Social indicators of perceived life quality

Modern societies in both developing and developed countries have real and legitimate concerns about the enhancement, maintenance, and redistribution of individual well-being. Indicators of perceived well-being provide direct measures of what societies are trying to achieve, permit cross-sector comparisons, can indicate the adequacy of coverage of ‘objective’ indicators, and can contribute to social policy making. in both the long and short run. Some commentators, however, have suggested perceptual indicators suffer from methodological weaknesses associated with their validity, interpretability, completeness, and utility. Each of these possible weaknesses is addressed in some detail. New research evidence and certain philosophical perspectives are presented, and it is concluded that none of these presumed weaknesses is sufficient to invalidate the development and use of perceptual indicators. Suggestions are made concerning methodological research needed to support the development of indicators of perceived well-being. It is noted that the materials and results developed in the author's research on Americans' perceptions of life quality may be useful for suggesting approaches to the development of indicators of perceived life quality relevant to other cultures.     

Political beliefs and subjective indicators of quality of life

A recent article by Buttel et al. argued that the subjective satisfaction of individual respondents with their personal lives may be related to their political ideological beliefs. Employing survey data collected in Wisconsin in 1974 they demonstrated a significant linkage between total life satisfaction and political cynicism. This paper proceeds to reanalyze their results, employing 1972 election data collected by the Survey Research Center. The paper argues that one must differentiate a standard measure of political cynicism from the type of measure employed in the Buttel et al. work. For the standard measure of political cynicism no linkage was found with total life satisfaction, but for a personal measure that was similar to the one employed in the Buttel et al. article there was a relationship. The previous results suggest that the findings of the Buttel et al. article were brought about by the unique manner in which they defined political cynicism.     

Ideology and social indicators of the quality of life

This paper explores the possibility that social-psychological, evaluative measures of social well-being/quality of life (QOL) perceptions may embody unintended ideological elements. We argue that individual QOL satisfactions are likely caused, in part, by ‘satisfactions’, or conservative orientations, vis-à-vis societal institutions. Four dependent measures of QOL attitudes-overall life satisfaction, service satisfaction, community satisfaction, and powerlessness-are derived from factor analyses and established measurement procedures. Each of these QOL indicators is found to exhibit significant bivariate associations with measures of political-economic ideology. These relationships are somewhat reduced, but persist at statistically significant levels, when socio-demographic background variables are held constant. We then discuss the implications of our results for theory and method in the social indicators field.     

Regression analysis of regional quality of life

A regression procedure, using survey data on individual's stated preferences for communities, is used to calculate an index of ‘quality of life’. The survey instrument is extraordinarily simple, asking only for limited information about the subset of communities most well-known to respondents. The index is based upon an assumption about the distribution of the errors individuals make in perceiving the true, underlying index. The index is computed from dummy variables and is shown to have nice properties, including invariance to data ordering and (with full information) constant and equal standard errors associated with relative interplace index values. The index is estimated for a case study of 52 Pennsylvania counties.     

Time use and leisure: Subjective and objective aspects

This paper utilizes data from the 1981 Canadian Time Use Pilot Study and from a small Halifax time-budget study to look at subjective and contextual dimensions of leisure for women and men. The Canadian study (n=2685) had information on the time spent in daily activities as well as on the settings and social contexts of those activities. The Halifax study included similar time-budget information on 60 married couples, but also incorporated subjective ratings of all diary events in terms of perceived work or leisure. Using subjective weightings from the Halifax study, estimates of subjective leisure were made for different categories of daily activity and for different Canadian population subgroups. Hypercodes were used to look at the effect of social roles on leisure time, and the AID procedure was used to analyze the contextual dimensions of leisure for men and women. The results show that objective activity and well as subjective leisure vary by population subgroup. Constraints to leisure include being female, being employed, having children, and, to some degree, being married. Of the contextual dimensions, subjective leisure was shown to be influenced primarily by type of objective activity. Location, time of day and day of the week also influenced leisure designations, but to a lesser extent. This study suggests the potential usefulness of subjective weightings of activities in order to gain a greater understanding of leisure patterns and participation.     

