The Baylor Religion Survey (Wave 6; 2021) contains the most comprehensive set of prayer questions of any national survey of the USA; it also contains multiple indicators of mental health and well-being, specifically measures of happiness, depression, anxiety, sense of control, mattering, and dignity. This paper provides a complete overview of how various dimensions of prayer correlate with these different aspects of well-being. While many of these relationships will require more intensive investigation, our synopsis provides confirmation of past expectations using new data. Overall, we find that prayer is related to mental well-being in both positive and negative ways. Specifically, we find that praying with others and positive emotions felt during prayer are correlated with greater overall mental health and more positive self-concepts. However, we also find that petitionary prayer topics, belief that God is impersonal, and negative emotions felt during prayer coincide with higher levels of depression, anxiety, and a lack of control. Generally, these conclusions hold after controlling for basic demographics, religious tradition, and church attendance, which confirms that mental well-being is related to the practice of prayer in both beneficial and detrimental ways.

To deepen the development of positive affect during early adolescence and shed new light on its predictors, this study adopts an exploratory network approach to first identify the main domains that describe the variability of children\'s psychological, environmental, and behavioral characteristics, and then use these domains to longitudinally predict positive affect and its development within a latent growth framework. To this aim, we considered 10,904 US participants (9 years old at baseline; 13 years old 42 months later), six measurement occasions of positive affect, and 46 baseline indicators from the ABCD study. Our results not only confirm that positive affect declines between 9 and 13 years old, but also show that among the five domains identified (behavioral dysregulation, cognitive functioning, psychological problems, supportive social environment, and extracurricular activities), only a supportive social environment consistently predicts positive affect. This is crucial for practitioners and policymakers, as it can help them focus on the elements within our complex network of psychological, social, and environmental variability.

Behavioral niceness has an important place in maintaining interpersonal relationships. Scale studies are needed to determine the level of niceness that plays a role in individuals\' development of healthy daily interactions with other people. In this study, firstly, the psychometric properties of the Niceness Scale, which consists of six items, were examined in a Turkish sample (N = 404). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the six-item one-dimensional structure, and item response analysis revealed a high level of discrimination across all items. The relationship of the Niceness Scale with previously validated and reliable scales was examined, and it was found that criterion-related validity was achieved. Furthermore, a network analysis revealed the relationships between the variables more clearly. In the scale\'s measurement invariance analysis, consistency was found for both genders. Then, the reliability of the Niceness Scale was proven with different reliability values. In a different Turkish sample (N = 372), it was determined that depression played a statistically significant mediating role in the relationship between niceness and subjective happiness. In conclusion, this study revealed that the one factor and six-item Niceness Scale are valid and reliable in the Turkish sample. Moreover, boosting niceness has been determined to reduce negative situations such as depression and therefore enhance subjective happiness. All these important implications about niceness are discussed in light of the literature.

UNASSIGNED: Happiness is among the fundamental concepts in mental health that have an impact on different aspects of university students. In this study, we aimed to estimate the prevalence of happiness among university students in Vietnam and to identify the factors influencing happiness.
UNASSIGNED: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on undergraduate students in 8 universities and colleges in Hanoi, Vietnam. Happiness was measured using the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), and we used imputed Poisson regression to evaluate associations between happiness and associated factors.
UNASSIGNED: Among 9120 participants students (95.1% response rate), the prevalence of \"happier group\" was 80.9% (95% CI: 80.1-81.7). In the multivariable regression models, factors associated with being \"less happy\" on SHS were the perceived financial burden, year in university, academic motivation profile, and self-reported depression and anxiety.
UNASSIGNED: University healthcare providers should pay attention to these associated factors while designing mental health care programs to promote happiness among university students.

UNASSIGNED: This study explored whether engagement with Creating Arts and Crafting (CAC) predicted subjective wellbeing and loneliness, above and beyond known sociodemographic predictors.
UNASSIGNED: Secondary data from 7,182 adults living in England from the Taking Part Survey (a 2019-2020 UK household survey of culture and sport participation) were analyzed. Hierarchical Linear regressions were used to explore the predictive effect of engagement with CAC on aspects of subjective wellbeing (anxiety, happiness, life satisfaction and a sense that life is worthwhile) and loneliness. Covariates included gender, Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), age group, health and employment status.
UNASSIGNED: Engaging in CAC significantly predicted increased life satisfaction, a sense that life is worthwhile and happiness, above and beyond known sociodemographic predictors.
UNASSIGNED: Our study provides support for the wellbeing benefits of engagement with creating arts and crafting, and we suggest that this will be a useful tool at a public health level, noting that relative accessibility and affordability creating arts and crafting.

BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QoL) assessment is essential in health-related research and clinical settings, offering insights into individuals\' well-being and functioning. This study validated the Essential QoL-3 (EQoL-3), an ultra-short scale assessing essential dimensions of QoL, for use in epidemiological research and clinical settings.
METHODS: Data from a 2021 national survey in Norway (N = 17,487) were used. Three items on the EQoL-3 assess life satisfaction, happiness, and meaningfulness on a 0-10 scale. Discriminant validity was assessed by comparing the EQoL-3 with the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and by examining latent mean differences between individuals with adverse life experiences (ALE+) and those without such experiences (ALE-). Convergent validity was evaluated through latent regression analyses comparing the EQoL-3 with a perceived mastery scale and a mental distress scale.
RESULTS: The discriminant validity of the EQoL-3 was less than optimal when compared with the SWLS. Nonetheless, a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the EQoL-3 score was 1.42 (95% CI = 1.33-1.50, p < 0.001) lower in the ALE+ group compared to the ALE- group, providing support for discriminant validity. Convergent validity was established with a positive association between EQoL-3 and mastery (β = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.70-1.80, p < 0.001) and a negative association between the EQoL-3 and mental distress (β = -2.64, 95% CI = -2.71/-2.59, p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: The EQoL-3 is a reliable measure of QoL. Its streamlined nature facilitates quick administration, making it a valuable tool for clinicians and researchers in diverse settings. Its inclusion of the eudaimonic dimension, as well as its exclusion of health items in the measure itself, distinguishes it from traditional HQoL measures, making it suitable for mental health and substance use disorder research.

