The Development of A County Level Index Of Well-Being

In an effort to assess the level of community need and inform responsive resource allocation, Larimer County, Colorado developed a county-level index of well-being. This paper describes the development of that index including the selection of indicators and the methodology for scoring and presenting those indicators. We also present how the local community used the information and describe problems we found while aggregating indicators. Next, we show the results of evaluating our index using Hagerty et al.’s (2001, Social Indicators Research 55, pp. 1–96) 14 criteria for determining validity and usefulness of quality of life indices. The Larimer County index performed above both the “satisfactory” rating and the mean of the 22 indices evaluated using Hagerty et al.’s. We conclude that the Larimer County index is based on a solid approach that will be helpful to local policy makers.     

Segregated jobs or ethnic niches?: The impact of racialized employment on earnings inequality

Using data from the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality (MCSUI), this study examines the extent to which the racial or ethnic composition of jobs affects racial and ethnic-linked earnings inequalities among whites, blacks and Hispanics. Four types of jobs are distinguished according to the racial/ethnic composition of jobs in work establishments: predominantly white, multi-racial or mixed, predominantly black, and predominantly Hispanic. We found considerable differences among the four types of jobs. Jobs composed predominantly of white workers are characterized by the highest earnings, the highest status occupations, and the highest levels of education. In contrast, jobs predominantly composed of Hispanic workers are characterized by the lowest salaries, the lowest status occupations, and the lowest levels of education. The data analysis supports the hypothesis that job segregation is responsible for earnings disparities in the case of blacks versus whites, but only partial support for this hypothesis is found in the case of Hispanics versus whites. The analysis also provides support for the “devaluation hypothesis” which suggests that all workers experience pay penalties in jobs in which minority workers are predominant. Further analysis reveals that had most workers been rewarded like whites employed in predominantly white jobs, their earnings would have increased considerably. The only groups of workers who “benefit” from job segregation are Hispanic workers employed in predominately Hispanic jobs. In the absence of competition with others, Hispanics employed in predominantly Hispanic jobs earn more than they would earn in other jobs. The differential effects of the ethnic composition of jobs on economic outcomes of minority populations are evaluated and discussed in light of the roles played by sheltered and protected ethnic economies.     

The Use of the Shye's Systemic Quality Life Model in the Examination of Child Protection Officers Decision

The paper presents the results of a systematicstudy of the factors that child protectionofficers consider in their decisions of whetheror not to remove children at risk from theirhomes. A sample of 194 child protectionofficers in Israel completed a questionnaireconstructed on the basis of Shye's SystemicQuality of Life Model (1979, 1985), which tapsthe psychological, physical, social, andcultural dimensions of the quality of life.Questions were answered on 368 children fairlyevenly divided between those they decided toremove from home and those they decided to keepat home. The findings show 85% of the decisions werecorrectly classified on the basis of the model,and show close associations between the qualityof life dimensions and the decisions. Theworkers evaluated both the current quality oflife and their parents' enabling good qualityof life as higher among the children whom theyrecommended keeping at home than among thosethey recommended removing. Similarly, theypredicted that the children they recommendedremain would have a higher quality of life athome in the future than those they recommendedbe removed. The psychological dimension of thequality of life contributed more to thedecision than the physical, and these more thanthe social and cultural.     

Global QUALITY OF LIFE (QOL), health and ability are primarily determined by our consciousness. Research findings from Denmark 1991–2004

Objective: To explain the global quality of life (QOL) from 2000 indicators representing all aspects of life. Design and setting: Two cross sectional population studies, one prospective cohort study and one retrospective cohort study. Participants: (1) Representative sample of 2500 Danes (18–88 years), (2) 7222 members of the Copenhagen Perinatal Birth Cohort 1959–1961 (31–33 years), (3) 9.006 mothers and their 8820 children born in Copenhagen 1959–1961, (4) 746 Danes (55–66 years). Main outcome measures: Global QOL measured by SEQOL (self evaluation of QOL) containing eight global QOL measures: Well-being, life-satisfaction, happiness, fulfilment of needs, experience of temporal and spatial domains, expression of lifes potentials and objective factors. Results: 2000 associations; strongest between QOL and health, ability, the personal philosophy of life, the relationships to oneself, the partner and friends; weakest between QOL and 1000 early life factors, 1000 life events and 100 objective factors like income. Conclusions: Quality of life is associated with personal health and attitude towards life, rather than objective factors, life style, or life events. We conclude that QOL can be developed independently and thus be used as medicine.     

