The Relationship between Country of Residence, Gender and the Quality of Life in Australian and Taiwanese Midlife Residents

A growing global aging population is presenting more opportunities for health professionals to interact with other cultures. The specific aims of this study were to: (1) compare the quality of life of midlife men and women in Australian and Taiwan; and (2) to explore the impact of country of residence and gender on quality of life. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using census data and a probability proportional sampling (PPS) strategy on a general population of men and women aged 40–59 years-old who live permanently in Taiwan and Australia. The sample consisted of 278 Australians and 398 Taiwanese men and women. Analysis showed that country of residence does have an impact on quality of life with significant differences seen between midlife Australian and Taiwanese men and women (F 4, 666 = 59.31, p < 0.001). The results suggest that midlife Australian men and women have a better quality of life than midlife Taiwanese men and women. The mean score for the four domains of quality of life by gender indicated that midlife women consider that they have a better quality of life than midlife men in both Australia and Taiwan. Midlife Australian men in this study reported they are more dissatisfied with their sleep and rest (χ ² = 10.57, df = 4, p = 0.03) and more dissatisfied with their sexual activities (χ ² = 9.42, df = 4, p = 0.05) in contrast to midlife Australian women. This study has addressed and contributed to the assessment of multi-cultural quality of life research and has important implications for both health providers and policy makers of both countries.     

Initiating Personal Growth: The Role of Recognition and Life Satisfaction on the Development of College Students

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of life satisfaction between positive recognition and levels of personal growth initiative in a collegiate setting. The design of the research study utilized a quantitative research method. A brief questionnaire assessed 204 undergraduate students at a mid-sized university. The average age of the participants was 19 years old and the predominant race was Caucasian. Approximately the same number of male and female participants completed the survey. Each participant answered questions that measured perceived life satisfaction, personal growth initiative and the amount of recognition and praise received from family and overall within a typical college setting. Structural Equation Modeling was used to examine the relationship between the variables. The hypothesized mediational model had adequate fit. Positive recognition and personal growth initiative were mediated by life satisfaction χ² (n = 204, 101) = 259.20, CFI = .88, TLI = .86. Results from this study hope to show that life satisfaction builds the relationship between receiving recognition and an undergraduate’s involvement in changing and developing as an individual. In addition, the study hopes to use the emerging field of Positive Psychology to identify applications of life satisfaction, personal growth initiative and recognition to assist with the optimal functioning of college students and the overall educational institution.     

The Role of Religiosity in Satisfaction With Life: A Sample of Turkish Gay Men

ABSTRACT

In this study, we investigated the role of religiosity in satisfaction with life in a sample of Turkish gay men. A one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that the religiosity had a significant effect on life satisfaction of gay men. Extrinsically religious gay men displayed significantly higher life satisfaction scores than both intrinsically religious and nonreligious gay men. Moreover, intrinsically religious and nonreligious gay men did not significantly differ in terms of life satisfaction. Based on the findings of the study, we concluded that the role of a committed religiosity in enhancing satisfaction with life as documented by the overwhelming majority of previous research was reversed in the case of Turkish Muslim gay men.     

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

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

A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Spirituality and Quality of Life

The relationship between spirituality and various dimensions of health and quality of life has been extensively examined during the past decade. Though several literature reviews have been conducted in an attempt to synthesize research findings pertaining to the relationship between spirituality and health, a meta-analysis of studies examining spirituality in relation to quality of life has not been identified. The present study was designed to: (a) determine whether there is empirical support for a relationship between spirituality and quality of life, (b) provide an estimate of the strength of this relationship, and (c) examine potential moderating variables affecting this relationship. The research design followed accepted methods for quantitative meta-synthesis. Potential moderating effects of several methodological differences and sample characteristics were examined using meta-analytic approaches with multivariate linear regression and analysis of variance. An extensive multidisciplinary literature search resulted in 3,040 published reports that were manually screened according to pre-established selection criteria. Subsequent to the selection process, 62 primary effect sizes from 51 studies were included in the final analysis. A random effects model of the bivariate correlation between spirituality and quality of life resulted in a moderate effect size (r = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.28–0.40), thereby providing support for the theoretical framework underlying the study wherein spirituality was depicted as a unique concept that stands in relationship to quality of life. Subsequent regression analyses indicated that differences among operational definitions of spirituality and quality of life were associated with the variability in estimates of the magnitude of the relationship (R² = 0.27). Other potential moderators, such as age, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation and sampling method were examined but the findings pertaining to these variables were inconclusive because of limitations associated with the sample of primary studies. The implications of this study are mostly theoretical in nature and raise questions about the commonly assumed multidimensional conceptualization of quality of life.     

