Subjective Well-being Among Young People in Transition to Adulthood

This study used a nationally representative sample of young people in Germany from the German Socio-Economic Panel to examine how demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the young persons and their parents, personality traits of the young persons, quality and quantity of relationships, the parent's level of life satisfaction, and other measures of satisfaction for the young person are related to the initial assessment of life satisfaction by the individual at the critical point of transition from adolescence to adulthood. The results indicated that consistency existed across different domains of satisfaction, specifically satisfaction with life and satisfaction with grades. A strong pattern of association was also observed between the subjective well-being of the adolescents and variables that measured different dimensions of the quality and quantity of interpersonal relationships, including relationships with parents.

Panel Conditioning and Subjective Well-being

The importance of panel, or longitudinal, survey data for analyzing subjective wellbeing, and especially its dynamics, is increasingly recognized. Analyses of such data, however, have to deal with two potential problems: (1) non-random attrition; and (2) panel conditioning. The former is a much researched topic. In contrast, panel conditioning has received much less attention from the research community. In this analysis, longitudinal survey data collected from members of a large national probability sample of households are used to examine whether self-reported measures of psychological well-being exhibit any tendency to change over time in a way that might reflect panel conditioning. Regression models are estimated that control for all time invariant influences as well as a set of time-varying influences. We find very little evidence that mean life satisfaction scores vary with length of time in the panel, especially once non-random attrition is controlled for. In contrast, scores on a measure of mental health do vary with time, and surprisingly men and women exhibit opposing patterns. For men, scores decline over time (though the estimates are not statistically robust), whereas for women the effects are both large and rise with time. Further, for both outcome measures there is a clear narrowing in the dispersion of reported scores over the first few waves of participation. The findings have implications for empirical research employing longitudinal data.     

Poverty and Subjective Well-being in Mexico

There are two tendencies in the literatureregarding the relationship between income andsubjective well-being. The first tendencymaintains that there is a strong relationshipbetween these two variables, and that thepoorer the population, the more pronounced thisrelationship. The second tendency downplaysthis relationship, arguing that a largepercentage of happiness cannot be explained byeconomic variables. The objective of this studywas to compare the subjective well-being ofthree socioeconomic groups – extremely poor,moderately poor and not poor – and to discoverthe combination of subjective well-beingfactors that makes it possible to predict thesocioeconomic group to which subjects belong.Subjective well-being was measured by using aninstrument developed by Palomar Lever (2000) andconsisting of eleven related factors thatinquire into the subjects' satisfaction ineleven areas of life. The results indicatestatistically significant differences in nearlyall the subjective well-being factors inrelation to the socioeconomic group to whichsubjects belong, with the poorest subjectsreporting the least satisfaction. In additionsome differences were found in relation to sexand age. Also, low correlations were observedbetween income and subjective well-being in theextremely poor and moderately poor groups, withmore of these correlations in the first group,followed by the last. Finally, it was foundthat membership in the socioeconomic groups canbe predicted by a combination of subjectivewell-being factors such as satisfaction withone's recreational activities, socialsurroundings, personal development and couplerelationship.     

Lubricant Use Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Reporting Anal Intercourse in Bangkok,Thailand: Impact of HIV Status and Implications for Prevention

ABSTRACT

This analysis measures prevalence and correlates of consistent lubricant use among a cohort of Thai men who have sex with men (MSM). Lubricant use was queried at the 12-month follow-up visit. Consistent lubricant use was evaluated with logistic regression. Consistent lubricant use was reported by 77.0% of men and was associated with consistent condom use with casual partners, while binge drinking, payment for sex, and inconsistent condom use with casual, and steady, partners were negatively associated. Though consistent lubricant use is common among this Thai MSM cohort, further promotion is needed with MSM engaging in risky sexual practices.     

Economic Theory and Subjective Well-being: Mexico

Several studies have been conducted on the topic of well-being. Most of them, however, have been done in industrialized countries where income is distributed relatively more equitatively and the population tends to be more homogeneous. This paper studies the relationship between subjective and economic well-being in Mexico, a country where the economic differences among the population are more clearly marked.

According to the economic definition of well-being, higher levels of income are associated with higher levels of well-being through greater levels of material consumption. Taking into consideration this definition, it is worth asking just how important income is for an individual's happiness?Existing studies in psychology have found a positive correlation between economic well-being (socioeconomic status) and subjective well-being (happiness). However, this positive relationship is weak and a large percentage of human happiness remains unexplained.

