This review aims to synthesise the current understanding of sustainable careers by exploring definitions, models, measures, and related constructs, addressing the multidimensional nature of the topic and highlighting areas for further research. Following PRISMA guidelines and the SPIDER framework, initially, 1424 articles from Scopus and 1439 from Web of Science were identified. After selection and quality assessment based on JBI guidelines, 93 articles were chosen for data extraction. The Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) method was used to uncover topics related to sustainable careers. The review identifies over 40 definitions of sustainable careers and several models, which are categorized into four main themes: (a) health and balance between resources and demands; (b) personal satisfaction and growth; (c) contextual and social integration; d) productivity and career longevity. Following, this study proposes a comprehensive definition of sustainable careers, stressing the need for studying how sustainable careers impact community contexts rather than just individuals. It calls for an integrated approach blending theoretical insights with empirical rigor, particularly in defining sample characteristics and research context, and for future longitudinal research on societal and economic factors. Several individual and contextual factors are associated with sustainable careers, as revealed by the six distinct topics. Overall, the review highlights community empowerment as an emerging dimension of career sustainability. This aligns with sustainability and social responsibility, encouraging organizations, practitioners and researchers to consider career sustainability as a communal responsibility, fostering societal change toward more socially responsible career practices aimed at community well-being.

This study validates the Arabic Work and Meaning Inventory (WAMI) among 351 Algerian workers, primarily from the public sector, addressing the need for culturally relevant tools to assess meaningful work in Arabic-speaking, Muslim-majority contexts amid socioeconomic challenges like youth unemployment. The WAMI measures positive meaning, meaning-making, and greater good motivation. Translated using a rigorous forward-backward method with cultural adaptations reflecting Islamic and collectivist values, the scale was administered alongside life satisfaction and flourishing measures. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a robust three-factor structure (χ²/df = 2.03, CFI = 0.980, TLI = 0.972, RMSEA = 0.062, SRMR = 0.038), high reliability (α = 0.901, ω = 0.939), and invariance across gender and age. Network analysis revealed strong item-level connections for Positive Meaning and Meaning-Making, but Item 3 (Greater Good) showed weaker performance, likely due to cultural emphasis on community impact. The Arabic WAMI is a valid tool for enhancing workplace well-being through culturally aligned interventions. Limitations include the public-sector focus and cross-sectional design, suggesting future research with diverse groups and longitudinal studies.

This overview of reviews aimed to identify and describe existing learning paths and interventions to improve well-being and its dimensions in three contexts: secondary school, university, and workplaces. We searched four databases (APA PsycInfo, Proquest, Scopus, Web of Science), limiting the search to the years of publication 2009–2024 and English language. Using a priori inclusion and exclusion criteria, following PICOS scheme, we selected 13 records for the school context, 12 records for the work context, and 4 records for the university context. The quality of the reviews and meta-analyses included in this study was assessed. An analysis of the results for the three contexts is provided and discussed. Results across the three contexts reveal that the papers rarely refer to the theoretical frameworks on well-being and often focus on specific techniques or approaches. The emphasis on mental distress is still predominant and affects the research's theoretical and methodological approach and the intervention design. There is no universally effective strategy for implementing interventions: interventions with different characteristics (e.g., duration, number of sessions, etc.) can produce positive outcomes, and integration with other programmes sometimes seems to enhance their effectiveness. Critical issues concern the insufficient training of professionals involved, as well as the fidelity of interventions’ implementation.Systematic Review RegistrationDoi: 10.17605/OSF.IO/BGRM9

Working conditions strongly impact workers' well-being and life satisfaction and several studies have shown that the enhancement of positive resources is possible through on-line career counseling and coaching interventions based on positive psychology. The study compared an experimental group of participants (n = 20; aged between 25 and 65 years, M = 46.75; SD = 10.68) who underwent an online training aimed at enhancing positive psychological resources with a control group (n = 20; aged between 32 and 70 years, M = 46.65; SD = 10.39). The goal was to boost specific positive resources beneficial within organizational contexts. Data were analyzed using mixed-effects ANOVA. Results showed that after the training, the experimental group exhibited higher levels of risk intelligence, courage, self-efficacy, personal relationships, perceptions of decent work, and life satisfaction. Our findings confirm that positive psychological coaching is advantageous for both individuals and organizations, as it increases work-related well-being and outcomes.

