Explaining Life Satisfaction Research Articles

The Missing Link: Deficits of Country-Level Studies. A Review of 22 Articles Explaining Life Satisfaction

To explain country differences in an analytical or structural dependent variable, the application of a macro–micro-model containing contextual hypotheses is necessary. Our methodological study examines whether empirical studies apply such a model. We propose that a theoretical base for country differences is well described in multilevel studies, but aggregate and individual data analyses fail to specify contextual hypotheses ex ante (in the theory section of an article) and instead elaborate on macro–micro explanations ex post (in the discussion section). To test our assumptions, we analyzed 22 studies published in journals cited in the Social Science Citation Index between 2007 and 2010, which compare countries with respect to life satisfaction. Results are in accordance with our expectations. We conclude that cross-country comparisons should apply a macro–micro-model theoretically and empirically, if possible, and include the meso level, if appropriate. In case of insufficient data (i. e. only individual level or aggregate level data), applying a macro–micro-model theoretically may prevent premature conclusions.

Family relations and life satisfaction of older people: a comparative study between two differenthukous in China

ABSTRACTThis paper examined the relationships between family relations and life satisfaction between the two groups of older people with differenthukous in Putian, Fujian, China. Five factors related to family relations: family support network, satisfaction with family support, family harmony, filial support and filial discrepancy, were included in the study. A total of 532 valid questionnaires, 263 and 269 being filled in by older people with agricultural and non-agriculturalhukous, respectively, were obtained. Bivariate analyses indicated that five factors were correlated significantly with life satisfaction for both groups of older people. The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that when controlling for socio-demographic variables, filial support was associated with life satisfaction for both groups of older people; satisfaction with family support and filial discrepancy was only associated with life satisfaction among older people with agriculturalhukous; family harmony only contributed to explaining life satisfaction among older people with non-agriculturalhukous. The present study confirmed some previous empirical findings, which indicated the importance of family relations to older people's lives, and extended our understanding about the correlates of life satisfaction for the two groups of older people with differenthukous in China. Limitations and direction of future studies were also addressed. Meanwhile, the policy and practice implications of the study were discussed in the context of China's social and economic changes.

Characteristics of Personality and Identity in Population Surveys: Approaches for Operationalising and Localizing Variables to Explain Life Satisfaction

Caractéristiques de personnalité et d'identité dans les enquêtes - Approches pour l'opérationnalisation et la localisation de variables pour expliquer le sentiment de bien être : Les caractéristiques de personnalité et d'identité ne sont pas habituellement comprises dans des études sociologiques. De telles questions sont considérées de faire partie de la psychologie. Mais la sociologie peut développer des outils de recherche pour les opérationnaliser d'une manière efficace et succincte. Cet article, basé sur une enquête représentative de la population autrichienne, montre que: (1) il est possible de saisir de telles caractéristiques avec des outils relativement simples, et (2) les caractéristiques de personnalité et d'identité peuvent expliquer une partie importante de la variance dans le sentiment de bien être. Des échelles spécifiques ont été développées pour saisir les « Cinq grands » ("Big Five") facteurs de la personnalité, quatre aspects du soi et onze aspects de l'identité sociale.

Psychological and physical dimensions explaining life satisfaction among the elderly: A structural model examination

The aim of the present paper is to analyze the effects of psychological well-being, physical functioning and socio-demographic factors on life satisfaction. Both a bivariate and a multivariate level of analyses have been used. Finally, a structural model explaining life satisfaction has been developed and validated. With respect to bivariate relations, there was evidence of significant positive relations between psychological well-being dimensions and life satisfaction and between physical conditions and life satisfaction as well. Also, as age increased there was a slow decrease in life satisfaction. Educational level was positively related to life satisfaction. A structural model gave valuable information about the pattern of multivariate relationships among the variables. A first result of the model was the large effect of physical and psychological well-being on life satisfaction, albeit it was psychological well-being the major predictor of life satisfaction. A second result was that the effects of socio-demographic variables on life satisfaction were low and they operated through the effects that maintain either on psychological well-being (or its individual indicators) or on physical conditions. The role gender or age played was indirect rather than direct.

Estimating worldwide life satisfaction

Whilst studies of life satisfaction are becoming more common-place, their global coverage is far from complete. This paper develops a new database of life satisfaction scores for 178 countries, bringing together subjective well-being data from four surveys and using stepwise regression to estimate scores for nations where no subjective data are available. In doing so, we explore various factors that predict between-nation variation in subjective life satisfaction, building on Vemuri and Costanza's (Vemuri, A.W., & Costanza, R., 2006. The role of human, social, built, and natural capital in explaining life satisfaction at the country level: toward a National Well-Being Index (NWI). Ecological Economics, 58:119–133.) four capitals model. The main regression model explains 76% of variation in existing subjective scores; importantly, this includes poorer nations that had proven problematic in Vemuri and Costanza's (Vemuri, A.W., & Costanza, R., 2006. The role of human, social, built, and natural capital in explaining life satisfaction at the country level: toward a National Well-Being Index (NWI). Ecological Economics, 58:119–133.) study. Natural, human and socio-political capitals are all found to be strong predictors of life satisfaction. Built capital, operationalised as GDP, did not enter our regression model, being overshadowed by the human capital and socio-political capital factors that it inter-correlates with. The final database presents a stop-gap resource that, until robust surveys are carried out worldwide, allows comparisons of subjective life satisfaction between nations to be made with reasonable confidence.

