Introduction

The paper begins with a presentation of the quality of life in Italy as compared to other countries in the European Union. Several of the major socio-demographic and economic and life satisfaction (as revealed by the Eurobarometer survey) indicators are considered. Then, the Italian situation is discussed at greater length in the light of the transformations it has undergone in the past ten years. Thus it is possible to evaluate the following demographic themes: the profound process of aging; transformations in the family; and transformations in urban areas. The following economic themes are considered: the principal characteristics of the marketplace, in particular, the problem of unemployment; and household income and consumption. Finally, the time series of certain objective indicators are placed alongside those of life satisfaction.     

Trajectory of Life Satisfaction and its Relationship with Subjective Economic Status and Successful Aging

The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between subjective economic status and indicators of successful aging to life satisfaction trajectories among the elderly in Taiwan. Data were from the four waves of “Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan”. Hierarchical linear modeling was conducted. Subjective economic status was measured by childhood economic status and time-varying economic satisfaction. Time-varying physical, mental, and social successful aging variables and demographics were also used to describe the trajectory of life satisfaction. Life satisfaction showed a slightly decreasing but generally stationary trend across time. The concurrent economic satisfaction was associated with life satisfaction trajectory, but childhood economic status was not significant. The time-varying depressive symptoms, cognitive function and social support were related to the life satisfaction trajectory. Policy on the elderly should take particular account of the economic security, mental health, and social support of the elderly.     

Asset Impacts on Life Satisfaction in an Asset-Rich Country: Focusing on Older Adults in Singapore

Using a representative sample, this study examined the extent to which assets matter for life satisfaction among older adults in Singapore. Singapore is a particularly useful context to explore the relationship between life satisfaction and assets because almost all Singaporeans own their own house, regardless of income level. First, this study used a latent profile analysis to assess patterns of life satisfaction. Then, asset impacts on this pattern of life satisfaction were examined, while controlling for contextual and health factors. The study found that financial assets matter for life satisfaction of older adults in Singapore. In particular, older adults in both the moderate life satisfaction class (LSC) and the High LSC were likely to have higher financial assets. Comparatively, other economic indicators such as real assets, total debts, and monthly household income were not significantly related to life satisfaction of older adults in the Moderate and High LSC compared to the Low LSC. However, real assets and monthly household income were significant predictors distinguishing the Moderate LSC and the High LSC. Throughout the models, total debts were not considered as a significant predictor of life satisfaction differences. This paper concludes by providing several policy and practice implications.     

Economic,Social, and Cultural Determinants of Life Satisfaction: Are there Differences Between Asia and Europe?

This paper investigates the influence of the economic, social, and cultural variables on life satisfaction in Asia and Europe. The second section sets a unifying theoretical framework for all three domains by defining life satisfaction as a function of aspirations and expectations which in turn are affected by micro- and macro-level variables. On the micro-level, economic capital is a resource for the actor. On the macro-level, societal economic capital improves the opportunity structure for the individual under certain conditions. Thus, economic capital on both levels positively affects the perceived chances of fulfilling aspirations. As long as the latter remain unchanged life satisfaction will increase. Social and cultural factors partially follow the same logic, as indicated by the terms social and cultural capital. Under a set of assumptions, the hypotheses derived are that personal and societal economic capital, national pride and national integration, religiosity, and societal religious integration, all positively affect the life satisfaction of the individual. A multi-level analysis of data from the European Values Study and the AsiaBarometer confirms the micro-level hypotheses. The economic macro-level indicators also display the theoretically expected positive effect on life satisfaction in the multivariate analysis of Asian and European data. By contrast, the direct cross-level effects of a society’s national integration and particularly of religion do not become significant in Europe, yet they are highly significant in Asia. This strong influence of the social and cultural context in Asia can be interpreted in two different ways.     

