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Applications of Positive Psychology in the Time of the COVID-19...
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Applications of Positive Psychology in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 14760

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Delia Vîrgă

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, West University of Timisoara, 300223 Timisoara, Romania
Interests: well-being at work; personal resources; proactive behavior; interventions in organizations
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ramona Paloş

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, West University from Timisoara, 300223 Timisoara, Romania
Interests: educational and learning psychology; training and development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Positive psychology is a remarkable opportunity to do things differently, ask the right questions about the human condition, and provide appropriate answers. Positive psychology is useful to people who want to live good, happy, and productive lives.

In the context of COVID-19, stress, anxiety, fear, helplessness, and depression have left their mark on each of us. To counter this, new coping mechanisms need to be developed for this particular situation and for the “new normal” which will come after the COVID-19 pandemic. Research in positive psychology could help people to discover their resources and cope better with all stressors. Moreover, now is a time for looking back at what is most important to everyone and recognizing the physical, psychological, and social resources presented around us. Additionally, searching for our strengths may provide further hints for building our resilience.
Paradoxically or not, research in positive organizational psychology has increased even as the economic crisis has marked the world economy. During this period, organizations more than ever wanted efficient, motivated, and engaged employees, and adapted successfully to organizational changes for sustainable development. Here come into play the specific concepts of positive psychology: hope, as a starting point, as well as positive emotions, emotional intelligence, and psychological capital, which are related to individual well-being. Resilience is another particular concept that involves the ability to cope with adversity and personal failures, and is required to adapt successfully to occupational stress. These concepts are also essential in the educational setting because mental health and well-being are important for students and teachers.

For sustainability, positive psychology is needed to gather more empirical evidence to offer people solutions to cope with this period, be proactive, act responsibly, and find new meaning-making and ways to be happy. Positive interventions, especially based on new technology, could be a good solution to increase the psychological well-being of employees, teachers, students, and healthcare professionals.

Prof. Dr. Delia Vîrgă
Dr. Ramona Paloş
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • well-being
  • resilience
  • hope
  • optimism
  • happiness
  • self-efficacy
  • strengths use
  • proactive behavior
  • psychological capital
  • engagement
  • accomplishment
  • growth (mindset)
  • emotional intelligence
  • mental health
  • coping mechanism
  • gratitude
  • learning
  • sustainable interventions
  • technology and well-being
  • creativity
  • self-compassion
  • COVID-19
  • healthcare professionals
  • work–family role blurring
  • future time perspective

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 308 KiB  
Article
Coping Strategies and Life Satisfaction among Romanian Emerging Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Delia Ștefenel, Jose-Michael Gonzalez, Silviu Rogobete and Raluca Sassu
Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2783; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052783 - 26 Feb 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2846
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to understand coping mechanisms among Romanian youth in their response to institutional COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Data were collected from emerging adults (N = 214), aged 18–29, enrolled in various fields of study throughout a public university [...] Read more.
The aim of the present study was to understand coping mechanisms among Romanian youth in their response to institutional COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Data were collected from emerging adults (N = 214), aged 18–29, enrolled in various fields of study throughout a public university in Romania. Adopted versions of the Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences Scale (Brief-COPE, Carver, 1997) and Satisfaction with Life Scales (SLWS, Diener et al., 1985) were administered to explore the impact of the specific social distancing and isolation enforced pandemic restrictions. Findings elucidate the response styles, impact of coping skills, and strategies employed by students toward their well-being during stay-at-home courses. Results indicated that Romanian emerging-adults tend to use diverse strategies, but they use more disengagement, problem-focused coping, humor, socially supportive coping or religion, rather than denial, avoidant-focused coping or substance use, when faced with unprecedented situations during the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss these findings framed in resilience as it relates to the positive youth psychology framework. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Positive Psychology in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic)
16 pages, 326 KiB  
Article
Happiness in Czechia during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by František Petrovič, František Murgaš and Roman Králik
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10826; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910826 - 29 Sep 2021
Cited by 36 | Viewed by 3713
Abstract
The unprecedented growth of prosperity in developed countries, including the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, interrupted by the economic crisis in 2008–2009, came to a halt at the beginning of 2020. This was due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 respiratory disease [...] Read more.
The unprecedented growth of prosperity in developed countries, including the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, interrupted by the economic crisis in 2008–2009, came to a halt at the beginning of 2020. This was due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 respiratory disease pandemic, for which no cure was known in June 2020. The response of governments in the form of declaring a state of emergency and closing national and regional borders for several months had serious economic and, above all, psychological consequences. Anxiety, depression, and possibly suicides were expected to increase. In this paper, we focused on the experience of happiness, understood as positive emotion, expressing the highest degree of well-being. The conceptualization of happiness is based on the analysis of six indicators. The aim of the paper was to explore the experience of happiness during the COVID-19 pandemic in Czechia. Two hypotheses were formulated in terms of the expected effects of this pandemic on the experience of happiness. Measuring happiness in one region of the Czechia on a scale of 0–10 using both face-to-face methods and social networks yielded different results from those expected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Positive Psychology in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic)
22 pages, 1010 KiB  
Article
Entrepreneurial Motivation, Psychological Capital, and Business Success of Young Entrepreneurs in the DRC
by Akilimali Ndatabaye Ephrem, Paul Martin Dontsop Nguezet, Ishara Kaciko Charmant, McEdward Murimbika, Bola Amoke Awotide, Abdoulaye Tahirou, Mulindangabo Neema Lydie and Victor Manyong
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4087; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084087 - 7 Apr 2021
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 5883
Abstract
The proponents of the entrepreneurial motivation dichotomy have argued that opportunity-driven entrepreneurs are more likely to succeed and sustain in entrepreneurship, unlike people who start-up businesses out of necessity. However, disagreement still exists on why and under which conditions the former might outperform [...] Read more.
The proponents of the entrepreneurial motivation dichotomy have argued that opportunity-driven entrepreneurs are more likely to succeed and sustain in entrepreneurship, unlike people who start-up businesses out of necessity. However, disagreement still exists on why and under which conditions the former might outperform the latter. This research contributes to this debate by examining the mediation role of psychological capital in the relationship between entrepreneurial motivation and business success among youths. This study relied on a random sample of 295 young entrepreneurs surveyed from Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We applied partial least squares to analyze the hypothesized relationships. Evidence for the positive effect of opportunity-led motivation on psychological capital was found, but the findings did not support any direct effect of entrepreneurial motivation on business success. Instead, psychological capital positively and significantly mediated the relationship between entrepreneurial motivation and business success. This paper makes a distinctive new contribution to the understanding of the intriguing and controversial entrepreneurial motivation dichotomy—a business success relationship. To this end, we have found out that opportunity entrepreneurs have 3% more chance of succeeding in businesses compared to necessity entrepreneurs, because the former outperform the latter by 4% in the dimensions of psychological capital. This paper has new policy implications, as it reveals the great importance of psychological capital in promoting business success, thus reducing unemployment among youths, and offers tips from which psychological capital can be built or improved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Positive Psychology in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic)
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