Aspects Of Subjective Well-being Research Articles

Subjective Well-Being and Prosociality Around the Globe: Happy People Give More of Their Time and Money to Others

Subjective well-being (SWB) is positively related to prosocial giving and helping others, but so far, research has not explored the association of individual aspects of well-being with prosocial behavior across the world. We used a representative sample from the Gallup World Poll across 163 countries from 2006 to 2017 to explore the relationship between each aspect of well-being and prosocial behavior (N = 1,797,630). We found that different aspects of SWB are not equally associated with prosocial behavior: While life satisfaction and positive affect consistently predicted being more prosocial across the globe, negative affect did not consistently predict being more or less prosocial. We further explore economic and cultural moderators of these relationships. Our findings underline the importance of studying the effects of the different components of SWB separately, indicating that life satisfaction and positive emotions—more so than negative emotions—consistently predict being more prosocial across the globe.

Effects of a tailored multidisciplinary counselling intervention to support the adjustment process after a traumatic injury: a randomized controlled trial

Purpose To investigate the efficacy of a tailored counselling intervention for injured workers regarding different aspects of subjective well-being. Materials and Methods Prospective randomized controlled trial with 192 mildly-to-moderately injured workers who were on sick leave for at least 18 weeks and showed a high-risk profile for a complicated rehabilitation process in a screening. Patients were assessed at baseline, 12 and 18 months post-injury. The outcome variables concerned five aspects of subjective well-being (negative feelings, life and job satisfaction, satisfaction related to family and health). Both the control and the experimental group received conventional case management. Participants in the intervention group additionally received tailored workplace interventions and/or mental health counselling sessions. Results Participants in the intervention group received an average of 2.23 (SD = 6.94) counselling sessions. Both groups showed a significant reduction (mean (95% CI) of negative feelings control group 2.6 (2.3–3.4), intervention group 2.4 (1.6–3.4)), with a significant difference in negative feelings between the groups (p = 0.01). Conclusions Our results suggest that a tailored counselling intervention has a modest long-term effect (d = 0.74) on negative feelings for mildly-to-moderately injured workers. However, future studies should evaluate the feasibility of this study’s treatment approach. Implications for rehabilitation Accidents and the resulting injuries often cause a wide range of burdens including psychosocial and emotional distress as well as long-time sick leaves. Tailored counselling led to significant reductions of negative feelings in mildly-to-moderately injured workers over time. By showing that even conventional case management can have a beneficial effect on subjective wellbeing, the results of this study reaffirm the holistic biopsychosocial nature of injury rehabilitation.

The effect of urban nature exposure on mental health—a case study of Guangzhou

There is considerable evidence concerning the salutary effects of nature on mental health in developed countries. However, these benefits are less examined and recognized in Chinese cities where 11%–15% of the population are facing increasing mental health issues. To provide more comprehensive evidence concerning nature’s benefits on multiple components of mental health in Chinese cities, we address two poorly resolved questions: i) does exposure to urban park and blue space have equivalent associations with multiple components of mental health? ii) do these associations vary across gender and socioeconomic groups? We conducted two waves of cross-sectional surveys in Guangzhou and investigated 1,274 respondents’ (933 from online survey and 341 from face-to-face survey) depression risk and four aspects of subjective well-being (SWB) including life satisfaction, worthwhileness, happy yesterday, and anxious yesterday. The results suggest that both park and blue space exposure mitigate depression risk and negative affect well-being, however their associations vary with evaluative, eudemonic, and positive affect well-being. Achieving SWB across all its components needs access to both park and blue space. One-hectare increase in accessible water is associated with an improvement up to 0.45% anxious yesterday scores indicating blue space a potential public health resource. We observed a clear gender- and socioeconomic differences: nearby nature has stronger protective effects for female, lower educated and low-to-median income population groups than their counterpart. Although the heterogeneities need to be confirmed in other urban settings, our findings suggest that effective actions need to consider gender- and socioeconomic differences to target potential beneficiaries and maximize the returns of investments and policy interventions.

