IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v22y2021i8d10.1007_s10902-021-00373-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Authentic Inner Compass as a Well-Being Resource: Predictive Effects on Vitality, and Relations with Self-Esteem, Depression and Behavioral Self-realization

Author

Listed:
  • Avi Assor

    (Ben Gurion University of the Negev)

  • Moti Benita

    (Ben Gurion University of the Negev)

  • Yu Shi

    (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Rima Goren

    (Ben Gurion University of the Negev)

  • Noam Yitshaki

    (Ben Gurion University of the Negev)

  • Qian Wang

    (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

This paper seeks to expand our knowledge on autonomy experiences predicting, or associated with, important well-being attributes, by drawing on the concept of an “Authentic Inner Compass” (AIC, Assor 2012, 2018; Vansteenkiste and Soenens 2015): Sense of knowing what is truly important to us in terms of values, aspirations, and goals. Study 1 (304 Hong Kong students; mean age = 20.3 years), showed that sense of AIC predicted increased subjective vitality and self-esteem over time. Study 2 (257 Israeli students, mean age = 16.2 years) validated a measure of the experience of behavioral self-realization, hypothesized to mediate the links between AIC and positive well-being attributes. Study 3 (307 Israeli students, mean age = 16.3 years) showed that AIC had direct links with vitality and low depression, and was also indirectly linked to depression via behavioral self-realization. This study also examined the hypothesis that the associations between AIC, and the indicators of behavioral self-realization, vitality and low depression, hold also after controlling for another, widely researched autonomy experience: psychological freedom and volition (Chen et al.’s [2015] need for autonomy scale). Results supported this hypothesis. The findings suggest that sense of AIC is associated with increased vitality and self-esteem over time. Results also suggest that sense of AIC and psychological freedom and volition are two distinct autonomy experiences that are uniquely associated with important well-being attributes. Future research may examine the benefits of supporting these two autonomy experiences in youth.

