Book Review: Exploring Adolescent Happiness: Commitment, Purpose and Fulfilment

* Exploring Adolescent Happiness: Commitment, Purpose and Fulfilment Zipora Magen. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage, 1998 pb 228pp

As a student counsellor in a large university and a parent of two teenaged sons, my interest in this book was both professional and personal. As the author notes, previous research into the experience of 'adolescence' has focused almost exclusively on the distress, difficulties and self-interest which it is widely assumed characterise this period. One of the main aims of the book, therefore, is to redress the balance by eliciting and exploring more positive experiences; specifically those associated with feelings of extreme well-being. Additionally, since existing research into 'happiness' focuses on adult experience, the selection of this particular population for study is intended to broaden the scope of our understanding of this phenomenon. A further aim is to explore the sources of such happiness and measure the relative degree to which and frequency with which these are characterised by orientation towards the self, the external world or 'the other'. The author hypotheses that, and her research findings confirm that, in contrast to what might be assumed, experiences involving self-transcendence or 'commitment beyond self are at least as, if not more, common a source of the sense of well-being of young people as those in which the self is the main focus. There is also a moral aim: to identify, on the basis of the research findings, ways in which young people's capacity for joy, and particularly for 'pro-social behaviour' can be fostered by interventions by educators, counsellors/psychotherapists and parents.

Magen's review of the literature and research on happiness and 'commitment beyond self is thorough and interesting, including reference both to traditional and more recent humanistic psychological contributions (such as Maslow and Rogers). One of the cover reviews refers to Magen's 'dual allegiance to existential psychology and empirical science'. I assume, given both the book's publication (and the reviewer's) location, that what is meant is the American canon of existential/humanistic writing, since apart from passing references to Kierkegaard, Heidegger and Buber, and a slightly more extended consideration of Frankl, there is little of what I understand by phenomenology or existentialism in the book. There is a very interesting discussion of altruism, in which I was struck afresh by the underlying individualist premises of separateness on which even conflicting views as to whether other-directed and helping attitudes and behaviour are ultimately motivated by self-interest are based. Perhaps the nature of intersubjectivity, as it is understood in the phenomenological tradition, would help to explain why benefit to another and benefit to self are not in fact mutually exclusive or opposing motivations in so-called altruism. This discussion also provoked renewed reflection in this reader on the motivation of those of us in the helping professions'. I enjoyed the book, despite reservations concerning the methodology which I suspect stem more from my academic background in interpretative cultural anthropology and philosophy than any inherent shortcomings. I am aware that many Journal readers are likely to have had some training in academic psychology and to be more familiar with quantitative analysis of research findings than myself. Nonetheless, I found the

switch from the qualitative method used to elicit phenomenological descriptions of 'positive experience', to such techniques as factor analysis of these, disconcerting. I was reminded of Ablamowicz's (1984; 1992) empirical phenomenological study of shame which uses a more explicitly phenomenological (and, to me, more amenable) method of reduction to arrive at the characteristic features of this experience. This is a minor criticism however; Magen's insistence on letting her subjects 'speak for themselves' is salutary.

Throughout, Magen's cross-cultural awareness, aims and methodology are to be commended. Her research explores the experience of young people from three cultures: Christian Americans, Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews. I was curious to see how she tackles the question of the universality or otherwise of 'adolescence' (Chapter 7); not just the subjective experience of this period and its putative characteristics (particularly the possibility for the occurrence of happiness) but the concept itself. To her credit, the author acknowledges the debate on this. Unlike puberty, which is incontrovertibly a distinct physiological episode heralding the onset of the human organism's maturation into an adult, the existence and nature of the developmental stage 'adolescence' is (for this reader at least) largely a cultural construction. (This naturally brings to mind the general point about models of human development and the current apparent lack of an existential model, with which readers will already be familiar).

Perhaps of greatest relevance for practitioners of counselling and psychotherapy is the chapter on Facilitating Happiness. It explores how the use of interventions intended to encourage clients to reflect on their positive experiences (whether this be a remembered moment or a particular relationship with a person with valued qualities) may foster a sense of well-being which can be built on and generalised, potentially resulting both in increased self-esteem and improved relations with others. For me this raises the question whether such interventions deliberately shifting the emphasis from negativity to positivity are truly in keeping with a phenomenological method of staying closely with the client's current experience. As I understand it, an existential stance acknowledges and works with the negativities entailed in human existence, when these are presented by the client, even while hoping that the establishment of a therapeutic relationship will ultimately be of benefit.

In summary, while I feel sure readers who have 'adolescent' clients or relatives will, like me, find much of interest in this book, I am doubtful whether it offers anything of value specifically for the existential practitioner.

References

Ablamowicz, H. (1984) An Empirical Phenomenological Study of Shame. Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, Southern Illinois University.

Ablamowicz, H. (1992) 'Shame as an Interpersonal Dimension of Communication Among Doctoral Students: an Empirical Phenomenological Study' Journal of Phenomenological Psychology 23,1: pp30-49.

Christina Bruckland