Personality traits predicting different aspects of subjective well-being in elderly adults

The study examined unique predictive relations of personality traits with three components of subjective well-being (WB) in a normative sample (N = 272; 70% females) of Slovene elderly (M = 71.82 years, SD = 6.03). Investigating the concurrent relationships, we relied on the Big Five personality model and the Keyes’s model of WB, which entails emotional well-being (EWB), psychological well-being (PWB), and social well-being (SoWB). We also considered the participants’ background characteristics (age, gender, marital status and educational level), and their subjective health status in predicting the components of WB. The respondents filled-in a scale of subjective health, constructed for the purpose of the study, the Big Five Inventory and the Mental Health Continuum – Short Form. The demographic characteristics did not significantly contribute to any aspect of WB, whereas self-reported health significantly improved the prediction of EWB and PWB. The Big Five uniquely predicted all of the components of WB, over and above demographics and subjective health. Agreeableness was a significant single predictor across the components of WB. Higher levels of conscientiousness and lower levels of neuroticism contributed to EWB. Conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness predicted PWB, and openness predicted SoWB.

GRATITUDE AND LONELINESS AS PREDICTORS OF SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

The main aim of this research is to analyze the role of loneliness found in previous studies as well as to examine the role of gratitude as one of the main factors contributing to subjective well-being. The sample is a convenience sample and consists of 219 respondents (78.99% women). The instruments used in this research were: the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA; di Tomasso & Spinner, 1993), the Life satisfaction scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), PANAS (Watson, Clark, & Tellegan, 1988) and The Gratitude Questionnaire (McCullough et al., 2002). The data were analyzed using a hierarchical linear regression where the criterion variables were components of subjective well-being, the predictor in the first step gratitude, and predictors in the second step three types of loneliness. The results of this research show that the only statistically significant predictor of positive affects is gratitude (model 1: β=.281, p<.01; model 2: β=.243. p<.01). Gratitude and loneliness explain 30.1% of the variance of positive affect. When it comes to negative affect, the first model explains 12.6% of the variance, while the second model explains 21.9% of the total variance. Only the second model is statistically significant (p<.05). The only statistically significant predictor is loneliness in the family (β=.143. p=.049). Finally, when it comes to life satisfaction, the first model explains 23.5% of the variance while the second model explains 38.6% of the total variance. When loneliness is added in the second model, an additional 15.1% of the statistically significant explained variance appears (p<.01). The best predictor in this regression analysis is social loneliness (β=-.297, p<.01). Based on these results we can conclude that both gratitude and loneliness are important variables for subjective well-being – but that some are more important for some and some for other aspects of subjective well-being.

Mediators of the Relationship Between Cognition and Subjective Well-Being

Cognitive functioning has consistently found to predict subjective well-being (SWB), but it remains unclear why this relationship exists. Several potential explanations for this relationship have been offered in the literature, one of which is that a third variable accounts for this relationship. The current study examines this hypothesis by testing need for cognition (NfC), self-rated health, physical activity, cognitive activity, emotional stability, and conscientiousness as mediators of the relationship between cognitive ability (g) and indices of well-being. Data were drawn from the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project, a study of community-dwelling adults aged 18–99 (N = 4354). A composite variable representing cognition was created using measures of episodic memory, perceptual speed, reasoning ability, and spatial visualization. SWB was conceptualized as life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect; the three facets of SWB were treated as separate outcomes. Results indicate that NfC, self-rated health, emotional stability, and conscientiousness partially mediate the relationship between cognition and all facets of SWB. Neither physical activity nor cognitive activity mediated the relationship between cognition and SWB. The results of this study support the hypothesis that the cognition-SWB relationship can partially be explained by third variables and provide insight into the personality and individual difference characteristics that underlie this relationship.

Does Culture Mediate the Effect of Promotion/Prevention Regulatory Focus on Subjective Well-Being? Evidence from an Armenian Sample.

