Sebastian Binyamin Skalski-Bednarz

Background: The Satisfaction with Life Scale-3 (SWLS-3) is a brief three-item version of the five-item Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), but it has not been validated in Poland. This study examined its psychometric properties, structural validity, measurement invariance across sex and between the Polish and original UK samples, and convergent validity with well-being, gratitude, awe, and forgiveness. Participants and procedure: A total of 506 Polish-speaking adults (Mage = 27.70, SD = 7.72; 58.1% women) completed an online survey including the SWLS, the World Health Organization Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), the Gratitude/Awe Questionnaire, and the Toussaint Forgiveness Scale. Structural validity was assessed by testing the fit of the hypothesized model. Measurement invariance across sex and samples was examined. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha (α) and McDonald’s omega (ω). Convergent and discriminant validity were assessed through associations with related constructs. Results: The SWLS-3 demonstrated good model fit. It showed configural, metric, and scalar invariance across sex. Across samples, metric invariance was supported, but scalar invariance was not achieved. Internal consistency was acceptable (α = .78, ω = .79). Scores were positively associated with well-being, gratitude and awe, and forgiveness. Conclusions: The SWLS-3 is a reliable and valid brief measure of life satisfaction, suitable for large-scale research, including cross-cultural research on associations, although caution is needed when comparing mean scores across countries.

Self-forgiveness is a multidimensional construct involving both hedonic processes, primarily related to fostering self-compassion and alleviating self-condemnation, and eudaimonic processes, focused on moral repair and value reorientation. While previous research has linked self-forgiveness to lower suicidality, little is known about whether these components operate similarly across different levels of suicide-related cognitions. This study examined the associations between the hedonic (esteem restoration; ERS) and eudaimonic (value reorientation; VRO) components of self-forgiveness and suicide-related cognitions in a general population sample from Trinidad and Tobago, using quantile regression. This cross-sectional study was conducted online via Qualtrics in 2023 with 869 English-speaking adults. Suicide-related cognitions were measured using the Brief Suicide Cognitions Scale, and self-forgiveness was assessed with the Self-Forgiveness Dual-Process Scale, comprising the VRO and ERS subscales. Quantile regression analyses were conducted at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of suicide-related cognition scores, controlling for demographic characteristics. Robust linear regression using Huber’s M-estimator was also performed to assess model stability. Quantile regression indicated that ERS was linked to significantly lower suicide-related cognitions at all examined quantiles, with the strongest associations observed at the 50th and 75th percentiles (β = –0.47, p < .001 for both). VRO (eudaimonic component) showed a significant negative association only at the 75th percentile (β = –0.13, p = .045). For comparison, robust linear regression using Huber’s M-estimator showed a significant negative association for ERS, whereas VRO was not statistically significant. This study underscores the importance of examining self-forgiveness beyond average effects, as its components may not operate uniformly across suicide-related-cognition levels. The use of quantile regression highlights these differences and points to the need for future longitudinal research to examine whether these associations reflect processes relevant to suicide prevention.

Spiritual bypass, the use of spiritual beliefs and practices to sidestep unresolved psychological difficulty, comprises two dimensions, psychological avoidance and spiritualizing, which may relate differently to psychospiritual constructs. This chapter used a network approach to examine how these two dimensions, alongside three dimensions of spirituality (ritualistic, theistic, existential), three dimensions of dispositional forgiveness (self, others, uncontrollable situations) plus feeling forgiven by God, and three additional positive resources (hope, gratitude, self-compassion), are organized as a set of direct, facet-level associations rather than as broader, undifferentiated domains. A regularized partial correlation network was estimated in a sample of 1,750 individuals from a US college community, with node centrality and bridge centrality used to identify the most embedded facets and those bridging distinct construct clusters. Psychological avoidance was closely aligned with ritualistic spirituality, whereas spiritualizing occupied a highly central but predominantly negative position in relation to spirituality and positive psychological resources, a pattern supported by bootstrapped difference testing. Positive resources occupied a comparatively peripheral position, though feeling forgiven by God and self-compassion emerged as strong connectors across spirituality, forgiveness, resources, and spiritual bypass. These findings suggest that spiritual bypass is not a homogeneous construct and that its associations vary across dimensions of spirituality and other positive psychological constructs.

