Indicators Of Subjective Well-being Research Articles

Examining intra- and inter-personal health effects of optimism and pessimism: The role of subjective well-being in romantic couples.

Recent meta-analytic research suggests that the absence of pessimism could be a stronger predictor of physical health than the presence of optimism. The present study examined the role of subjective well-being in the effects of optimism and pessimism on physical health in romantic couples. It was hypothesized that pessimism would be more strongly associated with both well-being and health than optimism, intra- and interpersonally. Subjective well-being was also expected to explain variance in the associations between optimism, pessimism, and health. A baseline sample of 153 opposite-sex couples completed various measures of subjective well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, and depressive symptoms) and physical health (e.g., subjective health, sleep efficiency, physical symptoms, cold symptoms, and chronic illness). Results of actor-partner interdependence models showed that the absence of pessimism, but not the presence of optimism, was associated with better physical health at baseline and over time. Pessimism was also a stronger predictor than optimism of baseline levels in some indicators of subjective well-being. These effects were obtained intra- and interpersonally. Finally, subjective well-being explained variance in some of the effects of pessimism on levels of physical health. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.

The Association between Active Mobility and Subjective Wellbeing during COVID-19 in MENA Countries.

Objective: To augment the international scientific approach to raising public mental health through active lifestyle among adults, we added the evidence of the association between physical activity and subjective wellbeing in the Middle East and North Africa region by emphasizing the mediator—COVID-19. This study aimed to identify the correlations between active mobility and subjective wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample from Tabriz, Iran, which has not yet been tackled in previous study. Methods: We finalized an online survey (N = 603) from adults between 5 June and 15 July 2021. This group reported their individual and socio-economic characteristics and their perception features and location (e.g., home, work) during COVID-19. The paper developed three ordinal logistic regression (OLR) models to examine the association between active mobility types such as commute, non-commute, frequency of active travel to parks and services per week, and different subjective wellbeing including: 1- life satisfaction, 2- feeling energetic, and 3- peaceful mind while controlling for socio-economic variables (e.g., age, gender, education, job, and income) and objective commute distance. We also incorporated the most relevant objective (street length, land-use mix, number of intersections, and building and population density) and subjective (perceived distance to different services, perceived walking places, and perceived facilities attractiveness) factors. Results: Positive response relationships between four types of physical activity levels and subjective wellbeing scores were demonstrated in all of the three developed models (with significant levels of 0.05, and 0.1) with appropriate model fits, which confirmed the existing literature. However, these relationships showed different patterns (varied significant levels) for each type of subjective wellbeing. In addition, the factors including street length (p value: 0.004), perceived walkable places (p value: 0.021, 0.068, 0.017, and 0.025) (positively), population density, and perceived distance to shopping malls (p value: 0.076, <0.0001, and 0.059 (negatively) were associated with different indicators of subjective wellbeing. Conclusion: As for the implication of our study, special actions by urban authorities such as increasing mixed-use and creating attractive places will be required to enhance the walkability of the neighborhoods. Moreover, notifying the adults regarding the benefits of physical activity is much more needed.

Does Agroforestry Adoption Affect Subjective Well-Being? Empirical Evidence from Smallholder Farmers in East Java, Indonesia

Agroforestry has an essential role in reducing global poverty and maintaining environmental sustainability. However, little is known about the association between agroforestry and farmers’ welfare. This study aims to estimate the factors affecting agroforestry adoption and its impact on smallholder farmers’ welfare. The cross-sectional data were collected from 301 potato farmers in East Java, Indonesia. The factors affecting farmers’ decision to adopt agroforestry were estimated using probit regression analysis. The subjective well-being was proxied by life satisfaction and happiness. The effect of agroforestry adoption on subjective well-being was measured by propensity score matching (PSM). The findings indicated that agroforestry adoption was positively and significantly affected by whether the land is terraced, farmers’ age and education level, and farmers’ participation in social activities, cooperatives, and farmers’ groups. The PSM analysis shows that agroforestry adoption has a significant and positive impact on both subjective well-being indicators. Farmers who adopted agroforestry were happier and more satisfied than those who did not. The findings imply that farmers should implement agroforestry in the long term to improve their well-being.

