Status effect or tunnel effect Unravelling the dual role of relative income on subjective well-being among the Chinese population

Personality and subjective well-being (SWB) have been suggested to be strongly related in previous studies. This study was intended to confirm the relationship between personality and SWB and tried to seek out the genetic variants which underlie both personality and SWB. The subjects were 890 participants from Chinese Han population. We evaluated their personality using the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and used the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) to reflect their SWB. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected from the literature (rs1426371, rs2164273, rs322931, rs3756290, rs490647) and genotyped for genetic association study. We found negative correlations between neuroticism and SWB. On the contrary, extraversion and agreeableness were positively associated with SWB. Three SNPs (rs2164273, rs3756290, rs490647) out of the five were found to connect with personality (extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness and openness to experience) and rs490647 variants of GRIK3 was also associated with SWB. Individuals carrying G allele at this site were predisposed to have lower risk to be neuroticism and greater chance to be extraverted, open and satisfied with their life. In summary, our study revealed that rs490647 might be a good candidate genetic variant for personality and SWB in Chinese Han population.

In recent decades, China's rapid economic growth has substantially improved average living standards; however, this has not been accompanied by greater happiness among the Chinese population. This phenomenon is known as the Easterlin Paradox (i.e., there is no link between a society's economic development and its average level of happiness) in Western countries. This study examined the effects of subjective social class on subjective well-being and mental health in China. Consequently, we found that individuals in a relatively low social class had lower levels of subjective well-being and mental health; self-class discrepancy partially explains the relationship between subjective social class and subjective well-being and fully explains the relationship between subjective social class and mental health; and subjective social mobility moderates the path from self-class discrepancy to subjective well-being and mental health. These findings suggest that enhancing social mobility is an important method for reducing class differences in subjective well-being and mental health. These results have important implications, indicating that enhancing social mobility is an important method for reducing class differences in subjective well-being and mental health in China.

Self-reported life satisfaction of China's population has not improved as much as expected during the economic boom, which was accompanied by a significant decline in environmental performance. Is environmental pollution the culprit for the lagging subjective well-being? To explore this issue, this paper adopts sentiment analysis to construct a real-time daily subjective well-being metric at the city level based on the big data of online search traces. Using daily data from 13 Chinese cities centred on Beijing between August 2014 and December 2019, we look at the corelation between subjective well-being and air pollution and the heterogeneity in this relationship based on two separate identification strategies. We find that air pollutants are negatively correlated with subjective well-being, and well-being tends to decline more from pollution during hot seasons. In addition, residents in wealthier regions tend to be more sensitive to air pollution. This result may be explained by the differences in the subjective perception of air pollution and personal preferences at different levels of income. These findings provide information about concerns of the public, thereby helping the government to take appropriate actions to respond to the dynamics of subjective well-being.

Grittier Chinese adolescents are happier: The mediating role of mindfulness

Over the past several decades, the proportion of older adults in the Chinese population has steadily increased during a period of substantial social change; the effect of these changes on older adults warrants examination. The present study explored changes in subjective well-being (SWB) in older adults by birth cohort and the social factors influential in these changes. We performed a cross-temporal meta-analysis using data from 20,713 adults over 60 years of age; data were obtained from 61 studies that used the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness. The dynamics of SWB in older adults were evaluated as a function of time. The mean SWB score decreased by 4.98 over the measured period, indicating a decrease of .52 standard deviations between 1990 and 2010. In addition, SWB in older adults was significantly correlated with high social connectedness and low overall threat. Specifically, urbanization level, Gini coefficient, personal medical expenditure, and birth rate were strong predictors of SWB. Our research demonstrates that social connectedness and overall threat contribute to SWB in Chinese older adults. As SWB is significantly related to the mental and physical health of older adults, the present study may serve as a useful reference for health care agencies and policy-makers.

This study analyse how subjective well-being (SWB) in a Chinese population varies with subjective health status, age, sex, region and socio-economic characteristics. In the Household Health Survey 2010, face-to-face interviews were carried out in urban and rural counties in eastern, middle and western areas of China (n = 8,000, aged 15–102 years). To measure subjective health status, a global self-rated health question, the EQ-5D descriptive system, and a visual analogue scale of health status was included. To measure SWB, a validated Chinese version of a question on self-reported happiness, adopted from the World Values Survey, was included. SWB increased with socio-economic status (income and education), and was lower among unemployed individuals and divorced individuals. SWB also increased strongly with subjective health status. When health status was divided into different dimensions using the EQ-5D, the anxiety/depression dimension was the most important dimension for SWB. The reported SWB was also higher in rural counties than in urban counties in the same area, after controlling for socio-economic characteristics and subjective health status.

