The scarring effect of unemployment on psychological well-being across Europe

Past unemployment may have a pervasive psychological impact that occurs across nations. We investigate the association between unemployment events across working life and subsequent psychological well-being across 14 European countries. Additionally, we consider the influence of between-country differences in labour market institutions and conditions on the cross-country well-being effects of unemployment. Data detailing life-long employment trajectories and contemporary life conditions are drawn from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The well-being impact of unemployment is modeled using linear, multi-level specifications. Each six-month spell of past unemployment is found to predict reduced quality of life and life satisfaction after the age of 50, having adjusted for a broad range of individual and country-specific covariates. In contrast, the impact of past unemployment on depression is explained by individual demographic factors. We identify the first comparative long-term evidence that unemployment welfare scarring may be a broad, international phenomenon.     

The bright side of migration: Hedonic,psychological, and social well-being in immigrants in Spain

The aim of this study was to examine the multi-dimensional structure of well-being in immigrant population, as well as to explore the complexity of well-being disparities between immigrants and host nationals. We analyzed hedonic, psychological, and social well-being in a sample of 1250 immigrants from Bolivia, Colombia, Morocco, Romania and Sub-Saharan Africa, together with that of 500 matched host nationals from Spain. Participants were selected by means of probability sampling with stratification by age and sex. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the re-specified tripartite model of well-being, including hedonic, psychological, and social components of the individual’s functioning, was the best fitting model, as compared to alternative models. Importantly, after adjustment for perceived friendship and support, marital status, income, sex and age, immigrants presented higher levels of well-being than host nationals. Compared to host nationals, immigrants reported especially higher eudaimonic well-being: social contribution and actualization, personal growth, self-acceptance, and purpose in life, and lower levels of well-being only in terms of positive relations with others and negative affect. These results are discussed in the context of positive psychology.     

马克思主义幸福观的相关因素分析

马克思主义幸福观是建立在辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义基础上的。它把幸福和物质生活、艰苦奋斗、集体主义等结合起来。通过辨析与马克思主义幸福观相近的一些范畴,包括幸福与人的需要、幸福与快乐、幸福与财富、幸福与社会及其制度等的相互关系,认识到需要和欲望是追求幸福的内驱力,快乐是幸福的表征,财富是幸福的外在条件,从而更加深刻的理解马克思主义幸福观。     

Analyzing social processes: Life tables and proportional hazards models

A number of techniques useful in describing and modeling social processes are detailed. Emphasis is placed on the analysis of changes in categorical variables as they occur in continuous time. The procedures considered are mainly non-parametric, although parametric alternatives do exist when the appropriate distributional assumptions are met. Specifically, life tables and proportional hazards models are discussed and illustrated through an analysis of first live birth intervals for a sample of white American women. The generality of proportional hazards models is outlined by considering extensions of the basic model to include competing risks, time-dependent covariates, and repeatable events.     

Do mother’s and father’s education condition the impact of parental divorce on child well-being?

We use the British Cohort Study to investigate to what extent parental resources moderate the association between parental divorce in childhood and lowered child well-being as indicated by maternal reports of child psychological well-being and by academic test scores (reading and math tests). We argue that children of mothers with more years of education suffer less when their parents split up because better educated mothers may be better able to provide a safe and stable environment for their children after divorce. In addition, we argue that having a better educated father could either aggravate or reduce the effects of parental divorce. This is one of the first studies to simultaneously investigate the role of maternal, and paternal resources, and pre-divorce shared resources. Our analyses indicate that the effect of parental divorce on psychological well-being is reduced for better educated mothers and for families with more pre-divorce economic resources, but increased for better educated fathers. For academic test scores we find a protective effect of having a better educated father and higher pre-divorce social resources.     

