Cultural and Ideological Roots of Materialism in China

This study examines the role of cultural values and political ideologies in the development of materialism, and the impact of materialism on subjective well-being, in the Chinese context. A survey was conducted of 487 persons in two cities in China and the results analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings show that China??s pragmatic version of socialist ideology and certain dimensions of Chinese cultural values influence the growth of materialism. In turn, materialism associates negatively with subjective well-being. The findings both provide new empirical evidence to support previous research results and expand understanding of the basis for materialism in China. The paper discusses a number of important public policy questions arising from the results.     

Capabilities and Choices: Do They Make Sen’se for Understanding Objective and Subjective Well-Being? An Empirical Test of Sen’s Capability Framework on German and British Panel Data

In Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) well-being can be defined as the freedom of choice to achieve the things in life which one has reason to value most for his or her personal life. Capabilities are in Sen’s vocabulary therefore the real freedoms people have or the opportunities available to them. In this paper we examine the impact of capabilities alongside choices on well-being. There is a lot of theoretical work on Sen’s capability framework but still a lack of empirical research in measuring and testing his capability model especially in a dynamic perspective. The contribution of the paper is first to test Sen’s theoretical CA approach empirically using 25 years of German and 18 years of British data. Second, to examine to what extent the capability approach can explain long-term changes in well-being and third to view the impact on subjective as well as objective well-being in two clearly distinct welfare states. Three measures of well-being are constructed: life satisfaction for subjective well-being and relative income and employment security for objective well-being. We ran random and fixed effects GLS models. The findings strongly support Sen’s capabilities framework and provide evidence on the way capabilities, choices and constraints matter for objective and subjective well-being. Capabilities pertaining to human capital, trust, altruism and risk taking, and choices to family, work-leisure, lifestyle and social behaviour show to strongly affect long-term changes in subjective and objective well-being though in a different way largely depending on the type of well-being measure used.     

Measuring Subjective Well-Being in Taiwan

This paper explores the measurement of subjective well-being (SWB) in Taiwan through survey data as a result of 13 self-reported SWB questions. We illustrate the findings using multivariate data analysis approaches. First, by taking the first two principal component scores extracted from all SWB measurements, the biplot presents a relatively “even” society for SWBs, in which the plot depicts all data-points radiating from the center. Second, we employ factor analysis to juxtapose these 13 SWB measurements into three factors: health-related, prosperity-related, and social-related. Third and finally, this paper applies the seemingly unrelated regression model to verify the determinants of SWB. The SWB measurements are mostly increasing in higher education and (disposable) income, while falling with unemployment. Volunteering, donating more money to charities, having more leisure time, spending more hours on sports, and being involved in more arts-related activities all enhance an individual’s well-being. Gender and age may matter, but they are indecisive in the direction for various SWBs.     

Income Inequality and Subjective Well-being: A Cross-National Study on the Conditional Effects of Individual and National Characteristics

In this study we raise the question how a nation’s income inequality affects subjective well-being. Using information on 195,091 individuals from 85 different countries from the World Value Surveys and the European Value Surveys, we established that in general, people living in more unequal countries report higher well-being than people from more equal countries. This association however does not apply to all people similarly. First, the positive effect of a nation’s income inequality is weaker when individuals express more social and institutional trust, and underscore egalitarian norms to a larger extent. Second, the positive association between national income inequality and subjective well-being is less strong for people from countries with high levels of social and institutional trust. So, our research predominantly indicates that there are far-reaching effects of an individual’s and a nation’s trust on people’s well-being.     

Serious Leisure,Motivation to Volunteer and Subjective Well-Being of Volunteers in Recreational Events

In this paper, we examined the relationships between motivation to volunteer, serious leisure, and the subjective well-being of volunteers at the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition. This study used convenience sampling to recruit a total of 1,094 volunteers. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were conducted for data analysis. The results of this study revealed that serious leisure positively associated with both motivation to volunteer and volunteers’ subjective well-being, while the association between motivation to volunteer and subjective well-being, at a level of 0.5, was not significant. These results suggest that greater attention in future research should be paid to the relationship between motivation to volunteer and volunteers’ subjective well-being, with a focus placed on implications for volunteers’ subjective well-being.     

The Influence of Value Orientations and Demographics on Quality-of-Life Perceptions: Evidence from a National Survey of Singaporeans

This paper explores the linkages between value orientations, demographics and the quality of life perceptions for Singaporeans based on a nationwide values and lifestyles study conducted in 2001. The quality of life perception is assessed using cognitive evaluations of satisfaction with life in general (subjective personal well-being) and with aspects of living in Singapore (subjective social well-being). Five different value orientations, namely family values, materialism, status consciousness, societal consciousness and traditionalism, are examined for their effects on quality of life. The key demographics used are gender, age, marital status, education and personal income.     