The Well-Being of 12 - to 16-Year-Old Adolescents and their Parents: Results from 1999 to 2003 Spanish Samples

This study adopts satisfaction with life as a whole and satisfaction with specific life domains as indicators to analyse the relationships between the well-being of 12 to 16-year-old adolescents and some related constructs such as self-esteem, perceived control and perceived social support. Well-being indicators from a 2003 Spanish sample using an 11-point scale (N = 1,634) are compared with an equivalent 1999 Spanish sample using a 5-point scale (N = 1,618). The different results obtained from the 2003 sample with a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) using a shorter and a longer list of life domains are also discussed. A sub-sample of the adolescents’ results from the 2003 sample are compared with their parents’ answers, using the same well-being indicators. Using a list of 8 life domains, and despite the change of scale used, overall results show no relevant changes in adolescents’ satisfaction with life domains between 1999 and 2003 in Spain and are in agreement with normative data expected from western societies [Cummins: 1998, Social Indicators Research 43, pp. 307–334; Cummins et al.: 2001, Australian Unity Well-being Index (Australian Centre on Quality of Life, Deakin University, Melbourne)]. Adolescents’ overall life satisfaction has been shown to correlate consistently with the other well-being related constructs. However, it clearly decreases with age over the period studied. The results also show that increasing the list of life domains has a major impact on the structure of the results obtained. When we compare results from parents with those from their own child, outstanding differences in well-being appear between generations: few domain satisfaction dimensions show significant correlation between parents and children and more than 20% of the population studied shows high discrepancies in the answers in four domains.     

The Relative Importance of Health

This article seeks to extend Michalos’ [Social indicators research and health-related quality of life (QoL) research. Social Indicators Research, 65, 27–72, 2004] discussion on bridging social indicators research and health-related QoL (HRQoL) research through an examination of (1) the relative importance of satisfaction with one’s own health to another common measure of QoL—Life satisfaction, and (2) the relative importance of health in relation to other major life domains. Using data from two surveys, this article found that individuals may perceive health as most important in relation to other major life domains but satisfaction with one’s own health may not necessarily be the most important determining factor (in relation to satisfaction with other major life domains) of QoL as measured by life satisfaction. These findings support Michalos’ (Social indicators research and HRQoL research. Social Indicators Research, 65, 27–72, 2004) call for caution regarding the interpretation of research results on HRQoL since many HRQoL measures are measures of satisfaction with one’s own health and should not be considered as measures of QoL.     

Social Capital,Government and Democracy Satisfaction,and Happiness in Turkey: A Comparison of Surveys in 1999 and 2008

Based on data from a 1999 and a 2008 European Values Survey, the main objective of this study is to explore the relationship between a variety of social capital indicators, satisfaction with government and democracy, and subjective well-being. Happiness and life satisfaction were used as outcome measures of subjective well-being. The indicators of social capital used in this study are general trust, trust in institutions, political engagement, concern for others, societal norms, and membership in volunteer organizations. The analyses reveal a significant increase in happiness, life satisfaction, and many social capital variables between 1999 and 2008. Generalized trust, trust in institutions, government satisfaction, and democracy satisfaction are positive correlates of well-being, although some relationships are significant only in 2008. Several demographic variables are also linked with subjective well-being such as income, employment status, age, gender, and education. We discuss the findings in relation to the significant societal, economic, and political changes experienced in Turkey between 1999 and 2008. Policy implications are also emphasized such as improved trust among individuals, trustworthiness of government institutions, and functioning of democracy.     

American High School Students’ Perceptions of Determinants of Life Satisfaction

Life satisfaction can be assessed either globally or with regard to satisfaction with specific domains of life. The latter multidimensional approach presumes science has delineated with confidence the specific domains most relevant to evaluating whether the criteria for a good life have been met. This paper shares results of a qualitative study of the perceived determinants of life satisfaction among 30 high school students who were diverse in terms of mental health; 6–10 participants were classified as complete mental health, vulnerable, symptomatic but content, or troubled at two time points separated by a year. Thematic analyses of transcribed individual interviews suggested eight themes that capture the domains of life adolescents perceive influence their happiness. These themes are compared and contrasted to domains included in existing multi-dimensional measures of youth life satisfaction. The factors likely to be particularly salient to students with different levels of mental health are noted.

