Need Satisfaction Mechanism Linking Volunteer Motivation and Life Satisfaction: A Mediation Study of Volunteers Subjective Well-Being

A mediation model explaining volunteers’ subjective well-being was tested in this paper. It examined the effect of intrinsic motivation on volunteers’ life satisfaction, using the need satisfaction experienced through volunteering as an intervening variable. A questionnaire was administered to 443 participants, not all of whom had previous experience of volunteering. Mediation analysis suggested a path from intrinsic motivation to volunteers’ life satisfaction through the need satisfaction experienced during volunteering. Neither volunteer participation per se nor extrinsic motivation was related to life satisfaction. The roles of motivation and need satisfaction in volunteers’ life satisfaction were identified, with implications for future volunteer programs.     

School Satisfaction Among Adolescents: Testing Different Indicators for its Measurement and its Relationship with Overall Life Satisfaction and Subjective Well-Being in Romania and Spain

This paper presents results from two samples of adolescents aged 13–16 from Romania and Spain (N = 930 + 1,945 = 2,875). The original 7-item version of the Personal Well-Being Index (PWI) was used, together with an item on overall life satisfaction (OLS) and a set of six items related to satisfaction with school. A confirmatory factor analysis of the six school satisfaction items shows good fit statistics when relating them to a latent variable. However, said latent variable does not show a good fit when related to the OLS or the PWI. Tests have led to the conclusion that the item that best summarises satisfaction with school is “satisfaction with my life as a student”. Adding this item to the PWI-7 has shown a good fit with Structural Equation Modeling and higher standardised loading on the OLS. The analysis developed here, while confirming that the inclusion of a domain on satisfaction with school life contributes to the PWI with unique variance (2.5 % in this research), also offers an explanation for the surprising results obtained for adolescents in other countries (e.g. in Australia, Tomyn and Cummins in Soc Indicat Res 101(3):405–418 2010) by showing that satisfaction with friends at school and satisfaction with classmates did not significantly contribute to satisfaction with school. Our results suggest that school satisfaction is highly related to satisfaction with teachers, but weakly related to overall life satisfaction, while satisfaction with school friends and satisfaction with classmates are highly related to overall life satisfaction, but weakly related to satisfaction with school. Satisfaction with life as a student seems to be the item that best reconciles this “paradox” (in adults’ eyes), at least with our samples of Romanian and Spanish adolescents.     

Life Expectancy as an Objective Factor of a Subjective Well-Being

The paper has two parts. In the first part we offer a definition of well-being which makes life expectancy an explicit variable. We recognize the importance of happiness as a significant aspect of any definition of well-being, but we side-step the issue of what determines its level or how to measure it, and concentrate instead on the consequences of our new variable, life expectancy. We argue that life is valued for its quality, and, if positive, its extension is an improvement of well-being. From this we show how, given certain assumptions, disparate problems that have moral and/or social significance can be approached from the perspective of improving well-being. We close the first part by showing that our definition has enough flexibility to be used for that class of decisions which require tradeoffs between quality of life (happiness) and life expectancy. As a corollary we show that attitudes toward risk depend on expectations, and on some occasions, age itself. In the second part we argue, first, that real economic factors, not reducible to mere psychological ones, may still offer an adequate explanation for the fact that absolute income and happiness do not always correlate well. However, we take no position on the many controversies, such as whether it is relative or absolute increases in wealth that bears most directly on changes in happiness. We confirm through statistical analysis (simple regressions) the well established influence that absolute income has on life expectancy, and, hence, by inference and definition, we argue that this must also be the case with well-being. Secondly, we find through statistical analysis that healthcare has as much impact on life expectancy as does absolute income, leading us to theoretically examine the appropriate income cost for access to healthcare if life expectancy is to improve. And thirdly, by assuming a homogeneous function of life expectancy, we theoretically show how a market oriented healthcare system can exacerbate inequities in life expectancy, and so on well-being. Lastly, we consider some policy implications of those inequities.     