Organizational boundaries and upward job shifts

Recent research has examined the role of organizations in the stratification system and the functioning of stratification systems in organizations. In this analysis, we examine the implications of organizational boundaries for upward job changes within and across organizations. To perform our analysis, we utilize a nonstationary, modified Markov model that allows consideration of individual and job heterogeneity. The data are life histories of a sample of U.S. males between the ages of 30 and 39. Our results indicate that organizational boundaries create two kinds of resources: (1) general resources, and (2) organization-specific resources. General resources have a positive effect on upward movement within and across organizational boundaries. Organization-specific resources have a positive effect on upward movement within organizational boundaries, and a negative effect on upward movement across organizational boundaries—a situation of great benefit to organizations.     

Bad news indeed for Ryff’s six-factor model of well-being

Springer and Hauser (An Assessment of the Construct Validity of Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being: Method, Mode, and Measurement Effects. 2006. Social Science Research 35) tested one key aspect of the validity of Ryff’s six-factor model of psychological well-being (RPWB), namely, whether there is substantial independent variation among the six factors. In several large and heterogeneous samples, under a variety of model specifications, and using various sets of RPWB items, we found very high factor correlations among the dimensions of well-being, especially personal growth, purpose in life, self-acceptance, and environmental mastery. That is, the six-factor model makes theoretical claims that do not yield large or consistent empirical distinctions when standard measures and instrumentation are used. Where Ryff and Singer’s comment (Best News Yet on the Six-Factor Model of Well-Being. 2006. Social Science Research 35) refers directly to that analysis, their methodological discussion is most often irrelevant or incorrect. Their text largely ignores and fails to challenge our strong empirical findings about the factorial structure of well-being. In this response, we reinforce these findings and their implications for the (in)validity of the six-factor well-being model as implemented by Ryff. We also explain why Ryff and Singer’s lengthy review of studies that show differential relationships of RPWB factors with other variables should be interpreted with far greater caution than Ryff and Singer recognize. We offer recommendations for analyzing RPWB items in surveys that have already been conducted, but we also emphasize the need for a thorough rethinking of the measurement and dimensionality of psychological well-being.     

The new income inequality and well-being paradigm: Inequality has no effect on happiness in rich nations and normal times,varied effects in extraordinary circumstances,increases happiness in poor nations,and interacts with individuals' perceptions,attitudes, politics,and expectations for the future

Based on earlier, mainly aggregate analyses, conventional wisdom previously held that income inequality reduces happiness. But aggregate models consistently yield misleading results in this domain, substantially because of intractable problems of sample size, confounding omitted variables, and conditional effects differing between poor developing nations, rich advanced nations, and nations in transition from Communism. Based on more recent evidence, scholarly views are beginning to merge on a consensus that national income inequality is irrelevant to individuals' subjective well-being in advanced nations and normal times, as shown by multi-level models with appropriate controls (including socioeconomic development, an engine of happiness and foe of inequality). For developing nations, consensus is not as strong, but the bulk of the evidence indicates a neutral to positive effect for inequality. Building on this foundation, this paper provides exploratory analyses to stimulate future research, extending our understanding of the social psychological and cultural forces that generate these results; dissects changes over time and expectations for the future; and addresses the possibility that inequality may reduce well-being in extraordinary circumstances and for particular groups – for example creating differences in formerly Communist nations between the political left and the right, and between older and younger cohorts.     

Perceived lack of control over life events: Antecedents and consequences in a discharged patient sample

This paper examines perceptions of control over the occurrence of life events among a group of psychiatric patients interviewed at two points in time. First, perceived lack of control is treated as an independent variable affecting psychiatric symptomatology. Results show that, controlling for baseline symptomatology, perceived lack of control is significantly associated with demoralization but random with respect to delusions-hallucinations. Second, when perceived control is treated as a dependent variable results show that variation in how life events are perceived is more a function of the events that occur than of the personal dispositions of individuals. These results are compared with recently reported data from the general population.     

