•Experience sampling study (N = 1,609) during early phases of COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.•Neuroticism uniquely related to negative affect mean levels und variability.•High neuroticism individuals ...attend to and worry more about the pandemic.•Neuroticism as an important predictor of affective responses to major health crises.
Large-scale health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may evoke negative affective responses, which are linked to psychological maladjustment and psychopathology. Here, we shed light on the role of the personality trait neuroticism in predicting who experiences negative affective responses. In a large-scale experience-sampling study (N = 1,609; 38,120 momentary reports), we showed that individuals high in neuroticism experienced more negative affect and higher affective variability in their daily lives. Individuals high in neuroticism also (a) paid more attention to COVID-19-related information and worried more about the consequences of the pandemic (crisis preoccupation), and (b) experienced more negative affect during this preoccupation (affective reactivity). These findings offer new insights into the consequences and dynamics of neuroticism in extreme environmental contexts.
Entrepreneurship research typically emphasizes firm-level outcomes such as growth and performance. However, people pursue entrepreneurship for deeply personal, idiosyncratic reasons. Therefore, as in ...other self-organized human pursuits, how entrepreneurship relates to fulfillment and well-being is of utmost importance. In this paper, we provide an overview of the well-being concept, related research, and its connection to entrepreneurship. We define entrepreneurial well-being as the experience of satisfaction, positive affect, infrequent negative affect, and psychological functioning in relation to developing, starting, growing, and running an entrepreneurial venture. We explain this definition of entrepreneurial well-being and review significant developments in our field and the broader field of well-being. Highlights of social, technological and institutional trends illustrate key areas for future research that can enhance our understanding of these phenomena. The eight papers in this special issue focus on entrepreneurial well-being each offering a specific perspective on how scholars can theorize and study the antecedents and consequences of entrepreneurship related to well-being.
•The special issue explores the relationship between entrepreneurship and well-being.•We offer a definition of well-being that integrates hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives.•The eight papers in the special issue offer a multidisciplinary view by drawing on various theoretical traditions, data sources, measurement, and empirical approaches.•We offer six directions for future research that call for embedding the conversation in the context of socio-economic change.•We highlight alternative methodological approaches that can be used to explore the topic.
The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 has forced governments to impose a lockdown, and many people have suddenly found themselves having to reduce their social relations drastically. Given the exceptional ...nature of similar situations, only a few studies have investigated the negative psychological effects of forced social isolation and how they can be mitigated in a real context. In the present study, we investigated whether the amount of digital communication technology use for virtual meetings (i.e., voice and video calls, online board games and multiplayer video games, or watching movies in party mode) during the lockdown promoted the perception of social support, which in itself mitigated the psychological effects of the lockdown in Italy. Data were collected in March 2020 (
= 465), during the lockdown imposed to reduce the COVID-19 spread. The results indicated that the amount of digital technology use reduced feelings of loneliness, anger/irritability, and boredom and increased belongingness
the perception of social support. The present study supported the positive role of digital technologies in maintaining meaningful social relationships even during an extreme situation such as a lockdown. Implications such as the need to reduce the digital divide and possible consequences of the ongoing pandemic are discussed.
Numerous studies emphasise the pivotal role of negative affect in the formation and maintenance of positive symptoms, which moves emotion regulation (ER) as a contributing factor into focus. We ...systematically reviewed and meta-analysed case-control studies reporting cross-sectional, correlative and experimental data of ER strategies in patients with psychotic disorders. In total, 42 studies were eligible, providing data for 2498 subjects and 3381 healthy controls. Questionnaire-based cross-sectional data (k=39) indicated strongest effects for rumination (g=-0,67 -0,85 to -0,48), self-blaming (g=-0,56; -0,76 to -0,37) and distraction (g=0,55 0,11 to 0,98). Suppression was more frequently (g=-0,36 -0,56 to -0,16) and cognitive reappraisal less frequently used (g=0,41 0,28 to 0,55), but heterogeneity was high. Correlative data (k=6) supported the assumption of an association between maladaptive strategies and positive symptoms (r=0,34 0,22 to 0,44). Less evidence of group differences was found in the experimental studies (k=3). The findings support the notion that ER is markedly impaired in patients with psychotic disorders. However, future research will need to further clarify the extent to which difficulties continue to exist after controlling for context and emotion intensity. The large effects for rumination and self-blaming point to promising treatment targets but also raise questions concerning the specifity of findings.
•Emotion regulation (ER) is markedly impaired in patients with psychotic disorders.•Maladaptive ER is more frequently and adaptive ER less frequently used.•Maladaptive but not adaptive ER strategies are associated with severity of positive symptoms.•No differences are evident in experimental studies, in which patients were instructed to use ER strategies.
