Life crafting reveals positive influence on well-being and performance

Life Crafting

Shi Chen's research emphasizes the importance of active life crafting—cognitive shaping, seeking social support, and embracing challenges—for mental well-being and academic performance.

Studies with international students and employees show that life crafting contributes to satisfaction and vitality, reducing stress and improving mental health.

Life Crafting Scale

Chen's dissertation "Life Crafting: Creating a Meaningful Life" offers a glimpse into the transformative power of actively shaping one's life to enhance well-being. Through thorough studies, Chen validates the Life Crafting Scale, revealing the crucial roles of cognitive shaping, social support, and challenge-seeking in strengthening mental health and performance.

The research underscores the potential of life crafting to increase satisfaction and vitality, mediated by positive emotions, while reducing negative emotions through daily challenges and social support.

The intervention study suggests that while social support can be stimulated and stress reduced, the effects on cognitive shaping, challenge engagement, and meaning-making are less clear, pointing to the need for further exploration of life crafting's mechanisms.

Shi Chen defended his thesis on 3 July. Title of PhD thesis: "Life Crafting: Creating a Meaningful Life". Supervisors: Evangelia Demerouti, Leander van der Meij and Llewellyn van Zyl.