Many studies have proven that promotion focus corresponds to the logic of individualistic culture, while prevention focus is characteristic of collectivistic culture. Armenia, as a post-Soviet country, has not been included in cross-cultural studies, since it is not viewed as a typically collectivistic or individualistic society. To investigate how promotion and prevention regulatory foci can predict subjective well-being, as conditioned by individualistic-collectivistic cultural orientations within Armenian society, and to reveal the links between regulatory focus and subjective well-being within Armenian culture, considering the effect of personality-culture fit. We carried out two studies. In Study 1, regression analysis was conducted to reveal how promotion and prevention foci predicted different aspects of subjective well-being. In Study 2, mediation analysis was conducted to reveal how vertical and horizontal collectivism and individualism mediate the linkage between a promotion or prevention focus, and different aspects of subjective well-being. Regression analysis replicated the findings of other studies, showing that promotion focus has a great predictive role in subjective well-being, while prevention focus neither predicts or obviates different aspects of subjective well-being. Mediation analysis indicated that vertical collectivism had a partially mediating effect on the linkage between promotion and cognitive, emotional, and psychological aspects of subjective well-being. Vertical individualism had a mediating effect on the linkage between prevention and social well-being. Vertical collectivism is a consistent pattern in people experiencing subjective well-being when they behave in a promotion-based way in different settings in the Armenian cultural context.

Development and Validation of a Virtual Reality-Based Training Program for Promoting Subjective Well-Being.

ObjectiveEnhancing subjective well-being is an effective way to improve mental health. This study aimed to validate a virtual reality-based interactive feedback program as an intervention tool for promoting subjective well-being. MethodsThirty-six males participated in this program, consisting of three tasks constructed based on the theories of positive psychology: ‘Experience-based problem recognition task’, ‘Future self-based success story expression task’, and ‘Strength expression task’. Participants rated visual analog scores associated with each of the tasks’ contents. The concurrent validity of task scores was evaluated by correlations with the psychological scale scores. ResultsThe total task score was positively correlated with scores of Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) emotional well-being and psychological well-being, Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale, Dispositional Hope Scale agency dimension and pathways dimension, and Life Orientation Test Revised, but not with MHC-SF social well-being scores. After controlling for the effects of the other task scores, the task scores had linear relationships with certain psychological assessments. ConclusionSince the task scores are closely related to indicators of well-being, self-esteem, hope, and optimism, the program contents are well associated with certain aspects of subjective well-being and thus may be available for training that improves subjective well-being through interactive feedback.

Subjective Well-Being and its Impact on Cancer-Related Fatigue in Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy and Long-Term Survivors

Abstract Objective: This study examines the profile of subjective well-being among 33 patients undergoing radiotherapy at the time of the study and 30 long-term survivors for over five years. A subject of the study is also the relation between the aspects of subjective well-being (life satisfaction, positive and negative affect) and the separate dimensions of fatigue and an analysis has been made of their influence on the burden of fatigue among the examined people. Materials and Methods: A total of 66 cancer patients were enrolled in the study – 33 patients undergoing radiotherapy and 30 long-term survivors. Multidimensional questionnaire on fatigue MFI-20 and Scale for subjective well-being (SWLS) were used to assess Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and Subjective well-being in patients during radiation-treatment and in long-term survivors. Data were analyzed using the Spearman Correlation analysis and t-test of Student. Linear regression analysis was performed to determine the predictors of fatigue score during radiation-treatment and long-term survivor cancer patients. Results: Of all the components of subjective well-being, only life satisfaction and the positive affect showed a substantial relation with the five dimensions of fatigue, namely: general fatigue, physical fatigue, reduced activity, reduced motivation, mental fatigue. The burden of the physical and general fatigue among patients undergoing radiotherapy was estimated primarily based on the grounds of life satisfaction, (ß = -0.53; р = 0.03), respectively; (ß = -0.40; р = 0.01), the negative affect (stress) was a major predictor of the burden of general fatigue among patients belonging to the same group (ß = 0.33; р = 0.03). The positive affect predicts to a large extent the burden of the general (ß = -0.54; р = 0.02) and physical fatigue (ß = -0.36; р = 0.04) for the group of the long-term survivors for over five years. Conclusions: In congruence with positive psychology, positive affect and life satisfaction, as aspects of subjective well-being, proved to be protective factors against the burden of fatigue. These results can guide the development of individually tailored interventions that may reduce the impact of fatigue on patients with cancer.

