Character Strengths' Change During COVID-19.

The COVID-19 had negative effects on individuals and nations worldwide. However, based on literature suggesting that crises can trigger growth, we propose that it may have also triggered individuals' character strengths development, especially among those having experienced moderate levels of difficulty during the pandemic and having received social support. The participants' (N = 1700) 24 character strengths were assessed twice: before and during COVID-19. At the second assessment, participants also reported the level of impact COVID-19 had on their lives, and their perceived social support. MANOVA analysis revealed a general increase in character strengths, with significant - but mainly negligible or small - increases in 17 strengths: appreciation of beauty and excellence, bravery, prudence, creativity, curiosity, fairness, gratitude, honesty, hope, judgment, kindness, leadership, perspective, self-regulation, social intelligence, spirituality, and zest. Across the 24 strengths, the reported level of COVID-19's impact (i.e., low, moderate, or high) was not associated with different changes during the pandemic. Univariate analyses showed that such changes were significant only in curiosity, forgiveness and kindness. The multivariate effect of social support on changes in character strengths was significant. Specifically, it enhanced the increase in love, prudence, curiosity, forgiveness, gratitude, honesty, hope, judgment, leadership, humility and zest during COVID-19, although the interactions effect sizes were small. The results suggest that, in the time frame examined in this study, character development processes triggered by COVID-19 were evident, yet specific changes in strengths were relatively mild. Some of these processes may have been enhanced by social support. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10902-022-00575-6.

Character Strengths as "Values in Action": Linking Character Strengths With Values Theory - An Exploratory Study of the Case of Gratitude and Self-Transcendence.

Character strengths are widely studied positive traits considered to be "values in action," reflecting morally valued virtues. They are hypothesized to serve as pathways to the manifestation of values in life for the benefit of individuals and societies. However, there is surprisingly limited theoretical writing and empirical research on the expected links of character strengths with specific values [e.g., as defined by Schwartz (1992)] or on character strengths as the pathway for behavioral and social manifestations of these values. In this paper, we delineate theoretical links between the two theories and outline their implications. We then provide an initial empirical examination of a specific character strength - gratitude, as a pathway from Schwartz's self-transcendence values (self-reported) to prosocial behavior and peer acceptance (rated by peers), in two samples of adolescents (9th grade and 11th grade). The findings indicated that most pathways were significant, providing initial support for the theoretical model. However, in one of the samples, the indirect path from self-transcendence values to prosocial behavior was only marginally significant. Taken together, the findings point to the need for further research on the role of character strengths in creating a pathway from values to various social outcomes.

Effects of a Mindfulness Intervention Among Arab Teachers Are Mediated by Decentering: A Pilot Study.

Although mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in education are widely spreading in the world, examination of mindfulness effects in Arab schools is still scarce. This pilot study aimed to fill this gap by examining the effects of an MBI among Arab teachers in Israel. This examination was conducted within the framework of the mindful self in school relationships (MSSR) model, which suggests that the positive effects of MBI on teachers' emotion regulation are mediated by decentering. The participants (N = 39) were teachers from two Arab elementary schools in Israel, who underwent an MBI course (the MBI condition, N = 20) and another cognitive intervention (the control condition, N = 19). In a pre-post design, participants completed mindfulness, decentering, emotion regulation, and stress questionnaires. We hypothesized that (1) only in the MBI group, teachers' mindfulness, decentering, and emotional regulation will increase and stress will decrease, and (2) changes in teachers' decentering would mediate the associations of changes in teachers' mindfulness with changes in their emotion regulation. ANOVA analyses show that, only in the MBI condition, teachers showed an increase in three mindfulness subscales (acting with awareness, non-reactivity, and observance), in decentering, and in adaptive emotion regulation (reappraisal) and a decrease in stress. Furthermore, changes from pre-intervention to post-intervention in teachers' decentering mediated the associations of their pre-post changes in mindfulness with changes in emotion regulation. This study provides initial support to the feasibility and efficacy of MBI among Israeli Arab teachers and suggests decentering as a potential mediator of its effects in initial support of the MSSR model.

Teachers' Sense of Meaning Associations With Teacher Performance and Graduates' Resilience: A Study of Schools Serving Students of Low Socio-Economic Status.