UNASSIGNED: The mental health of the parents of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), particularly the mothers, is poor due to the severity and complex nature of this condition, and they encounter numerous issues. This investigation aimed to determine whether happiness education affected mothers of children with ASD\'s Expressed Emotions (EE) and Quality of Life (QoL).
UNASSIGNED: A total of 70 mothers of children with ASD aged 3 to 13 years participated in this clinical trial study research. The experimental group received the Fordyce happiness training program once every 6 weeks via WhatsApp. In three stages, data were collected using a demographic form, the Family Questionnaire (FQ), and the World Health Organization Quality Of Life Instrument, Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF) (before the intervention, immediately afterward, and 1 month later). In the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, the acquired data were analyzed using independent-sample t-tests, Chi-square tests, and repeated-measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
UNASSIGNED: There was no significant difference in EE and QoL mean scores between the two groups before the intervention, but after, the intervention group\'s mean score of EE (20.91 (4.355)) was substantially lower than the control group\'s (44.74 (4.77)) (p < 0.001). In comparison, the intervention group\'s mean score of QoL and its dimensions was more significant than the control group\'s (p < 0.001).
UNASSIGNED: Given the efficacy of the happiness education program in reducing EE and enhancing QoL in mothers of children with ASD, such treatment strategies should be developed and used.

BACKGROUND: Happiness is a cognitive and emotional evaluation of one\'s life, and the upward approach affects satisfaction and happiness throughout life. Because nursing students must experience medical settings closely related to COVID-19 infection through clinical practice, they are vulnerable to exposure to infection and academic stress, and are also sensitive to personal life satisfaction and happiness. In this study, Korean nursing students who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic during the COVID-19 endemic era were divided into nursing students infected with COVID-19 and non-infected nursing students. By identifying the effects of college life adaptation, leisure satisfaction from club activities, and family health on happiness, which are individual sub-factors of happiness, we intend to provide basic data for the development of intervention programs for promoting their happiness.
METHODS: Data were collected from October 4, 2023 to November 15, 2023. The subjects were 343 students enrolled in five nursing schools in four major cities (D, G, K, and Y) in Korea. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson\'s correlation coefficients.
RESULTS: For COVID+ students, happiness was significantly affected by adaptation to campus life and family strengths. This model had r2 = 0.401; i.e., it explained 40.1% of the variability in happiness. For COVID0 students, happiness was significantly affected by adaptation to campus life and subjective health status, with r2 = 0.346.
CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate the necessity of developing a happiness-promotion program for nursing students.

Humans can decode emotional states from the body odors of the conspecifics and this type of emotional communication is particularly relevant in conditions in which social interactions are impaired, as in depression and social anxiety. The present study aimed to explore how body odors collected in happiness and fearful conditions modulate the subjective ratings, the psychophysiological response and the neural processing of neutral faces in individuals with depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and healthy controls (N = 22 per group). To this aim, electrocardiogram (ECG) and HD-EEG were recorded continuously. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was extracted from the ECG as a measure of vagal tone, event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related spectral perturbations (ERPSs) were extracted from the EEG. The results revealed that the HRV increased during the fear and happiness body odors conditions compared to clean air, but no group differences emerged. For ERPs data, repeated measure ANOVA did not show any significant effects. However, the ERPSs analyses revealed a late increase in delta power and a reduced beta power both at an early and a late stage of stimulus processing in response to the neutral faces presented with the emotional body odors, regardless of the presence of depressive or social anxiety symptoms. The current research offers new insights, demonstrating that emotional chemosignals serve as potent environmental cues. This represents a substantial advancement in comprehending the impact of emotional chemosignals in both individuals with and without affective disorders.

Gratitude has proved to be an enhancer of subjective well-being in previous studies. However, studies that linked the relation between emotional intelligence and its facets when interacting with gratitude, are still limited. In this sense, this study examined the mediating roles of emotional intelligence between gratitude and subjective well-being indicators, by introducing the general factor of emotional intelligence. The first approach to data analysis was to examine the descriptive statistics; the second approach consisted of an Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling, applying also a bifactor analysis. Data was collected from 406 Spanish students, through an online survey that includes the gratitude, trait meta mood scale, satisfaction with life and subjective happiness scale. The mean age of participants was 20.27 years (SD = 4.68), whereas 79.5% were females. The results provided preliminary evidence of the mediation role of the general factor of emotional intelligence between gratitude and subjective well-being, which provided a meaningful insight about the role of trait emotional intelligence. These findings suggested that gratitude promotes emotional intelligence, allowing to an increase in subjective well-being. Nonetheless, there is a need for further research to achieve a better understanding of the role of the emotional intelligence facets between gratitude and subjective well-being.