Objective To explore the subjective well-being (SWB) of psychiatric nurses and its correlations with personality and coping style, and to make a suggestion on management of psychiatric nurses.Methods 194 psychiatric nurses were surveyed with Index of Well-being (IWB), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ) and Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Short Scale for Chinese (EPQ-RSC),and the correlations among subjective well-being, personality and coping style were analyzed. Results The total score of subjective well-being of 90.3% psychiatric nurses was (9.13±2.51), which was a medium level and lower than prison police, teachers and students in high school or colleges. In comparison to the norm of Chinese population, psychiatric nurses scored higher in Subscale E and N, lower in Subscale P, otherwise they chose more positive coping styles and less negative ones. Bivariate correlation indicated the subjective well-being of psychiatric nurses had negative correlations with psychoticism, neuroticism and negative coping style (P＜0.05). Conclusions The subjective well-being of psychiatric nurses is relatively low, and it is relevant to psychoticism, neuroticism and negative coping style. So more psychological service should be provided for psychiatric nurses to enhance their well-being. Key words: Subjective well-being; Psychiatric nurses; Personality; Coping style

PurposesThis study aimed to explore the effect of education on subjective well-being (SWB) of Chinese rural dwellers who just shook off poverty in 2019 and to investigate the mediating role of social support and moderating role of age on the association.MethodsSocial support rating scale (SSRS) and General Well-Being Schedule (GWBS) were administrated among 1094 Chinese rural dwellers from Anqing, Anhui Province, China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and multi-group SEM were performed to examine the mediating role of social support and moderating role of age in the link between education and SWB, respectively.ResultsThe findings indicated that social support fully mediated the relationship between education and SWB in rural residents. Age moderated the indirect relationship between education and SWB (first stage moderation model) such that the effect of education on social support would be strengthened with aging process.ConclusionsThe results add to our understanding of the protective role of education in SWB among Chinese rural dwellers, and shed new light on the potential mechanisms underlying the association between education and SWB with respect to the mediating role of social support and moderating role of age.

This paper contributes to the growing field of inquiry that investigates migrants’ subjective well-being by analysing the role of income, relative to two reference groups: natives and other migrants. Using data collected by the European Social Survey from 2002 to 2018, we constructed two measures of economic distance to compare each migrant’s economic situation with that of natives and other migrants with similar characteristics. Our results indicate that when the disadvantage between the migrant and the reference groups becomes smaller, eventually becoming an advantage, the migrant’s life satisfaction increases. Such relationship is stronger when migrants’ income is examined relative to natives than when compared with migrants’. This suggests that upward comparison is more important than downward comparison for migrants’ subjective well-being. We also show that the relationship between relative income and subjective well-being is stronger for second-generation migrants and for those with more formal education. Finally, we show that subjective measures both at the individual (feelings about one’s own economic condition) and societal (feelings about the national socio-economic-institutional condition) levels moderate the relationship between relative income and subjective well-being.

Background With China's rapidly aging population and increasing elderly internet users, the study aims to investigate the relationship between internet usage and subjective well-being among older Chinese adults, focusing on the mediating role of depression. The research is set against the backdrop of China's elderly population growth and the widespread adoption of the internet, which has been linked to mental health benefits such as reduced loneliness and increased social support. Methods The study utilizes data from the 2020 China Family Panel Study (CFPS), employing a path model to analyze the mediating effect of depression on the association between internet use and subjective well-being. The sample size, after exclusion criteria, was 4671 participants aged 60 or above. Subjective well-being was measured by happiness, internet use by mobile or computer access, and depression by the CESD scale. Parent-child relationship quality and other covariates were also assessed. Results The findings indicate that frequent internet use is positively associated with higher levels of subjective well-being in older adults. Depression was identified as a significant mediator, suggesting that internet use can enhance subjective well-being by reducing depressive symptoms. The study also found gender differences, with internet use having a more pronounced effect on male participants' well-being. Conclusions The research concludes that internet use is beneficial for the subjective well-being of older adults, particularly for those with depressive symptoms. The study suggests that improving internet skills and access for the elderly could be integral to mental health promotion strategies and overall well-being enhancement in later life. The findings highlight the importance of considering depression as a mediating factor in the context of internet use and well-being among the elderly population.