This study examined the effectiveness of a career counselling training program designed to promote sustainable career development among university students. Grounded in a multidimensional view of sustainable careers, the intervention aimed to enhance key personal and contextual resources for sustainable career and its domains: health, happiness, productivity and social empowerment. A quasi-experimental pre-post design with follow-up and a control group was used. Results demonstrated significant improvements across the resources supporting all four domains for participants in the training group. A significant multivariate Group & times; Time interaction confirmed the comprehensive and progressive gains associated with the intervention. Findings indicate that university-based career counselling can effectively support student well-being, integration and future-oriented career planning, highlighting its value as a preventive and developmental approach for fostering sustainable career trajectories.

Nowadays, the economic and social environment is characterized by changes and unstable global conditions that lead individuals to actively adapt to frequent changes. Although the impact may vary across sectors and geographical areas, current global conditions affect decent work. The Life Design paradigm and the Career Construction Theory emphasize the role of career resources, such as career adaptability, to help individuals advocate for themselves and their communities in their search for decent and meaningful work and promote their life satisfaction. This study examined the relationship between career adaptability and life satisfaction through the mediational role of decent work and meaningful work. A total of 706 Italian adults (269 males and 437 females), ages ranging from 18 to 53 years (M = 24.48; SD = 4.01), were involved. Results demonstrated that career adaptability was directly and indirectly linked to life satisfaction through the mediational role of decent work and meaningful work. The results highlighted the relevance of career interventions on career adaptability to positively impact decent and meaningful work and, in turn, life satisfaction.

The COVID-19 pandemic was marked by restrictions on interpersonal contact, both at work and in the personal sphere, and significantly impacted the psychological health and subjective well-being of the global population. Among the risk factors, COVID-19 exhaustion negatively influenced well-being. Among the protective factors, adopting a future-time perspective correlates with positive well-being indicators in the literature. Our study aimed to assess whether 'psychological long COVID-19' may exist 2 years after the pandemic's onset. Participants were 649 young Italians aged 18–35 years. Structural equation modelling analyses revealed that, in 2023, COVID-19 exhaustion still influences the intention to maintain social distancing and life satisfaction. Furthermore, a positive future orientation negatively predicted COVID-19 exhaustion, suggesting that the former may be a protective factor for the pandemic’s negative biopsychosocial effects. The findings underscore the role of promoting personal resources from positive psychology in enhancing protective factors in adverse situations and improving psychosocial well-being.

This study aimed to validate the Arabic and Spanish versions of the 9-item Temporal satisfaction with life scale (TSWLS) among emerging adults. A sample of 333 participants (173 from Algeria, 160 from Spain), aged 18–30 (M = 19.80, SD = 1.91), was used. The scale underwent back-translation and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to evaluate its psychometric properties. Results supported a three-factor structure (past, present, future) with good model fit, internal consistency, and construct validity in both samples. However, some indices were slightly lower in the Spanish group. The TSWLS also demonstrated convergent, divergent, and concurrent validity, with strong correlations with the satisfaction with life scale and the Flourishing scale. Gender invariance was confirmed, while cultural invariance was partially supported at the configural and metric levels, but not at the scalar level. These findings provide a culturally adapted tool for assessing temporal dimensions of life satisfaction in emerging adults and support the TSWLS's cross-cultural utility in well-being research.

Purpose The concept of a “sustainable career” has gained significant attention in recent academic literature, extending beyond mere professional success, encompassing elements of happiness, health, productivity and social empowerment. This study aims to develop and validate the sustainable career scale (SCS) to measure this multidimensional construct, including the innovative dimension of “social empowerment,” which emphasizes the importance of responsibly addressing global needs and challenges. Design/methodology/approach The research comprises five studies with distinct objectives: Study 1 focuses on item development and latent structure verification; Study 2 confirms the factorial structure; Study 3 assesses concurrent and discriminant validity; Study 4 examines predictive validity and reliability; and Study 5 measures gender invariance. Findings Results demonstrate the validity and reliability of the SCS items and structure. Concurrent and discriminant validity are supported by analyzing relationships with work engagement, meaning, employability, burnout, decent work and job satisfaction. Additionally, the scale shows reliability and predictive validity in forecasting eudaimonic, hedonic and social well-being. Gender invariance is confirmed. Research limitations/implications Future research could explore its applicability across diverse contexts. The SCS has significant implications for researchers and practitioners, serving as an assessment tool to advance research in sustainable career development and guide interventions to improve careers that address global needs and foster responsible management practices. Originality/value The SCS stands out as the first measure to integrate a truly sustainable perspective, encompassing societal and global contexts within the framework of career sustainability. The findings enhance the understanding of sustainable careers and demonstrate the empirical robustness of the SCS.

