Good Job,Good Life? Working Conditions and Quality of Life in Europe

Cross-national comparisons generally show large differences in life satisfaction of individuals within and between European countries. This paper addresses the question of whether and how job quality and working conditions contribute to the quality of life of employed populations in nine strategically selected EU countries: Finland, Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Using data from the European Quality of Life Survey 2003, we examine relationships between working conditions and satisfaction with life, as well as whether spillover or segmentation mechanisms better explain the link between work domain and overall life satisfaction. Results show that the level of life satisfaction varies significantly across countries, with higher quality of life in more affluent societies. However, the impact of working conditions on life satisfaction is stronger in Southern and Eastern European countries. Our study suggests that the issue of security, such as security of employment and pay which provides economic security, is the key element that in a straightforward manner affects people’s quality of life. Other working conditions, such as autonomy at work, good career prospects and an interesting job seem to translate into high job satisfaction, which in turn increases life satisfaction indirectly. In general, bad-quality jobs tend to be more ‘effective’ in worsening workers’ perception of their life conditions than good jobs are in improving their quality of life. We discuss the differences in job-related determinants of life satisfaction between the countries and consider theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

Money Buys Financial Security and Psychological Need Satisfaction: Testing Need Theory in Affluence

The most prominent theory to explain the curvilinear relationship between income and subjective well-being (SWB) is need theory, which proposes that increased income and wealth can lead to increased well-being in poverty because money is used to satisfy basic physiological needs. The present study tests the tenets of need theory by proposing that money can buy happiness beyond poverty if the money satisfies higher-order needs. Findings indicate that in older adults (n = 1,284), as economic standing rises, so do individual perceptions of financial security (a safety need), which in turn increases overall life satisfaction. Further, a path model tested the degree to which financial security and psychological need satisfaction mediated the path from economic standing to life satisfaction and demonstrated the complete mediation through higher-order needs—there was a 66% reduction in the direct link through financial security and a 34% reduction through psychological need satisfaction. Discussion focuses on how these mediation and path models extend need theory.     

Criminal Victimization and the Quality of Life

The aim of this investigation was to explain theimpact of crime-related issues on satisfaction withthe quality of life, satisfaction with life as a wholeand happiness in the city of Prince George, BritishColumbia. As explanatory variables, we had measures ofrespondent fears of and actual cases of victimization, Indexes of Neighbourhood Problems, PolicePerformance, Neighbourhood Worries, DefensiveBehaviour, beliefs about increases in local crime,satisfaction with personal and family safety, andsatisfaction with a variety of domains of life (e.g.,friendships, financial security, health). Collectivelysuch variables could explain only 5% of the variationin happiness scores, 7% of the variation in lifesatisfaction scores and 9% of the variation insatisfaction with the quality of life scores. However,they could explain 38% of the variation in overallneighbourhood satisfaction scores. When measures ofsatisfaction with family life, health, self-esteem,etc. were added, we found that crime related issueswere simply displaced by the other measures and thatwe could explain 31% of the variation in overallhappiness scores, 58% of the variation in lifesatisfaction scores and 59% of the variation insatisfaction with the overall quality of life scores. We conclude, therefore, that crime-related issues haverelatively little impact on peoples satisfaction withthe quality of their lives, with life satisfaction orhappiness here.     

Satisfied Residents in Different Types of Local Areas: Measuring What’s Most Important

In efforts to enhance subjective urban quality of life (QOL), most empirical research focuses on measuring satisfaction. However, other research suggests most residents are satisfied with where they live because they choose local areas which satisfy them on attributes important to them, within the constraints they face. Thus residents choosing very different local areas tend to have similar satisfaction levels. Rather than focusing on residential satisfaction in local areas, it may be useful to focus on residential preferences to both characterize and improve subjective urban QOL in local areas. This study compares satisfaction and preference measures in four broad types of urban environment in South East Queensland, Australia. As expected, the results showed similar levels of satisfaction across these urban environments (spanning inner city, suburban, outer suburban, and coastal areas) with regard to three broad attributes (access to services and facilities, the natural environment, and the social environment). In contrast, the importance of these attributes for residents varied between these urban environments. Thus residential preferences may characterize subjective urban QOL in different urban environments better than residential satisfaction. Moreover, residential preferences provide additional guidance for maintaining and enhancing subjective urban quality of life in local areas. This paper argues for a renewed focus on importance measures in addition to the existing focus on satisfaction measures in subjective urban QOL research.     

