Life events, self-concept, and adolescents' positive subjective well-being

Abstract

This study investigated the interrelationships among global self-concept, life events, and positive subjective well-being (positive affect [PA], negative affect [NA], and life satisfaction [LS]) in a sample of 92 high school students. The results demonstrated that life events contributed significant variance to predictions of PA, NA, and LS, over and above that of global self-concept. Also, daily events contributed variance over and above that of major life events. Looking at the specific event types that related uniquely to the positive well-being measures, only negative daily events related significantly to PA and NA, and only positive daily events related significantly to LS. The results also indicated that the positive well-being constructs each contained unique variance and had different correlates, thus providing strong support for the multidimensionality of adolescent positive well-being reports. Implications for further research and intervention programs are discussed. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.