Background/Objectives: Hope plays an important role in coping with difficulties and is predictive of resilience, improving the skills necessary to sustain life plans and well-being, and overcoming stressful situations in adulthood and especially in older age adults. We hypothesised that the dimensions of hope, including spirituality, are connected to personal, educational, and contextual conditions, and play a mediating role in fostering resilience and well-being after stressful events; this mediating role might differ in adulthood and among the elderly. Methods: The sample consisted of 100 adults without severe pathologies and living in their own homes, aged between 50 and 86 years (M = 66.08; SD = 8.48). They completed an online survey that included the Stress Event scale, the Comprehensive State Hope Scale, the Resilience Scale for Adults, and the Well-being Profile. The data were analysed using SPSS and JAMOVI software, applying the following statistical tests: t-test, ANOVA and mediational model. Results: Stressful events influence resilience and well-being differently in adulthood and old age, with non-significant differences due to gender and living conditions. Hope mediates between stress resulting from negative life events and resilience and well-being, but this mediation involves different hope components for adults (trust) and older adults (self-realisation and perception of social support in interpersonal relationships). Spirituality is a non-significant mediator in both age stages. Conclusions: Appropriate psychological and psychosocial supports are needed to enhance the mediating potential of hope between stressful events and resilience. The results of our study help clarify which components of hope specifically promote resilience in different conditions of normal old age, differentiating them from those more beneficial for adults.

Purpose-Sustainable development must address the challenge of ensuring decent work for all (SDG 8) and promoting good health and well-being (SDG 3). This study aims to assess the relationship between decent and meaningful work and their impact on work engagement and job satisfaction among adult workers. Decent work goes beyond mere employment, encompassing standards for a fulfilling life, including fair compensation and workplace security, while fostering personal development and social integration. Following the psychology of working theory (PWT), decent work is a prerequisite to the attainment of meaningful work, viewed as a positive belief system about one's work and its potential positive impact on life and the world. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of 276 adult workers, aged 21-70 years (M-43.55, SD=11.76), was surveyed to explore the association between decent and meaningful work and the following impact on work engagement and job satisfaction. Structural equation modelling was employed. Findings-The study identified meaningful work as a crucial mediator between decent work and the outcomes of work engagement and job satisfaction. Practical implications - The findings highlight the importance of cultivating meaningful work experiences to enhance workplace well-being. Organisations should prioritize interventions to promote both decent and meaningful work to align with sustainable development goals and improve employee satisfaction and engagement. Originality/value Our findings emphasize the pivotal role of decent work and, consequently, meaningful work in shaping employees' well-being.

Self-efficacy is the belief in knowing how to take the right course of action to achieve one’s goals. The four pillars of self-efficacy are mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal and social persuasions and emotional and physiological states. To explore the self-efficacy models of the Italian students, we conducted a qualitative study involving 150 students divided into three groups and balanced by gender and age. The results showed that self-efficacy models fall into three categories: family members, close people who do not belong to the family and people with a public image. The participants were asked to indicate what they could learn from their models. The answers anticipate some psychological dimensions that are positively related to self-efficacy and that can support people in facing today’s social and working contexts. These results can be useful to psychologists or career counsellors as a support to the planning of their activities.

Background: Interoception has long been linked to various aspects of social cognition, including morality, altruism, and empathy. This study extends the literature by examining whether interoception also influences automatic evaluative reactions that reveal prejudice. We hypothesized that individuals' interoceptive awareness and their appetitive states would impact their implicit biases, particularly regarding prejudices related to race, weight, and sexual orientation. Method: We administered three Implicit Association Tests (IATs) targeting prejudices related to race, weight, and sexual orientation to a group of 40 participants (23.94 years, SD = 7.25). To explore the relationship between interoception and IAT performance, we manipulated appetite and assessed interoceptive awareness using the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness. Results: Our findings reveal an interaction between religiosity and appetite in predicting implicit prejudice toward sexual orientation. Consistent with existing literature, religious individuals demonstrated higher levels of racial prejudice compared to non-religious individuals. However, this difference was attenuated when participants were tested under fasting conditions (i.e., when they were hungry). Furthermore, both disgust sensitivity and interoceptive sensitivity were found to predict implicit prejudice, with their influence varying depending on the specific type of prejudice. Conclusions: Our study contributes to the field by demonstrating that prejudice can emerge from the interplay between individual characteristics and motivational states. Clinically, these findings suggest that enhancing interoceptive awareness and addressing motivational states could be potential strategies not only to support individual psychological health but also to reduce vulnerability to prejudicial attitudes.

