The Time-Pressure Illusion: Discretionary Time vs. Free Time

People’s welfare is a function of both time and money. People can – and, it is said, increasingly do – suffer time-poverty as well as money-poverty. It is undeniably true that people feel increasingly time pressured, particularly in dual-earner households. But much of the time devoted to paid and unpaid tasks is over and above that which is strictly necessary. In that sense, much of the time pressure that people feel is discretionary and of their own making. Using data from the 1992 Australian Time Use Survey, this paper demonstrates that the magnitude of this ‘time-pressure illusion’ varies across population groups, being least among lone parents and greatest among the childless and two-earner couples.     

The Wealth of Nations and the Happiness of Nations: Why “Accounting” Matters

We review income-happiness research in light of competing theoretical frameworks, unit of analysis, and methodological issues. Within-countries, absolute income is weakly related to happiness, comparison effects depend on the measure utilized, and income change and perceived income produce inconsistent findings. Across countries, absolute income is a stronger predictor of happiness, different comparison effects are significant, income change results are predominantly positive, and the financial-life satisfaction relationship is more robust.     

Income and “Outcomes” for Elderly: DO the Poor have A Poorer Life?

The objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship between income and living conditions and well-being of elderly. The best from two worlds is used for this purpose: a Danish survey covering 1440 elderly aged 72 and 77 from 1997, connected to reliable register information on income, 1988–1996. Indicators of physical activity, social and solitary activities, social contact, functional capability, loneliness and psychological well-being are constructed from the survey. Ordered logistic models are estimated controlling for demographics, education, previous occupation and whether the elderly are still working. It is found that elderly with low income levels have poorer functional capability, lower physical activity and poorer psychological well-being whereas social contact and social activities show no relationship with income. The relationship with income vanishes for solitary activities and loneliness when adding control variables. Having established that robust relations exist between income and some measures of well-being of elderly, we turn to an investigation of causality. Simultaneous models are estimated to assess whether the income relationship can be causally interpreted for functional capability and physical activity. The results show that it cannot be rejected that the income effects are causal, although care should be taken when interpreting results. We finally address our findings in the light of current and future changes regarding the size and economic well-being of the elderly population.     

Self-Efficacy,Pulmonary Function,Perceived Health and Global Quality of Life of Cystic Fibrosis Patients

This study examined the extent that pulmonary function is related to perceived health status and global quality of life in adults suffering from cystic fibrosis, and the extent that self-efficacy modifies these relationships. Our sample comprised 86 adults (48% female; mean age, 29 years; age range, 18–54 years) with cystic fibrosis, recruited from the Norwegian Competence Centre for Cystic Fibrosis (83% response rate). Both subjective data on psychosocial aspects of living with cystic fibrosis, and objective data on pulmonary function (FEV1%) were assessed. Psychosocial aspects were assessed by a questionnaire that included St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (perceived health status), the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (perceived self-efficacy), and the Quality of Life Scale (global quality of life). We found that self-efficacy is an additional factor explaining health status and global quality of life. Pulmonary function is important for health status, but not for global quality of life, for which perceived self-efficacy and health status are the most significant variables. These results show that self-efficacy is as important as pulmonary function for the perceived health status and global quality of life of patients. These valuable findings should be considered in the treatment and care of adult patients suffering from cystic fibrosis.     

Stability of environment and of insect populations

Summary The abundance of moths was monitored with light-traps in two sites in southern Bohemia, České Budějovice for 22 years and in Černiš for 9 years. In these sites, that are vastly different in environmental stability and predictability, stability of insect populations was studied. The amplitude of fluctuations in abundance of the insect populations, as measured by the coefficient of variation (CV), varied a great deal between species so that there was a large overlap between the two sites. Nevertheless there was a highly significant tendency for species at Černiš, the more stable site, to have smaller values of CV, i.e., to be less fluctuating. Also in species co-occurring in the two sites, the CV at Černiš tended to be smaller. Trends in abundance of individual species over time, both increases and decreases, were common in both sites and did not differ between habitats. Environmental stability begets insect population stability in terms of the amplitude of the fluctuations, but trends in time occur irrespective of stability of the habitat.     

Metabolism and Driving Forces of Chinese Urban Household Consumption

This study was aimed at developing a better understanding of environmental pressure of urban household consumption in China. First, we introduced the concept model of household metabolism. Using this model, we analyzed the changes of Chinese household metabolism during the last 20 years. Rather than taking into account all aspects of household consumption, we just focused on water and energy metabolisms. After exploring the clearly increasing trends of urban household metabolism in China, we identified the underlying driving forces as biological/physical factors, economic/marketing factors and demographic factors. In conclusion, we suggest that additional work must be carried out in a wider range of household activities and at more advanced research levels in China.     

The Consequences of Caregiving: Effects on Women’s Employment and Earnings

Caregiving to family members comprises a major part of familial obligations in the United States. Informal caregiving is unevenly distributed in society, with women performing most of the work and bearing the burden of its costs. This paper addresses the cost dimension of informal caregiving to family members by examining whether and how it penalizes women’s employment. Drawing data from the 1987 and 1992 National Survey of Families and Households, we examine whether and how caregiving transitions affect changes in women’s labor force participation and the implications of this caregiving transitions for their earnings. We calculate how these effects vary for demographically different groups of women: those older and younger, with and without high levels of education, and married and not married. Our findings reveal that for most women, the initiation of caregiving led to a substantial reduction in their weekly hours worked and annual earnings. However, the effects were different for various subgroups of women: those older, with fewer skills, and more competing roles paid substantial costs if they began caregiving between 1987 and 1992.     

Race,gender, and marriage: destination selection during the great migration

Using historical census microdata, we present a unique analysis of racial and gender disparities in destination selection and an exploration of hypotheses regarding tied migration in the historical context of the Great Migration. Black migrants were more likely to move to metropolitan areas and central cities throughout the period, while white migrants were more likely to locate in nonmetropolitan and farm destinations. Gender differences were largely dependent on marital status. Consistent with the "tied-migration" thesis, married women had destination outcomes that were similar to those of men, whereas single women had a greater propensity to reside in metropolitan locations where economic opportunities for women were more plentiful.     

Oecd Social Indicators for 2001: a Critical Appraisal

The OECD social indicators for 2001 were critically reviewed by analysing their interrelationships across all OECD countries during the late 1990s. First, findings were provided covering the underlying structure of subsets of indicators by similarity in content as suggested by the OECD. Second, an analysis of the selected key indicators yielded five social dimensions, which were interpretedas conceptual constructs underlying the set of OECDsocial indicators at the level of the entire OECD area. Third, the relationships of each indicator withthese social dimensions were observed to aid choosing of appropriate indicators for making and evaluating social policies. Fourth, the OECDcountries were ranked according to their overall social welfare, as defined by the OECD social indicators, basedon the scores of the countries on the social dimensions. Fifth, similarities among the OECD countries were examined and it was found that the countries formed six bipolar country dimensions. The findings showed that an easily interpretable structure underlies the OECD social indicators. The paper clarified the use of the OECD social indicators for 2001 as a tool for planning and decision-making and for cross-national analyses of social policies.