The Relative Importance of Health

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

A Note on Student Quality of Life

An aggregated sample of students (n = 3407) from the University of Northern British Columbia covering 7 of the 8 years from 1998 to 2005 is analyzed to show the relative and combined explanatory power of some life domain (e.g., satisfaction with family relations) and university-related variables (e.g., satisfaction with UNBC instructors) on some global quality-of-life variables (e.g., life satisfaction). It was found that, in combination with the life domain variables, the university-related variables added practically nothing to our explanatory power. The most powerful university-related variable was students’ satisfaction with their instructors.     

Spiritual Needs and Quality of Life in Estonia

This paper reports on three field studies using the WHOQOL-100 and WHOQOL-BREF instruments that utilized three different samples (N = 1,801) to get a better understanding of how important the person’s spiritual needs are for quality of life. The most striking negative difference between the Estonian and World Health Organization samples was in the WHOQOL-100 spirituality domain. We found that the quality of life index significantly correlated with the WHOQOL-100 spirituality score. Also, spirituality was related to all quality of life domains (physical health, psychological well-being, level of independence, social relationships and environment). Regarding psychological well-being, spirituality correlated with self-esteem, positive feelings, and thinking, learning, memory, and concentration, on the other. Our findings suggest that spirituality occupies an important place in the person’s perception of their quality of life in a changing socio–economic environment as the one in Estonia.     

Exploratory Study on Drug Users’ Perspectives on Quality of Life: More than Health-Related Quality of Life?

In drug treatment outcome literature, a focus on objective and socially desirable indicators of change (e.g. no drug use) has predominated, while outcome indicators that are important for drug users themselves (e.g. quality of life, satisfaction with treatment) have largely been neglected. Nonetheless, Quality of Life (QoL) has become an important concept to evaluate effectiveness of treatment in mental health care research and disability studies. Given the almost exclusive focus on Health-related Quality of Life (HRQOL) in substance abuse research and the neglect of clients’ perspectives in this field, we explore in this study the concept of QoL as perceived by drug users. Focus group discussions (n = 9) were organised in various treatment settings and community services for drug users in the region of Ghent, Belgium to identify important dimensions of QoL and their interpretation by drug users. Data were clustered and analysed based on the theoretical framework of Robert Schalock (Quality of life. Volume 1: Conceptualization and measurement, 1996). The domains ‘personal relationships’, ‘social inclusion’ and ‘self-determination’ were discussed most frequently by the participants. They stressed the importance of a supportive social network in particular. It can be concluded that QoL is not primarily associated by drug users with health and it involves much more than the aspects typically represented in measures of HRQOL.     

Belief in the Afterlife,Death Anxiety,and Life Satisfaction of Buddhists and Christians in Thailand: Comparisons Between Different Religiosity

This research studied belief in the afterlife, death anxiety, and life satisfaction, of Buddhists and Christians in Thailand. The aim of this research was to compare the variables of interest between high and low religiosity within their religion. There were two studies of 800 participants. Study 1 compared between Buddhists and meditated Buddhists in terms of the above and related variables. Study 1 had 577 participants, comprised 532 Buddhists and 45 meditated Buddhists who had already been meditating for 6 months and just finished 1-h meditation. Study 2 compared between Christians and meditated Christians who had intense involvement in religious discipline and just finished religious attendance. Study 2 had 223 participants, comprised 175 Christians and 48 meditated Christians. The results show that meditated Buddhists had more belief in the afterlife and more frequency of going to temple than Buddhists (p < .001 and p = .001, respectively). However, life satisfaction and death anxiety between Buddhists and meditated Buddhists were not significantly different (p = .349 and p = .121, respectively). Meditated Christians had less death anxiety than Christians (p < .001). Meditated Christians had more belief in the afterlife and more frequency of going to church than Christians (p < .001). However, life satisfaction between Christians and mediated Christians was not significantly different (p = .607).

     

Relationship of Religiosity and Spirituality to Hazardous Drinking,Drug Use,and Depression Among Sexual Minority Women

Using data from Wave 3 of the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women (CHLEW) study (N = 699), we explored whether religiosity and spirituality were associated with risk of hazardous drinking, drug use, and depression among sexual minority women (SMW; i.e., lesbian, bisexual) and possible differences by race/ethnicity. Participants were more likely to endorse spirituality than religiosity, and endorsement of each was highest among African American SMW. We found no protective effect of religiosity or spirituality for hazardous drinking or drug use. An association initially found between identifying as very spiritual and past-year depression disappeared when controlling for help-seeking. Among SMW with high religiosity, African American SMW were more likely than White SMW to report hazardous drinking. Latina SMW with higher spirituality were more likely than White SMW to report drug use. Results suggest that religiosity and spirituality affect subgroups differently, which should be considered in future research on resiliency among SMW.     