Suggested Citation

  • Avi Assor & Moti Benita & Yu Shi & Rima Goren & Noam Yitshaki & Qian Wang, 2021. "The Authentic Inner Compass as a Well-Being Resource: Predictive Effects on Vitality, and Relations with Self-Esteem, Depression and Behavioral Self-realization," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(8), pages 3435-3455, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:22:y:2021:i:8:d:10.1007_s10902-021-00373-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-021-00373-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-021-00373-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-021-00373-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sebastiano Costa & Francesca Cuzzocrea & Maria C. Gugliandolo & Rosalba Larcan, 2016. "Associations Between Parental Psychological Control and Autonomy Support, and Psychological Outcomes in Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Need Satisfaction and Need Frustration," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 9(4), pages 1059-1076, December.
    2. Albert Satorra & Peter Bentler, 2010. "Ensuring Positiveness of the Scaled Difference Chi-square Test Statistic," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 75(2), pages 243-248, June.
    3. Beiwen Chen & Jasper Assche & Maarten Vansteenkiste & Bart Soenens & Wim Beyers, 2015. "Does Psychological Need Satisfaction Matter When Environmental or Financial Safety are at Risk?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 745-766, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. César Merino-Soto & Gina Chávez-Ventura & Verónica López-Fernández & Guillermo M. Chans & Filiberto Toledano-Toledano, 2022. "Learning Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-L): Psychometric and Measurement Invariance Evidence in Peruvian Undergraduate Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    2. Anastasia Stathopoulou & Tommy Kweku Quansah & George Balabanis, 2022. "The Blinding Effects of Team Identification on Sports Corruption: Cross-Cultural Evidence from Sub-Saharan African Countries," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 511-529, August.
    3. Lars Petersen & Jacob Hörisch & Kathleen Jacobs, 2021. "Worse is worse and better doesn't matter?: The effects of favorable and unfavorable environmental information on consumers’ willingness to pay," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(5), pages 1338-1356, October.
    4. F Rodrigues & R Macedo & DS Teixeira & L Cid & D Monteiro, 2020. "Motivation in sport and exercise: a comparison between the BRSQ and BREQ," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1335-1350, August.
    5. Folk, György, 2019. "Weal: the universal core of human well-being," MPRA Paper 97082, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Antonio J. Rodríguez-Hidalgo & Anabel Alcívar & Mauricio Herrera-López, 2019. "Traditional Bullying and Discriminatory Bullying Around Special Educational Needs: Psychometric Properties of Two Instruments to Measure It," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, January.
    7. Trey Malone & K. Aleks Schaefer & Felicia Wu, 2021. "The Razor's Edge of “Essential” Labor in Food and Agriculture," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 368-381, March.
    8. Ann DeSmet & Maddalena Rodelli & Michel Walrave & Gwendolyn Portzky & Eva Dumon & Bart Soenens, 2021. "The Moderating Role of Parenting Dimensions in the Association between Traditional or Cyberbullying Victimization and Mental Health among Adolescents of Different Sexual Orientation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Olenka Dworakowski & Zilla M. Huber & Tabea Meier & Ryan L. Boyd & Mike Martin & Andrea B. Horn, 2022. "You Do Not Have to Get through This Alone: Interpersonal Emotion Regulation and Psychosocial Resources during the COVID-19 Pandemic across Four Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-20, November.
    10. Chen, Tingting & Li, Fuli & Chen, Xiao-Ping & Ou, Zhanying, 2018. "Innovate or die: How should knowledge-worker teams respond to technological turbulence?," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 1-16.
    11. Díaz, Estrella & Martín-Consuegra, David & Esteban, Águeda, 2015. "Perceptions of service cannibalisation: The moderating effect of the type of travel agency," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 329-342.
    12. Joana R. Casanova & Leandro S. Almeida & Francisco Peixoto & Rui-Bártolo Ribeiro & João Marôco, 2019. "Academic Expectations Questionnaire: A Proposal for a Short Version," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(1), pages 21582440188, January.
    13. Goda Kaniušonytė & Mary Page Leggett-James & Brett Laursen, 2021. "A Longitudinal Examination of Perceived Parent Behavior and Positive Youth Development: Child-Driven Effects," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-15, September.
    14. Veljko Jovanović & Maksim Rudnev & Christ Billy Aryanto & Beatrice Adriana Balgiu & Corrado Caudek & Jesus Alfonso D. Datu & Tharina Guse & Theodoros Kyriazos & Louise Lambert & Krishna Kumar Mishra &, 2024. "A Cross-Cultural Evaluation of Diener’s Tripartite Model of Subjective Well-Being Across 16 Countries," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 1-25, August.
    15. Branko Vermote & Joachim Waterschoot & Sofie Morbée & Jolene Van der Kaap-Deeder & Charlotte Schrooyen & Bart Soenens & Richard Ryan & Maarten Vansteenkiste, 2022. "Do Psychological Needs Play a Role in Times of Uncertainty? Associations with Well-Being During the COVID-19 Crisis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 257-283, January.
    16. Álvaro-Francisco Morote & María Hernández, 2022. "What Do School Children Know about Climate Change? A Social Sciences Approach," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, April.
    17. Majid Ghasemy, 2022. "Estimating models with independent observed variables based on the PLSe2 methodology: a Monte Carlo simulation study," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4129-4159, December.
    18. A. Felipe & N. Martín & P. Miranda & L. Pardo, 2018. "Statistical inference in constrained latent class models for multinomial data based on $$\phi $$ ϕ -divergence measures," Advances in Data Analysis and Classification, Springer;German Classification Society - Gesellschaft für Klassifikation (GfKl);Japanese Classification Society (JCS);Classification and Data Analysis Group of the Italian Statistical Society (CLADAG);International Federation of Classification Societies (IFCS), vol. 12(3), pages 605-636, September.
    19. Gibson, Samantha & Hsu, Maxwell K. & Zhou, Xing, 2022. "Convenience stores in the digital age: A focus on the customer experience and revisit intentions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    20. Svenja B. Frenzel & Antonia J. Kaluza & Nina M. Junker & Rolf van Dick, 2022. "Sweet as Sugar—How Shared Social Identities Help Patients in Coping with Diabetes Mellitus," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-18, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:22:y:2021:i:8:d:10.1007_s10902-021-00373-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.