Predictors of satisfaction with environmental quality in eight European countries

This paper reports comparative social indicator data from eight member countries of the European Economic Community (EEC): Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands. Nationwide representative samples in each country were interviewed in 1977 in the context of a harmonized study of subjective social indicators. A major purpose of the study was to examine the cross-cultural generalizability of the influence of objective and subjective characteristics in predicting three measures of environmental quality: (1) Satisfaction with Housing, (2) Satisfaction with Neighbourhood, and (3) Satisfaction with Health Services, as well as in predicting the global measure of Life Satisfaction. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were performed on each of the four dependent variables for each of the eight countries. The cross-national comparability of predictors was examined and similarities and differences were discussed.     

Testing for Measurement Invariance in the Satisfaction with Life Scale: A Comparison of Russians and North Americans

This study examined the comparability of Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) [Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985, Social Indicators Research, 34: 7–32] scores across U.S. and Russian student and community groups. Criteria for weak measurement invariance were met when comparing U.S. and Russian groups (combining student and community samples). Criteria for weak and strong measurement invariance were met when comparing the U.S. and Russian student samples. However, when comparing the U.S. and Russian community samples, the results showed a significant statistic for a baseline model, indicating a lack of comparability across samples. The costs of failing to meet criteria for weak, strong, and strict measurement invariance are discussed. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Objective and subjective determinants of prospective residential mobility

The increasing interest in subjective as well as objective measures of well-being raises the issue of the relative importance of these two different types of measures when they are included as independent variables in analytical or predictive models. In the research reported here, survey data are used to evaluate the relative importance of objective and subjective indicators in providing an understanding of why households desire to move. Overall, it is found that subjective indicators add considerably to the explanation of mobility inclinations over and above that contributed by objective indicators. A comparison of explanatory powers for the full sets of objective and subjective predictors within two length of residence subgroups indicates some interesting differences, however. Objective and subjective predictors are close in explanatory power for longer-term residents, while subjective measures are considerably more important for shorter-term residents.     

Multidimensional Wellbeing: An Index of Quality of Life in a Developing Economy

Human wellbeing indices can shed light on a society’s quality of life. This study ranks human wellbeing by employing objective and subjective indicators of quality of life for hundred districts of Pakistan. Households level data used for the analysis includes ‘The Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey’ for the year 2006–2007. The human wellbeing is examined in four domains: education, health, living conditions and economic situation. Principal component analysis is employed for indexing human wellbeing, rated in five quintiles are generated. The paper demonstrates the importance of education, health and living condition domains in determining the human wellbeing. Objective indicators of education i.e., adult literacy rate, net primary enrolment and gender equality in education are important variables in ranking of districts. Economic status of the households and communities are important variables in subjective perception of wellbeing. The results indicate substantial variation in human wellbeing among districts of Pakistan It may be considered that disparity in objective condition and in subjective perceptions are adequately depicting wellbeing differences. Finally, it is argued that objective indicators and subjective wellbeing measures are needed in unison to understand human quality of life and to make informed policy decisions.     

Indicators and Indices of Child Well-being: A Brief American History

This paper traces the history of indicators and indices of child well-being from its origins in the social indicator movement of the 1970s through recent developments in the field. Initial work calling for comprehensive sets of indicators of child well-being and later recommendations for indicator improvement are detailed. Products that resulted from these recommendations, such as comprehensive indicator reports and online resources are described. The development of child well-being indices is shown to parallel the history of indicators. The contributions of state and international indicator and index projects are included as well. Important aspects of child well-being indicator development are uncovered through documenting its history, including the need to focus on subjective as well as objective measures of well-being, and the need to develop indicators for the multiple ecological contexts of children’s lives, but to separate measures of context from measures of child outcomes. A rough consensus emerges across the history of indicator efforts on the critical domains of child well-being: physical, psychological, cognitive, social, and economic well-being. Recent recognition of the importance of indicators of positive development is noted. This paper was funded by the KIDS COUNT project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.     

Predictors of satisfaction with housing and neighbourhood: A nationwide study in the Republic of Ireland

The present paper reports results from a nationwide study, based on a representative sample in the Republic of Ireland. It is part of a harmonised study of subjective social indicators which has been carried out in eight member countries of the European Community. The data, which were obtained by survey techniques, are largely subjective or perceptual in nature. However, objective data were also obtained, thus permitting direct comparisons, in many cases, between objective conditions and subjective measures related to housing and neighbourhood to determine which characteristics were most highly predictive of overall satisfaction with housing and overall satisfaction with neighbourhood. In addition, the relationships between housing and neighbourhood variables and more global attitudinal variables (i.e., life satisfaction and anomia) were explored.     