Measuring Subjective Issues of Well-Being and Quality of Life in the European Statistical System

Over the last decades, the European Statistical System has developed many European statistics and indicators to measure social progress and sustainable development. Initially only in a few cases the measuring instruments contained questions on subjective issues. With the adoption of its Communication on “gross domestic product and beyond” the Commission has given an impetus to the development of subjective social indicators. This has led to the establishment of a first set of indicators on quality of life and well-being and to a new instrument (the 2013 EU-SILC ad-hoc module for measuring subjective well-being). This new step in European statistics creates an important potential for researchers to engage in in-depth analysis and for national and European Union policy makers to use the resulting indicators—and in casu subjective well-being indicators—for developing and monitoring policy strategies and programmes.     

A Model for Subjective Well-Being in Adolescence: Need Satisfaction and Reasons for Living

Subjective well-being is as important for adolescents as it is in other stages of life. This study thus aims to develop a model for subjective well-being, which is limited to need satisfaction in adolescence and reasons for living, and to test the validity of the model. Participants were a total of 227 individuals, 120 females and 107 males. Data for the study were collected by using the Scale for Basic Need Satisfaction in General, Reasons for Living Inventory, Life Satisfaction Scale and Positive?CNegative Affect Scale. The data were analyzed by using the structural equation model. The results showed that, in the model developed, the effects of need satisfaction and reasons for living on subjective well-being were significant and direct; those of reasons for living were significant and indirect; and the total effects of variables were significant. It was thus concluded that the model presented here can be used to increase adolescents?? subjective well-being. The results are discussed in light of the literature on subjective well-being and within the context of adolescence as a life stage.     

Innovativeness and Subjective Well-Being

What are the effects of innovativeness on well-being? This paper argues that research on subjective well-being has progressed to a point where measures of subjective well-being (or: happiness) can usefully be employed to assess the welfare effects of innovative change. Based on a discussion of the prospects and pitfalls associated with subjective well-being as welfare measure and benchmark of societal progress, an argument is put forward as to why these measures are particularly well-suited in the context of innovative change. Empirically well-founded and with an explicit dynamic foundation, theories of subjective well-being allow for a nuanced and comprehensive assessment of the effects that innovativeness has on a society. Two evaluation rules, the “life domain evaluation principle” and the “welfare dynamics principle” are suggested to guide such normative assessment.     

Weekends and Subjective Well-Being

This paper exploits the richness and large sample size of the Gallup/Healthways US daily poll to illustrate significant differences in the dynamics of two key measures of subjective well-being: emotions and life evaluations. We find that there is no day-of week effect for life evaluations, represented here by the Cantril Ladder, but significantly more happiness, enjoyment, and laughter, and significantly less anxiety, sadness, and anger on weekends (including public holidays) than on weekdays. We then find strong evidence of the importance of the social context, both at work and at home, in explaining the size and likely determinants of the weekend effects for emotions. Weekend effects are twice as large for full-time paid workers as for the rest of the population, and are much smaller for those whose work supervisor is considered a partner rather than a boss and who report trustable and open work environments. A large portion of the weekend effects is explained by differences in the amount of time spent with friends or family between weekends and weekdays (7.1 vs. 5.4 h). The extra daily social time of 1.7 h in weekends raises average happiness by about 2 %.     

Detecting Unobserved Heterogeneity in the Relationship Between Subjective Well-Being and Satisfaction in Various Domains of Life Using the REBUS-PLS Path Modelling Approach: A Case Study

In this article, we propose a model to estimate the direct and indirect effects of the relationship between subjective well-being and satisfaction in various domains of life using a partial least squares path modelling approach in a structural equation model framework. A drawback of these models is that they assume homogeneous behaviour over the observed set of units. To address this issue, Trinchera (Ph.D. thesis, University of Naples, 2007) and Esposito Vinzi et al. (Appl Stoch Models Bus Ind 28:439–458, 2008) proposed an algorithm, called the response-based unit segmentation in partial least squares (REBUS-PLS) path modelling, to detect sources of heterogeneity in both measurement and structural models. The REBUS-PLS allows researchers to identify classes of units with similar behaviours (with respect to the postulated model) and to estimate one model for each identified class (so-called ‘local models’). Applying the REBUS-PLS algorithm to our case study, we detected three main classes of units with similar behaviours and estimated three local models. We found, for example, that in the estimated model for the entire sample, the relationship between satisfaction with family and social life and subjective well-being is statistically significant. However, this result was not confirmed in all of the estimated local models.     