The Role of Family Policy in Explaining the International Variation in Child Subjective Well-Being

The article proposes an innovative analyse for cross-national differences in the subjective child well-being introducing new indicators and measures. This dimension addresses the issue of welfare support to parents and child early education. The question of this research is to what extend family policies can explain the variability of subjective child well-being components in different European countries. Based on this question, the two objective of this proposal are: (1) to review the existing literature with respect to conceptualization, measurement, and correlates of children’s subjective well-being, with a special emphasis on the context of family policies and family well-being in different European welfare states, and (2) to analyse the relation between these policies and subjective child well-being. In order to get these aims we have elaborated two indexes: the index of child subjective well-being and family policy index. Data for HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children) for the first index and data from OECD Family Database is used to build these indicators. We found that the index of child subjective well-being is comparatively higher in those countries where family policies are more generous in the areas of preschool education, family services, family spending and duration of paid parental leave.     

Healthy,Wealthy, Wise,and Happy? Assessing Age Differences in Evaluative and Emotional Well-Being Among Mature Adults from Five Low- and Middle-Income Countries

This study assesses the relationship between age and two dimensions of subjective well-being—evaluative and emotional—among mature adults from five low-and middle-income countries. We use data from the World Health Organization’s Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health to contrast the associations of age with subjective well-being when controlling only for gender with the corresponding partial associations when including a richer set of covariates. Adjusting only for gender, we find negative associations of age with evaluative well-being, while the corresponding age gradients for emotional well-being are relatively flat. By contrast, adjusting for further socio-demographic factors results in positive associations of age with both evaluative and emotional well-being. Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions allow us to explore the roles of two factors to account for any unadjusted age differences in subjective well-being: age-group differences in individual characteristics and life circumstances, and age-specific associations of individual characteristics and life circumstances with subjective well-being. While adverse circumstances such as poor health and low income contribute to lower levels of evaluative well-being among older adults, age per se is—ceteris paribus—positively associated with subjective well-being. Even in poorer countries, older age does not need to be a time of low subjective well-being. Policies aimed at preserving income and limiting or compensating old-age disability appear to be key for maintaining subjective well-being among older adults.

     

The Subjective Well-Being of Immigrants: Pre- and Post-migration

In recent years, migration studies have increasingly shown that subjective well-being carries considerable weight in immigrant integration. Yet little is known about the subjective well-being of immigrants in their origin country (pre-migration) or its relation to their well-being in the host country. This paper examines the relationship between subjective well-being, both pre- and post-immigration, among North Americans who arrived in Israel during the past two decades. The study combines both quantitative and qualitative research methods. According to our quantitative findings, the labor market performance of North American immigrants in Israel is lower than in their origin countries. Further, we learned from the qualitative analysis that although the immigrants’ positions in the labor market were better in their origin countries, the immigrants perceived their standard of living in Israel to be the same as in their origin country—if not better—due to the low cost of services in Israel. The importance of the immigrant’s satisfaction from the current job in Israel was apparent in the findings of both methods. We also found that the subjective well-being of North American immigrants in Israel is relatively high, and most immigrants did not consider leaving Israel. The subjective well-being of the immigrants in Israel was found to be related to their social networks in their origin country, to their religious immigration motive and to their work satisfaction in Israel. The more supportive the immigrants’ families were of their decision to immigrate, the less the immigrants tended to consider leaving Israel. Immigrants with a religious motivation for immigrating to Israel were less inclined to leave, and the same was true for immigrants who were satisfied with their work in Israel. The qualitative data added important perspective on the immigrants’ social networks, this time in Israel. Interviewees reported having more supportive social networks in Israel, and a greater sense of community, although most of their contacts were within the Anglo community.     

Predicting the Trend of Well-Being in Germany: How Much Do Comparisons, Adaptation and Sociability Matter?

Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we estimate the variation of subjective well-being experienced by Germans over the last two decades testing the role of some of the major correlates of people’s well-being. Our results suggest that the variation of Germans’ well-being between 1996 and 2007 is well predicted by changes over time of income, demographics and social capital. The increase in social capital predicts the largest positive change in subjective well-being. Income growth, also predicts a substantial change in subjective well-being, but it is compensated for about three fourths by the joint negative predictions due to income comparison and income adaptation. Finally, we find that aging of the population predicts the largest negative change in subjective well-being. This result appears to hinge on the large loss of satisfaction experienced by individuals in old age.     