Construct validity of Subjective Well-being by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in Indonesian caregivers of Intellectually disabled children

Bringing up a child with disabilities has particular challenges and demands as these children's disabilities may cause certain impacts on their caregivers' well-being. In most of the studies, caregivers exhibited high scores of negative emotions that led to low subjective well-being. The effort to improve caregivers' well-being has been being carried out and one of the ways through subjective well-being research. Diener et al. (2009) define Subjective Well-Being (SWB) as the person’s evaluation of their life events in terms of cognitive and affective aspects. The higher rating score of these aspects, the higher level of SWB of the person. The aspects of SWB could be well measured if the instrument has good psychometric properties. The validity of the instruments is crucial to produce good quality research. In the present study, we examined the construct validity of the SWB using Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) scales. The data was collected from 209 parents who had children with intellectual disability in Tangerang and Jakarta. The construct was validated by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in the software R version 3.6.2. The EFA results showed that the construct consisted of four factors: one for the cognitive aspect, one for positive affect, and two for negative affects. The CFA results further demonstrated that this model fitted the empirical data.

Does ageing alter the contribution of health to subjective well-being?

Older adults regularly report rising levels of Subjective Well-Being (SWB) over time, despite a concomitant decline in their health. One possible explanation is that individuals develop psychological mechanisms to diminish the contribution of health to their well-being as they get older. This research examines whether observational data are consistent with this hypothesis of hedonic adaptation to health decline with ageing, in all aspects of SWB, and for different births cohorts over time. Using longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) between 2007 and 2015 in 10 European countries for respondents aged 50 onwards (4 waves, 41,258 individuals), we estimated panel fixed-effects models for outcomes measuring the three aspects of SWB: evaluative (life satisfaction), experienced (positive and negative affectivity) and eudemonic well-being (sense of purpose and meaning in life). We decomposed age in birth cohort and time fixed effects. Changes over time in the contribution of health to SWB were estimated by interaction terms between health and time fixed effects. Results showed that the value of health changes over time and for different birth cohorts in ways that depend on the measure of SWB. Ageing increases the importance of health for both eudemonic and experienced well-being. By contrast, the association between health and life satisfaction weakens with age, except for individuals aged 80 and above for which it strengthens. Our results thus offer only little support for hedonic adaptation to health decline with age, restricted to life satisfaction and individuals under 80 years of age. These findings caution against the use of mean estimations over the lifespan to determine the value of health as well as against the use of the various forms of SWB interchangeably in public policy analysis and economic evaluations of healthcare.

Unraveling the Effects of Ethical Leadership on Knowledge Sharing: The Mediating Roles of Subjective Well-Being and Social Media in the Hotel Industry

Given the pivotal function of ethical leadership (EL) in the hospitality industry, this study explains how moral guidance can help to reduce mental stress. The modern complex and hectic working style of organizations demands ethical conduct, in order to sustain the positive behavior of employees for knowledge sharing (KS). For this reason, in this study, we restrict our awareness to the usage of social media (SM) for social identity and aspects of subjective well-being (SWB) for happiness intensity. The time-lag method is applied for data collection from 406 supervisors and subordinates of the hotel industry in Pakistan. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and bootstrapping are utilized to scan the data. The results of the current study demonstrate that ethical leadership provides motivational strength for knowledge sharing amongst employees. Moreover, the serial mediation effects of subjective well-being and social media boost knowledge sharing by the induction of ethical values. Our findings indicate that knowledge sharing is an important product of subjective well-being and social media. Therefore, we recommend that managers focus on ethical leadership values and employee well-being (e.g., life satisfaction), as well as highlight the individuality of employees to promote knowledge sharing. The presented research adds to the literature by establishing a new connection between ethical leadership and knowledge sharing by opening the black box of contextual (i.e., ethical leadership) and developmental (i.e., subjective well-being and social media) factors.