Although the mentioned studies make a good approximation of the existing relationship between income and happiness, the characteristics or specification of the function that generates the relationship between these two variables is often assumed to be linear and positive. The main objective of this paper is to investigate further the relationship between subjective and economic well-being. In this study different specifications and approaches are used to approximate the relationship between these variables.

An empirical analysis is made from the results of a survey conducted in two Mexican cities. The investigation studies the impact of demographic, social, and economic variables on subjective well-being in Mexico. Several hypotheses are tested to identify the relationship between household income and individual well-being. It is found that income does not have a strong influence on neither well-being nor on the probability of happiness. However, people tend to overstress the impact that additional income would have on their subjective well-being. This fact could explain the importance that people place on increasing their income level, and it could possibly explain the relative sense of dissatisfaction once a higher income level is achieved.

The relationship between income and the sense of basic need satisfaction is also explored. A main assumption in economic theory suggests the existence of a direct relationship between these variables; however, empirical results show this relationship to be extremely weak. Results indicate that subjective well-being is positively related to the sense of basic need satisfaction but not to income.

     

Money and Happiness: Income,Wealth and Subjective Well-Being

Social Indicators Research - We examine the complex relationship between money and happiness. We find that both permanent income and wealth are better predictors of life satisfaction than current...     

Suicidality and Associated Factors Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in Estonia

Many studies over the last decade provide strong evidence of elevated rates of suicidality among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations compared to heterosexual populations. The aim of the current study was to investigate suicidal ideation and attempts and related factors among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Estonia. We conducted a nationwide Internet-based study among MSM with 265 eligible participants. Our results reveal high rates of self-reported suicidal ideation (lifetime prevalence 45%) and attempts (lifetime prevalence 11%) as well as a high rate of problem drinking (33%) and depressive symptoms (32%) among MSM. Recent suicidal ideation (14% had thought about suicide in the last 12 months) was related to depressive symptoms and lower socioeconomic situation. There is a need to develop specific interventions to address these issues among MSM and to provide gay-friendly mental health services.     

Community Subjective Well-being,Personality Traits and Quality of Life Therapy

In this study, factors that are instrumental in improving individuals' aswell as communities' subjective well-being (SWB) and Quality of Life (QOL)such as positive and negative relationships, personality characteristics ortraits as defined by family members or spouse, perceptions of the future aslooking good, and psychological factors (such as congruency,thriving/resilience personality, belongingness, external and internal powerand psychoallostasis), demographic variables, and religion were examined.The findings indicate that congruency with one's community values andexpectations, belongingness, thriving personality, psychoallostasis andpositive relationships or closeness to people in one's community, and theperception of the future both for the individual and for the community asbright, are important indicators of Quality of life and increased Subjectivewell-being. Additionally, family or spousal ratings of personalitycharacteristics as desirable affected SWB only if the ratings correspondedto the individuals' rating. Path analysis indicate that the high levels ofhappiness experienced by people living in Individualistic-sub-collectivisticcultures such as Appalachia is strongly linked to communal homeostasis andpsychoallostasis lifestyles prevalent in these communities. Implications ofthese findings to Quality of life therapy (QOLT) and healthy psychology atboth the individual level and community level are discussed.     

Family 'Decline' and the Subjective Well-being of Adolescents

The goal of the present study was to determine to what extent an adolescent's subjective well-being is affected when changes in family structure reach a breaking point and the child can no longer stay with his family, but must be institutionalized. The participants were one hundred male and female adolescents, 12 to 19 years of age, 50 of which lived in children's homes, but were originally from 50 different families, and 50 of which lived at home with their parents. Two questionnaires were administered: (a) the French adaptation of the Life Satisfaction Scale (Blais et al., 1989) and (b) a questionnaire containing statements related to level of satisfaction in several areas, notably family relationships, body image, work and schooling, and leisure acitivites. The difference between the two groups was considerable, with more than one point separating the mean levels of satisfaction of the two groups (20% of the total length of the scale employed). A structural analysis of the results showed the direct or indirect influence of three factors related to placement in a children's home on life satisfaction: a direct effect of placement in a children's home, an indirect effect passing through the satisfaction with family life, and an indirect effect passing through the personal growth.     

Climbing up the Social Ladders: Identity, Relative Income, and Subjective Well-being

This study incorporates the concept of identity to explain the relationship between relative income and subjective well-being. Based upon the theoretical framework of an identity model developed by Akerlof and Kranton Q J Econ 115:715–753, (2000), the empirical findings of this study suggest that an increase in relative income leads to a gain in positional identity and therefore raises the level of subjective well-being. This approach extends our understanding about the connection between positional concern and subjective well-being and explains the importance of social comparison in shaping individuals’ preferences and tastes. People are concerned about their relative income as it represents a positional identity of social status, dependent upon ideals and norms derived from the interactions between an individual and others within a society.     