地方师范院校免费师范生主观幸福感研究

本研究以湖南第一师范学院免费师范生为研究对象,采用苗元江编制的《综合幸福量表》,研究地方师范院校免费师范生总体主观幸福感水平、主观幸福感各维度的差异并探讨提升免费师范生主观幸福感的策略。调查结果表明：（1）主观幸福感总体状况良好;（2）幸福感各维度得分从高到低依次是友好关系、健康关注、自我价值、利他行为、人格成长、生命活力、正性情感、生活满意、负性情感;（3）幸福感部分维度在人口学统计指标上面存在显著差异（p＜0.05）。建议从引导免费师范生及早进行人生规划、重视和谐班集体的构建、引导学生关注积极生活事件提高愉快体验等方面去提升免费师范生幸福感各维度水平,更好地进行心理健康教育,提升地方师范院校免费师范生的培养质量。     

高校青年教师的心理压力不容忽视

近年来,许多调查检测都显示我国教师的心理健康状况不容乐观。尤其在高校青年教师中,存在着不容忽视的心理压力,严重地制约着他们的健康成长。关注高校青年教师的心理健康,有针对性地采取有效措施,消除其心理压力,是促进高等教育可持续发展的必然要求。     

How does gun violence affect Americans’ trust in each other?

This article examines how Americans' actual experience of gun victimization affects their trust in others and how this further connects to the widely-discussed association between gun crime and trust at the place level. Analyzing data from the U.S. General Social Survey (GSS), I find that, regardless when it occurred in life, Americans who were victimized by guns trust much less in others than those who had no such experience. In terms of the size of the effect, repeated gun victimization has the strongest effect, followed by adulthood victimization, and then childhood victimization. I also find that individuals who later achieve higher socioeconomic status are better able to recover from the psychological effect of childhood gun victimization, lending support for the experiential theory of trust that people can update their trust according to changing experiences later in life. Finally, combing the GSS data with data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), I also show that higher percentages of nonfatal and fatal gun violence victims lead to lower levels of trust both across and within the U.S. census divisions over time. Findings of this study demonstrate that America's gun violence affects not only just those killed, injured, or present during gunfire, but it can also sabotage the social and psychological well-being of all Americans.     

Explaining the subjective well-being of urban and rural Chinese: Income,personal concerns,and societal evaluations

This study makes an integrated investigation of how subjective well-being is associated with income, personal concerns, and societal evaluations and how these social and psychological correlates of subjective well-being are contextualized within a country. Data used for the empirical analysis come from a nationally representative sample survey conducted in China in 2009. It is found that subjective well-being is independently linked to income, personal concerns, and societal evaluations. Comparisons of urban and rural Chinese further reveal that income, structural attributions of inequality, and evaluations of governance are related to subjective well-being among both groups. Nevertheless, different sets of other evaluative correlates of subjective well-being between urban and rural people stand out, which is conjectured to be related to the long-time institutional, economic, and social segmentation of the two groups. This study has contributed to both the subjective well-being theories and the understanding of the consequences of social inequality.     

党政领导干部心理工作环境与主观幸福感关系初步研究

选取沿海某省563名党政领导干部作为研究对象,对其心理工作环境特征以及与主观幸福感的关系进行初步研究。结果表明:48.5%的被调查者处于职业紧张状态,11.4%被调查者处于付出回报失衡状态;同事支持,工作自主性,工作回报,内在投入与主观幸福感有显著相关;同事支持,工作自主性和工作回报对个体成长发展体验和身心健康体验具有正向预测作用,内在投入对个体成长发展体验和身心健康体验具有负向预测作用。     

The environmental efficiency of well-being: A cross-national analysis

Recent research has conceptualized sustainability as the environmental efficiency of well-being (EWEB). This concept takes into account the benefits societies are able to produce from their demands on the environment. Research along these lines indicates that countries vary widely in the efficiency with which they transform the Earth’s resources into well-being. Here, we take up this finding as a puzzle to be explained. We construct a new measure of EWEB using the ecological footprint per capita (a measure of environmental consumption) and average life satisfaction (a measure of subjective well-being). We draw hypotheses from political economy, modernization, and sustainable consumption theories in the environmental social sciences. Using full information maximum likelihood estimation, we test the effects of climate, political, economic, and social factors on EWEB with a sample of 105 countries. Key findings include a negative quadratic effect of economic development on EWEB, a negative effect of income inequality, and a positive effect of social capital.     

