Flourishing in Contexts

Sociocultural Perspectives on Well-being and Its Promotion in Young People

Edited by:
Gregory Arief D. Liem, Nanyang Technological University
Dennis M. McInerney, The Education University of Hong Kong

A volume in the series: Research on Sociocultural Influences on Motivation and Learning. Editor(s): Gregory Arief D. Liem, The Education University of Hong Kong.

Call for Papers or Manuscripts

The youths of today are confronted with a myriad of challenges of living in the world that has never been more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) than ever, and these multifaceted challenges are likely to compromise their well-being. Clearly, fostering the well-being of young people across sociocultural boundaries, rather than of the select groups of privileged individuals, is a timely and worthy endeavor and should not take a back seat. The advent of Positive Education has offered a promising generic approach to promoting the well-being of young people. It is an educational paradigm that emphasizes the goal of developing both cognitive abilities and well-being skills in students, rather than one or the other (Seligman, 2011). These dual purposes are arguably aligned with the two major views of well-being, eudaimonia and hedonia, with the former representing a perspective that highlights the importance of engaged pursuit of meaningful goals, and the latter highlighting one’s positive emotion and life satisfaction in one’s well-being (see e.g., Disabato et al., 2016; Ryan & Deci, 2001). Their combo – that wellness is achieved when a person is feeling good and functioning well – has often been termed ‘flourishing’ (Seligman, 2011). However, scholarly discussions on sociocultural influences on well-being and ways of promoting it have relatively been scarce. While eudaimonia and hedonia could be conceptually applicable and practically relevant to individuals across cultures, the content and degree of emphasis of these multidimensional constructs may be cross-culturally different. Further, there could also be cross-cultural variation in the nature of the relationships of well-being with their antecedents and consequences.

FOCUSED THEMES AND AREAS OF INTEREST
To address these literature gaps, we invite scholars to critically re-examine their work and ideas on well-being and ways of fostering it in young people through a sociocultural lens. We specifically encourage them to:

(1) underscore the key well-being constructs relevant to their work and their importance for school-aged young people across societies,
(2) overview international research on such well-being constructs, of lack thereof, with a special discussion on how the kind and degree of the constructs are socioculturally moderated,
(3) describe extant interventions and/or their ideas about interventions purported to promote well-being in young people, and why there is a need to take sociocultural factors into account in designing and implementing such interventions, and
(4) propose key areas of future research that potentially lead to a more holistic understanding of well-being and a more systematic and strategic ways of facilitating it in young people across cultures.

PROPOSAL INFORMATION
Proposals should consist of your name and affiliation, email address, a tentative title, and an abstract (200-250 words) indicating how it addresses the mission of the volume All proposals (and inquiries) should be sent to Gregory Arief D. Liem (gregory.liem@nie.edu.sg) by May 31, 2021.

CHAPTER SUBMISSION INFORMATION
Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by July 15, 2021 about the status of their submission and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters, ranging from 7,000 to 8,000 words in Times New Roman 12, double spaced text, inclusive of title, abstract, manuscript, and references, as well as tables and figures, if any, should be submitted as a Microsoft Word email attachment by October 31, 2021. Manuscripts should conform to 7th edition APA style conventions.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE FOR PUBLICATION:

Abstract Submissions:
June 30, 2021

Notification of invite to submit chapter:
July 15, 2021

Submission of book chapter:
October 31, 2021

Reviews of book chapter manuscripts sent to author(s):
November 30, 2021

Receipt by editors of final draft of book chapters:
January 31, 2022

Final book submitted to publisher:
February 28, 2022

Anticipated publication:
Spring 2022