print

Studies

Park et al. (2010): study US 2002

Publication

Author(s):
Park, N.; Park, M; Peterson, C.
Title:
When is the search for meaning related to life-satisfaction?
Source:
Applied psychology, health and well-being: 2 (1) 1-13

Investigation

Public
Users of a positive psychology website, United States, 2002-2005
Survey name
Unnamed study
Sample
Non-probability self-selected
Respondents
N = 731
Non Response
Assessment
Questionnaire: Conputer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI)
Respondents voluntarily registered on the website, provided demographic information, and completed measures of their choosing. Respondents received immediate feedback about their scores relative to other respondents, and this feature apparently motivated them.

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on 20 questions.

This scale consists of a number of words that describe different feelings and emotions. Read each item and mark the appropriate answer in the space next to that word. Indicate to what extend you feel this way right now:
A  nervous
B  distressed
C  afraid
D  jittery
E  irritable
F  upset
G  scared
H  ashamed
I  guilty
J  hostile
K  excited
L  active
M  determined
N  inspired
O  enthusiastic
P  alert
Q  attentive
R  proud
S  strong
T  interested

Answer options:  
1  very slightly or not at all
2  a little
3  moderately
4  quite a bit
5  extremely

Negative affect score (NAS): A to J
Positive affect score (PAS): K to T
Affect Balance Score  (ABS): PAS - NAS

Name: Watson's PANAS ('moment' version)
Classification:
A-BW-m-mq-v-5-a
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range -40 - 40 On range 0-10
Mean:
22.70 -
SD:
7.55 -

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Presence of Meaning Questions on both meaning and purpose in life Search for Meaning Concern about meaning of life
Searching for meaning
Life Satisfaction Happiness inventories involving unacceptable items Depression Depressive (f31-33)