Assessing quality of life in Singapore: An exploratory study

This article attempts an exploratory study of the quality of life in Singapore. The first objective of this study was to gauge how Singaporeans view the quality of their lives and the extent to which demographic characteristics affect life satisfaction. Secondly, the importance of the different pre-selected domains of life was also individually investigated. Finally, the levels of satisfaction with each of these domains were also assessed. It was found that there were no significant relationships found between life satisfaction and demographic characteristics. In addition, people in Singapore attached great importance to being healthy and having a happy family life. Finally, it was also determined that they were in general very satisfied with the various domains of life, particulary with family life and life in Singapore as a whole.     

Testing a Moderated Model of Satisfaction with Urban Living using Data for Brisbane-South East Queensland,Australia

Using survey data collected from households living in the Brisbane-South East Queensland region, a rapidly growing metropolis in Australia, path analysis is used to test links between urban residents’ assessment of various urban attributes and their level of satisfaction in three urban domains-housing, neighbourhood or local area, and the wider metropolitan region – moderated by selected demographic characteristics of respondents. The analysis also shows the relative contribution of those urban domains to overall life satisfaction. Neighbourhood satisfaction is shown to be much less important in predicting overall life satisfaction than is satisfaction with housing and the region. However, neighbourhood satisfaction impacts indirectly on overall life satisfaction, mediated by regional satisfaction and housing satisfaction. In predicting regional satisfaction, the cost of living and government service provision are shown to be most important, with pollution important for younger people and parents, while improvements to transport systems are more important for the baby boomer generation. Neighbourhood satisfaction is best predicted by neighbourhood interaction and perceived crime, with neighbourhood interaction being more important for older people, while perceived crime is more important for younger and single people. Access to facilities is a poor predictor of neighbourhood satisfaction, except for parents. Satisfaction with housing is shown to be best predicted by housing age, temperature and home ownership. However, larger homes are important for parents, while young people prefer smaller homes. The importance of various urban attributes does not vary between genders. While material concerns like the cost of living and the provision of services are shown to be primary factors underlying overall satisfaction with urban living, the importance of environmental issues and demand for smaller homes might be expected to increase over time.     

Do We Need to Weight Item Satisfaction by Item Importance? A Perspective from Locke’s Range-Of-Affect Hypothesis

Importance weighting is a common idea in quality of life (QOL) measurement. Based on the common idea that important domains should have more contributions to individuals’ QOL total score, the weighting procedure of multiplying item satisfaction by item importance was adopted in many QOL instruments. However, in Locke’s [1969, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 4, pp. 309–336; 1976, in: M.D. Dunnette (eds.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Rand McNally, Chicago), pp. 1297–1343] range-of-affect hypothesis, he indicated that the satisfaction evaluation of an item was determined by the have–want discrepancy, importance and their interaction (discrepancy × importance), implying that item satisfaction has incorporated the judgment of item importance, therefore, weighting an item satisfaction score with an item importance score is unnecessary. The purpose of this study was to examine the range-of-affect hypothesis in the context of QOL research. Three hundred and thirty two undergraduate students at National Taiwan University (NTU) participated in the study. Item satisfaction, importance and perceived have–want discrepancy were measured for 12 different life-area items. Global life satisfaction was measured as well. Regression analysis results showed that item importance and perceived have–want discrepancy have a significant interaction effect on item satisfaction, supporting Locke’s range-of-affect hypothesis. In addition, regression analysis results also showed that item importance and item satisfaction did not have a significant interaction effect on global satisfaction, suggesting that weighting item satisfaction score by item importance value does not have advantages in predicting global satisfaction. In a summary, the findings revealed that item satisfaction has incorporated the judgment of item importance, and, thus, the procedure of importance weighting on item satisfaction is unnecessary.     

