Dyadic approach in exploring the relationship between loneliness and subjective well-being among older partners in Europe

A person’s health status is one of the strongest determinants of well-being. The negative impact of poor health on subjective well-being may be moderated by providing care to individuals in need. In this paper, we investigate the relationships between receiving informal care and the amount of care received and subjective well-being among people aged 65 or older in selected European countries. Our analysis of data from the 6th wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) showed that receiving regular informal care was associated with higher subjective well-being among older people in Northern European countries, and with lower subjective well-being among older males in Southern European countries. Moreover, we found that the perception of the amount of help received affected the subjective well-being of older people, as those who reported that the support they received was either insufficient or met their needs had lower subjective well-being than those who were not in need of care. Our results also showed that receiving formal care was negatively related with subjective well-being among older adults in Northern Europe and Central and Eastern Europe. In the context of population ageing and the growing need for care, social policies that support both sides of the caregiving relationship could enhance subjective quality of life.

An ageing population is a challenge faced by many developed and developing countries. By understanding the needs in health and well-being of the elderly governments can ensure policies and services are as efficient as possible, in order to provide the best care amidst growing demand. The thesis analyses categorical data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and Brazil’s National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) to form measurement models for aspects of health, economic well-being and subjective well-being in the elderly, in England and Brazil. Applying structural equation modelling (SEM), a measurement model for health and economic well-being in both countries was constructed using categorical variables from the survey data, as well as for subjective well-being in England. For health the variables represented self-reported morbidity and functional status, while for economic well-being variables represented housing quality and durables owned within the household. Psychometric measures of satisfaction with life, quality of life, loneliness and depression constituted subjective well-being. Based on empirical evidence from exploratory factor analysis (EFA), the latent structure of each aspect was defined. Multilevel structural equation modelling was applied to the PNAD to capture the hierarchical structure, whereby individuals were clustered by household then the households were clustered by sector and the sectors clustered by municipality. Meanwhile, the longitudinal dynamic of the ELSA allowed for a multivariate latent growth modelling, using multiple indicators to model the trajectories of subjective well-being in multiple aspects. Health and economic well-being were positively associated in both countries. Metabolic health was a factor that was identified in both England and Brazil, while musculoskeletal health was identified only in Brazil. In England, economic well-being had two separate factors relating to the inside and outside of the household. Health and household quality significantly influenced subjective well-being, but not neighbourhood quality, with better health and economic wellbeing associated with greater subjective well-being. In the multilevel SEM a different structure of latent constructs was identified for the health of the sectors of elderly individuals, and the variables had different priorities. In both countries, health was significantly better for men, but worse for those of non-white race and with older age. Regional disparities were also present in health and economic well-being. In Brazil, economic well-being was worse with older age, in rural areas, male gender and non-white race. In England, economic well-being was better for older age with no difference between the genders and races. Subjective well-being was persistently better for men and those that were married, while being persistently worse for those of non-white race or divorced/separated marital status. Those that were widowed recovered from initially lower subjective well-being. Marital status was highly influential to the subjective well-being of the elderly with significant impact from becoming divorced or widowed and benefits from getting remarried.

Individual experiences within the family can influence its dynamics in relation to each other. The current study investigated the mediating role of adolescent and parent mindfulness in the relationship between adolescents' loneliness and their parents' perceived social support, parent mental well-being, and adolescent subjective well-being. Subjective well-being refers primarily to individuals' cognitive evaluations of their life and their affective experiences, whereas mental well-being involves broader psychological functioning such as coping, productivity, and one's sense of capability. A dyadic approach was implemented by employing the actor-partner interdependence mediation model, which involved 517 adolescents and one of their parents (N = 1034). The mean age of the adolescent participants was 15.04 years (SD = 1.19), and the mean age of the parent participants was 42.67 years (SD = 5.89). The analysis revealed a substantial correlation between adolescent loneliness, mindfulness, subjective well-being as an actor effect, and the mental well-being, mindfulness, and social support of parents. Furthermore, mindfulness mediated these relationships. Parental mindfulness served as a mediator between subjective well-being and adolescent loneliness as a partner effect. Adolescent mindfulness mediated the relationship between parental perceived social support and mental well-being. Findings highlight the significance of family members' mindfulness in promoting well-being in the presence of adolescents who experienced loneliness within the family or parents who perceived low levels of social support. Thus, mindfulness-based therapies for adolescents and parents are important for improved well-being, especially in households with socially challenged adolescents and parents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The aim of this study was to establish how different types of welfare states shape the context of the everyday life of older people by influencing their subjective well-being, which in turn might manifest itself in suicide rates. Twenty-two European countries studied were divided into Continental, Nordic, Island, Southern, and post-socialist countries, which were subdivided into Baltic, Slavic, and Central-Eastern groups based on their socio-political and welfare organization. Suicide rates, subjective well-being data, and objective well-being data were used as parameters of different welfare states and obtained from the World Health Organization European Mortality Database, European Social Survey, and Eurostat Database. This study revealed that the suicide rates of older people were the highest in the Baltic countries, while in the Island group, the suicide rate was the lowest. The suicide rate ratios between the age groups 65+ and 0-64 were above 1 (from 1.2 to 2.5), except for the group of the Island countries with a suicide rate ratio of 0.8. Among subjective well-being indicators, relatively high levels of life satisfaction and happiness were revealed in Continental, Nordic, and Island countries. Objective well-being indicators like old age pension, expenditure on old age, and social protection benefits in GDP were the highest in the Continental countries. The expected inverse relationship between subjective well-being indicators and suicide rates among older people was found across the 22 countries. We conclude that welfare states shape the context and exert influence on subjective well-being, and thus may lead to variations in risk of suicide at the individual level.