“It made me feel brighter in myself”- The health and well-being impacts of a residential front garden horticultural intervention

Residential gardens make up 30% of urban space in the UK, yet unlike many other green space typologies, their role in the health and well-being agenda has largely been overlooked. A horticultural intervention introduced ornamental plants to 38 previously bare front gardens (≈ 10 m2) within an economically deprived region of North England, UK. Measures of perceived stress and diurnal cortisol profiles (as an indicator of health status) were taken pre- and post-intervention (over 3 months). Residents reported significant decreases in perceived stress post-intervention. This finding was aligned with a higher proportion of ‘healthy’ diurnal cortisol patterns post-intervention, suggesting better health status in those individuals. All residents derived one or more reported socio-cultural benefits as a result of the front garden plantings, although overall scores for subjective well-being did not increase to a significant level. Further qualitative data suggested that the gardens were valued for enhancing relaxation, increasing positive emotions, motivation, and pride of place. The results indicate that adding even small quantities of ornamental plants to front gardens within deprived urban communities had a positive effect on an individual’s stress regulation and some, but not all, aspects of subjective well-being. The research highlights the importance of residential front gardens to human health and well-being, and thus their contribution to the wider debates around city densification, natural capital and urban planning.

Trajectories of multiple subjective well-being facets across old age: The role of health and personality.

Subjective well-being is often characterized by average stability across old age, but individual differences are substantial and not yet fully understood. This study targets physical and cognitive health and personality as individual difference characteristics and examines their unique and interactive roles for level and change in a number of different facets of subjective well-being. We make use of medical diagnoses, performance-based indicators of physical (grip strength) and cognitive functioning (Digit Symbol), and extraversion and neuroticism and apply parallel sets of multilevel growth models to multiyear well-being data obtained in the Berlin Aging Study 2 (N = 1,216; Mage = 71; SD = 3.84; 51% women) and the German Socio-Economic Panel (N = 3,418; Mage = 70; SD = 6.89; 51% women). Results revealed by and large average stability of life satisfaction, morale, and emotions (anger, fear, sadness, happiness) across old age. Most important for our research questions, higher morbidity, poor performance on grip strength and perceptual speed tests, lower extraversion, and higher neuroticism were each uniquely associated with lower life satisfaction, morale, and positive affect and higher negative affect. Some evidence emerged for facet-specific health-personality interaction effects in predicting affective experiences, but effects observed were not consistent across studies and of small size. We take our findings to indicate that health and personality traits constitute important individual difference characteristics for our understanding of subjective well-being in old age and that these likely do not interact with one another to shape well-being. We discuss theoretical and practical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Physical activity and subjective well-being in healthy individuals: a meta-analytic review

ABSTRACT Longstanding research suggests a positive relation between physical activity and health. However, when investigating this relation most studies focused on the absence of disease or infirmity as health indicators. The relation between physical activity and positive health-related constructs such as subjective well-being (SWB) remains oftentimes unexplored. The present meta-analysis offers a rigorous test of the relation between physical activity and SWB in healthy individuals, by including all different kinds of physical activity and SWB facets from childhood to old age. Random-effects meta-analysis using robust variance estimation revealed a positive relation (d = 0.360, 95% CI [0.301, 0.420]). Our results demonstrate a small beneficial main effect of physical activity on SWB, independent of the prior fitness level of the participants and various characteristics of the physical activity intervention. This effect was found in experimental studies as well as in correlational and quasi-experimental studies. Physical activity was more strongly related to positive affect compared to cognitive well-being and was unrelated to negative affect. Our results provide evidence for the importance of physical activity in the context of well-being. Further, we also systematically review and discuss the large heterogeneity of studies published on this relation and warrant further research regarding underlying mechanisms.

Do depressive symptoms and subjective well-being influence the valence or visual perspective of autobiographical memories in young adults?

