The good life is the result of flourishing and resilience, but also of being a morally good person. We found that moral identity was associated with engagement, meaning, the identification and acceptance of others (i.e., cooperativeness), and the sense of being part of something bigger than the self (i.e., self-transcendence).

Background: Migration is one of the major challenges of the 21st century with many refugees being victims of torture and experiencing war and the collapse of their society. Sweden, for example, received about 169,520 refugees during 2015 and 20–30% of them were estimated to suffer from mental illness. Nevertheless, research shows that about 66.40% of refugees never reveal their traumatic experiences to a doctor and a majority refuse psychiatric help. Hence, we need innovative methods to promote the physical, mental, and social health of refugees. Objective: We examined the effects of Anthropedia’s Well-Being Coaching (i.e., a biopsychosocial approach to coaching) and Well-Being Spa (i.e., modern version of age-old Spa interventions) on the personality and health of a sample of refugees living in Sweden. Methodology: Participants were recruited as part of a health and employment project in Blekinge, Sweden. A total of 70 Syrian refugees were randomly assigned to a six-month intervention comprising either Well-Being Coaching, or Well-Being Spa, or both (i.e., Mind–Body). The participants reported personality (temperament and character), well-being (positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, and harmony in life), and ill-being (defeat and entrapment, and anxiety and depression) at the beginning and at the end of the six-month intervention period. Results: Participants assigned to the Well-Being Coaching intervention showed increases in self-directedness (Cohen’s d = 0.84), cooperativeness (Cohen’s d = 0.36), positive affect (Cohen’s d = 0.43), and life satisfaction (Cohen’s d = 0.56), and decreases in both negative affect (Cohen’s d = 0.38) and defeat (Cohen’s d = 0.89). Participants assigned to the Well-Being Spa intervention showed decreases in harm avoidance (Cohen’s d = 0.55), reward dependence (Cohen’s d = 0.69), negative affect (Cohen’s d = 0.82), anxiety (Cohen’s d = 0.53), defeat (Cohen’s d = 0.34), and external entrapment (Cohen’s d = 0.42). Participants assigned to the Mind–Body intervention showed significant decreases in harm avoidance (Cohen’s d = 0.47), anxiety (Cohen’s d = 0.61), depression (Cohen’s d = 0.34), defeat (Cohen’s d = 0.56), external entrapment (Cohen’s d = 0.44), and internal entrapment (Cohen’s d = 0.79) and increases in persistence (Cohen’s d = 0.27), self-directedness (Cohen’s d = 0.28), cooperativeness (Cohen’s d = 0.43), self-transcendence (Cohen’s d = 0.51), positive affect (Cohen’s d = 0.42), and harmony in life (Cohen’s d = 0.36). Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest that Well-Being Coaching strengthens refugees’ character, while the Well-Being Spa treatments reduced participants’ tendency to worry and anxiety. Finally, the combination of these two interventions seems to promote the development of health-related traits, reduce ill-health, and stress, and increase well-being in a wider biopsychosocial perspective.

Background: If individual differences are relevant and prominent features of personality, then they are expected to be encoded in natural language, thus manifesting themselves in single words. Recently, the quantification of text data using advanced natural language processing techniques offers innovative opportunities to map people's own words and narratives to their responses to self-reports. Here, we demonstrate the usefulness of self-descriptions in natural language and what we tentatively call Quantitative Semantic Test Theory (QuSTT) to validate two short inventories that measure character traits. Method:In Study 1, participants (N 1 = 997) responded to the Short Character Inventory, which measures self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence. In Study 2, participants (N 2 = 2373) responded to Short Dark Triad, which measures Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. In both studies, respondents were asked to generate 10 self-descriptive words. We used the Latent Semantic Algorithm to quantify the meaning of each trait using the participants' self-descriptive words. We then used these semantic representations to predict the self-reported scores. In a second set of analyses, we used word-frequency analyses to map the self-descriptive words to each of the participants' trait scores (i.e., one-dimensional analysis) and character profiles (i.e., three-dimensional analysis).Results: The semantic representation of each character trait was related to each corresponding self-reported score. However, participants' self-transcendence and Machiavellianism scores demonstrated similar relationships to all three semantic representations of the character traits in their respective personality model. The onedimensional analyses showed that, for example, "loving" was indicative of both high cooperativeness and self-transcendence, while "compassionate," "kind," and "caring" was unique for individuals high in cooperativeness. The words "kind" and "caring" indicated low levels of Machiavellianism and psychopathy, whereas "shy" or "introvert" indicated low narcissism. We also found specific keywords that unify or that make the individuals in some profiles unique.

