Why is Housing Always Satisfactory? A Study into the Impact of Preference and Experience on Housing Appreciation

This study focuses on residents’ perceptions of residential quality concerning 23 different dwelling aspects. Respondents were asked to indicate their appreciation of these dwelling aspects on a scale ranging from 0 (“extremely unattractive”) to 100 (“extremely attractive”). The influence of two potential factors on the appreciation of dwelling aspects is examined: (1) preference and (2) experience. It was hypothesized that residents who live according to their preferences give higher appreciation scores than residents who do not. This should even apply to low-quality housing. Furthermore, it was argued that residents appreciate their current housing situation more than residents who do not live in that particular housing situation. This effect should be independent of preference. The impact of both preference and of experience could be confirmed. The results also showed an interaction effect between preference and experience: the positive effect of experience on appreciation is larger in residents who live in a housing situation that they do not prefer. This result would be expected if the impact of experience works to decrease the ‘gap’ in residential satisfaction due to the discrepancy between what residents have and what they want. In conclusion, why is housing always satisfactory? In this paper, housing is satisfactory because the ‘gap’ between what residents want and what they have is small; residents seem to have realistic aspirations. Furthermore, residents appreciate what they already have, even if this is not what they prefer.     

Which Life Domains Impact Most on Self-Rated Health? A Cross-Cultural Study of Switzerland and its Neighbors

General life satisfaction (GLS) is a strong health correlate and can be conceptualized as an aggregate of satisfactions in different life domains and as a proxy for quality of life. Little is known about which life domains—measured as domain satisfactions—contribute most to GLS and are the best predictors of self-rated health (SRH) and whether these associations differ between countries and/or language areas. We used stepwise logistic regression models to investigate how domain satisfactions, GLS and SRH are interrelated and compared German-speaking and French/Italian-speaking Switzerland with the corresponding neighboring countries of Germany, Austria, France and Italy. The associations of domain satisfactions with GLS and SRH varied significantly in magnitude and between countries and language areas. GLS was strongly related to self-rated health in all populations, but more so in the German-speaking than the French/Italian-speaking regions. Adjusted for all domain satisfactions, satisfaction with one’s financial situation and job satisfaction showed independent effects on SRH and were the most important predictors of GLS, although no clear geographical pattern emerged. Domain-specific satisfactions were similarly associated with GLS and SRH, but the strength of the association varied between German-, French- and Italian-speaking populations. Any similarity between Swiss language areas and neighboring countries was limited to German-speaking populations. Country- and language-specific life domain satisfactions may provide useful pointers for targeting policies in the respective domains.     

A Study on the Sustainability and the Reform of Current Endowment Insurance Mode

Ⅰ. Current Situation and Prospect of Population Aging China has successfully realized the transformation of population reproduction pattern in a relatively short period; and the age structure of its population has changed accordingly, resulting in the     

Reorientation of the Population and Family Planning Work——Based on the Institutional Restructuring

According to the 12th National People’s Congress,China has newly founded the National Health and Family Planning Commission by merging former Ministry of Health and National Population and Family Planning Commission.The restructuring has clearly indicated the end of thefamily planning comprehensive reformand the reform of overall plan to solve the population problem,as the State Council is repositioning the population and family planning work.Under the new institution,we have opportunities together with challenges,that is,the resource allocation of medical care and public health services and that of family planning services can be optimized,but there are still contradictions and problems in the service concept and method.Besides,some typical areas of family planning work may face embarrassment,namely,full population information technology,FP system of rewards and assistance,research and consultation of floating population,etc.     

Exploratory Study on Drug Users’ Perspectives on Quality of Life: More than Health-Related Quality of Life?

In drug treatment outcome literature, a focus on objective and socially desirable indicators of change (e.g. no drug use) has predominated, while outcome indicators that are important for drug users themselves (e.g. quality of life, satisfaction with treatment) have largely been neglected. Nonetheless, Quality of Life (QoL) has become an important concept to evaluate effectiveness of treatment in mental health care research and disability studies. Given the almost exclusive focus on Health-related Quality of Life (HRQOL) in substance abuse research and the neglect of clients’ perspectives in this field, we explore in this study the concept of QoL as perceived by drug users. Focus group discussions (n = 9) were organised in various treatment settings and community services for drug users in the region of Ghent, Belgium to identify important dimensions of QoL and their interpretation by drug users. Data were clustered and analysed based on the theoretical framework of Robert Schalock (Quality of life. Volume 1: Conceptualization and measurement, 1996). The domains ‘personal relationships’, ‘social inclusion’ and ‘self-determination’ were discussed most frequently by the participants. They stressed the importance of a supportive social network in particular. It can be concluded that QoL is not primarily associated by drug users with health and it involves much more than the aspects typically represented in measures of HRQOL.     

