Human Well-Being and Historical Ecosystems: The Environmentalist's Paradox Revisited

The structure of psychological well-being revisited.

A theoretical model of psychological well-being that encompasses 6 distinct dimensions of wellness (Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, Personal Growth, Positive Relations with Others, Purpose in Life, Self-Acceptance) was tested with data from a nationally representative sample of adults (N = 1,108), aged 25 and older, who participated in telephone interviews. Confirmatory factor analyses provide...

Challenging the Internet Paradox: Online Depression Communities and Well-Being

This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the association between the intensity of participation in online depression communities and the benefits users gain from participation. The study was based on an online survey of 631 users in 16 English language-based online depression communities. Results indicated that there were several differences between heavy, medium and light users with regard ...

Individual and Societal Wisdom: Explaining the Paradox of Human Aging and High Well-Being.

Objective: Although human aging is characterized by loss of fertility and progressive decline in physical abilities, later life is associated with better psychological health and well-being. Furthermore, there has been an unprecedented increase in average lifespan over the past century without corresponding extensions of fertile and healthy age spans. We propose a possible explanation for these...

Understanding Human Well - being

Untangling the Environmentalist’s Paradox: Why Is Human Well-being Increasing as Ecosystem Services Degrade?

Environmentalists have argued that ecological degradation will lead to declines in the well-being of people dependent on ecosystem services. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment paradoxically found that human well-being has increased despite large global declines in most ecosystem services. We assess four explanations of these divergent trends: (1) We have measured well-being incorrectly; (2) we...