Using data from two waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study ( N ≈ 5,500), this study used latent class analysis to identify tangible support patterns among Chinese older adults based on types and sources of support. Furthermore, multivariate regression was used to examine the stress-buffering roles of tangible support patterns in the relationships between two stressors (i.e., poor health and functional dependence) and older adults’ subjective well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms and life satisfaction). We found four distinct tangible support patterns (i.e., semitraditional, traditional, formal financial-spousal instrumental, and restricted) among Chinese older adults. Poor health and functional dependence were significantly associated with lower subjective well-being. The moderating role of support differed significantly by patterns. Two patterns, formal financial-spousal instrumental and restricted, mitigated or reversed the negative relationships between both stressors and older adults’ subjective well-being. In addition, the traditional Chinese support pattern reduced the positive relationship between poor health and depressive symptoms. Implications for the well-being of the Chinese older adult population are discussed.

Using data from two waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) (N ≈ 5,500), we examined the relationship between types and sources of social support and subjective well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms and life satisfaction) among Chinese older adults aged 60 and above, with particular attention to the moderating role of three contextual factors (i.e., living arrangement concordance, education, occupation) in this relationship. This issue is timely and of particularly important policy implications given China has the largest aging population in the world and is currently undertaking to establish an elder-service infrastructure to suit the needs of the contemporary elders for years to come. Multivariate regression results indicate that older adults in general had significantly better subjective well-being when receiving both financial and instrumental support from children instead of from other sources. In addition, the significant positive associations between financial support from children and contact with non-resident children and older adults’ subjective well-being were more pronounced for those with less education and those who had an agricultural occupation or had no work experience. As well, the significant negative associations between financial and instrumental support from children and older adults’ depressive symptoms were more pronounced for those with living arrangement concordance. In contrast, older adults who had higher educational levels or had nonagricultural occupation had better subjective well-being if receiving instrumental support from sources other than spouse or children. Implications for the subjective well-being of the Chinese elderly population are discussed.

This study contributes to the interdisciplinary debate over the effects of absolute and relative income on subjective well-being by introducing country-level measures of income into the analysis of pensioners’ economic well-being. Both the relevance of alternative reference groups for different phases of old age, measured through median incomes, and the effect of general income inequality within countries are explored. Analyses are based on the cross-sectional components of the survey European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions from 2005 to 2011, containing information on 458,769 pensioners from 31 European countries. With the multilevel linear regression analysis method, the effects of different income measures are analyzed both at the individual and country levels. The main result shows that the average income level of pensioners within countries hold spillover effects strong enough to conclude other pensioners constitute a relevant reference point. Pensioners’ high income level decreases individual income adequacy regardless of age. Results also indicated the labour market group having varying effects on different age groups. The general income inequality does not affect pensioners’ subjective economic well-being.

The widespread adoption of social media has created new avenues for self-presentation. Advances in digital technology and the widespread adoption of smartphones have significantly increased the convenience of online social interaction. With the aging of China's population, an increasing number of the elderly are using social media platforms to enhance their social engagement and well-being. A widely accepted study by Korean scholars Kim and Lee on the relationship between online self-presentation and subjective well-being primarily examined the impact of positive and honest self-presentation, number of friends, and perceived social support on the subjective well-being of American college students. Based on the existing literature, this paper examines whether the original influencing factors have a positive impact on subjective well-being from different target groups and social media platforms. This study used this as a framework to examine whether these factors also apply to older users. Furthermore, positive self-presentation indirectly influenced well-being through perceived social support, with perceived social support serving as a mediator of this relationship. Honest self-presentation reflects authentic needs and promotes inner coherence, while a larger social network provides social capital and support, further enhancing well-being. These insights contribute to understanding how digital self-presentation strategies support healthy aging and offer practical implications for designing social media features tailored to the health needs of older users.

This paper analyses subjective economic well-being in several Eastern European countries from 1991 to 1995. Economic well-being explains a significant part of the variation in overall life satisfaction of Eastern Europeans. In an ordered logit model, the determinants of subjective economic well-being are analysed. Some results are very similar to typical findings in happiness regressions, such as a negative but u-shaped age effect, positive influences of education and relative income position, as well as a negative effect of unemployment. Differing results were found with regard to gender and marital status. Finally, comparing indicators of objective and subjective well-being on a macro level indicates that using a standard macro variable for cross-country comparisons in well-being, such as real GDP per capita, may provide misleading results during the early stages of transformation.