A Cross-National Study on the Antecedents of Work–Life Balance from the Fit and Balance Perspective

Drawing on the perceived work–family fit and balance perspective, this study investigates demands and resources as antecedents of work–life balance (WLB) across four countries (New Zealand, France, Italy and Spain), so as to provide empirical cross-national evidence. Using structural equation modelling analysis on a sample of 870 full time employees, we found that work demands, hours worked and family demands were negatively related to WLB, while job autonomy and supervisor support were positively related to WLB. We also found evidence that resources (job autonomy and supervisor support) moderated the relationships between demands and work–life balance, with high resources consistently buffering any detrimental influence of demands on WLB. Furthermore, our study identified additional predictors of WLB that were unique to some national contexts. For example, in France and Italy, overtime hours worked were negatively associated with WLB, while parental status was positively associated with WLB. Overall, the implications for theory and practice are discussed.

     

Why is the History of Heterosexuality Essential? Beliefs About the History of Sexuality and Their Relationship to Sexual Prejudice

Heterosexual people with more positive attitudes to lesbians and gay men generally believe that homosexuality is immutable, is not a discrete social category, and that homosexuality exists in all cultures and time periods. Equivalent beliefs about heterosexuality and beliefs about components of sexuality have been less often researched. 136 people with diverse sexualities described heterosexuality as more universal across history and culture than homosexuality (Study 1). 69 heterosexual-identified participants similarly believed that love, identity, behavior, and desire were more historically invariant aspects of heterosexuality than of homosexuality (Study 2). Less prejudiced participants thought all components of homosexuality—except for identity—were more historically invariant. Teasing apart beliefs about the history of components of heterosexuality and homosexuality suggests that there is no “essential” relationship between sexual prejudice and the tension between essentialist and constructivist views about the history of sexual identity.     

Why is their picture on the wedding page?: A rural community responds to a union announcement

On August 17, 2003, two women placed a union announcement in the Grand Forks Herald and became the first same-sex couple in North Dakota to do so (Lee, 2003). This announcement generated a flood of letters, both pro and con, that appeared in on the editorial page in the Herald over the next several weeks. In this exploratory study, I conduct a content analysis of those letters. Through this analysis, the three primary thematic categories emerged upon which writers based their arguments. They include those grounded in issues of tolerance, arguments based on Christian values and Scripture and those that focused on normalization. Additionally, the letters reveal something about rural versus urban sensibilities in that relatively more urban Grand Forks residents were less likely to write negative letters than their counterparts from neighboring small towns. I conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings and suggestions for future research.     

Is Leave for Fathers Pronatalist? A Mixed-Methods Study of the Impact of Fathers’ Uptake of Parental Leave on Couples’ Childbearing Intentions in South Korea

Population Research and Policy Review - While many countries with low birth rates have implemented policies incentivizing fathers to take parental leave with the anticipation that it will...     

Welfare and the Children of Immigrants: Transmission of Dependence or Investment in the Future?

The public concern that immigrant families might be using a disproportionate share of social benefits and transmitting some form of public dependency to their children, combined with the rising levels of immigrants entering the country, fueled the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996, which limited public assistance to many immigrant families. This paper uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to explore the association between exposure to welfare and young adult outcomes of high school graduation, college enrollment and labor force participation with a focus on parental nativity status as well as broad country of origin group. Results indicate a persistent negative association between welfare legacy and high school graduation; a negative association that is most pronounced for children of natives. Results also show the largest positive effect of welfare receipt among the most disadvantaged group, the young adult children of immigrants from Mexican and Central American countries. The main finding of this study suggests that the negative impacts of welfare receipt might be lessened and in some cases reversed among the young adults from immigrant families. Such findings challenge the common notion that immigrant families use welfare as a crutch across generations and raise serious concern about U.S. immigration and welfare policies.     

Why the Total Fertility Rate of 2010 Population Census is so Low?

The total fertility rate of 2010 population census hits a new low record.Careful analysis shows that such a new low fertility rate is mainly resulted from the declined fertility rate in first parity despite the slightly increased fertility rates in second order and over.The total fertility rate at first parity has fallen the most among the rural residents due to remarkably postponed age of marriage or child-bearing,so ever large percentage of unmarried women in their bearing age helps to depress the fertility rate at first parity.After excluding the parity structural effect of women,measured with the progressive fertility rates,the levels of the 2010census have kept almost the same as those in year 2005.Therefore,fertility decline in the latest census cannot be simply attributed to under-reported births.In addition,the latest census turns out that the life fertility rate is around 1.5,almost reaching to the requirement of current fertility policy.     

Is the Easy Life Always the Happiest? Examining the Association of Convenience and Well-Being in Taiwan

Social scientists have under-examined neighborhood stores and other “resources” and their relationships to community welfare and personal happiness. Because the presence of neighborhood conveniences may signify that a neighborhood caters to residents’ needs and smoothes out the hassles of their daily lives, it could be hypothesized that commercial amenities and services enhance individuals’ satisfaction with their neighborhoods, with their health, and even with their lives as a whole. This study used a national probability sample from Taiwan, a densely populated society in East Asia, to test if service-oriented commercial and religious enterprises in neighborhoods are associated with positive estimations of well-being by those who occupy these spaces. We empirically examine whether proximity to main roads, night markets and temples or proximity to smoky food stands and other shops that produce pungent products affects well-being. Our findings from multivariate analyses suggest that if nearby conveniences are conceived as annoyances, they tend to lower satisfaction with neighborhood, but they do not lower life satisfaction in general. In contrast, air quality, along with “peace and quietness” is reported by respondents to be key in enhancing general well-being. We discuss the policy implications in the concluding session.     