Well-Being and Social Capital: Does Suicide Pose a Puzzle?

This paper has a double purpose: to see how well Durkheim’s [1897, Le Suicide (Paris: 1e edition)] findings apply a century later, and to see if the beneficial effects of social capital on suicide prevention are parallel to those already found for subjective well-being (Helliwell 2003, Economic Modelling 20(2), pp. 331–360). The results show that more social capital and higher levels of trust are associated with lower national suicide rates, just as they are associated with higher levels of subjective well-being. Furthermore, there is a strong negative correlation between national average suicide rates and measures of life satisfaction. Thus social capital does appear to improve well-being, whether measured by higher average values of life satisfaction or by lower average suicide rates. There is a slight asymmetry, since the very high Scandinavian measures of subjective well-being are not matched by equally low suicide rates. To take the Swedish case as an example, this asymmetry is explained by Sweden having particularly high values of variables that have more weight in explaining life satisfaction than suicide (especially quality of government), and less beneficial values of variables that have more influence in explaining suicide rates (Swedes have low belief in God and high divorce rates), because with the latest data and models the Swedish data fit the well-being and suicide equations with only tiny errors. If the international suicide data pose a puzzle, it is more because suicide rates, and their estimated equations, differ greatly by gender, while life satisfaction and its explanations are similar for men and women.

Life satisfaction among older people (65+) with reduced self‐care capacity: the relationship to social, health and financial aspects

This study aimed at investigating life satisfaction and its relation to living conditions, overall health, self-care capacity, feeling lonely, physical activities and financial resources among people (65+) with reduced self-care capacity. Knowledge about factors related to low life satisfaction among older people with reduced self-care capacity is sparse, although this is important in health care and nursing so that the care is adapted to their needs and perspective. Previous research has mainly focused on isolated aspects such as pain in relation to life satisfaction among older people in general and less among so those with reduced self-care capacity in general. A subsample of 522 persons was selected from a randomly selected cross-sectional survey using a modified form of the Older Americans' Resources Schedule and Life Satisfaction Index Z. The mean age in the total sample was 77.9; women (79.5) were significantly older than men (77.0). Low life satisfaction was found among women, as well as those living in special accommodations. Life Satisfaction Index Z was 15.3 (SD 5.6) in the total sample. Gender and living conditions did not explain life satisfaction whilst poor overall self-reported health and poor financial resources in relation to needs had the strongest explanatory value. Also of significant importance were loneliness, the degree of reduced self-care capacity and feeling worried. Life satisfaction in older people with reduced self-care capacity is determined by several factors, with social, physical, mental and financial aspects probably interacting with each other; especially feeling lonely, degree of self-care capacity, poor overall health, feeling worried and poor financial resources in relation to needs. These factors need to be considered in the care of these people to preserve or improve their life satisfaction. Nursing interventions in terms of preventive home visits, rehabilitation, health education directed towards physical, psychological, social and economic aspects of importance may help to preserve or improve life satisfaction for those with reduced self-care capacity.

The role of human, social, built, and natural capital in explaining life satisfaction at the country level: Toward a National Well-Being Index (NWI)

This paper investigates the contributions to life satisfaction of four basic types of capital: human, social, built, and natural. Life satisfaction data were available for respondents from fifty-seven countries from the World Values Survey over the decade of the 1990s. Data on proxies for human, social, built, and natural capital were available for 171 countries, using data from the 1998 United Nations Human Development Report [United Nations Development Programme, 1998. Human Development Report 1998. Oxford University Press, New York.], Freedom House (1999) [Freedom House, 1999. News of the Century: Press Freedom 1999. Freedom House, http://freedomhouse.org/pfs99/pfs99.pdf, September 30, 2003.], and Sutton and Costanza (2002) [Sutton, P., Costanza, R., 2002. Global estimates of market and non-market values derived from nighttime satellite imagery, land cover, and ecosystem service valuation. Ecol. Econ., 41:509–527.]. Regression models show that both the UN Human Development Index (HDI — which includes proxies for both built and human capital) and an index of the value of ecosystem services per km 2 (as a proxy for natural capital) are important factors in explaining life satisfaction at the country level and together can explain 72% of the variation in life satisfaction. We did not find a proxy for social capital that was a significant predictor in the regression models. This was due to the inadequacy of available proxy variables for social capital at the national scale and intercorrelation with other variables. We discuss data limitations and a range of other problems with the existing limited data along with methods to overcome some of these limitations to improve future analyses. We propose a National Well-Being Index (NWI) based on our findings and describe a path to improve it over time.