The growing number of older childless individuals in Western societies has raised concerns about their subjective well-being. In this study, we scrutinize the subjective well-being of parents and childless individuals aged 60 years and older. We examine subjective well-being as a multi-dimensional construct encompassing life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. Based on the value-of-children approach, we hypothesize that childless individuals experience lower subjective well-being than parents and that the disparity in well-being differs with age, gender, and the quality of the parent-child relationship. For our analysis, we use data from a nationally representative sample of adults aged 60 years and older (n = 10,682) drawn from the German Ageing Survey. Our findings from random effects regression models show that childless individuals report lower life satisfaction, less positive affect, and more negative affect than parents. These associations are larger for men than for women but do not vary significantly across age groups. Furthermore, our results suggest that the benefits of parenthood strongly depend on the quality of the parent-child relationship. Childless people report lower subjective well-being than parents with a close emotional bond with their children, but similar or even higher subjective well-being than parents with an emotionally distant parent-child relationship. In sum, our study indicates that childless people experience, on average, lower well-being across all three dimensions of subjective well-being in older age. However, under specific circumstances, childless individuals may fare better than parents.

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.

The Role of School Context on Subjective Well-Being and Social Well-Being in Adolescence

Predictors of subjective physical health and global well-being were compared in a representative U.S. (N = 2,400) and a German (N = 1,607) sample of adults (age range: 25-65 years). Because of cultural overlap between Western industrialized nations, similarities in predictive patterns were expected. Differences in the economic and social systems as well as the cultural background, however, should also generate differences. As expected, the overall predictive power of the three sets of predictors (sociostructural variables, personality traits, and self-regulatory characteristics) was sizable in both countries. The strongest unique predictors were self-regulatory indicators for subjective physical health and personality traits for global well-being. In addition, however, theory-consistent country differences emerged in how personal and social resources seem to be orchestrated to maximize well-being. The pursuits of health and happiness or subjective well-being are central to human existence. Not surprisingly, therefore, subjective well-being and subjective physical health are popular topics of psychological research. Questions concerning the personal characteristics and contextual factors that predict global and domainspecific subjective well-being are central in that line of research. In the context of bottom-up and top-down models of subjective well-being, three main sources are discussed: sociostructural characteristics, personality traits, and self-regulatory indicators (e.g., Brief, Butcher, George, & Link, 1993; Costa et al, 1987; Diener, 1994; Ryff, 1989; Smith, Fleeson, Geiselmann, Settersten, & Kunzmann, 1999; Staudinger & Fleeson 1996; Veenhoven, 1991). Further, lifespan theory argues that sociostructural characteristics as well as psychological characteristics might take on different functions and, therefore, show different effects depending on the larger cultural context in which they are embedded (e.g., P. B.

In this paper, using data obtained from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), previously experienced unemployment links to the subjective well-being of older adults in the Baltic States are analyzed.
 One of the global challenges faced by a considerable number of countries is the aging of society. Subjective well-being of older adults and its factors are becoming one of the fundamental issues of the research as older adults are becoming a bigger part of society, and it becomes critical to understand what makes their lives wholesome. According to the life course perspective, human development is a lifelong process, and various events, personal life experiences may shape people and their lives. Therefore, it can be assumed that such a significant event as previously experienced unemployment may be related to the subjective well-being at older ages. Thus, this study aims to analyze the links between previously experienced unemployment and the subjective well-being of life of older adults in the Baltic States.
 Data obtained from the 7th wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) was used for the analysis (Bergmann et al., 2019; Börsch-Supan, 2020). Two thousand eight hundred five responses of Estonians, 941 of Lithuanians, and 809 of Latvians over the age of 50 were analyzed. The subjective well-being, previously experienced unemployment, socio-demographic, personality, and health factors were analyzed.
 Research results show that many factors predict the subjective well-being of older adults in the three Baltic States: sociodemographic data can explain around 11% of the variance of the subjective well-being. Income additionally explains 2%, factors related to a person’s health adds 11% to the explanation, personality traits – also 11%, previously experienced unemployment – less than 1%. In the model containing all the factors, the most important predictor was personality trait neuroticism, and the model explained 35% of the variance of the subjective well-being. The subjective well-being was not linked only to gender and living with a partner. By analyzing the links between previously experienced unemployment and subjective well-being, we found that these links are relatively weak, although they remain even when controlling a range of factors of subjective well-being.