Dwyer et al. (2007) reported that foods paired with images of obese bodies became devalued, and that the devaluation survived extinction. We revisited both claims across four conceptual replications (total N = 274), crossing presentation duration with stimulus assignment. Studies 1a (N = 59) and 1b (N = 91) used long (7000 ms) and short (2500 ms) presentations and fixed food-to-condition assignment, unlike the original Experiment 1, which counterbalanced CS and US assignments across participants; Studies 2a (N = 59) and 2b (N = 65) used the same timings but randomised assignment afresh for each participant. A random-effects meta-analysis of participant-level acquisition contrasts gave dz = –0.15, 95% CI [–0.27, –0.04], I² = 0%. The direction matches the original, but the magnitude is substantially smaller than the approximate original-study benchmark in absolute magnitude (dz ≈ 0.49). Significance depended on how the eight food images were treated: with images fixed the pooled effect was reliable, but with stimuli modelled as a random factor it was not, F(1, 4087) = 2.90, p = .089. The assignment scheme did not moderate the estimate, F(1, 4087) = 0.0001, p = .994, but governed precision within our studies: fixed assignment left six denominator degrees of freedom for the stimulus-aware test, versus 869 and 966 under randomisation. The original strong, extinction-resistant devaluation was not reproduced. Our fixed-assignment variants additionally show that permanently tying a small stimulus set to conditions can severely weaken stimulus-level inference.

This systematic review examined studies investigating evaluative conditioning (EC) effects using food stimuli as conditioned stimuli (CS) and body silhouettes as unconditioned stimuli (US). Following PRISMA guidelines, 162 records were identified, of which three studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis of methodological characteristics and outcomes. The review focused on technical elements (stimulus types, presentation parameters, trial numbers) and functional properties (conditioning effects, extinction patterns) of EC procedures. Analysis revealed consistent evidence for successful conditioning effects, particularly when pairing food images with obese body shapes, resulting in decreased CS ratings post-conditioning (effect sizes ranging from r = .26 to .41). However, studies exhibited considerable methodological heterogeneity in stimulus presentation times (400-7000ms), trial numbers (18-144), and measurement approaches. Key procedural variations included gender representation in US stimuli, CS categorization (single items vs. food categories), and assessment methods (explicit ratings vs. implicit measures). The findings highlight the need for greater methodological standardization in EC research using food-body associations, while suggesting EC's potential utility in modifying food-related attitudes. Future research directions should address gender balance in sampling, standardization of stimulus sources, and investigation of potential mediating mechanisms. The results point to potential relevance for nutrition education and public health contexts, while also underscoring the importance of further research on the effectiveness, stability, and ethical implications of such applications.

Background/Objectives: Previous literature has linked nutrition with both psychological distress and well-being. However, less is known about how psychological and spiritual resources cluster within individuals or whether distinct psychospiritual profiles are associated with dietary and lifestyle behaviors. This study examined these associations using a person-centered approach. Methods: A community sample of 522 adults from the United States completed measures of perceived stress, depressive symptoms, coping self-efficacy, gratitude, forgiveness, religiousness/spirituality, daily spiritual experiences, religious/spiritual meaning and beliefs, and dietary and lifestyle behaviors. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify psychospiritual profiles. Results: Four profiles were identified: Moderate (n = 195), Flourishing (n = 199), Vulnerable (n = 70), and Maladaptive (n = 58). The Flourishing profile demonstrated the most adaptive psychological functioning and was associated with healthier dietary behaviors, including lower breakfast skipping and fast-food consumption, greater whole-grain and vegetable intake, lower salt use, and lower sweets and dessert intake. The Vulnerable profile demonstrated the highest levels of perceived stress and depressive symptoms together with relatively elevated religiousness/spirituality, whereas the Maladaptive profile was characterized by elevated distress and consistently low levels of psychological and spiritual resources. Overall, the Vulnerable and Maladaptive profiles demonstrated less favorable dietary patterns relative to the Flourishing and Moderate profiles. However, the observed effects were generally modest and selective. Conclusions: Dietary and lifestyle behaviors may be associated with broader psychospiritual configurations rather than isolated psychological characteristics alone. The findings additionally highlight the heterogeneous nature of religiousness and spirituality within psychological functioning.

The cultural discourse metaphors ‘doh beat up’ and ‘doh take it on’ in Trinidad and Tobago capture the local sentiments of releasing self-condemnation after experiencing failure, wrongdoing, or circumstances beyond one’s control. In this study, we examined the direct and indirect relationships between religious commitment, self-forgiveness, and self-condemnation. Data were collected using an online survey of 259 adults (M_age = 40; 76% female) living in Trinidad and Tobago. Path analyses showed that higher religious commitment was directly associated with lower levels of shame. Value reorientation self-forgiveness was associated with increased guilt and shame, while esteem restoration self-forgiveness was associated with reduced shame. Tests of indirect effects showed that religious commitment was indirectly associated with self-condemnation through self-forgiveness. Our findings suggest that religious commitment and self-forgiveness may play a protective role in relation to self-condemnation among Caribbean adults. Nevertheless, the cross-sectional design limits causal interpretation of these relationships.