Quality of Life of Some Under-Represented Survey Respondents: Youth, Aboriginals and Unemployed

Examining an aggregated sample (N=8800) of residents who responded to one of 16 surveys undertaken in Prince George, British Columbia in the period from November 1997 to February 2005, it was found that satisfaction with the quality of life of unemployed residents is lower than that of residents with Aboriginal backgrounds and that satisfaction with the quality of life of the latter is still lower than that of young people. Nevertheless, satisfaction with the quality of life of young people was significantly lower than that of the total sampled population, as well as that of the selected mid-life and retirement groups. Regarding predictors of our three global dependent variables (satisfaction with life as a whole and with the overall quality of life, and happiness) for the three groups (unemployed, Aboriginals and youth) and the total population, we found that the Aboriginal group was most different from all others. Satisfaction with one’s own self-esteem was the most influential predictor of each global indicator for every group except Aboriginal residents. For the latter, self-esteem satisfaction was only the strongest predictor of satisfaction with the overall quality of life. The strongest predictor of life satisfaction for the Aboriginal group was satisfaction with friendships, and there were two domain satisfaction scores tied (friendships and living partner) for most influential predictors of happiness. Self-esteem satisfaction ranked second in strength of influence on Aboriginal happiness and life satisfaction.     

Assets and Life Satisfaction Patterns Among Korean Older Adults: Latent Class Analysis

This study aims to examine the association of assets with life satisfaction patterns among Korean older adults aged 50 and above. This study used the first two panel data sets (2005 and 2007) from the Korean Retirement and Income Study, which collected information from a nationally representative sample. Key independent variables include financial assets, real assets, and debts. This study classifies overall patterns of life satisfaction using seven multi-dimensional items via Latent Class Analysis. Multinomial regression models were used to determine factors related to estimated life satisfaction patterns after the data were adjusted by weighting and multiple imputation. This study found three classes of life satisfaction at both waves: low, moderate, and high. During the 2-year study period, significant portions of older adults moved upward (23%) and downward (22%) in their life satisfaction patterns. Consistent with the asset effect theory, this study found that assets and debts are significantly associated with life satisfaction patterns and longitudinal changes in these patterns. The study findings suggest that older adults’ life satisfaction can be maintained or promoted through economic security. Financial planning programs combined with asset accumulation may help older adults to achieve economic security and associated life satisfaction.     

Examining the appropriateness of importance weighting on satisfaction score from range-of-affect hypothesis: hierarchical linear modeling for within-subject data

This study examines the range-of-affect hypothesis in a within-subject context using the weighting situation faced in quality of life (QOL) measurement. Data collected in Wu and Yao’s (2006b) study were used (332 undergraduates at National Taiwan University). The mean age was 19.80 years (std = 1.98). They completed a QOL questionnaire and indicated satisfaction, importance, and perceived have–want discrepancy on 12 life domains. Hierarchical linear modeling with a random-coefficients regression model was applied. At the first level (within-individual level), the satisfaction scores for each item were regressed on the have-want discrepancy, importance, and the interaction between have-want discrepancy and importance (have-want discrepancy ×  importance) of the same item. At the second level (between-individual level), the intercept, coefficients of have-want discrepancy, importance and the interaction between have-want discrepancy and importance at the first level were regarded as varying randomly over all participants. Results of this study supported the range-of-affect hypothesis, showing that the relationship between item have-want discrepancy and item satisfaction is stronger for high importance items than low importance items for a given individual. Implications for important weighting on item satisfaction scores were discussed.     

Does Weighting Capture What’s Important? Revisiting Subjective Importance Weighting with a Quality of Life Measure

The present study evaluated subjective importance weighting using data collected with the Injection Drug User Quality of Life Scale (IDUQOL). Weighted and unweighted IDUQOL scores from 241 adults were correlated with convergent, discriminant, and criterion measures. Regression analysis was used to examine the contribution of importance ratings to scores on a global measure of life satisfaction and the corrected weighted IDUQOL total scores. Overall, the results showed that weighted scores did not perform better than unweighted scores in measuring quality of life. However, the mean satisfaction ratings for important domains correlated significantly higher with convergent measures than did the mean satisfaction ratings for unimportant domains. This finding suggests further attention needs to be paid to the meaning and measurement of subjective importance and how it may be incorporated more effectively into measures of quality of life.     