Explaining age differences in women’s emotional well-being: The role of subjective experiences of aging

ABSTRACT

Our study examines explanations for the “paradox” of older women’s better emotional well-being compared with younger women. We consider the role of subjective experiences of aging in a society that devalues older women. Using a sample of women (n = 872) from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (1995–1996 and 2004–2006), we examine the role of five components of the subjective experience of aging in explaining older women’s better emotional well-being compared with younger women: age identity, conceptions of the timing of middle age, aging attitudes, aging anxieties, and self-assessed physiological changes. We find that, compared with women 50–54 years old, those 35–39 years old report lower positive affect, and those 25–49 report higher negative affect. These patterns are partially explained by younger women’s greater anxiety about declines in health and attractiveness and older women’s more youthful identities. Our study underscores the value of considering the implications of our ageist and sexist society for women’s emotional well-being across adulthood.     

Subjective Well-Being and Armed Conflict: Evidence from Bosnia-Herzegovina

We analyze survey data from Bosnia and Herzegovina collected after the 1992–1995 Bosnian War to answer the following questions: How does individual subjective well-being evolve in the post-conflict period? Does exposure to conflict have an important role in determining one’s post-war experiences? Our identification strategy relies on regional and individual-level variation in exposure to the conflict. Individual war-related trauma has a negative, significant, and lasting impact on subjective well-being. The effect is stronger for those displaced during the war. Municipality-level conflict measures are not significantly associated with subjective well-being once municipality fixed effects are accounted for.     

A Weighted Multidimensional Index of Child Well-Being Which Incorporates Children’s Individual Perceptions

It has been a decade since a landmark piece of work on child well-being measurement based on a summary index was developed in the United States, the Index of Child and Youth Well-Being. Several research studies, both in the U.S. and Europe, followed on from this work. Despite these studies’ valuable contribution, scope exists for further improvements at the methodological level. In the present paper we draw the methodological basis for a new, micro-based summary child well-being index in which children’s views on their own well-being assume a central role and distinct weights (based on the children’s perceptions) to each component that is included in the index are used. Based on 914 pairs of responses of Portuguese children and their carers, the newly proposed index was tested vis-à-vis other methodologies. The econometric estimations show that the significance of all potential well-being determinants (e.g., age, school cycle, mother’s and father’s level of education) remains the same across the distinct methods of calculation of child well-being indexes. However, the consideration of subjective components (degrees of importance and weights) allowed to evidence that the most relevant determinants of child well-being are the set of variables related to the child’s parents, namely education and professional status. In particular, when compared to their counterparts, children whose fathers have higher education degrees reveal an increased overall well-being by around 25 %, whereas children whose fathers are unemployed present a decreased well-being by around 11 %.     

Well-Being in Older Gays and Lesbians: A Comparison of Predictors

This study aims to examine the predictors of subjective well-being and their variations between older gays and older lesbians. Participants were 143 gays and 66 lesbians aged 56–80 who reside in Israel. Assessments included subjective well-being, hope, health, participation, activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental ADLs, environment and living conditions, and accessibility and availability of community services. In the fully-adjusted models, hope and health were the most potent predictors of subjective well-being, respectively, among gays and lesbians. Additional significant predictors, among gays, were community availability and accessibility and satisfaction with one’s environment and living conditions. Findings suggest that while primary predictors of subjective well-being are similar among gays and lesbians, communal and residential factors are unique significant contributors to the subjective well-being of gays. It may be that among older lesbians, but not among older gays, personal resources are more important contributors to subjective well-being in comparison to community-based resources.     

Measuring Progress and Well-Being: A Comparative Review of Indicators

We provide a new database sampling well-being and progress indicators implemented since the 1970s at all geographic scales. Starting from an empirical assessment, we describe and quantify trends in the institutional basis, methodology, and content of indicators which are intended to capture the broadest conceptions of human social progress. We pay special attention to the roles of sustainability and subjective well-being in these efforts, and find that certain types of indicators are more successful in terms of transparency, accountability, as well as longevity. Our taxonomy encompasses money-denominated accounts of “progress”, unaggregated collections of indicators, indices, and measures oriented around subjective well-being. We find that a most promising innovation is the indices whose weights are accountable to empirical data, in particular through models of subjective well-being. We conclude by amplifying others’ advocacy for the appropriate separation of current well-being from environmental indicators, and for the avoidance of aggregation except where it is meaningful.     

