Cognitive Subjective Well-being Research Articles

Impact of Emotional Intelligence on the Cognitive Subjective Well-being of Vietnamese College Students

The present study examined the impact of emotional intelligence on the cognitive subjective well-being of Vietnamese college students and the intermediate role of self-esteem. Based on data collected through a self-assessment survey method of 725 college students in Vietnam, the results of the structural equation modeling analysis show that emotional intelligence has a positive impact on cognitive subjective well-being. Simultaneously, self-esteem was found to partially mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence and cognitive subjective well-being. In addition, the results also show that there is a difference in cognitive subjective well-being by family type while there is no difference in cognitive subjective well-being by gender, school year and order of children in the family. From the results, the study is expected to contribute some recommendations for policy makers to improve college students' mental health.

Cognitive Subjective Well-Being during the Second Lockdown in Portugal: The Predictive Role of Sociodemographic and Psychopathological Dimensions

The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on well-being has been widely described. However, studies on how country-specific characteristics influenced the impacts of the pandemic experience on cognitive subjective well-being are still needed. This study examined the predictive role of sociodemographic characteristics and psychopathological dimensions on cognitive subjective well-being during the second lockdown period in Portugal. An online sample of 332 adults completed a series of self-report instruments between April and July 2021, covering the period from 15 January to 15 March 2021. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that being married or living in a civil union, not having/or living with children, not living with/or caring for an elderly person, and not being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 were significant and positive predictors of higher cognitive subjective well-being. In contrast, a non-heterosexual sexual orientation; isolation due to COVID-19; and higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, along with repetitive negative thinking, were significant predictors of negative cognitive subjective well-being during the second lockdown in Portugal. The importance of developing promotional, preventive, and remedial interventions focused on specific country and individual characteristics for poor cognitive subjective well-being for promoting mental health and well-being during this critical period and similar future crisis events is discussed.

Dindarlığın Öznel İyi Oluş Üzerindeki Etkisinin Analizi

The study aims to investigate how religiosity and demographic variables affect the components of life satisfaction (cognitive subjective well-being) and happiness (emotional well-being) which constitute subjective well-being. Data obtained from the World Values Survey is used in the study and the estimates are made by using sequential logit regression method. In the study, "religiosity" which is accepted as a variable expressing subjective well-being is preferred to be used as a holistic concept that is effective on the social and spiritual life of the individuals rather than using it as a general concept. In this context, religiosity is discussed in three different components; social integration, divine interaction, and existential certainty. One of the most crucial findings of the study is that life satisfaction and happiness is affected by the components of religiosity in different manners. Although there is a positive relationship between religiosity and subjective well-being, questioning the social maladjustment (drugs, tobacco, crime, etc.) encountered in more religious regions constitutes the starting point of the study.

Economic and Children’s Subjective Well-Being Indicators at the National Level in 35 Countries

This study uses representative samples of 10- and 12-year-olds from the third wave of the Children’s Words international survey (N = 48,499 10-year-olds from 35 countries, and N= 44,692 12-year-olds from 30 countries) to explore the relationship between four main economic indicators at the country level and a selection of children’s subjective well-being (SWB) indicators. The economic indicators included measures of wealth and wealth inequality, while the SWB indicators included general cognitive and affective indicators of the components of SWB and a selection of satisfaction items with specific life domains or aspects of children’s lives. Separated systematic linear regressions were calculated for each age group—each economic indicator being regressed on each SWB general indicator and on each of the selected satisfaction items. As is the case with previous research, the results do not display significant associations between economic indicators and cognitive SWB when using children’s data at the population level. In contrast, associations were identified between economic and affective indicators, and between the former and the correlation between affective and cognitive SWB at the country level. These results suggest that the affective and cognitive components of children’s SWB display idiosyncratic associations with both wealth and inequality indicators at this level, and that it is very important to analyse SWB components separately. This study also shows that satisfaction with some specific life domains (e.g.: with life as a student, time use or the freedom the child has) may display associations with some economic indicators at the macro level, while satisfaction with other life domains may not, meaning that overall life satisfaction may offer different associations with economic indicators, depending on children’s satisfaction with various life domains in each country. These associations may change with age in some cases. Findings contribute to questioning the hitherto widespread belief that a country’s macro-economic situation has little or no impact on children’s well-being and invite the use of children’s SWB indicators from a quadripartite conception—including overall satisfaction with life and life domains, positive affect and negative affect—to monitor the implementation of public policies aimed at children.