Adolescents from lower socio-economic status (SES) often experience distress in their personal life as well as at school. Moreover, their ability to overcome such difficulties and pave their path to a higher SES depends, to a certain extent, on their ability to develop resilience despite their disadvantaged background. Acknowledging the critical contribution of teachers to students' development, in the present study, we focused on teachers as agents who may influence graduates' resilience, and on their sense of meaning at work-a resource these teachers may draw upon to increase their performance and contribute to their disadvantaged students and to their relationships with them. Specifically, we postulated that teachers' sense of meaning at work will be associated with teachers' performance and that teachers' relationships with their students would mediate this association, as they serve as the main vehicle through which teachers impact their students. We further suggested that teachers' sense of meaning would have long-term effects on students' coping abilities, reflected in school graduates' resilience levels. The study comprised 857 participants, teachers and graduates, from 30 Arab vocational schools in Israel, comprising mainly low SES students. Teachers (N = 436) completed self-report measures of their sense of meaning at work, relationships with students, and performance. Furthermore, to reveal potential long-term effects of teachers' sense of meaning at work, school graduates (N = 421) completed measures of their relationships with teachers and resilience. Analyses indicated a significant association of teachers' sense of meaning with their performance, which was mediated by teachers' reports of their relationships with students. Furthermore, teachers' sense of meaning at work and graduates' perceptions of their relationships with the teachers were both significantly associated with graduates' resilience. The findings highlight teachers' sense of meaning at work as a potential contributor to their performance, which may also contribute to students' resilience in lower SES schools. They point to teachers' sense of meaning as a potential resource for teachers of lower SES students and highlight the importance of nurturing and developing it in various programs and practices (e.g., teacher training, teacher development, organizational routines).

Contemplative neuroscience, self-awareness, and education.

Accumulating research in education shows that contemplative practices contribute to and foster well-being of individuals in sustainable ways. This bears special importance for teachers, as it affects not only them but also their students. Based on accumulating behavioral and neuroscientific findings, it has been suggested that a key process by which mindfulness meditation enhances self-regulation is the altering of self-awareness. Indeed, accumulated work shows that the underlying networks supporting various types of self-awareness are malleable following meditative practice. However, the field of education has developed independently from the study of the self and its relation to contemplative neuroscience thus far, and to date there is no systematic account linking this accumulating body of knowledge to the field of education or discussing how it might be relevant to teachers. Here we show how incorporating insights from contemplative neuroscience-which are built on the conceptualization and neuroscience of the self-into contemplative pedagogy can inform the field and might even serve as a core underlying mechanism tying together different empirical evidence. This review points to potential neural mechanisms by which mindfulness meditation helps teachers manage stress and promote supportive learning environments, resulting in improved educational outcomes, and thus it has significant implications for educational policy regarding teachers.

Daily Dynamics of Teachers' Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Social and Emotional Antecedents and Outcomes.

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is considered vital for organizations' performance, and there is notable interest in factors that foster it. However, recent research has questioned the absolute positivity of OCB and pointed to its understudied possible adverse effects (e.g., on employees' well-being). The present research aims to shed light on these issues by exploring the daily dynamics of employees' social and emotional work lives' interplay with their OCB. Specifically, the research focuses on teachers, whose job enables notable OCB and whose performance is profoundly affected by it. Based on the literature linking work relationships and emotional experiences with OCB, we examined the interplay between teachers' OCB and their daily perceived supervisor and colleague support, and daily positive and negative emotional experiences. Sixty teachers completed self-report questionnaires of the research variables every day for 12 workdays. Results indicated significant associations of daily supervisor support and negative emotions with increased OCB on the following day, links of daily positive emotions with decreased OCB on the following day, and associations of daily OCB with increased negative emotions on the following day. These findings point to daily processes that may underlie longer term effects of OCB (such as burnout), including a potential downward spiral of negative emotions that seem to result from OCB and reinforce it.

Attachment, Conflict Resolution, Marital Satisfaction, and Culture in Women / Apego, Resolución de Conflictos, Satisfacción Marital, y Cultura en Mujeres

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare levels of attachment, conflict resolution strategies and marital satisfaction in women from Israel, United States, Turkey, and Spain (N = 343). A sample of individuals involved in a romantic relationship at ages 18-68 (M = 35.4, SD = 11.83) completed measures of attachment dimensions, conflict resolution strategies, and marital satisfaction. Tucker Phi coefficients revealed the same structure of the scales across all countries. Mean comparisons were used. Differences were observed among women from Israel, Turkey, USA, and Spain in attachment (avoidant and anxiety), as well as in own conflict resolution strategies and in perception of partner's conflict resolution strategies. In individualistic countries, women reported using conflict withdrawal to a higher extent. Women from collectivistic cultures showed higher levels of avoidant attachment and of use of demand strategy. No cultural differences in women's marital satisfaction were observed. Results are discussed in light of the combined possible effects of cultural dimensions and individual variables.

Resumen El objetivo de este estudio fue comparar los niveles de apego, las estrategias de resolución de conflicto y la satisfacción marital en mujeres de diferentes países. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 343 mujeres (13.4% Turquía, 14.3% EE.UU, 25.1% Israel y 47.2% España) cuyas edades oscilaban entre 18 y 68 años (M = 35.4, SD = 11.83). Las mujeres completaron una serie de cuestionarios de auto-registro que evaluaban las dimensiones de apego, estrategias de resolución de conflicto (percibidos en uno mismo y en la pareja) y la satisfacción marital. El análisis de equivalencia estructural reveló que existe la misma estructura interna en los países del estudio en todas las escalas (Tucker Phi > 0.90). Para analizar las diferencias culturales entre las variables se llevó a cabo una comparación de medias con análisis de varianza (ANOVA). Los resultados obtenidos muestran que existen diferencias entre los países tanto en las dimensiones del apego inseguro (ansiedad y evitación) como en las estrategias de resolución de conflictos percibidas en uno mismo y en la pareja. Por el contrario, no existen diferencias significativas entre las mujeres de diferentes países en satisfacción marital (F (3,339) = 0.56, p = 0.65). Las mujeres de culturas colectivistas son las que mayor puntuación obtienen en la dimensión evitativa del apego. En cuanto a las estrategias de resolución de conflictos, se encontró que aquellas mujeres de países más individualistas son las que obtienen puntuaciones más elevadas de evitación del conflicto, mientras que aquellas mujeres de países colectivistas se perciben así mismas como más demandantes. Las mujeres españolas perciben en mayor medida que sus parejas solucionan positivamente los conflictos, seguidas de Israel, Turquía y EE.UU. En cuanto a la satisfacción marital, las mujeres de culturas femeninas (España y Turquía) obtuvieron mayor puntuación en comparación a culturas masculinas (Estados Unidos e Israel).