Sense of community has emerged as a pivotal factor in enhancing well-being. Universities are small communities where students develop academic skills and personal networks, and where the degree of integration and perceived support significantly influence various aspects of the educational experience. However, little consideration was given to the measure of the specific sense of community of university students. While existing instruments assess communities at the school classroom level, they often overlook the broader university context. Literature provides a Scale of Sense of Community in university online courses (SSC-UOC), but its applicability to face-to-face environments remains untested. The present study aims to adapt the SSC-UOC for measuring university students' sense of community in face-to-face university contexts (Study 1) and to examine how the sense of community relates to well-being, satisfaction and risk of drop-out (Study 2), addressing a key gap in understanding the role of community in shaping university experiences. A sample of 439 Italian university students was involved. The results demonstrate the validity and reliability of the specific University Students' Sense of Community Scale (US-SoC) and reveal that academic satisfaction mediates the relationship between the sense of community and outcomes, including well-being, intentions to withdraw and stress among university students. Finally, the study emphasises the importance of considering the relationships between psychosocial variables such as the sense of community and academic success in actions aimed at supporting the well-being of university students.

Introduction. Job satisfaction is very significant in the field studies of occupational wellbeing. A vast number of published studies have suggested a link between job satisfaction levels and both organizational behavior and physical and mental health. The detection of effective intervention strategies needs an accurate assessment. Therefore, the problem of choosing precise measurement instruments takes place.Objectives. The present paper is aimed to provide a framework about the characteristics of available measures of job satisfaction, in its globality, as a unit, as well as in its component parts. Methods. A critical review was conducted, systematically describing instruments as classified into single-item scales, one-dimensional scales, and multidimensional scales.Psychometric qualities and structural features are indicated for each presented measure.Results. From literature-based analysis a large amount of existing instruments emerged, with some differences referring to their validity, reliability, and practical usefulness. Overall, we presented 23 self-report scales, 7 of which are addressed to a global evaluation, whereas 14 are multidimensional. Some scales are specifically developed to be used in healthcare, medical, and nursing areas.Conclusions. An accurate method for evaluation is at the bottom of the development of effective programs for the prevention of work related risk factors. This overview might be helpful as a guidance tool for determining if an instrument is suitable for a specific purpose.

The issue of environmental and ecosystem protection has emerged as one of the most significant challenges facing today's socio-economic context to ensure ecological sustainability. Prosociality is encompassed within the broader spectrum of behaviours that prioritise environmental well-being. Similar to pro-social behaviour, pro-environmental behaviour may involve certain positive risks (related, for instance, to public exposure), of which individuals must be mindful when choosing to act sustainably. Opting for pro-environmental actions that carry a positive risk can be facilitated through subjective risk intelligence, a capacity that enables individuals to view risk as an opportunity to achieve a goal rather than as a threat. This cross-sectional study, involving 464 Italian adults, aimed to examine the moderating effect of subjective risk intelligence on the relationship between prosociality and the intention to engage in pro-environmental behaviour incorporating a risk component. The moderation model confirmed the hypotheses, indicating that prosociality precedes the intention to engage in sustainable risk taking, and that subjective risk intelligence can moderate and strengthen this relationship. Practical implications of the findings are discussed, along with recommendations for further research.

One of career counseling goals is to understand how to promote the well-being of people facing the unforeseen challenges of the changing world of work. The study investigates the relationship between psychological flexibility, career adaptability and well-being. 498 adult participants reply to Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II, Career Adapt-Abilities Scale, Satisfaction with life scale, and Flourishing Scale. Results show that career adaptability mediates the relationship between psychological flexibility and life satisfaction as well as between psychological flexibility and flourishing, suggesting that career adaptability could be considered a personal resource that enhances the effects of psychological flexibility on hedonic and eudemonic well-being, fostering the ability to adapt to changes in self and situation. Implications for future studies and career counselling are presented.

This study emerges at the intersection of adult development and systems theory frameworks and their contributions to understanding migration experiences and associated cultural transitions. The adult development approach enables a deep understanding of the complexities that adults experience when they move from exploring themselves and their environment in emerging adulthood to establishing their identities and roles during middle adulthood. The systems theory framework, on the other hand, provides insights into the role of social and cultural dimensions in the lives of emerging and middle-adult immigrants who have navigated diverse cultures, roles, and identities. The study highlights the patterns and dynamic interactions of diverse systems of influences and their roles in shaping the self and relational identities of thirty emerging and middle-aged adults who have experienced migration.