Predictors of subjective physical health and global well-being: Similarities and differences between the United States and Germany.

Abstract

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.