     

Explaining Accessibility and Satisfaction Related to Healthcare: A Mixed-Methods Approach

Accessibility and satisfaction related to healthcare services are conceived as multidimensional concepts. These concepts can be studied using objective and subjective measures. In this study, we created two indices: a composite healthcare accessibility index (CHCA) and a composite healthcare satisfaction index (CHCS). To calculate the CHCA index we used three indicators based on three components of multidimensional healthcare accessibility: availability, acceptability and accessibility. In the indicator based on the component of accessibility, we included an innovative perceived time-decay parameter. The three indicators of the CHCA index were weighted through the application of a principal components analysis. To calculate the CHCS index, we used three indicators: the waiting time after the patient arrives at the healthcare service, the quality of the healthcare, and the healthcare service supply. These three indicators making up the CHCA index were weighted by applying an analytical hierarchy process. Three kinds of regressions were subsequently applied in order to explain the CHCA and CHCS indices: namely the Linear Least Squares, Ordinal Logistic, and Random Forests regressions. In these regressions, we used different independent social and health-related variables. These variables represented the predisposing, enabling, and need factors of people´s behaviors related to healthcare. All the calculations were applied to a study area: the city of Quito, Ecuador. Results showed that there are health-related inequalities in regard to healthcare accessibility and healthcare satisfaction in our study area. We also identified specific social factors that explained the indices developed. The present work is a mixed-methods approach to evaluate multidimensional healthcare accessibility and healthcare satisfaction, incorporating a pluralistic perspective, as well as a multidisciplinary framework. The results obtained can also be considered as tools for healthcare and urban planners, for more integrative social analyses that can improve the quality of life in urban residents.     

Does Society Matter? Life Satisfaction in the Enlarged Europe

Life satisfaction is quite heterogeneously distributed across countries of the enlarged European Union. Previous research has shown how living conditions within individual countries, such as access to material and emotional resources, are important for personal well-being, but it has been less successful in explaining differences between countries. This article investigates whether it matters in which political and economic circumstances people live, as well as whether their particular perception of the quality of their societal environment plays a role. People are well aware that the institutional and cultural settings in which their lives are embedded create opportunities and limitations: within individual countries, perceptions of society influence life satisfaction outcomes irrespective of access to resources. However, their importance for well-being differs across Europe: perceptions of societies are highly decisive in countries that provide only a minimum of social security and in which the reliability of political institutions is poor. In rich and stable countries, the impact is weaker and private social support becomes more important. In addition to these country-specific weights of life satisfaction determinants, life satisfaction variations between countries can be explained to a large extent by taking into consideration the economic performance, the social security level, and the political culture in a country—all in all, general conditions that enable people to live a respectable life.     

The nature of the connection between life course and satisfaction with community services

Research on satisfaction with community services has used both age and life cycle stage as predictors of satisfaction. As both age and life cycle stage are indicators of life course, their relative advantages in service satisfaction research need to be assessed. The authors correlated both age and life cycle stage with twenty service satisfaction items and with item non-response (a measure of the salience of a service). Results were: (1) associations with service satisfaction were linear, (2) some associations with salience were markedly curvilinear, and (3) as predictors of service satisfaction, age and life cycle performed similarly. The choice between age and life cycle as predictors of service satisfaction appears to involve conceptual as well as empirical issues.     

Life Satisfaction as a Distinguishing Indicator of College Student Functioning: Further Validation of the Two-Continua Model of Mental Health

The two-continua model of mental health contends that both psychological distress and psychological well-being make related-yet-distinct contributions to our understanding of human health and its relations with other quality of life outcomes. Using self-reported somatization, depression, and anxiety symptoms as indicators of psychological distress and self-reported life satisfaction as an indicator of psychological well-being, the present study classified participants into one of four mental-health-status groups—mentally healthy, mentally unhealthy, symptomatic yet content, or asymptomatic yet discontent—and investigated between-group differences across three key indicators of college student functioning: academic achievement, interpersonal connectedness, and physical health. Findings provide further validation for the two-continua model of mental health among college students, showing that, when considered in conjunction with clinical symptoms, life satisfaction serves as a distinguishing indicator of college students functioning across academic, social, and physical health domains—as well as a strong predictor of the absence or presence of clinical symptoms and comorbidity. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.     

Internal Migration and Life Satisfaction: Well-Being Paths of Young Adult Migrants

Internal migration is typically associated with higher income, but its relation with life satisfaction remains unclear. Is internal migration accompanied by an increase in life satisfaction and does this increase depend on the reason for moving? What are the aspects of life underlying overall life satisfaction that change following migration? These questions are addressed using longitudinal data from the Swedish Young Adult Panel Study. Migration is defined as a change in municipality of residence. Comparing migrants to non-migrants, it is found that internal migration is accompanied by a short to medium term increase in life satisfaction for those who move due to work (work migrants), as well as those who move for other reasons (non-work migrants). However, only work migrants display an improvement in life satisfaction that remains significant 6 or more years following the move. Work and non-work migrants also differ in the aspects of life that change following migration. For work migrants the move is accompanied by an improvement in occupational status positively associated with well-being 6–10 years after the move. For non-work migrants, a persisting increase in housing satisfaction follows migration, but this housing improvement is accompanied by only a short to medium term increase in overall well-being.     

