Abstract
Background: At present, most Chinese adults are under great psychological pressure, which seriously affects the improvement of life satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to shed light on the associations between individual social capital and life satisfaction among mainland Chinese adults. Methods: We used a nationally representative dataset called 2016 China Family Panel Studies, and a total of 26,009 people suited our study requirements. Chi-squared test and binary regression analysis were used to determine the relationship between individual social capital and life satisfaction among mainland Chinese adults. Results: The results indicated that cognitive social capital had significant effects on life satisfaction (p < 0.05), but the impact of structural social capital on life satisfaction became less significant when combined with sociodemographic variables and socioeconomic status (SES) (p > 0.05). Moreover, we also found that life satisfaction was better in married/cohabited (p < 0.05) and in over 65 age group people (p < 0.05). Self-rated income level, self-rated social status, and self-rated health all had positive effects on life satisfaction (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Given the stabilizing effect of cognitive social capital at the individual level on life satisfaction, the government should attach great importance to this aspect when trying to improve adults’ life satisfaction.
Highlights
Life satisfaction is a subjective assessment of marriage, work, life, and other areas based on self-defined criteria, which can be positive or negative [1,2]
Most people think that their income level and social status are at a general level in the local area, accounting for 36.2% and 45.9% of the total, respectively
As for “norms of reciprocity”, we found that reciprocity promotes the improvement of life satisfaction at the cognitive level, whereas unfair treatment inhibits life satisfaction in terms of historical experience
Summary
Life satisfaction is a subjective assessment of marriage, work, life, and other areas based on self-defined criteria, which can be positive or negative [1,2]. There are various factors that affect adults’ life satisfaction in the modern society, such as social support [3] and occupational stress [4]. The implementation of the Chinese family planning policy has led to the emergence of the only child in families, who shoulder the heavy burden of supporting their parents and raising their children. These conditions will eventually aggravate psychological burden and inhibit the improvement of life satisfaction. It is imperative for us to pay attention to the current situation of life satisfaction among mainland Chinese adults
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