In well-being research the term happiness is often used as synonymous with life satisfaction. However, little is known about lay people’s understanding of happiness. Building on the available literature, this study explored lay definitions of happiness across nations and cultural dimensions, analyzing their components and relationship with participants’ demographic features. Participants were 2799 adults (age range=30-60, 50% women) living in urban areas of Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and United States. They completed the Eudaimonic and Hedonic Happiness Investigation (EHHI), reporting, among other information, their own definition of happiness. Answers comprised definitions referring to a broad range of life domains, covering both the contextual-social sphere and the psychological sphere. Across countries and with little variation by age and gender, inner harmony predominated among psychological definitions, and family and social relationships among contextual definitions. Whereas relationships are widely acknowledged as basic happiness components, inner harmony is substantially neglected. Nevertheless, its cross-national primacy, together with relations, is consistent with the view of an ontological interconnectedness characterizing living systems, shared by several conceptual frameworks across disciplines and cultures. At the methodological level, these findings suggest the potential of a bottom-up, mixed method approach to contextualize psychological dimensions within culture and lay understanding.

Six climbers were monitored during an expedition in the Himalaya, comprising 13 days of traveling and 26 days of mountaineering. The aim was the investigation of the quality of experienceand risk perception associated with high-altitude rock climbing. By means of experience sampling method, participants provided on-line repeated self-reports about activities carriedout, and the associated quality of the experience, in terms of mood, intrinsic motivation, potency, confidence, engagement, and risk assessment. The experience fluctuation model wasapplied to identify experiential profiles on the basis of the perception of environmental challenges and personal skills. When both challenges and skills were positive, flow experience wasreported. In particular, we found that the opportunity for experiencing flow can motivate climbers to take part in a risky expedition. The results showed that risk played a minor role in climbing,in line with a goal-directed approach to risk seeking. These findings have two implications: (a) Studies on motivation in sport should distinguish between risk and search for challenges andopportunities for action, especially in dealing with extreme sports; (b) In the recreational domain, outdoor programs, among other things, should aim at providing opportunities for flowand personal development.

Individuals, as living open systems, actively interact with their environment. Throughout their life, they preferentially replicate a subset of the available opportunities for action. This process has been labeled psychological selection, and it is based on the quality of experience reported in daily situations. Empirical evidence has shown that individuals preferentially select, reproduce, and cultivate the activities associated with optimal experience, a distinctively positive and complex state of consciousness characterized by the perception of high challenges balanced with adequate skills, concentration and engagement, clear goals and rules, and control of the situation. From this perspective, optimal experience fosters the development of individual competencies, shaping the pattern of psychological selection. Empirical evidence was also gathered for apathy, the negative pole of experience fluctuation, characterized by disengagement, disruption of attention, negative affect, and low perceived challenges. This paper will provide findings concerning the psychological features of optimal experience and apathy across different samples and activities. A stable cognitive core was detected for both states, around which affective and motivational variables fluctuate according to the structure of the associated activities. The regulating function of short-term desirability and perceived long-term goals on the quality of experience was also highlighted. Results suggested that the association of optimal experiences and skill cultivation with structured and long-term meaningful activities could be used as an intervention tool for the promotion of individual development and social integration in youth and adults.

In the last few decades, the relationship between physical conditions and mental health has increasingly attracted the interest of researchers and professionals across disciplines. This relationship is especially relevant in old age, as the challenges posed by aging at various levels represent crucial concerns for policy makers. Due to the remarkable increase in life expectancy across countries, sustainable prevention strategies are needed to help individuals preserve psychophysical well-being in old age. In particular, the regular practice of a moderately intense physical activity is recommended by the World Health Organization to enhance balance, prevent falls, strengthen muscles, and promote psychophysical well-being. Daily physical exercise represents a beneficial and low-cost strategy, easily accessible to the general population and potentially customizable to specific needs through brief training programs. Based on these premises, the present research aimed at longitudinally evaluating mental well-being among 58 Italian people aged 67–85, who were involved in two Adapted Physical Activity (APA) training programs. Inclusion criteria for participation comprised high autonomy levels in daily activities, no cognitive impairment, sedentary habits or only occasional performance of moderate physical activity. Based on physical and functional assessment, 39 participants joined a program of adapted motor activity (PoliFit; Study 1), while 19 participants attended a variant program specifically designed for people with osteoporosis (OsteoFit; Study 2). Well-being dimensions were assessed through the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Physical functioning were evaluated before and after the programs through the Short Physical Performance Battery and the Handgrip Dynamometer Jamar Test. Findings highlighted that, besides physical benefits, participants reported significantly more adaptive emotion regulation strategies after both training programs; in addition, participants attending OsteoFit reported significantly higher levels of emotional well-being. Results suggest the potential of moderate physical activity in promoting mental health, emphasizing the additional role of training programs as cost-effective opportunities for elderly people to socialize and improve emotional functioning. Overall, the findings support the view of old age as a stage of competence development and adaptive adjustment, rather than a phase of mere psychophysical decline.