Pulse of the Nation: Observable Subjective Well-Being in Russia Inferred from Social Network Odnoklassniki

Policymakers and researchers worldwide are interested in measuring the subjective well-being (SWB) of populations. In recent years, new approaches to measuring SWB have begun to appear, using digital traces as the main source of information, and show potential to overcome the shortcomings of traditional survey-based methods. In this paper, we propose the formal model for calculation of observable subjective well-being (OSWB) indicator based on posts from a social network, which utilizes demographic information and post-stratification techniques to make the data sample representative by selected characteristics of the general population. We applied the model on the data from Odnoklassniki, one of the largest social networks in Russia, and obtained an OSWB indicator representative of the population of Russia by age and gender. For sentiment analysis, we fine-tuned several language models on RuSentiment and achieved state-of-the-art results. The calculated OSWB indicator demonstrated moderate to strong Pearson’s (r=0.733, p=0.007, n=12) correlation and strong Spearman’s (rs=0.825, p=0.001, n=12) correlation with a traditional survey-based Happiness Index reported by Russia Public Opinion Research Center, confirming the validity of the proposed approach. Additionally, we explored circadian (24 h) and circaseptan (7 day) patterns, and report several interesting findings for the population of Russia. Firstly, daily variations were clearly observed: the morning had the lowest level of happiness, and the late evening had the highest. Secondly, weekly patterns were clearly observed as well, with weekends being happier than weekdays. The lowest level of happiness occurs in the first three weekdays, and starting on Thursday, it rises and peaks during the weekend. Lastly, demographic groups showed different levels of happiness on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, which confirms the importance of post-stratification by age group and gender in OSWB studies based on digital traces.

The Japanese version of the Material Values Scale: construct assessment and relationship with age, personality, and subjective well-being

BackgroundMaterialism indicates the extent to which an individual’s life is focused on consumerism, or the acquisition of money and possessions. The Material Values Scale (MVS), comprising the factors “success,” “centrality,” and “happiness,” is a well-known rating scale for materialism. However, a Japanese version of the materialism scale has not yet been established, and the details of the factors and effects related to materialism have not yet been clarified in Japan. The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate the Japanese version of the MVS (J-MVS).MethodsWe developed the translated J-MVS using a back-translation process. To validate and evaluate the scale based on an online survey, we recruited 500 people, with 100 participants (50 men, 50 women) in five age groups, from 20 to 69 years. We compared and evaluated several factor structure models based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. To evaluate the external criterion-referenced validity of the developed J-MVS scale, we examined the relationship between age, personality, and well-being, which have shown stable relationships with materialism in previous studies.ResultsWe developed two six-item dual-factor models. Both models showed significant positive correlations with social comparison orientation and neuroticism, and had significant negative correlations with various subjective well-being indices, suggesting sufficient external criterion-referenced validity. The J-MVS comprising six positive-worded items (J-MVS-P6; without any reverse-worded items) showed a higher correlation with other indicators than the version comprising six items representing all item types and was considered to have higher external criterion-referenced validity.ConclusionsWe propose the J-MVS-P6 for use as a materialism scale in Japan. Compared with the findings from other countries, materialism in Japan may be more closely related to subjective well-being. This scale may be used to examine the effectiveness of various intervention methods for improving individuals’ happiness, based on changes in factors closely related to materialism in Japan.

Exploring factors related to agreement between importance and satisfaction of subjective well-being indicators: evidence from Taiwan

Exploring factors related to agreement between importance and satisfaction of subjective well-being indicators: evidence from Taiwan

Toward a Holistic Demographic Profile of Sexual and Gender Minority Well-being.

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations experience disadvantages in physical health, mental health, and socioeconomic status relative to cisgender heterosexual populations. However, extant population research has tended to use objective measures and ignore subjective measures, examined well-being outcomes in isolation, and lacked information on less well studied but possibly more disadvantaged SGM subgroups. In this study, we use Gallup's National Health and Well-Being Index, which permits identification of gay/lesbian, bisexual, queer, same-gender-loving, those who identify as more than one sexual identity, transgender men, transgender women, and nonbinary/genderqueer populations. We estimate bivariate associations and ordinary least-squares regression models to examine differences along five dimensions of well-being: life purpose, residential community belonging, physical and mental health, financial well-being, and social connectedness. The results reveal that most SGM groups experience stark disadvantages relative to heterosexuals and cisgender men, which are most pronounced among bisexual, queer, and nonbinary/genderqueer populations. Intergroup and intragroup variations illuminate even greater disparities in well-being than prior research has uncovered, bringing us closer to a holistic profile of SGM well-being at the population level.

