Social Support and Psychological Well-Being Under Social Change in Urban and Rural China

The economic reforms of the past two decades have initiated a major social transition in China, characterized by unprecedented social mobility and stratification. Meanwhile, the privatization of health care has increased costs to the consumer. While such changes would logically affect individuals’ psychological well-being, little attention has been paid to this association. Using data from the Chinese General Social Survey (2005), this paper looks at the relationships between social changes and the psychological well-being of individuals in both urban and rural areas, as well as the role of social support in Chinese society. We find that an increasing health-care burden is significantly associated with individuals’ psychological well-being, especially in rural China. Perceived social status, its change over time and its comparison with perceived status of peers, are also significantly correlated with psychological well-being both in rural and urban China. Social support has a protective function for psychological well-being across different samples, and also compensates for the negative association between increasing health-care burden and psychological well-being, but it strengthens relative deprivation during social change on psychological well-being in rural areas.     

The Relationship Between Age and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Five Capital Cities in Mainland China

Since the mid-60s of the twentieth-century, the researchers have made lots of studies on the relationship between age and subjective well-being (SWB), and yielded some contradictory conclusions. By using an urban sample (N = 3,099) from five capital cities in Mainland China, this paper presents some new evidence on this issue in the Chinese context. The paper reconfirms a significant relationship between age and subjective well-being, and argues that different measure instruments of subjective well-being lead to different types of relationship. It is partly testified that subjective well-being follows approximate U-shape across age groups, and the minimum point lies in the age band 45–49. It is also found that age is not always a strong significant predictor of subjective well-being when a different dependent variable was adopted to multiple regression analysis. It is suggested that the researchers should pay more attention to the specific content of subjective well-being while examining the relationship between age and subjective well-being.     

Winding Road Toward the Chinese Dream: The U-shaped Relationship Between Income and Life Satisfaction Among Chinese Migrant Workers

This study examines the relationship between income and subjective well-being among rural-to-urban migrant workers in China. Our analysis of a recent survey uncovered a U-shaped relationship between income and overall life satisfaction for migrant workers in Shanghai. Furthermore, the positive correlation is curvilinear, showing that increasing income yields diminishing returns. Drawing upon ethnographic literature concerning migrant workers, we suggest several possible explanations. For the poorest migrant workers, small increases in income are correlated with longer working hours and increased social comparison with their urban neighbors. After migrant workers’ income reaches a certain level, however, they are able to save money, giving them hope for future social mobility. Furthermore, migrant workers with disposable income can purchase status symbols, helping them to partially overcome their stigmatized status. The positive effect of income on life satisfaction eventually reaches a plateau, however, as even the wealthiest migrant workers find that they cannot surpass the limitations presented by their outsider identity and lack of an urban residence permit. Other findings include a negative relationship between income and income satisfaction and a positive relationship between education and income satisfaction. We conclude that the unique context surrounding Chinese migrant workers alters the typical effects of certain factors upon well-being and satisfaction.     

Panel Quantile Regressions and the Subjective Well-Being in Urban China: Evidence from RUMiC Data

Using RUMiC data and a simple panel quantile regression method, this paper accounts for the time-invariant individual specific characteristics and investigates the heterogeneous effects of factors on the distribution of subjective well-being (SWB, measured by GHQ-12) in urban China. Comparing results from the pooled regression and fixed effect regression, we find that most results from pooled regressions are likely overestimated. Panel quantile regression results show that income affects the least happy 10 % group twice as much as the happiest 10 % people. Being unemployed brings down the happiness level by 0.97 points on average, but individuals with high SWB seem to be not significantly affected. The complete picture of the relationship between SWB and various factors would have been veiled without using quantile techniques. This paper therefore not only contributes to the happiness literature in China, but also adds evidence to stylized findings going beyond the average.     