Meta-analytic Examination of a Suppressor Effect on Subjective Well-Being and Job Performance Relationship

This paper presents a meta-analytic study of the relationship between overall subjective well-being (SWB), cognitive SWB, affective SWB, and job performance ratings. The study examined the moderator effect of the source of job performance measure (self-report vs. supervisory ratings). The database consists of 34 independent samples (n = 5,352) using supervisory performance ratings and 38 independent samples (n = 12,086) using self-reported of job performance. These samples were located through electronic and manual searches. The results indicated that, on average, the correlation for SWB- supervisory ratings (ρ = .35) was slightly larger than for SWB-self-reported performance (ρ = .33). The correlation of affective SWB was much higher with supervisory ratings (ρ = .49) than with self-reported performance (ρ = .30). A suppressor effect of cognitive SWB was found for the prediction of supervisory ratings. Finally, we discuss the implications for the theory and the practice of SWB at work and suggest new research avenues.

Financial Stress and Subjective Wellbeing among Children -Evidence from Finland

In this article we analyse how subjective wellbeing amongst Finnish children is associated with experiences of financial stress, that is, worries about money and one’s financial situation. We focus on both affective and cognitive components of subjective wellbeing in order to receive a broader understanding on children’s subjective wellbeing. We use Finnish data from the International survey of children’s lives conducted by the Children’s Worlds Project during the years 2013–2014. The results show that experienced financial stress is negatively and more strongly associated with cognitive subjective wellbeing than with affective subjective wellbeing, even when controlling for socioeconomic and other factors found to be influential for subjective wellbeing in previous research.

Development of the Short Form of the Goal-Striving Reasons Questionnaire

This paper describes the development of the short form of the goal-striving reasons questionnaire. The short form was developed by re-examining data from four previously published studies which employed the long form of the goal-striving reasons questionnaire. Additionally, a further cross-validation study was employed using the short form by itself (N = 125). Overall, the analyses reveal that the short form has equally good internal reliability, construct validity and predictive power with regard to affective and cognitive subjective well-being, work engagement and burnout when compared to the long form. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the short form, which reduces the number of items for each self-reported goal from 16 to eight, does provide a reliable and valid instrument and therefore offers a more parsimonious way to measure the reasons why people pursue their most important goals. Implications, particularly for practice, are discussed.

Religiosity and Life Satisfaction Across Countries: New Insights from the Self-Determination Theory

In this paper we try to shed new light on the aggregate religion puzzle: the fact that the positive relationship between religiosity and cognitive subjective well-being that has been consistently found at the individual level does not emerge at the aggregate level. We posit the hypothesis that the motivation underlying the observance of religious prescriptions may be confounding the relationship of interest. Using data from the Integrated Values Survey 1981–2014, we select some variables as possible proxies for the prevalent religious motivation and discuss this novel interpretation. Then we extend a standard cross-country life satisfaction model including controls for both the average level of religiosity and the prevalent motivation. Results show that the average level of religiosity is ceteris paribus positive and significantly associated with average life satisfaction. Moreover, our main proxy for the prevalent religious motivation also emerges highly significantly associated with average life satisfaction. The estimations are subjected to a wide variety of robustness checks and results remain largely unchanged. Moreover we carry out a thoroughly discussion of the endogeneity issues that may affect our results exploiting the panel nature of the data. We conclude that our results seem reasonably reliable, are consistent with findings of the previous literature, and point to a possible explanation of the different evolution of the religious phenomenon across countries.