Life events,genetic susceptibility,and smoking among adolescents

Although stressful life events during adolescence are associated with the adoption of unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, both social circumstances and physical traits can moderate the relationship. This study builds on the stress paradigm and gene–environment approach to social behavior by examining how a polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene 5-HTTLPR moderates the effect of life events on adolescent smoking. Tests of interaction hypotheses use data from the Family Transitions Project, a longitudinal study of 7th graders followed for 5 years. A sibling-pair design with separate models for the gender composition of pairs (brothers, sisters, or brother/sister) controls for unmeasured family background. The results show that negative life events are significantly and positively associated with smoking. Among brother pairs but not other pairs, the results provide evidence of gene–environment interaction by showing that life events more strongly influence smoking behavior for those with more copies of the 5-HTTLPR S allele.     

强化心理健康教育提高学生综合素质

在高校开展心理健康教育 ,关系到社会主义高等教育能否培养出身心健康、全面发展、适应市场经济要求的新型人才 ,要卓有成效地开展高校心理健康教育工作 ,提高学生的综合素质 ,必须 :转变观念 ,提高认识 ,增强做好心理健康教育的自觉性和主动性 ;加强领导 ,健全机构 ,完善心理健康教育体系 ;培训师资 ,充实骨干 ,提高广大教育工作者进行心理健康教育的技能和技巧 ;广开渠道 ,灵活多变 ,开展丰富多彩的心理健康教育活动 ;搞好普查 ,规范档案 ,增强心理健康教育的针对性和实效性 ;加强研究 ,探索规律 ,提高心理健康教育的科学性。     

Societal Inequality and individual subjective well-being: Results from 68 societies and over 200,000 individuals, 1981–2008

Income inequality has been contentious for millennia, a source of political conflict for centuries, and is now widely feared as a pernicious “side effect” of economic progress. But equality is only a means to an end and so must be evaluated by its consequences. The fundamental question is: What effect does a country's level of income inequality have on its citizens' quality of life, their subjective well-being? We show that in developing nations inequality is certainly not harmful but probably beneficial, increasing well-being by about 8 points out of 100. This may well be Kuznets's inverted “U”: In the earliest stages of development some are able to move out of the (poorly paying) subsistence economy into the (better paying) modern economy; their higher pay increases their well-being while simultaneously increasing inequality. In advanced nations, income inequality on average neither helps nor harms. Estimates are from random-intercept fixed-effects multi-level models, confirmed by over four dozen sensitivity tests. Data are from the pooled World Values/European Values Surveys, Waves 1 to 5 with 169 representative national samples in 68 nations, 1981 to 2009, and over 200,000 respondents, replicated and extended in the European Quality of Life Surveys.     

大学校园暴力行为的分析与教育对策探究

当今大学校园十分突出的暴力事件多少折射和暴露了当今教育中存在的学校教育与家庭教育脱节、学校教育体制不健全等问题。为此,教育所应作出的对策是构建学校、家庭与社会三位一体的教育体系,树立以人为本的教育理念,加强重视大学生的心理健康以及关注、关心贫困大学生的生活现实。     

Panel data and models of change: A comparison of first difference and conventional two-wave models

The method of first differences as an approach to modeling change is described and it is compared to more conventional two-wave panel models. Substantial advantages are found to the first-difference approach, especially if there are unmeasured, unchanging predictor variables in the model. It is also argued that there are substantial problems in the interpretation of results from the conventional two-wave models. Some of the analytic results are illustrated with a number of applications to the area of stressful life events.