Does National Income Inequality Affect Individuals’ Quality of Life in Europe? Inequality,Happiness, Finances,and Health

This paper analyses the effect of income inequality on Europeans’ quality of life, specifically on their overall well-being (happiness, life satisfaction), on their financial quality of life (satisfaction with standard of living, affordability of goods and services, subjective poverty), and on their health (self-rated health, satisfaction with health). The simple bivariate correlations of inequality with overall well-being, financial quality of life, and health are negative. But this is misleading because of the confounding effect of a key omitted variable, national economic development (GDP per capita): Unequal societies are on average much poorer (r = 0.46) and so disadvantaged because of that. We analyse the multi-level European Quality of Life survey conducted in 2003 including national-level data on inequality (Gini coefficient) and economic development (GDP) and individual-level data on overall well-being, financial quality of life, and health. The individual cases are from representative samples of 28 European countries. Our variance-components multi-level models controlling for known individual-level predictors show that national per capita GDP increases subjective well-being, financial quality of life, and health. Net of that, the national level of inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, has no statistically significant effect, suggesting that income inequality does not reduce well-being, financial quality of life, or health in advanced societies. These result all imply that directing policies and resources towards inequality reduction is unlikely to benefit the general public in advanced societies.     

Job Insecurity: Differential Effects of Subjective and Objective Measures on Life Satisfaction Trajectories of Workers Aged 27–30 in Germany

Job insecurity has become increasingly evident in European countries in recent years. In Germany, legislation has increased insecurity through erosion of the standard employment relationship. Fixed-term contracts are central to definitions of insecurity based on atypical or precarious work but there is still limited understanding of what creates insecurity and how it affects workers. Drawing on Bourdieu’s thesis that “insecurity is everywhere”, the relationships between subjective and objective measures of insecurity are examined for their impact on the 5-year trajectories of life satisfaction of men and women in the age group 27–30. Latent growth curve analysis of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for 2010–2014 highlights the adverse and lasting effects of subjective concerns about job insecurity on life satisfaction trajectories. This association cuts across educational groups, with far reaching implications as subjective concerns about job security permeate young worker’s lives well beyond the objective condition of being employed on a fixed-term contract.     