Internal Migration and Life Satisfaction: Well-Being Paths of Young Adult Migrants

Internal migration is typically associated with higher income, but its relation with life satisfaction remains unclear. Is internal migration accompanied by an increase in life satisfaction and does this increase depend on the reason for moving? What are the aspects of life underlying overall life satisfaction that change following migration? These questions are addressed using longitudinal data from the Swedish Young Adult Panel Study. Migration is defined as a change in municipality of residence. Comparing migrants to non-migrants, it is found that internal migration is accompanied by a short to medium term increase in life satisfaction for those who move due to work (work migrants), as well as those who move for other reasons (non-work migrants). However, only work migrants display an improvement in life satisfaction that remains significant 6 or more years following the move. Work and non-work migrants also differ in the aspects of life that change following migration. For work migrants the move is accompanied by an improvement in occupational status positively associated with well-being 6–10 years after the move. For non-work migrants, a persisting increase in housing satisfaction follows migration, but this housing improvement is accompanied by only a short to medium term increase in overall well-being.     

Subjective Well-Being versus Self-Actualization: Using the Flow-Simplex to Promote a Conceptual Clarification of Subjective Quality of Life

The purpose of the presentstudy was to articulate an importantdifference between subjective well-being (SWB)and self-actualization. Although self-actualization reflects a substantial aspect ofhuman existence, the article argues that theconcept is not accounted for by ordinaryassessment of SWB. In this paper, openness toexperience (OE) is taken as an indicator ofself-actualization, and overall satisfactionwith life, frequency of positive affect andfrequency of negative affect were utilized asindicators of SWB. Two methods were offered toinvestigate the assumed independenceof SWB and OE, both of which comprisedquestionnaire data from 264 studentsattending the Norwegian folk high school system(mean age 19 years, 63% females).First, a structural equation model revealedonly a small and nonsignificant associationbetween SWB and OE. Second, by means of aflow-simplex it was shown that SWBand OE relate to different dimensions ofexperience. SWB was associated withpleasantness, while OE correlated withinterestingness and challenge. It was concludedthat traditional measurements of SWB areinsensitive to important aspects of humanlives, and that the concept misses importantaspects of psychological well-being.     

Religion and Subjective Well-Being in Ghana

Using 2008 Afrobarometer survey data, we examine the relationship between religion and subjective well-being (SWB) in Ghana, as well as religious group differences in their experiences of SWB. Two measures of religion—religious affiliation and religious importance, and two measures of SWB—absolute SWB (own perceived living conditions) and relative SWB (own living conditions compared to those of other Ghanaians) are employed in this study. Results show that religious affiliation is significantly related to both measures of SWB although associations depicted for such relationships were not strong. Religious importance significantly related to relative SWB only (with a weak-to-moderate association). Significant religious affiliation and religious importance group differences are found on both SWB outcomes via non-parametric test procedures (Kruskal–Wallis H test, followed by post hoc tests). On balance, the None/Traditional religious group experienced less favorable SWB than Other Christian, Evangelical/Pentecostal, and Muslim groups, especially for absolute SWB, while the None/Traditional group experienced particularly less favorable relative SWB than the Protestant group. Religious importance groups also significantly differed in such a way that the group that considered religion very important had more favorable experiences of both types of SWB than the group that considered religion not at all/not very important. Other significant differences on both outcomes are found among ethnic, educational, and regional groups. In view of the findings, the study contributes to SWB research and suggests policy implications.     

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.     

The Longitudinal Relationships Between Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction at School and School-Related Subjective Well-Being in Adolescents

Situated within a positive psychology perspective, this study aimed at examining the nature and directionality of longitudinal relationships between basic psychological needs satisfaction at school and adolescents’ school-related subjective well-being. A total of 576 students (40.5 male and 36.8 % students in junior high school) completed measures of adolescent students’ basic psychological needs at school and school-related subjective well-being at two time points, 6 weeks apart. Cross-lagged structural equation modeling showed significant bidirectional longitudinal relationships between autonomy, relatedness, and competence needs satisfaction and school satisfaction. Furthermore, significant bidirectional relationships were observed between competence need satisfaction and positive affect in school. The findings provided important evidence of the roles of adolescents’ different types of needs satisfaction, experienced specifically during school, in adolescents’ school-related subjective well-being. The findings also helped extend the positive psychology perspective to the relatively neglected context of education.     