HIV Risk Among Men Who Have Sex with Men Only (MSMO) and Men Who Have Sex with Men and Women (MSMW) in Baltimore

Men who have sex with men and women (MSMW) are at high risk for HIV. However, the majority of research on populations of men who have sex with men (MSM) combines MSMW and men who have sex with men only (MSMO) samples, which limits our understanding of HIV risk behaviors and factors associated with HIV risk among MSMW populations. We used the BESURE-MSM2, a venue-based cross-sectional study of HIV risk behaviors among MSM in Baltimore, MD, to examine HIV risk among MSMW. MSMW were less likely to report unprotected receptive anal intercourse than MSMO (6.8% vs. 19.6%, p = .0024). Among MSMW, 43.0% reported unprotected sex with a woman in the past year, but only 19.4% reported unprotected sex with both men and women, representing only 5.0% of the total MSM sample. In multivariate analyses, we found that among MSMW having unprotected sex with women in the past year, disclosing same sex behavior and having a main female partner were associated with unprotected anal intercourse with male partners. HIV prevention programs for MSMW are needed that address the complex partnerships of MSMW and the social contextual factors within which relationships and behaviors are embedded.     

生育与主观幸福感——基于生命周期和生命历程的视角

文章利用CGSS 2003 ～ 2013年数据通过APC模型来探讨以孩子数量和性别为特征的生育行为与父母主观幸福感的动态关系.结果表明更多的孩子会对处于中青年时期的父母产生负面影响,却会显著提升父母在老年时期的幸福感,并且这种效应在母亲中表现更为明显.出生在1940年代的父母享受了孩子数量对其幸福感的最高正向回报,而后随着计划生育政策的执行和人口转变的深入,孩子数量对父母幸福感的正向影响迅速消失.此外,对农村父母来说,生育儿子会在其整个生命周期内产生略微正向但不显著的幸福效应;但是对城市父母来说,生育儿子会显著降低其在中老年后的幸福感.养育女孩并没有明显的年龄和队列趋势,但都会为其个人的幸福感带来边际显著的正向作用.     

Intimate Partner Violence,Minority Stress,and Sexual Risk-Taking Among U.S. Men Who Have Sex With Men

This article examines the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) among a national sample of Internet-recruited U.S. men who have sex with men (MSM) (n = 1,575), and associations between reporting of IPV, minority stress, and sexual risk-taking. Five outcomes are examined: experiences of physical and sexual violence, perpetration of physical and sexual violence, and unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) at last sexual encounter. MSM who reported experiencing more homophobic discrimination and internalized homophobia were more likely to report experiences of IPV. The results point to the need for prevention messages to address the external and internal stressors that influence both violence and sexual risk among MSM.     

Subjective Well-being in a Multicultural Urban Population: Structural, and Multivariate Analyses of the Ontario Health Survey Well-being Scale

The validity of a scale, from the OntarioHealth Survey, measuring the subjective senseof well-being, for a large multiculturalpopulation in Metropolitan Toronto, is examinedthrough principal components analysis withoblique rotation. Four factors are extracted. Factor 1, is a stress and strain factor, andconsists of health worries, feeling exhaustedand worn out, and feeling tense. Factor 2,interpreted as a sense of control, consists ofno health worries, and ability to handlefeelings. Factor 3, interpreted as positiveaffect, consists of having an interesting life,feeling cheerful and light-hearted, feelingloved, feeling relaxed and full of vitality. Factor 4 is interpreted as a despondency factorconsists of feeling lonely, having a boringlife, inability to control feelings and feelinglow. The statistic of multiple discriminantanalysis between the variables, sex, age, andethnic groupings, as independent discriminatingvariables and the four factor scores asdependent variables, is calculated. Theresults show that the observed mean variance inthe well-being factor scores cannot beexplained by the respondents being eitherfemale or male, or being a certain age or bybelonging to specific cultural groupings. These results are discussed in relation toother studies on the dimensions of subjectivewell-being.     

The Subjective Well-being Construct: A Test of its Convergent,Discriminant, and Factorial Validity

Using structural equation modeling, we found empirical support for the prevailing theory that subjective well-being consists of three domains: (1) cognitive evaluations of one’s life (i.e., life satisfaction or happiness); (2) positive affect; and (3) negative affect. Multiple indicators of satisfaction/happiness were shown to have strong convergent validity as well as discriminant validity from positive and negative affect. Positive and negative affect likewise exhibited discriminant validity from one another. At both the item and scale levels of analysis, we obtained an intercorrelated three-factor solution corresponding to the three proposed subjective well-being domains.     