The quality of life in large American cities: Objective and subjective social indicators

The concept of ‘quality of life’ as a tool of comparative social indicators research is analyzed. Inter-city comparisons of objective and subjective measures of well being are presented and the distinctiveness of these two dimensions of the quality of life is documented. The paper concludes with some observations on the implications that this distinctiveness has for the use of the concept ‘quality of life’ in future social indicators research.     

Objective quality of life indicators and the external validity of community research findings

We assessed how representative the objective quality of life in our research community was in order to provide a basis for judging the external validity of environmental-behavioral research findings that will emerge from future investigations. We also provided a methodology of evaluation that could be duplicated by other community study groups. The central city and county units of a U.S. Midwestern metropolitan area were categorized into four geographic reference zones with structural attributes that differentiated them along a city-suburban-rural continuum. Within this geographic frame-work, we were able to evaluate how eleven major categories of our community's quality of life compared, and to unambiguously assign the community's quality of life a position along the city-suburban-rural continuum.     

Objective and subjective social indicators of the quality of life in American SMSA'S: A reanalysis

The paper examines and critiques Schneider's work that related the subjective and objective indicators of quality of life in American cities. The work then employs data collected by Liu in 1973, and the Institute for Survey Research in 1972 as part of their national election study for 41 large and medium-sized Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSA's) to re-examine the question of the relationship between the objective and subjective factors. Although the results of this paper are in general comparable with those obtained by Schneider, there are individual cases where they differ. The paper then concludes with a discussion of the reasons why objective and subjective indicators may coincide.     

Causes and indicators of housing quality

This paper examines the feasibility and validity of one method for combining measures of different dimensions of the quality of a household's housing situation into a summary index value. Housing quality is treated as an unobservable variable for which there are multiple observable causes and indicators. Alternative mathematical models are specified, and their parameters are estimated using data from a sample of low-income renter households in a major U.S. metropolitan area.     

Subjective health,intimacy, and perceived self-efficacy after heart attack: Predicting life quality five years afterwards

Social Indicators Research - In a national sample of some 400 cardiac patients and their wives, changes in quality of life were investigated during an extended period of physical and psychosocial...     

Structural influences on the relationship between objective and subjective indicators of economic well-being

The study investigated the relationship between objective and subjective indicators of economic well-being within different age, race, and sex groups over time. Stratification theory and an accommodation hypothesis were used to predict differential subjective responses to objective conditions within subgroups. Findings supported the hypothesis that the relationship would be weakest among the oldest age group compared to other age groups. Support was found for the hypothesis that predicted smaller coefficients among subgroups characterized as older, female, and nonwhite. Relationships were found to remain stable within all subgroups over time.     

Subjective well-being in later life: Issues concerning measurement and prediction

This paper reviews the research on the measurement and prediction of subjective well-being in later life. Psychometric data on several gerontological scales are presented in detail. Structural analyses of a variety of measures of subjective well-being are discussed and evidence for a one factor structural solution to subjective well-being is presented. Objective predictors of subjective well-being are discussed with respect to the strength of their relationships to subjective well-being. It is concluded that subjective well-being is the best predictor of itself. Evidence of temporal stability and corss-situational consistency, combined with the evidence of a one factor structural solution, suggests that subjective well-being has trait-like characteristics. Suggestions for future research are presented.     

Subjective indices of housing satisfaction as social indicators for planning public housing in Nigeria

This paper argues that successful public housing programmes in Nigeria need to combine objective criteria with subjective indicators of resident satisfaction with public housing. Against the background of an empirical study of two public housing estates in Enugu, it was discovered that a critical mass of occupants felt dissatisfied with the type of housing units provided for them. Using different analytic techniques, the sources of dissatisfaction were highlighted and their planning implications discussed.     

Personality and quality of life

The present study investigated a possible association between personality, mental absorption and quality of life (QOL) in a sample of young males (N=411). Mental absorption was assessed with Tellegen's Absorption Scale (ABS). Using a 6 dimensional QOL-scale we found the Millon Behavior Health Inventory (MBHI) dimensions Basic coping style, Psychogenic attitudes, Psychosomatic correlates and Prognosic indices, to be firmly related to QOL, explaining 44% of the variance of a QOL scale which was derived through factor analysis. Mental absortion was weakly related to QOL. The discussion revolves around the relationship between personality and perceptual style, health report behavior and personality as possible biasing factor in evaluative QOL-investigations.     