Personal Well-being in Urban China

This article reports the findings of a survey administering the personal well-being index (PWI) in six Chinese cities (N = 3,390) to ascertain the personal well-being of China’s urban population. The specific aims of the study were: (a) ascertain whether Chinese urban residents are satisfied with their lives; (b) validate the PWI using an urban sample that is representative of the urban population and larger in size than that which has been utilized in existing studies for Mainland China; (c) compare the results to existing studies for Hong Kong, Macau, rural China and single city studies which have administered the PWI in Guangdong and Shandong; (d) examine whether the responses to the PWI from participants falls within the narrow range predicted by the ‘Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis’ and provide further evidence on whether this framework is applicable to Chinese samples; and (e) examine which participant characteristics predict personal well-being, examine whether own income and/or relative income predicts personal well-being and compare these results with previous studies for China and other countries. The data indicated a moderate level of personal well-being (PWI score = 67.1). The PWI demonstrated good psychometric properties in terms of its reliability and validity, consistent with previous published studies. The PWI was within the normative range for non-western countries and was within the narrow band predicted by the ‘Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis’. Similar variables were found to predict personal well-being to those found in previous studies for China and elsewhere.     

A study of the impact of environmental surroundings on personal well-being in urban China using a multi-item well-being indicator

We examine the relationship between atmospheric and water pollution, traffic congestion, access to parkland and personal well-being using a survey administered across six Chinese cities in 2007. In contrast to existing studies of well-being determinants by economists which typically employ single-item indicators, we use the Personal Well-being Index (PWI). We also employ the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) to measure job satisfaction, which is one of the variables for which we control when examining the relationship between environmental surroundings and personal well-being. Previous research by psychologists has shown the PWI and JSS to have good psychometric properties in western and Chinese samples. A robust finding is that in cities with higher levels of atmospheric pollution and traffic congestion, respondents report lower levels of personal well-being ceteris paribus. Specifically, we find that a one standard deviation increase in suspended particles or sulphur dioxide emissions is roughly equivalent to a 12–13% reduction in average monthly income in the six cities.     

Poverty and Subjective Well-being in Mexico

There are two tendencies in the literatureregarding the relationship between income andsubjective well-being. The first tendencymaintains that there is a strong relationshipbetween these two variables, and that thepoorer the population, the more pronounced thisrelationship. The second tendency downplaysthis relationship, arguing that a largepercentage of happiness cannot be explained byeconomic variables. The objective of this studywas to compare the subjective well-being ofthree socioeconomic groups – extremely poor,moderately poor and not poor – and to discoverthe combination of subjective well-beingfactors that makes it possible to predict thesocioeconomic group to which subjects belong.Subjective well-being was measured by using aninstrument developed by Palomar Lever (2000) andconsisting of eleven related factors thatinquire into the subjects' satisfaction ineleven areas of life. The results indicatestatistically significant differences in nearlyall the subjective well-being factors inrelation to the socioeconomic group to whichsubjects belong, with the poorest subjectsreporting the least satisfaction. In additionsome differences were found in relation to sexand age. Also, low correlations were observedbetween income and subjective well-being in theextremely poor and moderately poor groups, withmore of these correlations in the first group,followed by the last. Finally, it was foundthat membership in the socioeconomic groups canbe predicted by a combination of subjectivewell-being factors such as satisfaction withone's recreational activities, socialsurroundings, personal development and couplerelationship.     

Income and “Outcomes” for Elderly: DO the Poor have A Poorer Life?

The objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship between income and living conditions and well-being of elderly. The best from two worlds is used for this purpose: a Danish survey covering 1440 elderly aged 72 and 77 from 1997, connected to reliable register information on income, 1988–1996. Indicators of physical activity, social and solitary activities, social contact, functional capability, loneliness and psychological well-being are constructed from the survey. Ordered logistic models are estimated controlling for demographics, education, previous occupation and whether the elderly are still working. It is found that elderly with low income levels have poorer functional capability, lower physical activity and poorer psychological well-being whereas social contact and social activities show no relationship with income. The relationship with income vanishes for solitary activities and loneliness when adding control variables. Having established that robust relations exist between income and some measures of well-being of elderly, we turn to an investigation of causality. Simultaneous models are estimated to assess whether the income relationship can be causally interpreted for functional capability and physical activity. The results show that it cannot be rejected that the income effects are causal, although care should be taken when interpreting results. We finally address our findings in the light of current and future changes regarding the size and economic well-being of the elderly population.     

Growing into Relative Income Poverty: Urban China, 1988–2013

Social Indicators Research - This paper presents several arguments for applying a relative poverty line to urban China. For example between 2002 and 2013 urban residents in China changed their...     