Trait mindfulness appears to be related to lower levels of negative affective symptoms, but it remains uncertain which facets of mindfulness are most important in this relationship. Accordingly, the ...present meta-analysis examined studies reporting correlations between affective symptoms and trait mindfulness as assessed by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire. A comprehensive search yielded 148 eligible studies, comprising 157 distinct samples and 44,075 participants. The weighted mean correlation for affective symptoms and overall trait mindfulness was r = −0.53. Among mindfulness facets, Nonjudge (r = −0.48) and Act with Awareness (r = −0.47) demonstrated the largest correlations, followed by Nonreact (r = −0.33) and Describe (r = −0.29). Observe was not significantly correlated with affective symptoms. No significant differences in the strength of correlations were found between anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, though symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder exhibited a weaker negative relationship with the Describe facet compared to PTSD symptoms. Describe also showed a stronger relationship with affective symptoms in Eastern samples compared to Western samples, whereas Western samples had a stronger relationship with Nonjudge. These results provide insight into the nature of the association between trait mindfulness and negative affect.
•Higher trait mindfulness is associated with fewer negative affective symptoms.•Relationships with symptoms vary across different mindfulness facets.•Nonjudging and Acting with Awareness show the strongest correlations.•Observing is not meaningfully correlated with symptoms in non-meditators.•Relationships were mostly consistent across symptom type (e.g. anxiety, depression).
Spirituality and religiosity have been found to be positive predictors of subjective well-being, even if results are not altogether consistent across studies. This mixed evidence is probably due to ...the inadequate operationalization of the constructs as well as the neglect of the moderation effect that the individuals' religious status can have on the relation between spirituality/religiosity and subjective well-being. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship of spirituality and religiosity with subjective well-being (operationalized as both life satisfaction and balance between positive and negative affect) and to test whether differences exist according to individuals' religious status (religious, non-religious, and uncertain). Data were collected from 267 Italian adults aged 18-77 (
= 36.68; SD = 15.13), mainly women (59.9%). In order to test the role of spirituality (operationalized as Purpose, Innerness, Interconnection, and Transcendence) and religiosity (operationalized as three dimensions of the religious identity: Commitment, In-depth Exploration, and Reconsideration of Commitment) in subjective well-being, two path analysis models were run, one for each predictor. To test the invariance of the two models across the individuals' religious status, two multi-group models were run. The models concerning spirituality were tested on the entire sample, finding that spirituality had a positive impact on subjective well-being (except for the dimension of Interconnection) and that this relation is unaffected by the individual's religious status. The models concerning religiosity were instead tested only on religious and uncertain, finding that the relationship between religiosity and subjective well-being changes across religious status. In particular, the main difference we found was that religious identity commitment positively predicted satisfaction with life among religious, but not among uncertain individuals. An interpretation of the results and their implications are discussed.
•Identification of early distress may be useful in prevention of suicide transmission in families.•Children of mothers who have a suicide risk history are considered at-risk.•Maternal history of ...suicidal thoughts and behaviors predicts preschooler aggression.
Maternal history of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) has been identified as a robust risk factor for offspring emotional and behavioral problems, including risk for offspring STBs. The impact of maternal history of STBs has been well-documented in adolescent and young adult samples, with emerging research highlighting the need to examine early clinical correlates of risk in young children, prior to the emergence of STBs. In an extension of prior work, the current study examined associations between maternal history of STBs and previously identified emotional and behavioral correlates of STBs (negative affect, internalizing problems, attention problems, aggressive behavior) in young children. These associations were examined in a mother-preschooler sample (n = 158, mean preschooler age=41.52 months) with approximately half of mothers endorsing a history of STBs and 20 % of the sample scoring at the threshold that indicates suicide risk. In multivariate models, maternal history of STBs was significantly associated with preschooler aggressive behavior, assessed via mother- (β=0.19) and teacher-report (β=0.21), as well as mother-reported negative affect (β=0.22). Results document a link between maternal history of STBs and increased risk for heightened negative affect and aggressive behavior at home and school during the sensitive preschool period. Findings are discussed within the context of enhancing models of intergenerational transmission suicide risk.
•Mealtime anxiety predicted increased emotional avoidance at the next meal.•When considering concurrent guilt, anxiety did not predict emotional avoidance.•Mealtime guilt and physical discomfort ...predicted emotional avoidance.•These affective processes may differentially relate to eating disorder symptoms.•Guilt should be considered in conceptualizing the anxiety–avoidance cycle.
The relationship between negative emotions and avoidance is widely theorized as a bidirectional cycle implicated in a range of psychopathology. Historically, research on this cycle has examined one type of negative emotion: anxiety. Yet, a broader range of internal experiences may be implicated in the maintenance of unhealthy avoidance cycles in psychopathology. This study examines prospective relationships among anxiety, guilt, physical discomfort, and experiential avoidance during mealtimes for individuals with eating disorders (EDs). Participants (N = 108) completed ecological momentary assessments four times a day for 25 days. We computed multilevel models to examine between- and within-person effects of negative emotions and physical discomfort on experiential avoidance. When including guilt and anxiety in one model, guilt, but not anxiety, explained the significant variance in experiential avoidance at the next meal. Mealtime physical discomfort and experiential avoidance evidenced reciprocal prospective relationships. Future research should test whether interventions targeting experiential avoidance and physical discomfort at mealtimes disrupt guilt.
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