Positive Affect and its Relationship with General Life Satisfaction among 10 and 12-Year-Old Children in 18 Countries

Based on the Children’s Worlds sample of N = 41,599 children and adolescents from 18 countries, aims that have seldom been addressed in the scientific literature are considered: (a) an analysis of positive affect (PA) among 10 and 12-year-old children in 18 countries; (b) an analysis of the comparability of PA across countries, genders and age groups; and (c) a cross-country analysis of the relationship between PA and a measure of cognitive subjective well-being (SWB). A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of a PA measure (PA4), comprising the affects satisfied, happy, relaxed and active, was tested for the above purposes and displayed excellent fit indexes. Multi-group Structural Equation Models were tested by gender, age group and country. The results suggest all statistics are comparable across age groups and genders. Differences according to gender displayed very small effect size in the case of Romania and small effect size in the other 17 countries. A medium effect size was found for age differences in eleven of the countries, a small effect in six and a very small effect in the remaining one. Correlations and regressions are comparable across countries, whereas mean scores are only comparable among 12 out of 18 countries. A detailed analysis displays clear diversities among countries, but also outstanding similarities in children’s PA. A strong positive correlation (.735) was identified between Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and the relationship between PA and OLS (Overall Life Satisfaction), while the GDP per capita correlation was not statistically significant with the PA or OLS individually.

The Importance of Feeling Adequately Heard by Adults and Enjoying Time with Family in Relation to Children’s Subjective Well-Being

It is essential to take children’s subjective well-being (SWB) into account to give attention to children’s lives. The aim of this article is to analyse children’s SWB according to domain-based indicators of the cognitive component of SWB and indicators of the affective component of SWB, as well as indicators of interpersonal relationships in different contexts and activities outside school, besides sociodemographic and educational characteristics. This is developed though the answers of a probabilistic sample of children from Barcelona city in 2017 (mean age = 10.74) to an adapted preliminary version of the third International Survey of Children’s Well-Being, promoted by the Children’s Worlds project, which includes the Children’s Worlds Subjective Well-Being Scale (CW-SWBS), based on the Student Life Satisfaction Scale by Huebner (School Psychology International, 12, 231–243, 1991). It is found that, although children typically do high evaluations of their lives, children’s SWB is even higher when children display better scores in domain-based cognitive SWB and affective SWB (55.07% and 42.75% of the CW-SWBS-5′ variability is explained, respectively), as well as of interpersonal relationships (39.42%). Activities outside school (11.52%) and sociodemographic and educational characteristics (4.76%) seem to have low but critical contributions to children’s SWB. Therefore, promoting better evaluations of cognitive domains (especially feeling adequately heard by adults) and enjoying relationships (especially with family members) both could improve all children’s lives. Furthermore, activities outside school, and in particular sociodemographic and educational characteristics, both could be used to identify children in vulnerable situations.

The goal-striving reasons framework: Further evidence for its predictive power for subjective well-being on a sub-dimensional level and on an individual goal-striving reasons level as well as evidence for its theoretical difference to self-concordance

This paper compares the predictive power of the goal-striving reasons model and the self-concordance model on a sub-dimensional and an individual goal-striving reasons level based on a cross-sectional research design (N = 139). Multiple regression analyses on a sub-dimensional level show that approach, as well as avoidance goal motivation, have higher predictive power in the prediction of affective and cognitive subjective well-being than autonomous and controlled goal motivation. Equally, the predictive power of the four individual goal-striving reasons is generally stronger than the predictive power of the individual self-concordance reasons. The analyses of the theoretical differences between goal-striving reasons and self-concordance show that on an overall goal-striving reasons index level, on a sub-dimensional level as well as on an individual goal-striving reasons level that the goal-striving reasons framework is generally more strongly related to measures representing people’s tendency to be influenced by others in their goal pursuit. Self-concordance is not significantly associated with either of these measures. Based on these findings, it is concluded that the goal-striving reasons framework is more sensitive to the influence of others than self-concordance. The theoretical implications of these findings revolve around the fact that goal-striving reasons can be seen as a more comprehensive goal reason measure than self-concordance. Practical implications point towards the importance of personal assertiveness as a correlate of positive goal-striving reasons.