Internet Use and Subjective Well-Being in China

Using data from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies, we analyze the association between Internet use and various measures of subjective well-being (SWB) in a sample of 16- to 60-year-old Chinese. Our analysis shows that although intensive Internet use is significantly associated with lower levels of SWB, we hardly observe any associations when the focus is on participation in specific online activities. Nevertheless, SWB depends on the reasons for using the Internet and the extent to which individuals feel that their Internet use is displacing other activities. Our results suggest that, contrary to previous findings, differences in beneficial outcomes (the third level digital divide) do not necessarily arise from individuals’ actual Internet use (the second level digital divide) but rather may result from their subjective perceptions of such usage. Our findings also point to a possible cultural factor that puts Chinese Internet users at psychological risk.     

Agent-Based Simulations of Subjective Well-Being

There has been extensive empirical research in recent years pointing to a weak correlation between economic growth and subjective well-being (happiness), at least for developed economies (i.e. the so-called ‘Easterlin paradox’). Recent findings from the behavioural sciences and happiness literature link this paradoxical relationship to negative externalities on utility imposed by social comparison (i.e. relative income with respect to others) and adaptation (habituation to own income in the past). We believe that the type of economic growth (pro-poor, pro-middle, pro-rich, neutral), in combination with sensitivity to social comparison and past income, is a key determinant of happiness trajectories and future utility levels. With the use of agent-based simulations we examine the long-term dynamics of subjective-well-being by focusing attention on the type of growth process rather than the mere size of income growth. We generally find that pro-middle (and balanced) growth corresponds to much higher levels of long-term happiness in comparison to pro-rich growth.     

Overeducation as Status Inconsistency: Effects on Job Satisfaction,Subjective Well-Being and the Image of Social Stratification

Social Indicators Research - In this article, we aim to study the effects of the experience of overeducation, understood as a specific form of status inconsistency, in three areas: job...     

On the Predictive Effect of Multidimensional Importance-Weighted Quality of Life Scores on Overall Subjective Well-Being

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of importance weighting in predicting outcome variables in a hierarchical and multidimensional measurement context. A total of 146 undergraduate students (female = 76; mean age = 20.25) from two universities in Taiwan and China participated in this study. They evaluated their quality of life on 22 facets from the WHOQOL-BREF scale, which covers four domains (i.e., physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environmental health). They were also asked to rate the importance of these 22 facets and items for three general subjective well-being indices, including overall quality of life, general health, and life satisfaction. A multiplicative formula was used to create importance-weighted scores for each facet, and four domain scores were obtained by averaging facet scores under specific domains. Results of regression analysis revealed that after applying the weighting procedure, the four domain scores did not account for more variances in the three indices for overall subjective well-being, and predictive effects of the four domain scores became less differential. Our findings suggest that importance weighting did not have its expected benefits but instead may negatively impact the predictive effects.     

Subjective Well-Being and Social Production Functions

Recent reviews of scientific work on subjective well-being (SWB) reveal disagreements in conceptualization, measurement, and explanation of the concept. We propose Social Production Function theory as a framework to resolve them. Social Production Function (SPF) theory integrates strengths of relevant psychological theories and economic consumer/household production theories, without their limitations (namely, tradeoffs between satisfaction of different needs are not in the first, and goals or needs are not in the second). SPF theory identifies two ultimate goals that all humans seek to optimize (physical well-being and social well-being) and five instrumental goals by which they are achieved (stimulation, comfort, status, behavioural confirmation, affection). The core notion of SPF theory is that people choose and substitute instrumental goals so as to optimize the production of their well-being, subject to constraints in available means of production. SPF theory guides research measurement and explanatory models, and it integrates features of contemporary subjective well-being theories.