Relationship Between Positive Psychological Capital and Elements of Subjective Well- Being: Systematic Review

Abstract

Positive psychological capital (PsyCap) with well-being has started to be analyzed recently, and a positive relationship has been found between these variables. However, different results were found in different cultures, researchers measured various components of well-being, and they used different measures. The objective of the work is to analyze and summarize the empirical literature on PsyCap and well-being in order to identify the following: the relationship between PsyCap and well-being, the instruments used to measure PsyCap and well-being, and the relationship between Psycap and other variables. In the present study, data is analyzed from 11 studies published between 2007 and 2014. The selected studies were analyzed using quantitative content analysis.
Results. It was found that most of the studies investigated the relationship between PsyCap and well-being among students and workers. 6 studies used the PCQ-24 questionnaire (Luthans et al., 2007), and 4 studies used PsyCap questionnaire created from different scales. All studies used different measures of well-being. 2 studies used the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985). 8 studies demonstrated positive relationships between PsyCap and well-being, and 1 study demonstrated negative relationships between PsyCap and well-being. A higher level of PsyCap after intervention program was found in 2 studies. The present study also revealed that PsyCap correlates negatively with stress, depression, hostility, anxiety and other psychological symptoms. Outcomes. Results of different studies revealed that PsyCap is positively related to well-being and negatively related to psychological symptoms.