 1 scored lower than Group 2, mainly in positive affect. Group 1 scored lower than Group 4, and to a lesser extent also lower than Groups 3 and 5, mainly in aging-related themes of SWB. The study suggests that long-term effects of the Holocaust on the survivors' SWB are traceable but require a differential approach to the study groups and to the facets of SWB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optimizing well-being: The empirical encounter of two traditions.

Subjective well-being (SWB) is evaluation of life in terms of satisfaction and balance between positive and negative affect; psychological well-being (PWB) entails perception of engagement with existential challenges of life. The authors hypothesized that these research streams are conceptually related but empirically distinct and that combinations of them relate differentially to sociodemographics and personality. Data are from a national sample of 3,032 Americans aged 25-74. Factor analyses confirmed the related-but-distinct status of SWB and PWB. The probability of optimal well-being (high SWB and PWB) increased as age, education, extraversion, and conscientiousness increased and as neuroticism decreased. Compared with adults with higher SWB than PWB, adults with higher PWB than SWB were younger, had more education, and showed more openness to experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hot rolling of blanks from copper and nickel powders

Summary The authors investigated the hot rolling of preformed blanks from electrolytic copper and carbonyl nickel powders. The blanks were prepared by cold pressing, cold rolling, wedge pressing, and sintering loosely poured powder. The hot rolling was carried out in a special mill, in a hydrogen atmosphere. The investigation showed that at high rates of deformation, a rolling temperature of 0.8–0.9 T_melt, and a reduction of 50% the hot rolling of preformed copper and nickel blanks in one pass can yield strip with a relative density of 100%, a fine-grained structure, and mechanical properties which are not inferior to those of materials obtained by sintering powder compacts or cold-rolled strip.Translated from Poroshkovaya Metallurgiya, No. 6 (66), pp. 25–28, June, 1968.     

Happiness in the face of adversity: Reformulating the dynamic and modular bases of subjective well-being.

Addressing diversity and apparent contradictions in manifestations of happiness, this article delineates subjective well-being (SWB) as a dynamic system in the face of possible adversity. SWB constitutes a favorable psychological environment that regulates the hostile-world scenario, defined as one's image of actual or potential threats to one's life or integrity. SWB operates in various modules: experiential, wherein private awareness of SWB dwells on relevant core themes; declarative, wherein public self-reports of SWB function as social behavior; differential, wherein synchronic dimensions of SWB form well-being types; and narrative, wherein diachronic valences of SWB construct trajectories along one's life story. By explicating the regulatory and configurational nature of SWB, the present conceptualization emphasizes the process, rather than the outcome, of pursuing happiness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tracing long-term effects of early trauma: A broad-scope view of Holocaust survivors in late life.

This study addressed long-term effects of extreme trauma among Holocaust survivors (N=126) in an older (75-94 years) sample of the Israeli Jewish population. Survivors were compared with European-descent groups that had immigrated either before World War II (n=206) or after (n=145). Participants in the latter group had had Holocaust-related life histories but did not consider themselves survivors. Controlling for sociodemographics, the results indicated that survivors fared worse than prewar immigrants in certain psychosocial domains, mainly cumulative distress and activity, rather than in health-related ones. Survivors and postwar immigrant comparisons had almost no differences. The study highlights the need for a wide view of functioning facets and comparison groups in delineating late posttraumatic effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond keeping active: Concomitants of being a volunteer in old-old age.

This study examines concomitants of volunteering in the context of other lifestyle activities. Investigating formal volunteering in old-old age, the authors analyzed data of 148 volunteers versus 1,195 nonvolunteers in a national sample of the Israeli Jewish population aged 75-94. As hypothesized, being a volunteer related (whether as a cause or effect) to more positive functioning on psychosocial markers and prospectively resulted in reduced mortality risk even when other activity outlets (physical activity, everyday activities, having a hobby) were controlled. These findings suggest that the benefits of volunteering in late life are not reducible to those of other activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective bonds of adult children with living versus deceased parents.

In a study of bonds with living versus deceased parents, Israeli adult children (aged 17 to 77 years) formed 3 groups with both parents alive, only mother alive, and both parents deceased. Questionnaires assessed relations with mother and father (363 participants completed bond intensity and 217 of them completed both bond intensity and bond evaluation). Whereas bond intensity (with factors of Closeness, Influence, and Commitment) refers to the strength of the relationship's manifestations, bond evaluation refers to the subjective location of this relationship on a positive-negative continuum. Contrary to the hypothesis, bond intensity was not lower for deceased than for living parents. As hypothesized, bond evaluation was higher for mother and father when both were deceased. The study suggests a developmental trajectory whereby the affective bonds of adult children toward their parents transcend parental death and normative mourning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The apprehensive respondent: Failing to rate future life satisfaction in older adults.

Rating scales relating to the individual's past, present, and future were administered to Ss (aged 60–90 yrs); those who completed all ratings (N?=?589) were compared with others who specifically failed to rate the future (N?=?150). The groups were differentiated by age, gender, health, and marital status. Total subjective well-being did not differ, but specific subjective well-being factors concerning time and aging could serve as discriminators. These differences suggest that these older adults might be apprehensive about their future and that skipping future-related questions is a genuine reaction with both psychological and methodological implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)