Determinants of Health and the Quality of Life in the Bella Coola Valley

The aim of this investigation is to obtain some baseline self-reported data on the health status and overall quality of life of all residents of the Bella Coola Valley of British Columbia aged 17 years or older, and to measure the impact of a set of designated health determinants on their health and quality of life. In the period from August to November 2001, a variety of procedures were used to ensure that all eligible residents of the Valley received a copy of our questionnaire, and 687 useable questionnaires were obtained for our working dataset. Health status was measured by SF-36 and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control healthy days items. Thirty-one items were used to measure the Provincial Health Officer’s designated determinants of health in four clusters, namely, biological, social and economic, health behaviours and health services determinants. Quality of life was measured by satisfaction levels in 13 specific domains of life (e.g., family, financial security), four global items (e.g., happiness, life satisfaction) and one global Subjective Well-Being Index. Besides obtaining baseline figures on all our measures for the Valley, we made some comparisons among our figures and those from other areas, e.g., Prince George, BC. Most of the measures indicated that the health status and quality of life of Bella Coola Valley residents were lower than those of Prince George residents. For the sample as a whole, SF-36 scores on the eight dimensions ran from 82.3 (physical functioning) to 50.0 (social functioning), with a mean of 62.7. Residents in the Valley averaged 6.5 days in the past 30 in which their health was physically not good, 5.5 days when it was mentally not good and 4.1 days when their health limited their usual daily activities. Eleven percent of respondents described their general health as “excellent” and another 27% said it was “very good”. On a 7-point scale from 1=very dissatisfied to 7=very satisfied, respondents had average life satisfaction and satisfaction with the overall quality of life scores of 5.5. For specific domains of life, the lowest mean level of satisfaction was reported for federal and provincial government officials (3.3) and the highest was reported for living partners and personal safety around home (5.8). Regarding bivariate relations, each of the eight dimensions of SF-36 was significantly correlated with a single item measure of general health, and five of the eight were significantly correlated with the number of good health days. Happiness and the Subjective Well-Being Index were positively but moderately correlated with six of the eight dimensions, and life satisfaction was positively correlated with five. Age was negatively related to general health, but positively related to life satisfaction. Not being of aboriginal descent was positively related to all of the four global health indicators and to the Subjective Well-Being Index. Education was positively related to the four global health measures but not to the three global quality of life measures. The Social Support and Good Family Indexes were positively related to all seven global measures. There was a positive correlation between six of the seven global measures and the frequency with which respondents participated in activities sponsored by voluntary organizations. Frequency of smoking was negatively associated with every global dependent variable except the Physical Health Index. Frequency of skipping meals was negatively associated and average hours of sleep per night was positively associated with all seven global measures. Turning to multivariate relationships, the four clusters of health determinants explained from 12% (SF-36 Mental Health Index) to 24% (general health) of the variance in the dependent global health variables, and from 20% (happiness) to 26% (Subjective Well-Being Index) of the variance in the dependent global quality of life variables. Adding domain satisfaction scores to the total set of predictors allowed us to explain from 20% (SF-36 Mental health Index) to 29% (general health) of the variance in the dependent global health variables, and from 39% (happiness) to 62% (life satisfaction) in the dependent global quality of life variables. By including measures of social support and good family relationships in our set of health determinants, we practically guaranteed that the latter would be relatively strongly predictive of global quality of life.     

Quality_Family Deployment: A New Perspective in Determining Priority Importance for Improving Work Performance in Organization

Determining priority importance is a matter of concerns among the organization to improve their performance. One of the important aspects that should be considered by the organization is management of human resources, comprising of members who have their own family life. In this paper, we deliver a new perspective for organization to provide priority importance for their members with respect to family matters in order to inculcate the sense of belonging in the organization. To be effective in considering family matters in the organizational policy making, closer look of family characteristics are required. The idea of translating several family characteristics as quality variables and applying the quality function deployment (QFD) method to these variables could present a new way of improving the decision making in the organization by considering the process of decision in the family. Quality function deployment for family (QFDF) produces a friendly interpretation of a highly complex and intangible matters around family life; thus, making the assessment of a family easier. QFD is applied on the data gathered from a questionnaire survey based on 1,213 families in West Malaysia, Malaysia. Twelve variables are identified as voice of family, where seven of them are found to have the highest priority of importance. These variables could also be translated into quality variables in the context of organization, the strategy of improvement for the family could be interpreted as strategy for improvement in the organization. Furthermore, the results of this study provide suggestion to improve actions for managing human resource. In the discussion, three most high ranked variables from both perspectives of family and organization are considered.     

生计策略对农村留守妇女婚姻满意度的影响①——性生活质量的调节作用

构建性生活质量调节下的生计策略对婚姻满意度影响分析框架,利用安徽巢湖问卷调查数据,本文以非留守妇女和准留守妇女为参照,描述了农村留守妇女的生计策略、性生活质量和婚姻满意度现状,并采用有序回归方法对生计策略和性生活质量对婚姻满意度的影响进行了分析。结果表明：家庭再生产策略对非留守妇女婚姻满意度有显著的积极影响;工资性工作和家庭再生产策略对准留守妇女婚姻满意度有显著的消极影响;农业生产策略对留守妇女婚姻满意度有显著的积极影响,家庭经营和工资性工作策略则对留守妇女婚姻满意度有显著消极影响。此外,性生活质量不仅本身对非留守妇女和留守妇女的婚姻满意度有较强的促进作用,同时也在生计策略对婚姻满意度的影响过程中发挥不同的调节作用。上述发现对提高农村留守妇女婚姻福利有重要启示。     