Parental influence on subjective child well-being in Hungary

The paper extends the scope of social mobility research to family processes and family cohesion. The analysis aims to detect how various objective and subjective parental features influence subjective well-being (SWB) of adolescents in a dataset of 852 Hungarian families with 12–16-year-old children. SWB was operationalized by 14 comparable items on satisfaction with different domains of life, for both generations. The dependent variable is an aggregate SWB index, based on adolescents’ evaluations and OLS regression method is applied to uncover the association between parental well-being and children’s satisfaction. For a better understanding of this intergenerational process, we also control for parental education and material situation. The statistical model reflects gender, age and regional variation, as well. Results reveal a strong relationship between children’s and parents’ subjective well-being. Parental satisfaction with life and family- and work relations particularly affect offspring’s aggregate well-being. Material situation in the family matters more than parental education in the whole process. There is more variation in the results by the age of the adolescents than by gender. Findings reflect the importance of familial aspects and call attention to the relevance of soft, less intentional forms of status transmission.

Research on Spatial Differences and Driving Effects of Ecological Well-Being Performance in China.

The essential requirement of sustainable development is to maximize economic prosperity and well-being while remaining within natural boundaries. This study focused on three aspects. First, a unique ecological well-being performance (EWP) evaluation model was developed by combining subjective and objective well-being indicators to assess China’s EWP from 2006 to 2018. Second, the evolution of spatial differences in China’s EWP was examined using the Dagum Gini coefficient and four spatial polarization indicators, from the perspective of eight economic regions. Third, we used the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method to decompose the driving factors of China’s EWP into four effects: economic, technical, objective well-being, and subjective well-being. Effective ways to promote the coordinated and sustainable enhancement of EWP in China were determined. The results showed that the overall level of EWP in China decreased from 2006 to 2018. The growth rate of China’s residents’ happiness index was not only slightly slower than the growth rate of the human development index but also significantly slower than the ecological footprint index per capita. The spatial differences of EWP in China were found to be expanding. Inter-regional differences were found to be the primary source of spatial differences in China’s EWP. Meanwhile, the capacity for sustainable development among provinces was further stretched, and, thus, the spatial polarization of China’s EWP tended to deepen. The importance of economic growth in boosting EWP cannot be overstated. China must actively encourage scientific and technological innovation, transition to a green development model, and raise human well-being in tandem with economic development. This study contributes to a scientific foundation and is a valuable reference for long-term and coordinated regional development in China and other emerging countries.

The Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS): Further Evidence of Factorial Structure, Reliability, and Relations with Other Indicators of Subjective Wellbeing

The Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS): Further Evidence of Factorial Structure, Reliability, and Relations with Other Indicators of Subjective Wellbeing

Does the Survey Mode Affect the Association Between Subjective Well-being and its Determinants? An Experimental Comparison Between Face-to-Face and Web Mode

Subjective well-being research increasingly uses web surveys to understand how subjective well-being indicators are related to other concepts of interest. Although we know that mean scores on these indicators may differ between modes, we know little about whether a move to web will influence the conclusions we draw about our conceptual models. This study uses data from a unique mixed-mode survey collected in Croatia and Germany as part of the Generations and Gender Programme to examine whether the relationships between a range of subjective well-being indicators and a set of objective and subjective determinants differ between respondents answering these questions in face-to-face or web mode. Although respondents report lower subjective well-being in web than in face-to-face mode, the relationships between these variables and a range of objective and subjective indicators are relatively stable across modes. This suggests that substantive conclusions about antecedents of subjective well-being do not depend on whether data are collected via a face-to-face interview or through web survey.

