What “Age” Do We Live In?

Shift in Real Self

• Adhering to a high standard

• Living up to one’s standards

• Through achievements• When in control of

feelings and behaviors• Revealing life’s

perfection

• Expressing wants and feelings

• Not doing what one enjoys

• Through discovery• When constraint,

inhibitions removed• Reveal life’s

imperfections

Institution Emotion

Consequences of Shift From Institution to Emotion

1)Appearances Masking Vulnerability and Fear Jim Carrey’s Commencement Speech

2) Feeling - Functioning Disjunction

3) It about me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante

4) Focus on what’s next?

5) What’s in it for me?

Texas Tech UndergraduatesPerceived Importance of Each Domain

of Flourishing(Note: All paired samples t-test contrasts were significant at p < .05)

Not at All Important Very Important

Texas Tech UndergraduatesPerceived Importance of Each Dimensions

of Flourishing

Not at All Important Very Important

Adjusted Std. Coefficients of Perceived Importance and Level of Subjective Well-Being

Texas Tech Undergraduates

Personal Growth Initiative

• I know how to change specific things that I want to change in my life. • I have a good sense of where I am headed in my life. • If I want to change something in my life, I initiate the transition process. • I can choose the role that I want to have in a group. • I know what I need to do to get started toward reaching my goals. • I have a specific action plan to help me reach my goals. • I take charge of my life.

 • I know what my unique contribution to the world might be.

• I have a plan for making my life more balanced.

Support Family, Friends, and Faculty

• Important for Social Well-Being and Flourishing

• Items:– How much they care about you.– How much they understand the way you feel

about things.– How much you can rely on them for help if

you have a problem.– How much you can open up to them if you

need to talk about your worries or concerns.

Adolescents

Closeness to Others

How Do We Create More For Our Young Folks?

• Closeness to Others: how close they felt toward six individuals

• mother (or stepmother),

• father (or stepfather),

• sibling,

• friends,

• teacher,

• other adults outside of school.

Integration into School

How Do We Create More For Our Young Folks?

• School Integration: how often youth felt

– “part of your school,” – “close to people at your school,” – “happy to be at your school,”– “safe at your school”

Global Self Concept

How Do We Create More For Our Young Folks?

• Global Self Concept scale

– “I have a lot to be proud of,”

– “I can do things as well as most people,”

– “I’m as good as most other people,”

– “Other people think I am a good person,”

– “When I do something, I do it well,”

– “A lot of things about me are good.”

Connection: Flourishing and Social Well-Being in College

Kathryn Graff Low (2011)

Kathryn Graff Low (2011)

College Students(main effect of mental health)

College Students(no main effect of mental health)

Adjusted Log Odds

• Any Drug– CMI = 1.60

– EWB = .91

– PWB = .90

– SWB = ns

• Binge Drinking– CMI = 1.19

– EWB = .92

– PWB = .90

– SWB = 1.17

We Are Wired to Connect

• Vulnerability– http://www.ted.com/talks/

brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html• Love, Loss • Connection, Disconnection• Shame (fear of disconnection)

– something about me that if others see it I will not be worthy of connection

• not good enough, not fit enough, not pretty enough…

• we must allow ourselves to be seen for connection to happen

What We Need To Do More Of

•Courage (tell the story of who you are with your whole heart)

– Courage to be imperfect

•Worthiness of being loved•Kind to themselves and others•Authenticity

– Let go of who they should be to be who they were

•Embrace vulnerability– Believe that what made them vulnerable made them beautiful– Vulnerability is not comfortable; it is necessary– ACT intervention

Flourishers

1) “Just do it”2) Self Control 3) Capable 4) Deliberate 5) Apologize6) Malleable Mindsets7) Curiosity 8) Learn from Adversity9) Motivated by Mastery 10) Loved