Quality of life indicators: A preliminary investigation

Concern over the ‘quality of life’ in the United States seems to have increased proportionally with technological advancement and growth in material wealth. Growing public interest in social, economic, political and environmental conditions has led to the search for indicators which adequately reflect the overall ‘health’ of the nation and its citizens' well-being. This paper developed a systematic methodology for assessing social, economic, political, and environmental indicators to reflect the quality of life in the U.S. Nine indicators, including Individual Status, Individual Equality, Living Conditions, Agriculture, Technology, Economic Status, Education, Health and Welfare and State and Local Governments were compiled from more than 100 variables for 50 states and the District of Columbia. Based primarily on 1970 data, QOL indexes were generalized and the states were rated. Comparisons among similar studies were made and analyses among indicators were also performed.     

Self-other orientations and quality of life

A theory, related measures, and series of studies are presented here which proffer a new approach to the study of quality of life. The approach is phenomenological. The quality of life evaluation is assumed to be in the eye of the experiencer. To facilitate the experiencer's communication, a non-verbal technique of measuring the personal meaning of events and environments is employed. A series of studies are described which emerge from this framework dealing with alienation; gain or loss of social status; love, marriage, and parenthood; and transitional states. Finally new uses of the approach are proposed.     

The quality of life in Australia

This paper outlines a long term project on the quality of life in Australia and presents some initial survey data. The long term project is intended (1) to find which domains of life most affect the perceived well-being of Australians and the values/satisfactions people wish to achieve in these domains (2) to propose policy programs designed to enhance satisfaction with particular domains and (3) to assess the political feasibility of proposed programs. Policy programs intended to enhance satisfaction are termed positive welfare programs to distinguish them from conventional compensatory welfare programs. The survey data analysed here (national sample, N=679) deal with the satisfactions and dissatisfactions of Australians, the correlates of perceived well-being and the links between domains and values. Perceived well-being is measured by Andrews and Withey's Life-as-a-whole index and Bradburn's Affect Balance scale. Satisfactions are measured on a 9 point modified version of Andrews and Withey's delighted-terrible scale. Readers familiar with American, British and Canadian findings will find the results reported here broadly similar. However, the linkage between people's sociological characteristics and their satisfaction levels appears to be exceptionally weak in Australia, which tends to confirm the view that Australia is a comparatively unstratified society.     

Feminism and the quality of life

A measure of feminism is introduced, and a case is made for the acceptability of its levels of reliability, criterion-related, content, construct and discriminant-validity. Feminism is shown to be related to such features of the quality of life as happiness and being a good person. Survey results are reported from a sample of 431 members of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women and 413 undergraduate women from the University of Guelph.     

Genetics and the quality of life

Thanks to recent innovations in medicine, it is now possible to detect many so-called genetic diseases' before birth. Consequently, there is a growing movement amongst the medical fraternity advocating genetic counseling: the detection and abortion of diseased fetuses, before birth. This paper considers the implications of this practice on the general quality of life, examining in some detail cost-benefit analyses of the most extensive screening and counseling programme to date, the Kennedy Institute project aimed at reducing the numbers of North American Jewish children born with Tay-Sachs disease. It is argued that although genetic counseling clearly does hold prospects for improving the quality of life in some respects, nevertheless it raises many questions (e.g. to do with minorities and the poor), and care must be taken lest-stampeded by the enthusiasms of medical researchers-overall the quality of life declines.     

Religiosity and quality of life in South Africa

Using nationally representative survey data, this paper explores the relationship between religiosity and quality of life. Three indicators of religiosity are used: (i) frequency of attendance at religious services or meetings, (ii) orthodoxy of beliefs in relation to Biblical teachings and (iii) religious denomination. Quality of life (QoL) is measured in terms of (i) household access to modern conveniences, (ii) self-assessed life satisfaction and (iii) level of satisfaction with government institutions. The data shows a significant but not very strong statistical relationship between religiosity and QoL. People who attend religious meetings most frequently and who hold the most orthodox religious views are thus more likely to have access to modern conveniences and to be satisfied with their lives. Satisfaction with government, however, tends to be highest amongst nominally religious people and lowest amongst both the most orthodox and the least religious.