On Well-Being and Public Policy: Are We Capable of Questioning the Hegemony of Happiness?

Measuring the well-being of citizens has become established practice in many advanced democracies. In the move to go beyond GDP, indicators of subjective well-being (SWB) have come to the fore, and are increasingly seen as providing a ‘yardstick’ to guide public policy. A strong version of this position is that SWB can (and should) provide the sole basis on which to design and evaluate public policy. This article argues that the increasing dominance of the subjective definition of well-being is problematic, and amounts to a hegemony of happiness. The article examines the fundamental assumptions behind different accounts of well-being, and develops a critique of the ‘strong position’ that sees SWB as the ultimate guide for public policy. First, the connections between the modern debate and classical schools of thought are discussed, and the strong Benthamite SWB approach is contrasted with the alternative Aristotelian capabilities approach. Next, the article examines current practice, using the UK’s Measuring National Well-being Programme as a case study. Finally, the article concludes that SWB has questionable legitimacy as a summary indicator of objective quality of life, and does not, on its own, provide a reliable metric for public policy. The capabilities approach, which takes a pluralist perspective on well-being and prioritises freedom and opportunity, offers a richer and more useful foundation for policy.     

Children’s Rights,School Psychology,and Well-Being Assessments

This paper addresses interrelationships among the notions of children’s rights, school psychological services, and child well-being assessments. Increasing attention has been paid in recent years to the notions of children’s rights, as best expressed in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In the current paper, we discuss the relevance of the emerging conceptions of children’s rights to the school context. We argue that given the centrality of schooling to children’s lives, school psychologists, who are serving in the role of child advocates, are in a unique position to contribute to integrating the children’s rights movement and educational progress. Situated within the context of the CRC and the practice of school psychology, we further discuss how advances in child well-being assessment can inform the implementation and evaluation of CRC principles and related policies. We propose that the use of evidence-based, developmentally appropriate objective and subjective measures of well-being should contribute a key component to meaningful assessments of the status of children’s rights and well-being.     

Does Cultural Capital Matter?: Cultural Divide and Quality of Life

Since the remarkable work of Pierre Bourdieu, the concept of cultural capital has gained wide popularity along with theoretical and conceptual debates. This trend represents the social-structural change from materialism to postmaterialism. However, there are few empirical studies which find the cause and effect of cultural capital. Based on empirical survey data, this paper will analyze “how cultural capital and cultural divide influence the subjective well-being at the individual level.” Our analysis includes the following: First, we explore to what extent the cultural divide between haves and have-nots of cultural capital has impacted their subjective well-being, which consists of happiness and life satisfaction at the individual level. Second, we analyze what factors cause those cultural divides. Sociodemographic, social-relational, and economic variables are included in the regression models to test their relative explanatory power. Third, we discuss the implication for cultural policy.     

Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations of Categories of Physical Activities with Dimensions of Subjective Well-Being in Taiwanese Older Adults

Physical activity takes place in different social contexts such as leisure, home, and work. However, the differential associations of these distinct categories of activity with aspects of well-being have rarely been investigated. This study was designed to estimate independent associations of (a) leisure-time, (b) domestic and (c) work-related physical activities with subjective well-being in older adults. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2009 with 2,295 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 or older in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Among them, 307 participants were selected for a 3-year follow-up study in 2012. The results based on cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses demonstrated that leisure-time physical activity, after multivariate adjustment, was positively associated with five dimensions of well-being, including ‘physical’, ‘psychological’, ‘independence’, ‘learning and growth’, and ‘social’ well-being. Household physical activity was positively associated only with ‘social’ well-being. Occupational physical activity was not related to any dimension of well-being. The study suggests that associations between physical activity and dimensions of subjective well-being during later life are dependent on the social context in which the activity takes place. This study indicates that physical activity taken as leisure has greatest potential to enhance the quality of life of older adults.     

Do Household Heads Speak for the Household? A Research Note

Many recent household surveys include questions about respondents’ subjective well-being. Nearly all of them, however, pose these questions only to the household head. This paper addresses an issue with practical and methodological concerns. Can survey designers ask only household heads and expect them to accurately represent the living conditions of the entire household? Using South Africa’s 1998 October Household Survey (OHS) to estimate econometric models of subjective well-being, this paper finds that the response of household heads is determined largely by factors shared by the entire household – housing, for example – and not on those experienced primarily by the head – individual health status, for example. This suggests that South African household heads are truly reporting household well-being, rather than their individual level of satisfaction. While this result probably cannot be widely generalized, the testing methodology is replicable and could be applied to similarly structured data sets.