Constructing Well-Being and Poverty Dimensions on Political Grounds

The paper addresses the problem of justifying ethically sound dimensions of poverty or well-being for use in a multidimensional framework. We combine Sen’s capability approach and Rawls’ method of political constructivism and argue that the constitution and its interpretative practice can serve as an ethically suitable informational basis for selecting dimensions, under certain conditions. We illustrate our Constitutional Approach by deriving a set of well-being dimensions from an analysis of the Italian Constitution. We argue that this method is both an improvement on those used in the existing literature from the ethical point of view, and has a strong potential for providing the ethical basis of a conception of well-being for the public affairs of a pluralist society. In the final part, we elaborate on the implications for measuring well-being based on data, by ranking Italian regions in terms of well-being, and pointing out the differences in results produced by different methods.     

西北地区城镇居民贫困程度的测度与实证分析

西北地区五省是我国西部大开发战略的重点发展省份,作为欠发达地区,城镇居民的贫困问题阻碍了城镇功能的充分发挥,成为制约地方发展的重要因素。通过对西北五省FGT贫困指数的测算发现,陕西贫困状况改善最为明显;甘肃和宁夏也有比较明显的减贫效果;青海成为目前西北五省中贫困问题最严重的省份;新疆贫困控制效果差,贫困问题突出。与全国相比,西北地区仍然是城镇贫困问题较严重的地区。实证分析的结果显示,经济增长和财政支出能够有效地降低城镇贫困,收入分配不均却加重了贫困程度。对西北地区而言,减贫不仅要追求经济效应,更应关注社会公平。     

The enjoyment of activities: Do couples affect each others' well-being?

In this paper I investigate the use of a measure of well-being derived from time-use data on the enjoyment of activities, and explore the association between the well-being of partners. The measure of well-being used is directly derived from the subjective assessment of the enjoyment of activities as recorded in time-use diaries. It is shown that this measure yeilds plausible results which share many of the characteristics of other measures of well-being. In addition, since the diaries used in the analysis were collected from couples it has also been possible to investigate the association between the well-being of partners. It is shown that in multivariate analyses including both time-use and socio-demographic variables the effect of a partner's well-being has by far the most significant impact on individual well-being. It is argued that this combination of information offers a useful means of analysing the relationship between time-use, well-being and the couple relationship. In this sense the analysis cross-cuts some of the conventional disciplinary boundaries which have served to separate the study of emotional relationships and psychological states from that of the daily activities of households.     

Health Outcomes and Volunteering: The Moderating Role of Religiosity

In this paper, we examine whether and what extent public and private forms of religiosity act as moderators of the volunteering and well-being relationship in mid- to later-life. We use data from the second wave of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (n = 1,805). We analyzed the relationships between volunteering and indicators of well-being (self-rated physical and mental health), and tested the moderating effects of public and private religiosity on the volunteering and well-being relationship. Our findings suggest that salubrious effects of volunteering on the self-perceived physical and mental health of middle- aged and older- aged adults varied by their participation in different forms of religiosity. In particular, volunteers who engaged in more public forms of religiosity reported significantly better physical and mental health than non-volunteers who engaged in these forms of religiosity. In other words, individuals who were actively engaged public forms of religious practices and who volunteered, maximized the associated health benefits.     

Relative Economic Position and Subjective Well-Being in a Poor Society: Does Relative Position Indicator Matter?

Concern for relative income (or status in general) may have important implications for poverty and individual well-being. This paper examines the impact of relative economic position on individual’s level of well-being among poor communities in rural Ethiopia. The analysis uses a self-reported measure of overall life-evaluation as a measure of individual well-being. Despite the fact that well-being is multidimensional, the impact of non-money metric measures of relative economic position on individual well-being has not been given a lot of attention in the literature. In this study, relative economic position is measured using consumption data, asset index, and respondent’s own perception of relative wealth. The asset index captures the non-monetary dimensions of economic welfare, including education, physical assets, and social capital. We use data from the 2004 and 2009 waves of the Ethiopia Rural Household Survey and employ a multilevel modelling technique to account for individual and group level heterogeneity in our empirical analysis. We find no significant relationship between individual well-being and relative economic position measured with in consumption terms. In contrast, we do find a significant negative impact of relative position on individual well-being when we use asset indices and respondent’s own perception of relative wealth to measure relative economic position. Our findings suggest that when individuals compare themselves with others, they evaluate various aspects of their life, including their financial conditions, asset holdings, and social relations, which are hardly captured by consumption or income data in many poor countries.     