BackgroundDespite reporting low levels of well-being, anorexia nervosa patients express temperament traits (e.g., extraversion and persistence) necessary for high levels of life satisfaction. Nevertheless, among individuals without eating disorders, a balanced organization of the flow of time, influences life satisfaction beyond temperamental dispositions. A balanced time perspective is defined as: high past positive, low past negative, high present hedonistic, low present fatalistic, and high future. We investigated differences in time perspective dimensions, personality traits, and life satisfaction between anorexia nervosa patients and matched controls. We also investigated if the personality traits and the outlook on time associated to positive levels of life satisfaction among controls also predicted anorexia patients’ life satisfaction. Additionally, we investigated if time perspective dimensions predicted life satisfaction beyond personality traits among both patients and controls.MethodA total of 88 anorexia nervosa patients from a clinic in the West of Sweden and 111 gender-age matched controls from a university in the West of Sweden participated in the Study. All participants responded to the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, the Ten Item Personality Inventory, and the Temporal Satisfaction with Life Scale.ResultsA t-test showed that patients scored higher in the past negative, the present fatalistic, and the future dimensions, lower in the past positive and the present hedonistic dimensions, higher in conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness, and lower in life satisfaction. Regression analyses showed that life satisfaction was predicted by openness to experience and emotional stability for controls and by emotional stability among patients. When time dimensions were entered in the regression, emotional stability and the past negative and past positive time dimensions predicted life satisfaction among controls, but only the past positive and present hedonistic time dimensions predicted life satisfaction among patients.ConclusionAnorexia patients were less satisfied with life despite being more conscientious, social, and agreeable than controls. Moreover, compared to controls, patients had an unbalanced time perspective: a dark view of the past (i.e., high past negative), a restrained present (i.e., low present hedonistic) and an apocalyptic view of the future (i.e., high present fatalistic). It is plausible to suggest that, therapeutic interventions should focus on empowering patients to cultivate a sentimental and positive view of the past (i.e., high past positive) and the desire to experience pleasure without concern for future consequences (i.e., high present hedonistic) so that they can make self-directed and flexible choices for their own well-being. Such interventions might have effects on life satisfaction beyond the patients’ temperamental disposition.

Background Unemployment can diminish physical, psychological and social health. In this context, research shows that people with mental illness have even more difficulties finding occupation. Thus, some countries, such as Sweden, strive after creating job opportunities for this specific group. We investigated the effect of having an occupation on life satisfaction among individuals with mental illness and whether self-reported physical and psychological health mediated the relationship between being (un)employed and life satisfaction. Method Two-hundred eighty-seven individuals (148 males, 134 females, and 5 missing information) with mental illness, who received support and services from Swedish Municipalities in Blekinge, self-reported occupation, life satisfaction, and physical and psychological health. Results Participants who reported having an occupation reported also significantly higher levels of life satisfaction, physical health, and psychological health compared to those without occupation. Nevertheless, these differences were rather small (Eta2 < 0.06). Moreover, the indirect effect of having an occupation on life satisfaction through physical and psychological health was significant. Finally, the total indirect effect of physical and psychological health (i.e., psychophysiological health) accounted for 53% of the total effect of having an occupation on life satisfaction. Conclusion For individuals with mental illness there seems to be an almost equal importance of indirect and direct effects of having an occupation on their levels of life satisfaction. More specifically, while there are differences in life satisfaction within this population in relation to having an occupation, having an occupation leads to the sense of good psychophysiological health, which in turn helps individuals with mental illness to feel satisfied with their lives.