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A Study of Positive Mental Health

Morton Beiser, MD; Jacob J. Feldman, PhD; Claudia J. Egelhoff

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1972;27(4):545-549.

Abstract
The relationship among positive and negative feeling states, selected personality assets, and certain sociodemographic characteristics, in a group of rural adults is explored in this study.

Positive and negative feeling states are demonstrated to vary independently of each other; associations are found between positive affect and other variables. Socially participant behavior and interpersonal reactivity are important for women, while the concomitants of contentment for men relate to the performance of instrumental activities associated with their roles as workers and providers. The data also suggest that, with increasing age, the cultivation of hobbies and formal social activities become more significant.

Author Affiliations
Boston

From the Department of Behavioral Sciences and the Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication March 12, 1972.

Reprint requests to the Department of Behavioral Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, 55 Shattuck St, Boston 02115 (Dr. Beiser).

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