论我国社会转型期的城市贫困问题

城市贫困是一个综合性概念。我国目前城市贫困问题具有非常明显的突发性、困难性、交融性、多元性和分散性等特性。在我国社会转型过程中,城市贫困加剧的原因主要是贫富差距拉大、分配不公、机会不均等。对解决现阶段的城市贫困问题提出相应对策。     

Subjective Well-Being,Poverty and Ethnicity in South Africa: Insights from an Exploratory Analysis

South Africa has one of the highest inequality levels in the world. In 1993, nearly half of the population were considered poor. These poverty and inequality levels were and still are a legacy of South Africa’s colonial and apartheid past. Since the end of apartheid, there has been a strong governmental effort to combat poverty and in this light a ‘social indicators movement’ has emerged. The aim of this article is to contribute to the South African social indicators research in three ways: Firstly, this article introduces ethnicity as a unit of analysis in the context of poverty and well-being. It is argued that racial categorisations are not justifiable and in the case of South Africa hide valuable insights. The results of an exploratory analysis suggest that ethnicity allows a more insightful analysis of poverty and well-being than race. Secondly, this article introduces a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) in the context of subjective well-being research. Many studies regarding subjective well-being in South Africa use ordered probit regression models. It is argued here that these models are based on false assumptions and that a MCA can be seen as a suitable alternative since it constitutes an assumption free model. Lastly, the insights gained from the exploratory analysis are discussed. The MCA seems to show that subjective well-being can be regarded as an outcome measure. Furthermore, it is argued that there are cultural differences (between the ethnic groups) regarding subjective well-being. It seems that the ethnic groups in South Africa have different conceptions of well-being and that different factors influence their subjective well-being assessments. This work is partly based on a Master thesis from 2004 at the Institute for Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester. I am grateful for the intellectual guidance, the constant support and encouragement by Wendy Olsen and for the comments on earlier drafts from Peter Edward, David A. Clark and two anonymous reviewers.     

Exploring Antecedents of Charitable Giving and Their Impact on Subjective Well-Being in Singapore

There is a declining number of donors and increasing number of charities competing for donations in Singapore. In this study we explore the values and attitudes (i.e. empathy, individualism and materialism) associated with donation behaviour and their consequences on the donor’s subjective well-being among 226 Singaporeans from a cross-section of society. We found individuals who value warm relationships with others are more likely to have an empathetic attitude and donate money to charities. However, we did not find a relationship between individualism and donation behaviour nor materialism and donation behaviour. Moreover, helping those in need (donation behaviour) did not influence the donor’s subjective well-being. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed and suggestions for future research provided.     

Empirical Research on Factors Related to the Subjective Well-Being of Chinese Urban Residents

Data from the China General Social Survey are used in order to investigate the factors that are related to the subjective well-being of Chinese urban residents. Factors predicting higher subjective well-being include female gender, high-income class, marriage, employment, fashionable consumption, less sense of relative deprivation, and party membership. Among these, the sense of relative deprivation has the strongest explanatory power. This suggests that the most direct threat to current subjective well-being in urban China is that its residents are living in a society with dramatic change, competition and increasing inequalities.     

Social Capital or Social Cohesion: What Matters For Subjective Well-Being?

The theoretical analysis of the concepts of social capital and of social cohesion shows that social capital should be considered as a micro concept whereas social cohesion, being a broader concept than social capital, is a more appropriate concept for macro analysis. Therefore, we suggest that data on the individual level should only be used to analyze the relationship between social capital, social cohesion indicators and subjective well-being and that they do not allow commenting on the level of social cohesion in a society. For this last type of analyses aggregated indicators of social cohesion have to be computed which is not the issue of this paper. Our empirical analysis is based on individual data for Luxembourg in 2008. In general, our results suggest that investments in social capital generate monetary returns (increased income) and psychic returns (increased subjective well-being) even in a highly developed and multicultural country like Luxembourg. When we are adding on the micro level variables representing the economic domain of social cohesion following Bernard (1999), then we observe that this domain also has an effect on income and on subjective well-being. Therefore, we recommend including the economic domain in any future analysis using the concept of social cohesion.