New findings and future directions for subjective well-being research.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to use cross-sectional data collected from six cities in China to examine the relationship between subjective wellbeing and male and female earnings and also to consider the contribution of differences in subjective wellbeing to explaining the gender wage gap.Design/methodology/approach– The paper uses survey data for 3,390 respondents working in a variety of blue collar and white collar jobs across a range of sectors including government, heavy and light manufacturing, mining and services in six Chinese cities: Chengdu, Dalian, Fushun, Fuxin, Fuzhou and Wuhan. The authors employ the ordinary least squares, Lewbel instrumental variable and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to econometrically analyze the relationship between subjective wellbeing and gender wage gap.Findings– The paper finds that the relationship between subjective wellbeing and wages is stronger for males than females. The authors note that 0.2 percent of the observed gender wage gap can be attributed to differences in mean subjective wellbeing in favor of females, while 53.5 percent can be ascribed to gender differences in returns to subjective wellbeing in favor of males. The paper also finds evidence that the relationship between subjective wellbeing and income is non-linear and that income peaks at higher levels of subjective wellbeing for men than women.Originality/value– The paper extends the existing literature in three important ways. First, the authors use a novel identification strategy, proposed by Lewbel (2012); second it uses a better measure for subjective wellbeing and third, it examine the role of differences in subjective wellbeing in explaining the gender wage gap.

The present study examined the question whether the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), which is one of the most widely used instruments to assess depression, can be used to measure differences in subjective well-being at national level. In order to establish the meaning of depression scores at country level, the functional equivalence (i.e., similarity of meaning) of depression scores at individual and country level was examined. Studies using the BDI in normal populations from 28 countries were collected. Depression showed the same correlates at individual and country level, which supports the functional equivalence of the BDI at the two levels. BDI scores and subjective well-being were then correlated with a number of country characteristics in order to test three theories of cross-national differences in subjective well-being. Livability theory stresses the importance of objective living conditions, comparison theory focuses on relative living conditions, and folklore theory states that cross-national differences can be explained by some national trait (e.g., beliefs and values concerning happiness). Cross-national differences in depression and subjective well-being could be explained by livability theory and folklore theory. BDI scores were negatively correlated with subjective well-being and other happiness-related variables. These findings suggest that depression had the same meaning at individual and country level and that depression is an adequate measure of (a lack of) subjective well-being at country level.

We present data on well-being and quality of life in the world, including material quality of life such as not going hungry, physical health quality of life such as longevity, social quality of life such as social support, environmental health such as clean water, equality in income and life satisfaction, and levels of subjective well-being (SWB). There are large differences between nations in SWB, and these are predicted not only by economic development, but also by environmental health, equality and freedom in nations. Improving trends in SWB are seen in many countries, but declining SWB is evident in a few. Besides average differences in SWB between nations, there are also large disparities within many countries. We discuss the policy opportunities provided by national accounts of SWB, which are increasingly being adopted by many societies. They provide the opportunity to inform policy deliberations with well-being information that reflects not only economic development, but also other facets of quality of life as well. National accounts of SWB reflect the quality of life in areas such as health, social relationships and the natural environment, and therefore capture a broader view of societal well-being than afforded by measures of economic progress alone.

目的 了解城市老年人社会支持与主观幸福感的关系.方法采用纽芬兰大学幸福度量表和社会支持量表对314名老年人施测.结果婚姻状况影响总体幸福感(P＜0.001),有配偶的老年人幸福感水平[(11.64±9.57)分]高于无配偶的老年人[(3.68±12.4)分];随着文化程度的提高,主观幸福感的水平上升(F=3.668,P＜0.05);男女主观幸福感水平差异无显著性(P＞0.05);除主观支持外社会支持各维度与主观幸福感总分有显著相关(P＜0.05);与负性因子有负向相关(P＜0.067),与正性因子有正相关(P＜0.001).结论社会支持各维度对主观幸福感各指标的预测力是不同的。

Brain Functional Basis of Subjective Well-being During Negative Facial Emotion Processing Task-Based fMRI