The effects of job displacement on job quality: Findings from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

This study examines the extent to which job displacement divides the career experiences for a cohort of workers. Previous studies of job displacement find nontrivial economic losses for displaced workers, but the effects of displacement on “non-economic” properties of jobs have been largely overlooked. Results using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study indicate that workers who were displaced have lower levels of occupational status, job authority, and employer-offered pension and health insurance than they would have had had they not been displaced. Difference-in-differences estimates, which control for temporally-invariant unobserved heterogeneity, are generally larger than cross-sectional estimates; still, there is a close correspondence of estimates across a range of methodological approaches attesting to the robustness of the estimates in the face of various technical assumptions and model specifications. Effects of displacement on job quality also exhibit conditioning by gender, education, occupation, and industry: while less educated, blue collar and manufacturing workers experience significant losses for employer-offered benefits, more educated, upper white collar and non-manufacturing workers experience significant losses for occupational status, job autonomy, and job authority.     

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.     

Work and pay in flexible and regulated labor markets: A generalized perspective on institutional evolution and inequality trends in Europe and the U.S.

In recent years a “unified theory” has emerged out of labor economics, which argues that a combination of “macroeconomic shocks” and flexible labor market institutions in the U.S. has produced strong upward trends in wage inequality, while these same shocks have produced high unemployment and low employment growth in Europe as a side effect of the wage stability preserved by that continent's rigid labor market institutions. This paper takes issue with the common view that inequality trends are best explained by a model of stable institutions interacting with changing macroeconomic forces. It argues that European institutions in fact have changed, and that institutional changes which were triggered by the broader macroeconomic forces have affected the form as well as the size of inequality trends. While the U.S. has experienced rising strong skill-based wage inequality, institutional change in France has produced an upward trend in the density of insecure jobs and an increased concentration of low-skill workers in insecure jobs. These results challenge the view that low employment rates is the sole mechanism through which European labor markets have absorbed asymmetric shocks to their demand for labor.     

An Investigation Of A Brief Life Satisfaction Scale With Elementary School Children

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Brief Multidmensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS: Seligson et al., 2003) with elementary school children. The participants included 518 elementary school students in grades three through five in a Southeastern US state. The students completed the following measures: the BMSLSS, the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS: Huebner, 1991a), the Children’s Social Desirability Questionnaire (CSDQ: Crandall et al., 1965), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Children’s Version (PANAS-C: Laurent et al., 1999). The results revealed acceptable internal consistency reliability, construct validity and concurrent validity for the BMSLSS. Overall, the use of the BMSLSS for research purposes was supported on a preliminary basis for this age group for research purposes. The study also investigated the usefulness of weighted importance ratings in the prediction of global life satisfaction judgments. Children’s ratings of the importance of the specific domains, whether viewed separately or combined with ratings of levels of life satisfaction, did not enhance the prediction of global life satisfaction. The usefulness of such a brief measure for the assessment of positive indicators of well-being in large-scale national and international studies is highlighted. Recommendations for future research are delineated.     

Worker training: A review, critique, and extension

Why does employee training in the US lag behind that of our industrial counterparts? We provide an overview of employee training in the US and a review of American employee training literature and concepts. Our criticism of this literature is based on its limited conceptual structure that derives from an over-reliance on the distinction between “general” versus “specific” training. We find this dichotomy to be both empirically and theoretically imprecise. We also provide a brief overview of employee training in other industrialized nations. In combination, the critique of the American literature and the review of the international literature provide a framework for suggesting new approaches to training and its study in the United States. We argue that such a new approach is needed both to understand employee training in the US and to provide an empirical framework for guiding its growth and development.     