The Relationship between Subjective Well-being and Domain Satisfactions in South Africa

This paper examines the relationship between subjective well-being and domain satisfactions. In the past different models have been specified. The most commonly applied model is the bottom-up model in which domain satisfactions affect subjective well-being. The more recent top-down model suggests a reversed relationship. Finally there is the supposition that the correlations between these variables can be spurious due to the effect of personality characteristics. Empirical research has shown that different models are found for different domains and in different countries. Focussing on the effects of the domain satisfactions of finances, housing and social contacts it has been found that subjective well-being is mainly affected by satisfaction with social contacts in Western developed countries and by satisfaction with finances in East European countries. The question we should like to answer in this study is whether a similar pattern obtains for the factors which influence subjective well-being among the different race groups in South Africa. Interestingly, coloured people and Asians did indeed show the expected effects but the groups with the most extreme living conditions did not. Evaluation of life circumstances by black and white South Africans was determined by expectations for the future rather than by current living conditions. This surprising result is discussed in the light of the political situation in South Africa.     

Daily Spiritual Experiences and Psychological Well-being Among US Adults

This study focuses on one of the most significant recent innovations in the conceptualization and measurement of religiousness and spirituality, the Daily Spiritual Experience scale (DSES; Underwood (2006) Archive for the Psychology of Religion/Archiv fur Religion Psychologie, 28, 181–218). Using data from 1998 and 2004 NORC General Social Surveys, we address a number of questions regarding the social patterning of daily spiritual experiences, and the relationships between spiritual experiences and multiple dimensions of psychological well-being. Our results suggest a robust positive association between DSES and psychological well-being. By contrast, DSES appears to have little bearing on negative affect. We also found that DSES does not account for the association between religious practices and psychological variables. That is, DSES appears to tap another aspect of spirituality that is relevant for well-being, above and beyond the influence of religious practices. Various implications of the findings, as well as study limitations and future research direction are discussed.     

男男性服务群体的性、性网络、艾滋风险——以东北地区为例

男男性服务者是近些年来地下性产业中的新兴群体,其在性身份认同、服务分层、组织类别等方面呈现出比女性性服务者更为复杂的生存样态。同时,艾滋病在男男性接触群体的迅猛传播,也使男男性服务者成为艾滋病防治工作的重点干预对象。文章采用参与观察、个案深入访谈和专题小组讨论的定性研究方法,对我国东北地区男男性服务网络进行调研和分析,对商业性网络的隐秘特征和运行机制、男男性服务者的多元性存在状态进行文化阐释,并在此基础上分析不同性取向群体、不同场所、不同服务种类的艾滋病风险因素并给予社会科学的干预建议。     

Welfare Systems,Support Networks and Subjective Well-Being Among Retired Persons

In this article welfare systems and support networks are empirically analyzed to determine which generate the highest level of subjective well-being among retired persons. Propositions derived from support network theories and national welfare system typologies have been analyzed using causal models that indicate the influence of the various welfare systems and support networks on subjective well-being. The data was taken from the Social Relations and Social Support Systems module of the 2001 International Social Survey Program. The results indicate that liberal welfare systems generate the highest level of subjective well-being. This correlates with a lower degree of confidence in the welfare state, greater interpersonal trust and greater belief in individuals and their capacity to secure their own well-being. In the sphere of material well-being the subjective well-being of individuals is affected by a greater trust in people than in the state.     

Synergies Among Monetary,Multidimensional and Subjective Poverty: Evidence from Nepal

In this paper we construct a Nepal specific multidimensional poverty index using the Nepal Longitudinal Sample Survey (NLSS) for the period 1995–2010. The indicators for Nepal Multidimensional Poverty Index (NMP) have been chosen using the goals set by the Government of Nepal and the perceptions of adequacy as reported by households. In doing so this study combines multidimensional and subjective methods of measuring wellbeing. The subjective data is used to guide the choice of dimensions for the multidimensional analysis. Our findings show that Nepal has had a dramatic fall in multidimensional poverty along with the observed fall in consumption poverty in this period. Comparing the extent to which consumption poverty accurately identifies the multidimensionally poor, we find the error has reduced over time but remains large in proportion to the poverty rate implying the need for a multidimensional measure. For the different ethnic groups and regions the patterns of reduction in poverty are not homogenous and are different from those of consumption poverty with the NMP outperforming the consumption poverty in tracking targeted policy actions.