Older adults’ psychological and subjective well-being as a function of household decision making role: Evidence from cross-sectional survey in India

Background: Employees’ well-being at work after the return to work (RTW) is considered a key aspect of rehabilitation and maintenance of workability. This systematic review aimed at identifying the common psychosocial factors that predict the subjective and psychological well-being in RTW processes after having a long-standing health problem or disability. Objective: To evaluate the subjective and psychological well-being at work of employees with chronic or long-standing health problems or those returning to work after any cause of disability. Data source: Systematic review of articles published in English or Spanish using PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, MEDLINE, Psychology, and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and Pubpsych. An additional study was identified by contacting expert academics in the field. The search equations used included terms such as Return to Work, Long-Standing Health Problems or Disability, Work Health Balance, and job satisfaction or subjective well-being. Eligibility criteria for the studies: Studies that included a measure of employees’ well-being at work following return to work were selected for the review. Evaluation of the studies and synthesis methods: The studies were selected using predefined fields which included quality criteria. Results: Of the 264 articles returned by the initial search, a total of 20 were finally selected. Results were organized around the three different theoretical approaches for understanding RTW and its antecedents and consequences: (a) RTW and autonomy at work have a positive effect on psychological well-being; (b) job demand is linked to less job satisfaction, whereas a higher level on the work–health balance is associated with job satisfaction and work engagement; (c) internal and external support is linked to job satisfaction in the case of a disease. Limitations: The evidence provided by the results is restricted by the limited availability of studies focusing on well-being at work following return to work. Moreover, the studies identified are of different kinds, thereby preventing comparisons. Conclusions and implications of the main findings: Employees’ subjective well-being after return to work has received very little attention to date. Given its importance in the current configuration of the labor market, it should be the object of more research.

The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship among subjective illness impact, subjective well-being, and psoriasis severity as assessed by dermatologists. Furthermore, subjective well-being of psoriasis patients was compared to available norm data. Fifty-nine psoriasis patients participated in this study. The following measures were administered: (a) the Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure - Revised (PRISM-R), yielding Self-Illness Separation (SIS), and Illness Perception Measure (IPM); (b) subjective health status; (c) life satisfaction, and (d) psychological well-being. In addition, the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) was determined by dermatologists. Psoriasis patients scored significantly below the norm data on subjective health status and psychological well-being. No differences were found concerning life satisfaction. PASI failed to correlate significantly with any of the disease impact and subjective health measures. Neither did SIS correlate significantly with any of the subjective health measures, whereas IPM was negatively associated with subjective health status, life satisfaction, and psychologic well-being. In a regression analysis with PASI as the dependent measures, none of the subjective health measures showed up as a relevant predictor. In comparison with the norm data, psoriasis patients report less subjective health status and well-being whereas their life satisfaction is not affected. There is no clear association among illness impact, subjective well-being, and illness severity as assessed by dermatologists.

ObjectivesAlthough many studies have explored the benefits of support giving or receiving for older people, little is known about how the balance between giving and receiving instrumental support in nonrelative relationships affects home-dwelling older people. This study examines the relationship between long-term support balance and subjective well-being in relationships with nonrelatives among older people across 11 European countries.MethodsA total of 4,650 participants aged 60 years and older from 3 waves of the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe were included. Support balance was calculated as the intensity difference between support received and support given across 3 waves. Multiple autoregressive analyses were conducted to test the relationship between support balance and subjective well-being, as indicated by quality of life, depression, and life satisfaction.ResultsThe impact of balanced versus imbalanced support on all subjective well-being measurements was not significantly different. Compared to balanced support, imbalanced receiving was negatively related to subjective well-being and imbalanced giving was not related to better subjective well-being. Compared to imbalanced receiving, imbalanced giving showed to be the more beneficial for all subjective well-being measures.DiscussionOur results highlight the beneficial role of imbalanced giving and balanced support for older people compared to imbalanced receiving. Policies and practices should prioritize creating an age-friendly environment that promotes active participation and mutual support among older people, as this may be effective to enhance their well-being.

Loneliness among older adults in the Czech Republic: A socio-demographic, health, and psychosocial profile

Positive psychology provides a framework for studying the determinants of successful aging. This study investigated how character strengths in middle and older age may relate to subjective and physical wellbeing. Additionally, subjective importance of different character strengths in both age groups was investigated. Two hundred seventeen persons (50% female) aged 46–94 participated. Results revealed that gratitude and appreciation of beauty were given significantly more value in older age than in middle age. Hope and zest belong to the five strengths with the highest positive correlation with cognitive and affective aspects of subjective wellbeing in both age groups, whereas hope belongs to the five strengths with the highest positive correlation with physical wellbeing over the age ranges. However, some differences in strengths and their relation to subjective and physical wellbeing were uncovered. As predicted, positive associations between spirituality and life satisfaction were found in older, but not in middle age. Practical implications for practitioners are outlined, as regards the consideration of strengths in successful aging as well as the application of strength-based interventions for promoting subjective and physical wellbeing in middle and older age.