Correlates of Quality of Life in New Migrants to Hong Kong from Mainland China

The concept of Quality of life (QOL) has received considerable attention from different disciplines. The aim of this study was to identify what are the correlates of QOL among Chinese new immigrants in Hong Kong. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey among 449 Hong Kong new immigrants from Mainland China. Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the association between immigrants’ QOL and their demographic characteristics, socio-economic factors, optimism, sense of control, perceived social support, perceived neighborhood disorder, collective efficacy, pre-migration planning, depressive symptoms and acculturation stress. Our findings demonstrated that depressive symptom is the most prominent factor in reducing immigrants’ level of QOL, perceived social support and optimism are the two important factors that enhance the QOL of these depressed immigrants. Our results indicate that preventive measures must be developed, and professional counseling and psychological support services must be provided to new immigrants in Hong Kong, especially those who have depressive symptoms.     

Testing Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: National Quality-of-Life Across Time

Maslow's hierarchy-of-needs theory is used to predict development of Quality of Life (QOL) in countries over time. Previous data sets have not had sufficient power to test these development trends among countries. Therefore a new database was developed that includes annual quality of life time-series for 88 countries from 1960 to 1994, covering measures on all five of Maslow's need-levels. Results showed significant agreement with some of Maslow's predictions, including his sequence of need achievement, and parts of an S-shaped trajectory in QOL. However, his mechanism of growth – that countries must slow growth in one area to increase growth in another – was disconfirmed.     

Relationships Between Parents’ And Children’s Salient Values For Future And Children’s Overall Life Satisfaction. A Comparison Across Countries

In this paper, a model is set forth relating (a) overall life satisfaction of children to children’s values and (b) children’s values to parents’ values. Using confirmatory factor analysis models three dimensions of values (materialistic values, capacities and knowledge values and interpersonal relationship values) consistently emerged in 5 countries (Brazil, South Africa, Norway, Spain and India) for both parents and children. There was a considerable amount of missing data, mainly because the parent’s questionnaire was often not returned. Full information maximum likelihood estimators with missing data were thus used.Multiple-group analyses were next performed to assess factor invariance of the three value dimensions across the five countries for both parents and children. This implies testing the equality of factor loadings and intercepts across groups. This equality is required to ensure that factors have the same interpretation in all groups, which is necessary when comparing any aspect of the factor distribution across groups.The only two countries for which the interpretation of value dimensions was invariant for both parents and children were Brazil and Spain. The results of other countries could thus not be compared. Multiple-group structural equation models revealed that both parents and children scored higher on most values in Brazil than in Spain. In both countries, each child value dimension was only significantly predicted by the same value dimension of the parents. R-squares were in the 4–12% range and slightly higher in Brazil. The only value dimension that had some effect on overall life satisfaction was capacities and knowledge, which was so in both countries.Acknowledgements are due to the country project directors and their associates Per Egil Mjaavatn (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway), Usha Nayar (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India), Irene Rizzini (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Rose September (Western Cape University, South Africa) and Ferran Casas (Catalan Network of Child Researchers – XCIII – in co-operation with the University of Girona, Spain) for permitting us to use part of their project and to Childwatch International, Oslo, for sponsorship.     