Intensive meditation training influences emotional responses to suffering.

Meditation practices purportedly help people develop focused and sustained attention, cultivate feelings of compassionate concern for self and others, and strengthen motivation to help others who are in need. We examined the impact of 3 months of intensive meditative training on emotional responses to scenes of human suffering. Sixty participants were assigned randomly to either a 3-month intensive meditation retreat or a wait-list control group. Training consisted of daily practice in techniques designed to improve attention and enhance compassionate regard for others. Participants viewed film scenes depicting human suffering at pre- and posttraining laboratory assessments, during which both facial and subjective measures of emotion were collected. At post-assessment, training group participants were more likely than controls to show facial displays of sadness. Trainees also showed fewer facial displays of rejection emotions (anger, contempt, disgust). The groups did not differ on the likelihood or frequency of showing these emotions prior to training. Self-reported sympathy--but not sadness or distress--predicted sad behavior and inversely predicted displays of rejection emotions in trainees only. These results suggest that intensive meditation training encourages emotional responses to suffering characterized by enhanced sympathetic concern for, and reduced aversion to, the suffering of others.

Supervisor security provision: correlates and related mechanisms.

Attachment security in relationships is associated with several positive outcomes. Recently, researchers have applied attachment theory to employee-supervisor relationships. Two studies examined associations of supervisors' provision of attachment-related security with work-related outcomes and related underlying mechanisms. Participants completed measures of their supervisors' security provisions and of their own job satisfaction, organizational commitment, burnout, and performance. Supervisors' security provisions were associated with positive work-related outcomes, which were mediated by closeness behaviors (Study 1; N = 150, M age = 33.3 yr., SD = 9.6). These associations were also mediated by employees' sense of meaning at work when the supervisor was of the same sex (Study 2; N = 120, M age = 26.5 yr., SD = 5.0). Findings supported attachment-related dynamics in employee-supervisor relationships and suggested psychological mechanisms underlying these effects.

Attachment patterns of Arabs and Jews in Israel--are we really so different?

BACKGROUND: Attachment orientations reflect internal representations of self, others, and relationships. Studies revealed meaningful cultural differences in attachment orientations, but few included Arab samples. to fill this gap, we compared attachment orientations of Jews and Arabs in Israel using valid measures. METHOD: Israeli participants (292 Arabs and 206 Jews) described their attachment figures and completed the Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire which measures anxious and avoidant attachment orientations in Arabic and Hebrew, respectively. RESULTS: Israeli Arabs reported higher attachment anxiety than Israeli Jews, but no difference was found in avoidance. Both groups reported that attachment figures were similar in gender and relationship type, and included romantic partners, relatives and friends. LIMITATIONS: Findings should be considered cautiously due to sampling limitations. CONCLUSIONS: the results complement previous cross-cultural findings and Arabs-Jews differences in relationship-related norms/values. Higher attachment-anxiety scores observed among Israeli Arabs may be considered culturally normative with implications for the development of culturally competent interventions.

Enhanced response inhibition during intensive meditation training predicts improvements in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning.

We examined the impact of training-induced improvements in self-regulation, operationalized in terms of response inhibition, on longitudinal changes in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning. Data were collected from participants undergoing 3 months of intensive meditation training in an isolated retreat setting (Retreat 1) and a wait-list control group that later underwent identical training (Retreat 2). A 32-min response inhibition task (RIT) was designed to assess sustained self-regulatory control. Adaptive functioning (AF) was operationalized as a single latent factor underlying self-report measures of anxious and avoidant attachment, mindfulness, ego resilience, empathy, the five major personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience), difficulties in emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, and psychological well-being. Participants in Retreat 1 improved in RIT performance and AF over time whereas the controls did not. The control participants later also improved on both dimensions during their own retreat (Retreat 2). These improved levels of RIT performance and AF were sustained in follow-up assessments conducted approximately 5 months after the training. Longitudinal dynamic models with combined data from both retreats showed that improvement in RIT performance during training influenced the change in AF over time, which is consistent with a key claim in the Buddhist literature that enhanced capacity for self-regulation is an important precursor of changes in emotional well-being.