Personal Wellbeing Index in a National Cohort of 87,134 Thai Adults

Satisfaction with life correlates with other measures of subjective wellbeing and correlates predictably with individual characteristics and overall health. Social indicators and subjective wellbeing measures are necessary to evaluate a society and can be used to produce national indicators of happiness. This study therefore aims to help close the gap in wellbeing data for Thailand. The specific aims are to: (1) calculate the Thai PWI and domain scores using a large scale sample; (2) examine the level of life satisfaction of Thais when compared to international standards; (3) examine the Thai PWI and domains in relation to demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic characteristics. Our report derives from the findings on the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) in a large national cohort of Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University adult students living all over Thailand (n = 87,134). This Thai cohort had an overall PWI of 70.0 on a scale from 0 to 100 which is consistent with Western populations. The ‘spirituality and religion’ domain had the highest average score. ‘Standard of living’, ‘future security’ and ‘achievement in life’ made the largest contribution to overall ‘satisfaction in life as a whole’. These domains also show a positive trend with increasing age, being married, higher income, more education, more household assets, and rural residence. The PWI will be an important tool for policymakers to understand the subjective wellbeing of population groups especially as Thailand is undergoing a political and economic transition.     

Validation of the WeDQoL-Goals-Thailand Measure: Culture-Specific Individualised Quality of Life

The aim of this study was to validate an individualised measure of quality of life (WeDQoL-Goals-Thailand). Three hundred and sixty-nine Thai people completed the WeDQoL by interview. Respondents rated (0–2) the perceived necessity for wellbeing of 51 goals (goal necessity), then rated (0–3) their satisfaction with the same goals (goal satisfaction). Weighted goal attainment (possible range 0–6) was computed (necessity x satisfaction). Psychometric validation used frequency distributions, Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and Cronbach’s alpha. Analysis of variance, t-tests, Kruskal–Wallis, Mann–Whitney U, Spearman’s correlation and multiple regression explored socio-demographic, geographic and economic differences. Respondents were aged 15–89 (mean 45.7, SD 18.0); 169 men, 200 women. For weighted goal attainment scores, PCA found a 44-item scale (α = 0.91) and three subscales (community/social/health, α = 0.90; house and home, α = 0.80; nuclear family, α = 0.81). Thai Individualised Goal Attainment (TIGA) scale and the three subscales were computed as the mean of contributing weighted goal attainment scores, after excluding goals considered ‘not necessary’ to each individual. Unweighted and individualised scores differed significantly with socio-demographic, geographic and economic indicators. In multiple regression, both Thai Unweighted Goal Satisfaction (TUGS) and TIGA scale scores were predicted by being married, living in the South and in a non-urban location. TIGA scores were also predicted by being over 25 years old. WeDQoL-Goals-Thailand has excellent psychometric properties. Individualised scores reflect each person’s perspective on wellbeing and are sensitive to subgroup differences. However, unweighted satisfaction scores give a broadly similar picture and involve less complex computation.     

Morningness–Eveningness and Satisfaction with Life

Individual differences in diurnal preferences and circadian rhythms are viewed as an interesting dimension of human personality. Previous research has examined various psychological correlates of diurnal preference. Evening types reported psychological and psychosomatic disturbances more frequently and intensively than morning types and morning types have a healthier lifestyle than evening types. Depression was also related to eveningness as were bulimic behaviour and seasonal affected disorders (SAD). Given these studies, one would expect a positive relationship between satisfaction with life or happiness (general well-being; Diener et al. (J Pers Assess 49:71–75, 1985)) and morningness. There was a significant positive correlation between morningness and satisfaction with life (r = 0.177; p = 0.023; N = 164).     

Comparing Self-Rated Health, Satisfaction and Quality of Life Scores Between Diabetics and Others Living in The Bella Coola Valley

Objective: To investigate the relative effect that diabetes has on self-rated health, satisfaction with various specific domains of life, and satisfaction with quality of life operationalized as happiness, satisfaction with life as a whole, and satisfaction with overall quality of life. Design: Mixed methods – mailed survey and chart review. Study Population: All people aged 17 years or older, residing in the Bella Coola Valley in September 2001 and having a chart at the Bella Coola Medical Clinic. Main outcome measures: Self-rated health, self-rated stress, rating of self-care received, global life satisfaction (Life as whole; Overall standard of living; Overall quality of life; and Overall happiness); and satisfaction with various domains of life. Results: A total of 968 useable surveys were returned for a response rate of 56 (968/1734). 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 Subjective Well-Being. After accounting for age, race, and weight, we found that diabetics report significantly poorer self-rated health, and lower satisfaction with health scores compared to people without diabetes. Participants with diabetes who were the least compliant with their treatment regimens rated their current health significantly lower than those who were the most compliant. People with diabetes were, however, no more likely to be unhappy or dissatisfied with their lives as a whole or with the overall quality of their lives compared to people without diabetes. Among people with diabetes, however, those who used insulin did report significantly less satisfaction with the overall quality of their lives than those who didn’t use insulin. Conclusion: Diabetics understand they have poorer health than others, but they do not have poorer global life satisfaction scores. This may explain why it is difficult to get diabetics to adopt behaviours which may lower their quality of life – e.g., diet plans, lose weight, engage in exercise programs, or take medications.     