Objective To study the relationship between social support and subjective well-being(SWB) of labor workers.Methods 1038 labor workers in Shenzhen were evaluated by subjective well-being scale for Chinese citizen (SWBS-CC), social support rating scale ( SSRS ).Results There was no significant difference in SWB between male and female( ( 63.51 ± 11.03 ) vs ( 63.22 ± 12.02 ), t = 0.389, P ＞ 0.05 ).The 30 ～ 49 age group's score was significantly higher than the 16 ～29 age group's( (62.80 ± 11.80) vs (64.54 ± 11.28), t=2.21, P ＜ 0.05 ).The married group's score was significantly higher than the unmarried group's ( (62.50 ± 12.18)vs (64.27 ± 10.80 ), t= 2.44, P ＜ 0.05 ).Social support was significant positively correlative with subjective well-being ( r=0.075 ～0.391, P＜0.05), except support availability was not correlative with both subscales.Subjective support, support availability and objective support were significantly positive predictions of SWB, meanwhile subjective support was the biggest( β =0.297).Conclusion Subjective well-being of the labor workers in Shenzhen have significant relationship with age and social support.To increase the emotional support for the labor workers could possibly help to improve their subjective well-being. Key words: Subjective well-being; Labor workers; Social support

Prior research indicates there are age differences in subjective well-being during adulthood, but research on age differences in savoring (up-regulating positive emotion) is lacking. Using an online survey (N = 218, adults 18-77), this study investigated age differences in subjective well-being and savoring, and whether future time perspective (perceived amount of time left to live) mediated associations between age and savoring. Results indicated a nonlinear effect of age on subjective well-being. Although savoring was associated with subjective well-being, age was not directly associated with savoring. However, an indirect effect of future time perspective linking age and savoring indicated that younger adults reported more perceived time left in life and those perceiving more time left in life reported greater savoring. Overall, the results do not support savoring as a direct explanatory mechanism for age differences in subjective well-being, but future time perspective appears to play an important role in indirect associations between age and savoring.

In order to explore the relationship between social support, psychological flexibility and subjective well-being of private university students, 980 college students were surveyed by random sampling method. College students had significant gender differences in subjective well-being, psychological resilience and social support (P <0.05), and female, urban (superior conditions), and non-single parent students had the highest scores in the demographic indicators of each group. There were significant positive associations between social support, psychological resilience and subjective well-being (P <0.01). Family support, friend support and other support directly and positively predict college students' subjective well-being and two dimensions (overall emotional index, life satisfaction). For students from poor families and divorced single-parent families, the school enhances the subjective happiness of college students and promotes their mental health level by improving students' social support and psychological flexibility.

Overseas students experience various new problems in the overseas environment. The problems experienced can be from loneliness to difficulty adapting. This research aimed to determine the differences in subjective well-being between overseas and local students based on age group, gender, and coping strategies used by overseas students at the State University of Malang. The research method used is a mixed method consisting of comparative quantitative methods with 54 respondents and phenomenological qualitative methods with four respondents. The instruments used are the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), with a reliability value of .948 and validity ranging from .903 to .975, and the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) scale, with a reliability value of .889 for positive affect and .905 for negative affect and has validity ranging from .445 to .838 for positive affect and .646 to .838 for negative affect. The results of the analysis show that there is no significant difference in subjective well-being between overseas students and local students (p equal to .272), and there is also no significant difference in terms of gender (p equal to .626) or age. Furthermore, the coping strategy used by overseas students to overcome their problems is to do their favorite activities and gather with their friends. The findings support that other factors can affect overseas students’ subjective well-being, including social support, social relationships, and technological developments.

Although little evidence supports cannabis-induced amotivational syndrome, sources continue to assert that the drug saps motivation [1], which may guide current prohibitions. Few studies report low motivation in chronic users; another reveals that they have higher subjective wellbeing. To assess differences in motivation and subjective wellbeing, we used a large sample (N = 487) and strict definitions of cannabis use (7 days/week) and abstinence (never). Standard statistical techniques showed no differences. Robust statistical methods controlling for heteroscedasticity, non-normality and extreme values found no differences in motivation but a small difference in subjective wellbeing. Medical users of cannabis reporting health problems tended to account for a significant portion of subjective wellbeing differences, suggesting that illness decreased wellbeing. All p-values were above p = .05. Thus, daily use of cannabis does not impair motivation. Its impact on subjective wellbeing is small and may actually reflect lower wellbeing due to medical symptoms rather than actual consumption of the plant.

