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Positivity: The Dispositional Basis of Happiness

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Abstract

The present study examined in a stringent developmental model whether positivity, conceptualized as a pervasive mode of appraising, viewing, and perceiving life from a positive stance, predicts chronic positive affectivity across time or vice versa. Participants [263 participants (47 % males)], aged 15.5 at the beginning of the study and 23.5 at the end, reported on measures of positivity and dispositional positive affect four times. Longitudinal findings corroborated the posited paths of relations, with positivity significantly predicting positive affectivity across time rather than vice versa.

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Notes

  1. We use the Greek letter of φ to refer to covariances. These parameters are represented by double headed arrows in Fig. 1.

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  1. Sapienza, University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Gian Vittorio Caprara & Guido Alessandri

  2. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Nancy Eisenberg

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Caprara, G.V., Eisenberg, N. & Alessandri, G. Positivity: The Dispositional Basis of Happiness. J Happiness Stud 18, 353–371 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-016-9728-y

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