The Determinants of Life Satisfaction Among Adolescents: The Role of Metacognitive Awareness and Self-Efficacy

This study investigated the associations among the life satisfaction, metacognitive awareness and perceived self-efficacy. It also investigated whether life satisfaction, metacognitive awareness and perceived self-efficacy vary according to gender. The study was performed with 492 students attending high schools. The Life Satisfaction Scale, Cognitive Awareness Scale, Self-Efficacy Scale and an Individual Data Form were used for data collection. Pearson correlation coefficient results revealed that life satisfaction was significantly positively correlated with metacognitive awareness (r = .36, p < .001) and self-efficacy (r = .28, p < .001). Multiple regression analysis revealed that metacognitive awareness and self-efficacy accounted for 15 % of life satisfaction (F_(2,489) = 45.25, p < .001). Metacognitive awareness (ß = .29, p < .001) and self-efficacy (ß = .16, p < .001) make a significant original contribution to the model. In addition, the results show that adolescents do not vary according to life satisfaction (F = .10, p = .74, η²= .00), metacognitive awareness (F = .01, p = .91, η² = .00) or self-efficacy (F = 2.21, p = .13, η² = .00). The study results show that metacognitive awareness and self-efficacy are significant predictors of life satisfaction in adolescents.     

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.     

Self-Perceived Parental Role and Mental Health Concomitants Among Israeli Gay and Heterosexual Fathers

ABSTRACT

In this study we examined the association between self-perceived parental role and adverse mental health (indicated by depressive symptoms, neuroticism, and negative affect) in a sample of 82 Israeli gay fathers (Mean age = 39.57, SD = 6.70) that were individually matched with 82 heterosexual fathers (Mean age = 39.11, SD = 7.88). Results showed that although self-perceived parental role was associated with adverse mental health, this association was moderated by sexual orientation, such that a significant negative association between self-perceived parental role and adverse mental health was evident only among gay fathers. The findings are understood by features of gay fatherhood, which is intentional and purposeful, and usually achieved after contending with particular difficulties in the journey to fatherhood. These features presumably shape the perceived parental role, and thus may link more strongly with lower levels of adverse mental health among gay fathers, compared to heterosexual fathers.     

The Association Between Adolescent Life Satisfaction, Family Structure, Family Affluence and Gender Differences in Parent–Child Communication

The study sought to examine young people’s life satisfaction in the context of the family environment, using data from the 2006 HBSC: WHO-collaborative Study in Scotland (N = 5,126). Multilevel linear regression analyses were carried out for 11-, 13- and 15-year old boys and girls, with outcome measure ridit-transformed life satisfaction. The study found there to be a relationship between family structure and life satisfaction for boys and girls aged 13 and 15 years. Family affluence mediated this relationship, however the extent of this mediation depended both on age and gender. For both boys and girls at all ages, life satisfaction was more strongly associated with parent–child communication than with family structure or family affluence. After adjustment for risk/health behaviours and attitudes towards peers and school, family structure remained significant for boys aged 13 years only. Whereas difficult parent–child communication acted as a risk factor of low life satisfaction for boys and girls, easy communication acted as protective factor among girls only.     

Can We Weight Satisfaction Score with Importance Ranks Across Life Domains?

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of importance weighting when importance ranks were considered as the weighting values by (1) examining the range-of-affect hypothesis in the within-subject context and (2) comparing performances of weighted and unweighted satisfaction scores in predicting overall judgment of subjective well-being. Participants were 167 undergraduates at National Taiwan University. The mean age was 19.80 years (SD = 1.98). They were first asked to complete the measurements for global life satisfaction and overall QOL and then completed a QOL questionnaire for rating satisfaction, perceived have–want discrepancy on 12 life domains and ranking importance on these domains. Hierarchical linear modeling with a random-coefficients regression model was applied to examine the range-of-affect hypothesis in the within-subject context. Correlation analysis was applied to evaluate performances of weighted and unweighted satisfaction scores in predicting overall judgment of subjective well-being. 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. Correlation analysis found that the four weighted satisfaction scores computed from the algorithms proposed by Hsieh (Social Indicators Research 61:227–240, 2003) were not superior to unweighted satisfaction score in predicting overall QOL and global life satisfaction. All these findings suggested that weighting satisfaction scores with importance ranks may not have theoretical basis and empirical contribution.