Perceptual indicators of family well-being

A resource exchange theory for the development of perceptual indicators of quality of family life is presented with empirical evidence to test the theory. The theory specifies six classes of resources: love, status, services, information, goods and money, as necessary to maintain some level of life quality. The first three are the most dependent on the particular people involved in the exchange relationship and the interpersonal exchanges of these resources offer opportunities for highest levels of satisfaction. It was hypothesized (1) that feelings about the particularistic resources received from family would significantly contribute to family life satisfaction for men and women; (2) that the order of resource classes on the particularism dimension would correspond to the order of their effectiveness in contributing to family life satisfaction. Results of the study support the theoretical model and hypotheses and suggest that further research with respondents of differing life circumstances is needed. The need for indicators of quality of family life in quality of life research is emphasized.     

The Latent Profiles of Life Domain Importance and Satisfaction in a Quality of Life Scale

The present study aimed to use a latent profile analysis to distinguish between populations in terms of life domain importance and satisfaction profiles. Then, a multinomial logistic regression was used to determine how background variables (e.g., gender, living areas, and school levels) and self-perceived health predict each latent quality of life (QoL) profile. We also investigated how the latent groups of adolescents predicted negative and positive well-being indicators (e.g., problem behaviors and overall life satisfaction). The sample consisted of 720 Taiwanese secondary school students. Three latent groups were established as follows: “unimportant-unsatisfied,” “important-unsatisfied,” and “important-satisfied.” The results indicate the following: (a) boys were more likely to fall into the “unimportant-unsatisfied” group than were girls; (b) better health increased the likelihood of being in the “important-satisfied” group; (c) high school students were more likely to be in the “unimportant-unsatisfed” group than were middle school students; and (d) no relationship was found between latent groups and living areas. The function of importance rating was not present when evaluating the importance-satisfaction profiles and their relationship with problem behaviors and overall life satisfaction. The problems of the “unimportant-unsatisfied” profile among youth are discussed.     

An Investigation Of A Brief Life Satisfaction Scale With Elementary School Children

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Brief Multidmensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS: Seligson et al., 2003) with elementary school children. The participants included 518 elementary school students in grades three through five in a Southeastern US state. The students completed the following measures: the BMSLSS, the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS: Huebner, 1991a), the Children’s Social Desirability Questionnaire (CSDQ: Crandall et al., 1965), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Children’s Version (PANAS-C: Laurent et al., 1999). The results revealed acceptable internal consistency reliability, construct validity and concurrent validity for the BMSLSS. Overall, the use of the BMSLSS for research purposes was supported on a preliminary basis for this age group for research purposes. The study also investigated the usefulness of weighted importance ratings in the prediction of global life satisfaction judgments. Children’s ratings of the importance of the specific domains, whether viewed separately or combined with ratings of levels of life satisfaction, did not enhance the prediction of global life satisfaction. The usefulness of such a brief measure for the assessment of positive indicators of well-being in large-scale national and international studies is highlighted. Recommendations for future research are delineated.     

The relationship between measures of subjective and economic well-being: A new look

The objective of this research is to examine the importance of variable specification in using economic variable to explain the variance in individual's perceived (1) overall psychological, (2) economic, and (3) non-economic well-being. Results indicate that careful specification of economic variables improves the explained variance of perceived subjective well-being. Specification of dependent variable, life satisfaction, based on a domain-specific scale, proves superior to using the response to the global satisfaction question, “How do you feel about life as a whole?’ Economic variables prove significant in explaining both perceived economic and non-economic domains of life satisfaction. Although its overall effect on life satisfaction is negative, increased family size is found to enhance non-economic life satisfaction, while detracting from economic aspects of life satisfaction.     