Health and Other Aspects of the Quality of Life of Older People

Celebrating the United Nations' International Year of Older Persons, in September 1999 a survey research project was undertaken throughout the Northern Interior Health Region (NIHR) of British Columbia. A total of 875 people completed 23-page questionnaires, the average age of the respondents was 69 and the range ran from 55 to 95 years. Responses to the SF-36 questionnaire indicated that for male respondents aged 55–64, the mean score for the 8 dimensions was 74.4. This mean was practically identical to that of the United States norm for such people (74.5) and lower than that for the United Kingdom (77.4). For male respondents aged 65 and older, the mean was 68.3. This was numerically higher but again practically the same as that of the norm for the United States (68.1). For females aged 55–64, the mean score for 8 dimensions was 73. This was superior to that of the United States norm of (70.6) for such people and lower than that for the United Kingdom (74.6). For female respondents aged 65 and older, the mean score was 65.4. This was practically identical to that of the United States (65.5).Comparing 18 average figures for our respondents on satisfaction with specific domains of life (e.g., financial security, health, friendships) and life as a whole with those of average adults in Prince George in November 1999, we found that in all but two cases the older people's scores were higher. Only in the cases of satisfaction with health and overall happiness were older people's scores lower, and the differences were not statistically significant.Eleven percent of our respondents reported that they had been a victim of a crime in the last year, compared to 38% in our 1997 adult victimization survey. Older people had a more benign view than ordinary adults of the growth of crime in their neighbourhood and city, although exactly 64% of both groups thought that crime had increased in Canada. Although older people had a more optimistic view than other adults of the increase in crime in their neighbourhoods, fewer of the former than the latter felt safe out at night. Nevertheless, compared to adults surveyed in 1997, the behaviour of respondents in our survey of older people was not as constrained by concerns of criminal victimization.Two or three of the 8 SF-36 health dimensions explained 37% of the variation in life satisfaction scores, 34% of variation in happiness scores, 34% in satisfaction with the overall quality of life scores and 22% in satisfaction with one's overall standard of living. In every case, Mental Health was the dimension that had the greatest impact on our four dependent variables.When all of our potential predictors were entered into a regression equation simultaneously, we found that they could explain 60% of the variance in life satisfaction scores, 44% in happiness scores, 58% in satisfaction with the overall quality of life scores and 59% in satisfaction with one's overall standard of living scores.     

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.     

Acting for Happiness: Financial Behavior and Life Satisfaction of College Students

Recent research on well-being suggests that domain-specific behaviors contribute to domain-specific satisfactions, which in turn contribute to an individual’s overall satisfaction with life. Our study is an attempt to add to the literature by observing these phenomena from a financial perspective. Using data collected from a sample of undergraduate students at a major state university in the U.S. and employing structural equation modeling, we have found evidence suggesting that positive financial behaviors contribute to financial satisfaction and financial satisfaction in turn contributes to life satisfaction. In addition, positive financial behaviors contribute to life satisfaction through two more mediating variables: academic performance and academic satisfaction.     

Social Capital Associated with Quality of Life Mediated by Employment Experiences: Evidence from a Random Sample of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China

Working-age migrants need to possess adequate social capital in order to secure a stable and satisfactory job so that they can pursue a better quality of life (QOL). The positive relationship between social capital and vocational experiences, including successful employment, has been well established. In this study we focused on testing a multi-step mediation model linking social capital with employment experiences, and further to QOL. Survey data from rural-to-urban migrants randomly selected from Wuhan, China were analyzed. Social capital, including bonding and bridging capital, was measured using the Personal Social Capital Scale; employment experiences were measured using five job-related items; and QOL was measured using the Brief Symptoms Inventory. Structural equation modeling analysis indicated that job security and job satisfaction were positively and significantly associated with QOL, and social capital measures were significantly associated with higher QOL (primarily for males). Furthermore, job security and job satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between social capital and QOL after controlling for covariates. Findings of this study suggest the significance of social capital, job security and satisfaction in improving migrants’ QOL, implying the importance of vocational experiences in mediating the effect from social capital to QOL. If the findings can be confirmed with longitudinal data, these factors should be considered in decision making to improve rural-to-urban migrants’ QOL in China.