Using data drawn from 2010, 2012, and 2013 American Time Use Survey Well-Being Modules, this paper examines the existence of son preference among fathers in the U.S. by estimating the effect of child gender on the fathers’ subjective well-being. A wide range of subjective well-being measures, including happiness, pain, sadness, stress, tiredness, and meaningfulness, is analyzed, and fixed-effects models are adopted to control for unobserved individual heterogeneity. The results from the full sample show that fathers feel less sad and tired when interacting with both sons and daughters versus with daughters only. In families with only one child, fathers report no difference in subjective well-being when spending time with a son versus with a daughter. By further stratifying this sample of fathers by child’s age of three, we continue to find no difference in paternal subjective well-being between being with a son and with a daughter when the child is younger than three. However, when the child is three or older, we find that fathers feel less stressed and more meaningful being with a son versus with a daughter. The results from Asian fathers in the U.S., in contrast, show a tremendous reduction in stress in activities with sons only than with daughters only. These results indicate no evidence of son preference in the general U.S. population. If there is any, it only exists among Asian fathers in the U.S.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption it has caused had substantial short-term effects on young people. These effects have been found to be highly unequal, exacerbating existing inequalities in society, including those associated with socio-economic status, gender and ethnicity. But, just as importantly, it is believed that they continue to cast a long shadow over some young people’s lives. In this paper we use data from the COVID Social Mobility & Opportunities study (COSMO) — a representative cohort study of over 13,000 young people in England aged 14–15 at pandemic onset whose education and post-16 transitions were acutely affected by the pandemic’s disruption through their remaining education and subsequent transitions — to highlight inequalities in young people’s subjective wellbeing and mental health in the wake of the pandemic. We document the substantial differences in subjective wellbeing — especially highlighting differences by gender — after adjusting for other demographic characteristics, self-reported levels of social support, and experience of adverse life events. We estimate how wellbeing differs by young people’s own perceptions of the ongoing impact of the pandemic: those who indicate an ongoing negative impact in their lives have substantially lower subjective wellbeing scores. Finally, we find a link between adverse life experiences during the pandemic and lower post-pandemic wellbeing, but do not find evidence that this is mediated by demographic characteristics or social support.

The subjective well-being of Spanish adolescents: Variations according to different living arrangements

Previous studies have shown that Easterners generally perceive themselves as having lower subjective well-being compared with Westerners, and several mechanisms causing such differences have been identified. However, few studies have analyzed the causes of such differences from the perspective of the cross-cultural differences in the meanings of important life events such as whether people receive approval from others. Specifically, events regarding others’ approval might have different meanings to and influences on Easterners and Westerners. Thus, the degree of fluctuation of people’s views of self-worth in response to these events (i.e., others’ approval contingencies of self-worth [CSW]) probably differs between Easterners and Westerners. This may be a reason for cross-cultural differences in subjective well-being. We investigated two samples of undergraduate students from Taiwan and the United States to examine the mediating role of others’ approval CSW in forming cross-cultural differences in subjective well-being. The results revealed that Taiwanese participants exhibited lower subjective well-being and higher others’ approval CSW than American participants. In addition, others’ approval CSW partially mediated the cross-cultural differences in subjective well-being. Thus, one reason for lower subjective well-being among Easterners was likely that their self-esteem was more prone to larger fluctuations depending on whether they receive approval from others in everyday life.

ABSTRACTThis study aims to assess racial differences in subjective wellbeing (SWB) and to examine whether the pathways of social support and social engagement to SWB vary by racial groups in the United States of America. Using a local sample (N = 1,035) and a nationally representative sample of the Health and Retirement Study (N = 7,718), we compared life satisfaction and happiness between non-Hispanic Whites and Blacks aged 55 and over. We evaluated the extent to which race, other socio-demographic characteristics, health, social engagement and social support explained the variances in SWB and examined the moderation effects of race on the relationships of SWB with age, social support and social engagement. Multiple regression analyses showed that non-Hispanic Blacks were at least as satisfied as, and even happier than White peers, after equalising social resources and health variables. Social support was significantly related to SWB, and it seemed that positive support was more important to Whites than to Blacks in predicting life satisfaction. In addition, the racial crossover effect existed, that is, the old-old (80+) Blacks were happier than their White peers. Findings indicate a national trend of the race paradox in SWB and underscore the importance of social support in promoting older adults’ wellbeing. Future research is recommended to investigate other potential mechanisms among Black older Americans to explain their relatively better SWB.