Basic Minimum Needs,Quality of Life and Selected Correlates: Explorations in Villages in Northern India

For those involved in international development, one of the major goals is an improvement in the quality of life of the poor. Bhargava and Chakrabati (1992: 133) see the “primary objective of development at any given time is to improve the quality of life”. Indeed, the mission statement for an international development organization explicitly commits itself to the improvement of the quality of life for the “poorest of the poor” (DID, 1994). Social indicators, as “transeconomic” measures of quality of life, have “become an integral part of 'development indicators”' (Kao and Liu, 1984: 400; see, also Kahn, 1991). The connection between quality of life and development extends beyond the Third World. For example, in the U.S. Myers (1987) found quality of life influenced inmigration to Austin, Texas, thus affecting its economic development. Undoubtedly the majority of the connections between social indicators and development has been examined at the macro, or national levels using economic, health, education and other objective, comparative indices. Recognizing that such measures as GNP are oftentimes inadequate, assorted indices have been derived to gauge the changes in social development over time, e.g., the well-known Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) constructed by the Overseas Development Council (Morris, 1976). Many of these tend to focus on objective, material indicators (commodity possessions) as opposed to the more subjective ones (Anand and Ravallion, 1993). It is not the purpose of this paper to examine the various critics' arguments about the strengths and weaknesses of extant macro versus micro indices, but rather to lend support for the general need to assess development and social change through social indicators, whether macro or micro, objective or subjective. Ultimately, the purpose of the assessment should guide which social indicators are selected. The purpose of this paper is to examine several issues arising from the linkages between development efforts and quality of life (QOL). Using empirical data which were gathered to evaluate a community development project in the Garhwal region of Northern India, several issues, germane to both social indicators and development, will be investigated. These include: (1) the relationship between “Basic Minimum Needs” (BMNs) and QOL, (2) some methodological innovations for measuring both BMNs and QOL, and (3) selected correlates of BMNs and social indicators of QOL for Garhwali villagers. Before describing the project and its findings, we will first place it in the overall development context.     

Subjective and objective indicators of regional quality of life in Switzerland

Mainly because of data limitations, direct comparisons between subjective and objective indicators of local or regional quality of life have been inconclusive until now. The 1978 opinion survey among more than 33 000 Swiss recruits representing about 80% of their age cohort allows one for the first time to disaggregate survey data regionally for all parts of a whole country. The portrait of 97 regions and 25 cantons of Switzerland, based on the recruits' assessments of their native commune, seem adequately to reflect the rich variety of quality of life experiences in this extremely decentralized and culturally heterogenous country. Evidence from several procedures for validating the opinion survey data is presented, among which comparisons between the subjective and selected objective indicators of regional quality of life prove to be most conclusive. In general, the intercorrelations between these two types of social indicators are astonishingly high. Some consequences of this result for the subjective vs. objective social indicator controversy are elaborated. Methodological considerations on the peculiar elusiveness of the quality of life category follow, indicating the outline of a workable methodology of usable social indicators knowledge.     

Social indicators of living conditions in Ireland with European comparisons

This monograph presents data from a nationwide survey of social indicators of living conditions in Ireland. This survey was part of a European Community (EC)-harmonised survey of subjective social indicators carried out in eight EC countries. The survey, the first of two, focussed on people's perceptions of their health, health services, housing, neighbourhood and life in general. Extensive analysis is made of the demographic determinants of a wide range of subjective measures of well-being in all of these life domains. Examination is also made of the predictors of global measures of well-being. Data are presented for Ireland and multi-nation comparative data are also presented throughout. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between objective and subjective social indicators.     

Objective and subjective indicators: Effects of scale discordance on interrelationships

Researchers in the social indicator movement are increasingly aware of the value of obtaining both subjective and objective measures. At the same time there is a recognition of the need to understand relationships between the types of measures. Studies utilizing both subjective and objective measures indicate that while relationships between them exist, relationships are often not strong. This paper suggests several explanations for such imperfect relationships. One is scale discordance, a term used to recognize that the territorial base of an individual's subjective evaluation may not coincide with the boundaries of the unites used for the collection of objective data. Using data from a metropolitan area study, relationships between objective measures of crime and respondents' feelings of safety are examined for people whose perceptions of neighborhoods vary in size. The hypothesis that the relationship between the objective and subjective measures is stronger among individuals whose view of neighborhood size is in line with the relatively large territorial base for objective crime statistics is tested and found to be correct. Implications of the findings for research and policy making are discussed.     