Social Indicators Research and Health-Related Quality of Life Research

The aim of this essay is to build a bridgebetween two intersecting areas of research,social indicators research on the one hand andhealth-related quality of life research on theother. The first substantive section of thepaper introduces key concepts and definitionsin the social indicators research tradition,e.g., social indicators, positive, negative,input and output indicators, social reports andquality of life. After that, there is asection reviewing some historical origins andmotives of social indicators researchers,beginning roughly with Jeremy Bentham's`felicific calculus' and ending with the searchfor a comprehensive accounting scheme capableof measuring the quality of human existencewith social, economic and environmentalindicators.Results of eleven surveys are reviewed whichwere undertaken to explain happiness on thebasis of levels of satisfaction thatrespondents got from a dozen specific domainsof their lives, e.g., satisfaction with theirjobs, family relations and health. On average,for the eleven samples, we were able to explain38% of the variance in reported happiness fromsome subset of the predictor variables. Satisfaction with one's own health was never the strongest predictor of happiness inany sample. In five of the eleven samples,satisfaction with one's own health failed toenter the final explanatory regression equationfor lack of statistical significance. Theresults in this section of the essay show thatdifferent groups of people with different lifecircumstances, resources and constraints usedifferent mixtures of ingredients to determinetheir happiness.After examining some research revealing therelative importance of people's satisfaction with their health to theiroverall happiness, I consider some studiesrevealing the importance of people's self-reported health to their overallhappiness. Self-reported health is measuredprimarily by the eight dimensions of SF-36.When a variety of additional potentialpredictors are entered into our regressionequation, 44% of the variance in happinessscores is explained, but only one of the eightdimensions of SF-36 remains, namely, MentalHealth. The latter accounts for a mere four%age points out of the total 44. Thus,self-reported health has relatively little tocontribute toward respondents' reportedhappiness, and its measured contribution issignificantly affected by the number and kindsof potential predictors employed.Two approaches to explaining people'ssatisfaction with their own health areconsidered. First, using the same set ofhealth-related potential predictors of overallhappiness, we are able to explain 56% of thevariance in respondents' satisfaction withtheir own health. Then, using MultipleDiscrepancies Theory, we are able to explainabout 51% of the variation in satisfactionwith one's own health scores for 8,076undergraduates, with highs of 76% for a sampleof Finnish females and 72% for Korean males.Accordingly, it is reasonable to conclude thatif one's aim is to explain people'ssatisfaction with their own health, thepotential predictors assembled in MDT canprovide quite a bit and sometimes even moreexplanatory power than a reasonably broad setof measures of self-reported health.In the penultimate section of the essay it isargued that there are good reasons forcarefully distinguishing ideas of health andquality of life, and for not interpreting SF-36and SIP scores as measures of the quality oflife. It is suggested that we might all bebetter off if the term `health-related qualityof life' is simply abandoned. However, sincethis is unlikely to happen, it is stronglyrecommended that researchers be much morecareful with their usage of the phrase andtheir interpretation of purported measures ofwhatever the phrase is supposed to designate.     

Pie-eyed Optimists: Baby-boomers the Optimistic Generation?

Social indicators research is concerned with the measurement of quality of life in society from both the objective and subjective point of view. The subjective appraisal of quality of life often involves judgements in terms of satisfaction (Veenhoven, 1996: 1). Such research however, is not only concerned with satisfaction but also with dissatisfaction. The concepts of pessimism and optimism are used in this paper to determine feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction among an elite cohort of baby boom Australians. Objective and subjective potential indicators of quality of life are combined to explore these dimensions.     

Parallels Between Objective Indicators and Subjective Perceptions of Quality of Life: A Study of Metropolitan and County Areas in Taiwan

This study explores the consistency between objective indicators and subjective perceptions of quality of life in a ranking of survey data for cities and counties in Taiwan. Data used for analysis included the Statistical Yearbook of Hsiens and Municipalities and the Survey on Living Conditions of Citizens in Taiwan, both given for the year 2000. The Quality of life was examined in seven domains: medical services, domestic finances, work, education, leisure, public safety, and environmental quality. Subjective and objective rankings for each domain of quality of life for 23 areas (some areas are cities and some are counties) are compared. Analysis by means of nonparametric correlation coefficients indicates that there is no significant correlation between objective indicators and subjective perceptions, except in Education and Environmental Quality. Objective indicators of Environmental Quality (air pollution and garbage) are positively correlated with subjective satisfaction with residential environment. But inexplicably, higher levels of literacy and educational achievement are negatively correlated with satisfaction with the educational system. It may be considered that disparity in either average objective conditions or in average subjective perceptions may not adequately depict quality of life differences.