ABSTRACTThe present study examines predictors of autobiographical memory valence and visual perspective. Participants (N = 144) between the ages of 18–35 years completed an online survey assessing depressive symptoms, and different aspects of subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect). Participants retrieved six autobiographical memories cued via positive, negative, and neutral words and completed a questionnaire assessing characteristics of the memories, including memory valence and visual perspective. Using structural equation modelling, we found that the valence of neutral cued memories were significantly negatively associated with depressive symptoms and negative affect, and significantly positively associated with life satisfaction, even after controlling for current mood. Depressive symptoms were generally not significantly related to visual perspective. These results support previous findings that depressive symptoms and well-being are related to differences in memory characteristics but suggest that some of the relationships may be less robust when examined in a non-clinical sample.

Supplemental Material for Trajectories of Multiple Subjective Well-Being Facets Across Old Age: The Role of Health and Personality

Supplemental Material for Trajectories of Multiple Subjective Well-Being Facets Across Old Age: The Role of Health and Personality

The Relations between Hope and Subjective Well-Being: a Literature Overview and Empirical Analysis

How we perceive the future can greatly affect how we feel in the present. Even a currently positive situation is hard to bear when we know the future will be grim. Indeed, previous research has found that more hopeful people are happier. However, both hope and subjective well-being are multidimensional concepts comprising emotion (i.e., anticipation and affect), cognition (expectation and satisfaction) and, to some degree, motivation. Since most studies include only one dimension of hope and subjective well-being, little is known about how different aspects of hope relate to different aspects of subjective well-being. This study aims to gain insight into these relationships by providing an overview of the existing empirical literature on hope and subjective well-being. Subsequently, cross-sectional data of a representative sample of the American population are used to further examine the relationship between hope and subjective well-being. Our findings from both the literature and our empirical analysis show that positive expectations are only weakly associated with all domains of subjective well-being, whereas cognitive and emotional hope are most strongly related to subjective well-being. This finding indicates that the more passive characteristics of positive expectations have less of an impact on subjective well-being than a more agentic hopeful disposition.

Income Trajectories and Subjective Well-Being: Linking Administrative Records and Survey Data.

An association between income and life satisfaction has been well documented, however, little is known of how income trajectories affect different facets of subjective well-being (SWB). The aim of this study was to examine how several aspects of income dynamics are related to life satisfaction and affect balance. Longitudinal information on income from administrative records covering 13 years (1999–2011) is linked to cross-sectional data on SWB collected in 2011/12 from the nationally representative Study on Mental Health at Work (S-MGA; n = 3364). Parameters from subject-specific regression analyses of income over time were used as indicators of income development in regressions over all participants, conducted separately for men and women. Associations between income and life satisfaction were stronger and more consistent than associations between income and affect balance. Major findings were that longer-term income change was more strongly related to SWB than current deviation from expected income. Higher stability in income development was associated with higher SWB. A higher share of income from benefits predicted lower life satisfaction and a more negative affect balance. Our results show the importance of examining income trajectories and taking into account source of income to gain a more differentiated view on the income-SWB association.

EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING ACROSS AGE

Higher levels of subjective well-being (SWB) are associated with myriad of positive outcomes, including better physical health. Several variables have been shown to predict SWB, including cognitive functioning. The relationship between aspects of SWB (positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction) and cognition were examined in participants (N = 5, 125) between the ages of 18- 99 years from the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project (VCAP). Participants completed a battery of cognitive tasks, including tests of verbal episodic memory, processing speed, reasoning, spatial visualization, and vocabulary. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling, using full information maximum likelihood estimation. In the models, the five latent cognitive constructs simultaneously predicted each of the SWB outcome variables separately. Age, education, gender, and self-rated health were included as covariates. Results show that reasoning was a significant unique predictor of negative affect (-.30), vocabulary was a significant unique predictor of positive affect (-.21), and spatial visualization was a significant unique predictor of life satisfaction (.21). Age moderation was examined by dividing the sample into three age groups (younger, middle-aged, and older). There was some evidence of age moderation. Namely, spatial visualization was a significant unique predictor of life satisfaction in the younger sample only. Reasoning and processing speed predicted negative affect in the younger group, whereas only reasoning predicted negative affect in the older group. In conclusion, in a large community-based sample spanning adulthood, there is evidence that cognition predicts aspects of SWB but there is variation across SWB outcome variables, and across age.