The chronic illness quality of life (CIQOL) model: Explaining life satisfaction in people living with HIV disease.

The chronic illness quality of life (CIQOL) model: Explaining life satisfaction in people living with HIV disease.

The chronic illness quality of life (CIQOL) model: explaining life satisfaction in people living with HIV disease.

The chronic illness quality of life (CIQOL) model theorizes that life satisfaction in persons living with a chronic illness such as HIV disease is a function of illness-related discrimination, barriers to health care and social services, physical well-being, social support, and coping. The CIQOL model was evaluated using data from 275 persons living with HIV disease. Women reported less life satisfaction and confronted more barriers to health care and social services than men, and White participants reported higher perceptions of AIDS-related discrimination than non-White participants. The CIQOL model provided an excellent fit to study data (root-mean-square error of approximation = .03) and accounted for almost a third of the variance in life satisfaction scores. Barriers to health care and social services played a particularly prominent role in the model.

The contribution of socio-demographic and psychosocial factors to life satisfaction

Life satisfaction continues to be an important construct in the psychosocial study of ageing. It is one of the commonly-accepted subjective conditions of quality of life and seems to be one of the facets of successful ageing, both of which are key concepts in ageing. Research reports that life satisfaction is strongly related to socio-demographic and psychosocial variables. These, however, are mutually dependent interactive variables, and much more attention should be paid to the study of the relative contribution of these two types of factors to life satisfaction. The purpose of the research reported in this article was to discover which socio-demographic conditions and psychosocial factors are the most important, and to decide to what extent they contribute to life satisfaction. A sample of 507 individuals aged 65 and over and representative of the Spanish population in terms of age and gender, were interviewed at home. The results indicate that two socio-demographic characteristics (income and education) influence life satisfaction both directly and also indirectly, through psychosocial factors such as activity (physical activity level, satisfaction with leisure activities, and social contacts), perceived health and physical illness. Among psychosocial factors, activity and health both contribute to explaining life satisfaction. The results are discussed from the point of view of the activity theory of ageing.

Assessing the validity and reliability of well-being and stress in family caregivers

Relatively little is known about the psychometric properties of measures that assess the constructs of caregiver strain and well-being. Using structural equation modeling, the authors validated two scales used in the caregiving literature: Caregiver Well-Being Scale and Caregiver Strain Index. Two models were generated for the Well-Being Scale that demonstrate the measure's validity and reliability. Nineteen of the 45 items on the Well-Being Scale validated the scale. Of the original 13 items on the Strain Index, 11 are valid indicators of their respective factors. Structural equation modeling is a useful technique to evaluate these measures, because it identifies the most reliable and valid items for each scale. Key words: caregivers; psychometric properties; stress; structural equation modeling; well-being Well-being and stress are important constructs in measuring the caregiving experience, because they represent both a strengths-based perspective and a detrimental outcome of care-giving. They present particular measurement challenges to researchers studying caregivers. These constructs are viewed as multifaceted, complex phenomena that incorporate both subjective and objective dimensions (George, 1994). Neither construct can be measured by a single observable variable, but each requires multiple items to assess it. Definitions of the are many and varied. Caregiving stress (strain or burden) is defined as enduring problems that have the potential for arousing threat, a meaning that establishes strain and stressor as interchangeable concepts (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978, p. 3). Well-being is defined as at least some periodic states of security and structure within the turbulence of (Goldstein, 1990, p. 273). Because of the complexity of each construct and the methodology used to evaluate the measures, further research is needed to determine the reliability and validity of measures of stress and well-being. Such techniques as factor analysis, correlation, and coefficient alpha have been used to estimate the validity and reliability. There are several limitations inherent in these techniques (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). For example, coefficient alpha assumes that the items are homogeneous (Miller, 1995). If the measure consists of heterogeneous items, use of coefficient alpha is not appropriate. Another limitation of coefficient alpha is that it is affected by the number of items in a measure. The measure becomes more reliable by adding more items (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). Furthermore, none of the aforementioned techniques is useful with a multidimensional measure. A more sophisticated technique, structural equation modeling (SEM), overcomes many of these limitations when assessing measures' psychometric properties. The capacity to estimate a model's measurement error makes SEM an alternative for assessing validity and reliability of a measure. Because well-being and stress are multifaceted and require multiple indicators, SEM can model different dimensions of the constructs. Research demonstrates a need for more advanced statistical techniques to assess fully the validity and reliability of existing measures. This article presents the results of an assessment of the psychometric properties of two measures--well-being and stress. Using two separate samples, we used SEM to evaluate the reliability and validity of each measure. SEM is presented as an additional method to evaluate the reliability and validity of caregiver well-being and strain. Earlier research evaluated these measures with factor analysis or coefficient alpha (Robinson, 1983; Tebb, 1995). LITERATURE REVIEW Measuring well-being and stress presents challenges for social scientists. Researchers use well-being to explain life satisfaction, emotional status, affective disorder, and stress (Stetz, 1992). Both constructs are used to study family caregiving, but additional data is needed on the psychometric properties of current instruments. …