More Participation,Happier Society? A Comparative Study of Civil Society and the Quality of Life

A ‘good society’ has recently been portrayed as one in which citizens engage in voluntary associations to foster democratic processes. Arguably, such a good society is considered as one where people are content with their own lives as well as public life. We consider whether participation in civil society leads to more satisfied individuals on the one hand and a better evaluation of society at a country level on the other. With data from the first round of the European Social Survey, we illustrate that participation in voluntary associations not only depends on individual characteristics, but that there is a clear country-level effect on civil society. This can be explained with measures of quality of society after socio-demographic determinants have been controlled for. Nonetheless, it remains difficult to say what comes first: a ‘good society’ or a thriving civil society.

The Impact of Migration on Fertility under China’s Underlying Restrictions: A Comparative Study Between Permanent and Temporary Migrants

Compared with that in other countries, the issue of fertility in China is more complicated because of its restriction policy or system. Several major hypotheses have been proposed to explain and predict the impact of migration on China’s fertility regardless of China’s real situation. Therefore, this paper analyzes the impact of migration on fertility considering China’s underlying restrictions using the data from the Chinese General Social Survey carried out in 2008. The social class in this study was divided into two, namely urban class and rural class. By building the 2 × 2 mobility tables and the diagonal mobility model, the study determined the impact of migration on fertility and analyzed the influence of some restrictions, such as family planning, traditional fertility concept, and household registration system. Results show that migration greatly affects fertility: upward migration (i.e., from rural to urban) may decrease the fertility, whereas downward migration (i.e., from urban to rural) may increase it. The degree of decline on fertility is greater than that of increase. Family planning still plays a role in fertility decline. Traditional concepts on fertility, for example, bringing up sons to take care of parents in their old age and preferring boys to girls, are anchored on the people’s mind, which is detrimental to the stability of the fertility rate. Moreover, the household registration system primarily influences the fertility behavior of temporary migration, with a negative relationship between them.     

Do the Privileged Always Win? Economic Consequences of Divorce by Income and Gender Groups

Social Indicators Research - The heterogeneous economic results of divorce have received limited attention. The current study analyzes such consequences from an intersectionality perspective, where...     

The Impact of Having a Baby on the Level and Content of Women’s Well-Being

The primary objective of this study was to more fully understand the impact of having a baby on women’s well-being by attending to both the level and the content of well-being. To cover the judgemental and affective aspects of well-being we included global measures of life satisfaction and well-being and affective experience measures derived from the day reconstruction method. In a sample of 19 first-time mothers no differences between pre and postnatal reports of general life satisfaction, depression, anxiety, and experienced positive and negative affect were found, suggesting that the arrival of the newborn baby does not universally impact on women’s level of well-being. Changes in the content of well-being were studied by examining changes in the way women experience specific activities and interactions with various social partners. There appeared to be an upward shift in experienced positive affect during active leisure and a slight decrease in negative affect during time spent with relatives. The results are discussed in light of previously documented changes across the transition to motherhood in negative mood states, time use, women’s evaluation of various aspects of daily life, and relational satisfaction.     

What is the Influence of News Media on People’s Perception of Corruption? Parametric and Non-Parametric Approaches

Does the source of one’s news media have a systematic effect on one’s perception of political corruption? While numerous studies have investigated the extent to which media affects trust in institutions, or the polarization of political values, this study shifts the focus on to how one’s media source conceived here as social media versus traditional media affects the perception of corruption in 2 ways. First, we hypothesize that citizens who consume their news predominately from social media will have higher perceptions of political corruption than consumers of more traditional media sources. Second, we hypothesize that perceptions among social media consumers will be more polarized. Specifically, we argue that the gap in corruption perception between supporters of government and opposition political parties will be larger among social media consumers compared to traditional news consumers. We test our hypotheses using newly collected survey data from the European Quality of Government Index survey from 2017, which contains nearly 78,000 respondents in 21 countries in the European Union. Estimating our model with both parametric and non-parametric approaches, we find robust empirical support for two of our 3 hypotheses.

     

Children ＂Visiting Home Often＂ is Written into the Law and Becomes Effective on July 1,2013

The newly revised Law on Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly will beeffective starting from July 1, 2013. It states that family members should care for and look after the elderly spiritually, and any neglect is forbidden. Family members who live apart from their elderly should regularly visit and greet them. It is also interpreted by media as ＂writing ＇visiting home often＇ into the law＂. It will become illegal if children do not visit their elderly ot~en. The new law also requires employers to guarantee their employees＇ rights to home leave in accordance with relevant regulations of the country.