Exploring the Effects of Car Ownership and Commuting on Subjective Well-Being: A Nationwide Questionnaire Study

How and to what extent household car ownership and commuting behavior affect individual subjective well-being (SWB) is of great interest for urban and transportation planning. Increasing attention has been paid to the associations between car ownership, commuting and SWB. However, only a limited number of studies examined the effects of travel-related factors on both cognitive and affective SWB aspects. This research empirically investigated the relationships from the two SWB aspects. Furthermore, we extend the modeling of generic cognitive SWB to several specific measures (e.g., satisfaction with life compared to a specific group of people, degree of free choice, social position, and social equality) to explore how car ownership and commuting behavior contribute to individual SWB. Drawing on the data derived from the 2014 China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey, a set of ordered probit models based on Bayesian inference are estimated. The findings point out that household car ownership has a significant effect on cognitive SWB but a limited influence on affective SWB. It appears that commuting time is significantly and negatively associated with individuals’ cognitive and affective well-being, whereas a positive correlation is found between the commuting by bicycle and affective SWB. The effects of commuting time and transportation modes on different measured satisfactions with life have no big differences. Finally, results of the Wald tests indicate that incorporating household car ownership and commuting behavior into the modeling framework can significantly improve the prediction accuracy of individual SWB.

Material well-being and social exclusion association with children's subjective Well-being: Cross-national analysis of 14 countries

The relationship between material situation and happiness is hardly examined among children, perhaps because of the almost exclusive use of household income as a proxy for material situation. This article aims to fill this gap by examining the link between material situation and subjective well-being (SWB) from children's perspectives, cross-nationally. Two preliminary measures that reflect children's material situation were developed: Material Resources State (MRS) measure and Social Exclusion measure. They were found to be valid in 13 countries out of the 14 tested, using the 12-year-olds' sample in the second wave of the Children's Worlds survey (N=16,967). These measures' association with affective and cognitive SWB was then tested, cross-nationally. Findings show both lower MRS and higher social exclusion are associated with lower SWB. However, regression models showed that Social Exclusion has a much greater ability to explain the variance in children's SWB, even after controlling for demographic variables and countries' economic indices, and in the vast majority of the countries. The prominent place of social exclusion was even more salient compared to economic indices (such as GDP and Gini) that showed only very low ability to explain children's SWB; the association between MRS and Social Exclusion with SWB was not found to be stronger in countries with lower GDP and higher inequality as suggested by some of the literature. The findings are discussed in the context of the general debate of the relation between material situation and happiness, bringing also some possible implications for social policy.

Gay Dads are Happier: Subjective Well-Being Among Gay and Heterosexual Fathers

ABSTRACTWith gay fatherhood increasing in numbers worldwide, and preliminary research showing that gay fathers might not experience the “parenthood paradox”—an increase in meaning in life along with a decrease in subjective well-being associated with becoming parents—it was our objective to compare gay fathers' well-being to that of heterosexual fathers. It was hypothesized that gay fathers would be higher on subjective well-being in general, and specifically on its global and cognitive aspects, but not on its affective aspects. This was based on the notion that by being parents, gay fathers may reach high subjective standards by which they compare themselves to others, which relates to their global and cognitive subjective well-being. However, both gay and heterosexual fathers experience similar daily events as parents, which should equally contribute to their affective subjective well-being. In order to test this hypothesis, 90 gay fathers were sampled from a larger sample of 317 Israeli men, and were compared with 90 individually matched heterosexual counterparts. In accordance with our hypothesis, gay fathers reported significantly higher levels of subjective well-being in comparison to heterosexual fathers, and only on its global and cognitive aspects. Possible interpretations of the findings were discussed.

Goals and subjective well-being: Further evidence for goal-striving reasons as an additional level of goal analysis

The paper at hand extends the goal-striving reasons framework in three different ways, using two empirical studies. The first cross-sectional study (N=146) extends the framework by analysing the degree to which goal-striving reasons predict subjective well-being (SWB) over and above classical measures of goal content, approach–avoidance goals and self-concordance. The second study contributes to the extension of the framework in the following two ways. By providing longitudinal data (n=43), study 2 allows to test whether goal-striving reasons have any causal impact on future SWB levels. Study 2 also contains further cross-sectional data (N=69) to investigate the degree to which people's core self-evaluations, proactivity levels, and self-actualisation tendencies are associated with more SWB-enhancing goal-striving reasons. The findings of study 1 suggest that goal-striving reasons have incremental validity over other goal-related measures in the prediction of affective and cognitive SWB. The findings of study 2 further show that goal-striving reasons influence future SWB levels, and that core self-evaluations are positively correlated with SWB-enhancing goal-striving reasons.