The stability and validity of quality of life measures

Effective social indicators must be stable when individual or societal characteristics are unchanged and dynamic when circumstances alter. Highly reliable measures may be poor indicators because they are insensitive to change. Little evidence is available on the sensitivity or validity of objective and subjective indicators. A lack of panel data has restricted the assessment of the stability of subjective measures. This paper examines longitudinal data on a representative sample of 2162 Canadians interviewed in 1977 and again in 1979. Test-retest correlations of approximately 0.50 were obtained for satisfaction and self-anchoring ladder measures among respondents who reported no significant changes in their lives during the past two years. Correlations were substantially lower, as expected, for those reporting life changes. Comparisons of the absolute values of these subjective indicators show that very little change in quality of life measures occurs when stable circumstances are reported but the indicators rise or fall significantly when situations change with downward adjustments being more dramatic than upward modifications. Positive and negative life events had little effect on overall evaluations of life quality. In general, these findings provide very strong evidence for the stability and validity of subjective indicators over time. These measures, with one exception, were constant in unchanging situations and sensitive to change when it occurred.     

Measurement Invariance in Multilingual Survey Research: The Role of the Language of the Questionnaire

This paper examines whether or not survey measures asked to two linguistic groups exhibit invariance within a country. It tests configural, metric and scalar invariance in a model that distinguishes the response component and the cognitive component of the measurement process using survey items. Our findings show that when differences in the response process are allowed, concepts are (partially) invariant across groups. The analysis is conducted for items measuring some aspects of political trust and satisfaction with politics for six linguistic groups including French, Dutch, Estonian, German, Ukrainian and Russian in four countries. Data comes from the European Social Survey.     

Why Social Policy Needs Subjective Indicators

There are many qualms about subjective indicators, and some believe that social policy would be better for not using them. This paper consists of a review of these objections. It is argued that policy makers need subjective indicators, the main reasons being: 1. Social policy is never limited to merely material matters; it is also aimed at matters of mentality. These substantially subjective goals require subjective indicators. 2. Progress in material goals can not always be measured objectively. Subjective measurement is often better. 3. Inclusive measurement is problematic with objective substance. Current sum-scores make little sense. Using subjective satisfaction better indicates comprehensive quality. 4. Objective indicators do little to inform policy makers about public preferences. Since the political process also does not reflect public preferences too well, policy makers need additional information from opinion polls. 5. Policy makers must distinguish between `wants' and `needs’. Needs are not observable as such, but their gratification materialises in the length and happiness of peoples' lives. This final output criterion requires assessment of subjective appreciation of life-as-a-whole     

Measuring Well-being Across Europe: Description of the ESS Well-being Module and Preliminary Findings

It has become customary to judge the success of a society through the use of objective indicators, predominantly economic and social ones. Yet in most developed nations, increases in income, education and health have arguably not produced comparable increases in happiness or life satisfaction. While much has been learned from the introduction of subjective measures of global happiness or life satisfaction into surveys, significant recent progress in the development of high-quality subjective measures of personal and social well-being has not been fully exploited. This article describes the development of a set of well-being indicators which were included in Round 3 of the European Social Survey. This Well-being Module seeks to evaluate the success of European countries in promoting the personal and social well-being of their citizens. In addition to providing a better understanding of domain-specific measures, such as those relating to family, work and income, the design of the Well-being Module recognises that advancement in the field requires us to look beyond measures which focus on how people feel (happiness, pleasure, satisfaction) to measures which are more concerned with how well they function. This also shifts the emphasis from relatively transient states of well-being to measures of more sustainable well-being. The ESS Well-being Module represents one of the first systematic attempts to create a set of policy-relevant national well-being accounts.

Conceptualising and Measuring Social Cohesion in Africa: Towards a Perceptions-Based Index

Social cohesion is a key concept in development studies. Weak social cohesion is often related to slow economic growth and (violent) conflict. So far few attempts have been made to measure this complex concept in a systematic manner. This paper introduces an innovative method to measure national-level social cohesion based on survey data from 19 African countries. We distinguish three dimensions of social cohesion; i.e. the extent of perceived inequalities, the level of societal trust, and the strength of people’s adherence to their national identity. Importantly, our Social Cohesion Index (SCI) is based on individuals’ perceptions vis-à-vis these three different dimensions of social cohesion rather than certain macro-level ‘objective’ indicators such as GDP/capita or Gini-coefficients. We develop two social cohesion indices: a national average SCI and a Social Cohesion Index Variance-Adjusted (SCIVA); the latter one takes into account the level of variation across different ethnic groups within countries. The SCI and SCIVA are computed for and compared across nineteen African countries for the period 2005–2012 on the basis of Afrobarometer survey rounds 3, 4 and 5. We also investigate quantitatively the relationship between countries’ levels of social cohesion and the occurrence of a range of conflict events. As expected, we find that countries with low levels of social cohesion in a particular year according to our SCI are more likely to experience a range of different violent conflict events in the subsequent year.     