Quality of Life Predictors and Normative Data

This study identifies predictors and normative data for quality of life (QOL) in a sample of Portuguese adults from general population. A cross-sectional correlational study was undertaken with two hundred and fifty-five (N = 255) individuals from Portuguese general population (mean age 43 years, range 25–84 years; 148 females, 107 males). Participants completed the European Portuguese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life short-form instrument and the European Portuguese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Demographic information was also collected. Portuguese adults reported their QOL as good. The physical, psychological and environmental domains predicted 44 % of the variance of QOL. The strongest predictor was the physical domain and the weakest was social relationships. Age, educational level, socioeconomic status and emotional status were significantly correlated with QOL and explained 25 % of the variance of QOL. The strongest predictor of QOL was emotional status followed by education and age. QOL was significantly different according to: marital status; living place (mainland or islands); type of cohabitants; occupation; health. The sample of adults from general Portuguese population reported high levels of QOL. The life domain that better explained QOL was the physical domain. Among other variables, emotional status best predicted QOL. Further variables influenced overall QOL. These findings inform our understanding on adults from Portuguese general population QOL and can be helpful for researchers and practitioners using this assessment tool to compare their results with normative data.     

Materialism and Satisfaction with Over-All Quality Of Life and Eight Life Domains

Previous research has shown that materialism relates negatively to satisfaction with many life domains. The present study broadens this body of research by examining the relationship between three dimensions of materialism and eight quality of life (QOL) domains in a large, diverse sample of U.S. respondents. Two hypotheses were tested: First, overall measures of materialism and satisfaction with QOL were thought to be inversely related. Second, the three dimensions of materialism and QOL domains were hypothesized to be negatively correlated. Results show that overall materialism and its happiness dimension were consistently negatively related to all eight measures of QOL. Materialism’s centrality and success dimensions were negatively correlated with seven and six of the eight QOL domains, respectively. Findings are discussed in light of Humanistic and Organismic theories, and other implications are considered.     

Productive Activities And Subjective Well-Being Among Older Adults: The Influence Of Number Of Activities And Time Commitment

This study examines relationships among three measures of subjective well-being (life satisfaction, happiness and depressive symptoms), and two global measures of productive activity (number of activities and time commitment). We argue that participation in multiple productive activities should increase subjective well-being because these behaviors increase social integration and provide meaningful social roles. Using the first two waves of the Americans’ Changing Lives survey, we estimate a series of OLS and ordered logistic regression models to examine this issue among a sample of respondents 60 years old and older. Our multivariate regression results show that as time committed to productive activities increases, life satisfaction increases. Both increasing numbers of productive activities and increasing time commitment predict higher levels of happiness. Also, we find only modest support for a relationship between productive activities and the number of and changes in depressive symptoms. Our results provide support for the idea that engaging in productive activities is beneficial to older persons’ well-being, implying confirmation of the role enhancement hypothesis and demonstrating the importance of social integration.This research was partially supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (R03 AG018910). We thank Jan Mutchler for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.     

Predictors of Quality of Life in Economically Disadvantaged Populations in Montreal

Most epidemiological studies agree that economically disadvantaged populations are the groups most vulnerable to mental health problems and report lower quality of life among these populations. However, it appears that access to social support plays a role in protecting against the chronic stress resulting from conditions such as poverty. This study is an attempt to clarify the relative contribution of social support to the quality of life of economically disadvantaged populations in two low-income neighbourhoods of Montreal. A random sample of 417 social assistance recipients were interviewed in the respondents?? homes. The Quality of Life scale used was the Satisfaction with Life Domains Scale. The availability of social support components was assessed using the Social Provisions Scale. Social support measures were entered into a multidimensional model that included a number of variables identified as having a relationship to mental health. Among the 17 variables included in a multiple regression analysis, emotional support and support providing reassurance of worth accounted for most of the variance in the QOL predicted by the model. Psychological distress also accounted for a fair amount of variance in QOL and younger people and people experiencing food insecurity showed a lower QOL.     

Evaluating Item Discrimination Power of WHOQOL-BREF from an Item Response Model Perspectives

Quality of life (QOL) has become an important component of health. By using the methodology of psychometric theory, we examine the item properties of the WHOQOL-BRIEF. Samejima’s graded response model with natural metrics of the logistic response function was fitted. The results showed items with negative natures were less discriminating. Items written in a specific way were more suitable to assess certain subgroups. The national items showed variation in discriminatory power. Questions measuring objective and specific issues performed worse than items assessing general aspects of the QOL.