December 9, 1992 COR574A.WP5 To: WLS From: Carol Ryff Re: Creation of Psychological Variables Summarized below are the items (from the Interview and the Mail-Out) for the constructs of psychological well-being and for the CES-D Depression Scale. Please note, asteriks (*) indicate items that DO NOT need to be reverse coded. ITEM LOCATION CONSTRUCT INTERVIEW MAIL-OUT I) PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING: AUTONOMY *I tend to be influenced My decisions are not by people with strong usually influenced by opinions (438s) what everyone else is doing (19a) I judge myself by what I have confidence in my I think is important, opinions even if they not by what others are contrary to the think is important (490) general concensus (19g) *I tend to worry about what other people think of me (19h) INTERVIEW MAIL-OUT AUTONOMY *I often change my mind about decisions if my friends or family disagree (19o) I am not afraid to voice my opinions, even when they are in opposition to the opinions of most people (19v) Being happy with myself is more important to me than having others approve of me (19cc) *It's difficult for me to voice my opinions on controversial matters (19jj) ENVIRONMENTAL In general, I feel I am I am good at juggling MASTERY in charge of the situation my time so that I can in which I live (440) fit everything in that needs to get done (19b) *The demands of everyday *I often feel life often get me down overwhelmed by my (442m) responsibilities (19i) I am quite good at managing the many responsibilities of my daily life (19n) *I do not fit very well with the people and community around me (19p) INTERVIEW MAIL-OUT *I have difficulty arranging my life in a way that is satisfying to me (19w) I have been able to create a lifestyle for myself that is much to my liking (19dd) I generally do a good job of taking care of my personal finances and affairs (19kk) PERSONAL For me, life has been a *I am not interested in GROWTH continuous process of activities that will learning, changing, and expand my horizons growing (442s) (19c) I have the sense that I *I gave up trying to make have developed a lot as big improvements or person over (19j) changes in my life a long time ago (490m) *When I think about it, I haven't really improved much as a person over the years (19q) I think it is important to have new experiences that challenge how I think about myself and the world (19u) *I don't want to try new ways of doing things--my life is fine the way it is (19x) INTERVIEW MAIL-OUT *I do not enjoy being in new situations that require me to change my old familiar way of doing things (19ee) *There is truth to the saying you can't teach an old dog new tricks (19ll) POSITIVE RELATIONS *Maintaining close *I don't have many WITH OTHERS relationships has been people who want to difficult and listen when I need to frustrating for me talk (19d) (440m) I enjoy personal and mutual conversations *I have not experienced with family members and many warm and trusting friends (19k) relationships with others (488g) *I often feel lonely because I have few close friends with whom to share my concerns (19r) *It seems to me that most other people have more friends than I do (19y) People would describe me as a giving person, willing to share my time with others (19bb) Most people see me as loving and affectionate (19ff) INTERVIEW MAIL-OUT I know I can trust my friends, and they know they can trust me (19mm) PURPOSE IN Some people wander I enjoy making plans LIFE aimlessly through life for the future and but I am not one working to make them of them (440s) a reality (19e) *I live life one day at a time and don't really *My daily activities think about the future often seem trivial and (488m) unimportant to me (19l) I am an active person in carrying out the plans I set for myself (19s) *I tend to focus on the present, because the future nearly always brings me problems (19z) *I don't have a good sense of what it is I am trying to accomplish in life (19gg) *I sometimes feel as if I've done all there is to do in life (19ii) *I used to set goals for myself, but that now seems like a waste of time (19nn) SELF-ACCEPTANCE When I look at the story of *I feel like many of my life, I am pleased with the people I know have how things have turned out gotten more out of life (442) than I have (19f) INTERVIEW MAIL-OUT I like most aspects of my In general, I feel personality (492f) confident and positive about myself (19m) When I compare myself to friends and acquaintances, it makes me feel good about who I am (19t) *My attitude about myself is probably not as positive as most people feel about themselves (19aa) I made some mistakes in the past, but I feel that all in all everything has worked out for the best (19hh) The past had its ups and downs, but in general, I wouldn't want to change it (19oo) *In many ways, I feel disappointed about my achievements in life (19pp) II. CES-D DEPRESSION MAIL-OUT "On how many days during the past week did you..." (#18) a. feel you could not shake off the blues even with help from your family and friends? NOTE: Items u, v, and w are not technically part of the b. feel bothered by CES-D. These three were things that usually don't added from NSFH input, to bother you capture dimensions of anger and hostility. c. think your life had been a failure? *d. feel happy? e. feel that people were unfriendly? f. feel lonely? *g. enjoy life? h. have crying spells? i. feel that people disliked you? j. feel sad? k. feel depressed? l. have trouble keeping your mind on what you were doing? m. not feel like eating, your appetite was poor? *n. feel you were just as good as other people? o. feel everything you did was an effort *p. feel hopeful about the future? q. feel fearful? r. sleep restlessly? s. talk less than usual? t. feel you could not "get going"? u. feel irritable, or likely to fight or argue? v. feel like telling someone off? w. feel angry or hostile for several hours at a time