A social indicator based on time allocation

The authors have developed a social indicator, called Lambda, that has as its base the manner in which individuals allocate their time among various life activities. This indicator does not suffer from the usual demand characteristics and experimenter bias associated with most subjective social indicators, i.e., those based on question-naires. It is not a single rate indicator in the sense of suicide rate. Lambda is a weighted sum social indicator with both subjective and objective aspects. The weights are decided by the population under consideration and not by the investigators or some other outside agents. The elements to be summed are the frequency functions for the discrepancies that arise when individuals state the amount of time they would like to spend in an activitiy versus the amount of time they actually spend at the activity. There are frequency functions for each activity. The properties of this indicator are discussed in detail. A pilot study comparing Lambda to another social indicator and some demographic variables was conducted with 1012 undergraduate students. The results of the pilot study show a high correlation between Lambda and the other social indicator. The results are presented. Lambda is currently being used by the Gallup organization.     

Social Capital,Government and Democracy Satisfaction,and Happiness in Turkey: A Comparison of Surveys in 1999 and 2008

Based on data from a 1999 and a 2008 European Values Survey, the main objective of this study is to explore the relationship between a variety of social capital indicators, satisfaction with government and democracy, and subjective well-being. Happiness and life satisfaction were used as outcome measures of subjective well-being. The indicators of social capital used in this study are general trust, trust in institutions, political engagement, concern for others, societal norms, and membership in volunteer organizations. The analyses reveal a significant increase in happiness, life satisfaction, and many social capital variables between 1999 and 2008. Generalized trust, trust in institutions, government satisfaction, and democracy satisfaction are positive correlates of well-being, although some relationships are significant only in 2008. Several demographic variables are also linked with subjective well-being such as income, employment status, age, gender, and education. We discuss the findings in relation to the significant societal, economic, and political changes experienced in Turkey between 1999 and 2008. Policy implications are also emphasized such as improved trust among individuals, trustworthiness of government institutions, and functioning of democracy.     

Demographic determinants of perceived well-being in eight European countries

This paper reports results of a harmonised study of subjective social indicators carried out in eight member countries of the European Community, sponsored, on an experimental basis, by the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Luxembourg). Comparative data from nationwide representative samples from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark are presented for three key dependent measures of perceived well-being: Self-Assessed Health, Satisfaction with Housing and Life Satisfaction. The cross-cultural generalisability of the influence of demographic variables on these three measures in examined, using 4-way analysis of variance. The analyses revealed a remarkable consistency across nations in terms of the effects of certain demographic variables on some of the dependent measures; however, some inconsistencies were also revealed. Substantial discrepancies in mean scores of the same sub-groups in different countries were also observed. While further research would be required to determine whether these differences were due to objective circumstances or to cultural differences in subjective perceptions or response patterns, some tentative interpretations of the differences were put forth.     

Subjective evaluation of well-being: Problems and prospects

This paper discusses some of the substantive and methodological pitfalls that arise in the subjective evaluation of well-being. The discussion includes illustrative references to the empirical findings of the 1977 Edmonton Area Study. Issues discussed include (1) specific, domain, and global measures; (2) objective states and subjective perceptions; (3) micro and macro units of analysis; and (4) the problem of cultural relativism. It is concluded that it is not yet possible to delineate a simple set of social indicators for use by policy-makers and social planners. Accurate assessment of social well-being currently requires the study of demographic and objective states together with cognitive and evaluational responses and also requires assessment not only at the global ‘general satisfaction’ level but also at more specific levels of analysis.     

Influence of Prudential Value on the Subjective Well-Being of Chinese Urban–Rural Residents

The perspective of previous studies on subjective well-being (SWB) is mainly in terms of utility, demand and capacity, among others. However, the understanding of SWB is not sufficiently comprehensive and systematic. In this study, we used survey data from Chinese General Social Survey and studied the SWB of Chinese urban–rural residents from the perspective of prudential value, an integrated prudential value perspective that is “value”-oriented, multidimensional, social, inter-subjective, and interdisciplinary. We also made a scientific and effective layered control for SWB variables. Different types of variables were progressively overlaid to establish five related comparability study models. Linear regression analysis method was used to obtain reliable results. We then derived substantive conclusions based on the differences in SWB (i.e., degree of life satisfaction and life happiness) of China urban–rural residents. We found that the lack of education, medical, employment and other related social security systems significantly influences the degree of life satisfaction and happiness of urban–rural residents rather than differences between urban–rural households. The lack of basic systems prevented residents from fulfilling their basic needs and undermined their own sense of dignity. As long as the socio-economic status and prudential recognition of urban–rural residents remain under equal conditions, happiness between urban and rural residents does not differ significantly. Therefore, to better solve the current social issues and further improve the quality of life of Chinese residents, we propose suggestions for government on the policies that coordinate urban and rural development.