Differences in the association of subjective wellbeing measures with health, socioeconomic status, and social conditions among residents of an East Cape township

Objective: The use of variably self-reported measures of wellbeing may produce differing outcomes. This study examined the differences in association with health, socioeconomic status, and social conditions (marital status, social capital) of two widely used cognitive subjective wellbeing measurements: Cantril's ladder and Diener's five-item Satisfaction with Life Scale. Methods: A stratified sampling design was used to collect data from representative households in the 20 neighborhoods of Rhini, a deprived suburb of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Correlation and stepwise multiple regression analyses investigated differences in the associations between wellbeing and health, demographics, socioeconomic status, and social conditions determined by the three measurements. Results: We found that the multiple-item satisfaction with life scale elicited more discriminating responses that took into account a broader range of life domains. This scale reported more significant relationships between subjective wellbeing and health, socioeconomic status, and social conditions. Cantril's ladder produced a narrower range of career-like comparisons. The direction of association between measures of wellbeing and socioeconomic characteristics never changed according to the measures used. Conclusions: Policy-makers, researchers, and practitioners using these instruments should be aware of the differences between single- and multiple-item wellbeing measures, and recognize that the choice of instrument will affect the life domains found to be associated with wellbeing.

Subjective well-being related to satisfaction with daily travel

Previous research demonstrates an impact on subjective well-being (SWB) of affect associated with routine performance of out-of-home activities. A primary aim of the present study is to investigate whether satisfaction with daily travel has a positive impact on SWB, either directly or indirectly through facilitating the performance of out-of-home activities. A secondary aim is to determine whether emotional-symbolic or instrumental reasons for car use results in higher satisfaction with daily travel than other travel modes. A survey of a population-based sample of 1,330 Swedish citizens included measures of car access and use, satisfaction with daily travel, satisfaction with performance of out-of-home routine activities, and affective and cognitive SWB. The results confirmed that the effect on affective and cognitive SWB of satisfaction with daily travel is both direct and indirect via satisfaction with performance of activities. Percent weekly car use had a small effect on satisfaction with daily travel and on affective SWB, although fully mediating the effect of satisfaction with performance of the activities. This suggests that car use plays a minor role for satisfaction with daily travel and its effect on SWB. This role may be larger if investigated after a forced reduced car use.

Influences of Affect Associated with Routine Out-of-Home Activities on Subjective Well-Being

A survey of a random sample of 1,330 Swedish residents assessed the relationships between affect associated with performance of routine out-of-home activities, mood, and judgments of life satisfaction (cognitive subjective wellbeing, CSWB). Regression analyses showed that sociodemographic variables accounted for most variance in CSWB (7%) and least in mood (2%). In agreement with previous research, CSWB increased with income, employment, and cohabiting with a spouse, and had a U-formed relationship with age. Affect associated with routine activities accounted for more variance than the socio-demographic variables in mood (30%) and in CSWB (13%). Mood partially mediated the effect on CSWB of affect associated with the activities. The results suggest that future policy-related research should consider the possibility that community-provided resources that facilitate performance of routine out-of-home activities would increase life satisfaction.

Subjective well-being related to satisfaction with daily travel

Previous research demonstrates an impact on subjective well-being (SWB) of affect associated with routine performance of out-of-home activities. A primary aim of the present study is to investigate whether satisfaction with daily travel has a positive impact on SWB, either directly or indirectly through facilitating the performance of out-of-home activities. A secondary aim is to determine whether emotional-symbolic or instrumental reasons for car use results in higher satisfaction with daily travel than other travel modes. A survey of a population-based sample of 1,330 Swedish citizens included measures of car access and use, satisfaction with daily travel, satisfaction with performance of out-of-home routine activities, and affective and cognitive SWB. The results confirmed that the effect on affective and cognitive SWB of satisfaction with daily travel is both direct and indirect via satisfaction with performance of activities. Percent weekly car use had a small effect on satisfaction with daily travel and on affective SWB, although fully mediating the effect of satisfaction with performance of the activities. This suggests that car use plays a minor role for satisfaction with daily travel and its effect on SWB. This role may be larger if investigated after a forced reduced car use.