AGRONEGOCIOS, DISTRIBUCIÓN Y BIENESTAR BALCARCE, PROVINCIA DE BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (2019)

This paper describes and analyzes the relationship between the agribusiness model and the welfare of the population in Balcarce, an agricultural territory in southeastern Buenos Aires, Argentina. The characteristics of the agribusiness model (farm size, labor force employed and wealth generated) are described and linked to poverty, labor, subjective well-being and education indices. As general conclusions, it was observed that the sector spills little and does not stimulate positive indices of psychological well-being. In spite of the fact that the agricultural sector generates enough wealth to allow all the inhabitants of the district to live above the poverty line, a little more than 55% of the population is poor or indigent. The agricultural sector demands 13.5% of the EAP, and subjective wellbeing is lower among those directly linked to the agricultural sector.

Особенности состояний психологического благополучия сотрудников органов внутренних дел с различным уровнем служебной лояльности

The article considers the problem of interrelation of service loyalty and substantiates the position that loyalty is not only a significant factor in ensuring the effectiveness of professional activity, but also an indicator of subjective well-being. The aim of the paper is to establish psychological peculiarities of psychological well-being experience by internal affairs officers with different levels of loyalty. The hypothesis of the research was the assumption that there is a reliably significant relationship between the indicators of loyalty and psychological well-being of internal affairs officers. The research sample consisted of active employees of territorial bodies of internal affairs (n=200, male - 153, female - 47, the length of service of respondents was 10.6 years and age - 33 years). Research methods: loyalty measurement technique by S.S. Baranskaya, Organizational Loyalty Scale by J. Meyer, N. Allen, Psychological Well-being Scale by K. Riff (adaptation by T.D. Shevelenkov, P.P. Fesenko), method «Motive realization possibility» by V.I. Dominyak. The study revealed common and different values in the indicators of groups of employees with high and low levels of loyalty on the scales of «Autonomy» and «Personal Growth» (p≤0.05). The correlation analysis revealed reliable positive relations of psychological well-being and emotional, professional loyalty, and negative relations of well-being and disloyal behavior in the group of employees with high loyalty level. In the group of employees with a low level of loyalty, the values of well-being correlate positively with the values of professional loyalty and negatively with the values of continued and normative loyalty.

What Makes Indonesians Satisfied With Their Health? A Multilevel Analysis

National governments are increasingly exploring how the routine collection of subjective well-being data can be a valuable tool for improving public policy. In particular, health satisfaction is an indicator of subjective well-being which can be helpful in evaluating and improving of health policy. This study aimed to examine patterns and determinants of health satisfaction across provinces, considering how its measurement can help governments to deliver more effective health policy. We used secondary data using Happiness Level Assessment Survey conducted by the Central Statistics Agency of Indonesia involved respondents aged 18 to 98 with response rate in 2014 was 94.2%, while in 2017 was 96.4%. To this end, an analysis was performed on 45,881 responses to the 2014 and 2017 Happiness Level Assessment Survey performed by the Central Agency of Statistics. The results showed that there was a significant difference in health satisfaction in 2017 compared with 2014, with health satisfaction in 2017 is higher than that in 2014. Overall, 12 out of 34 provinces experienced a substantial rise in health satisfaction. Subsequently, multi-level modeling was used to explore the extent to which health satisfaction was associated with different individual-level and provincial-level explanatory variables. Here, the analyses showed that health satisfaction among Indonesians is associated with whether individuals live in urban or rural areas, demographic factors, health-related factors, social capital, and leisure time. Overall, the study helps to illuminate the status of health satisfaction across Indonesia, leading to numerous suggestions for improving health policy.

Effects of Depression, Suicidal Ideation, and Gratitude on Flourishing of High School Students: A Moderated Mediation Model of Growth Mindset

Introduction. The subjective well-being index of Korean adolescents has been the lowest among OECD countries. High school students also have the lowest sense of happiness among adolescents. Therefore, this study was to seek a plan to increase the level of happiness of high school students in Korea. Study participants and methods. Participants of this study were 386 high school students enrolled in high schools located in two cities in Chungcheongnam-do. There were 271 (70.4%) males and 114 (29.6%) females. Regarding their grades, there were 245 (63.5%) in the third year of high school, 139 (36.0%) in the first year of high school, and 2 (0.5%) in the second year. For data analysis, SPSS 25.0 and PROCESS macro 3.5.3 were used, and frequency analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and moderated mediation effect analysis were performed. Results. First, flourishing had negative correlations with depression and suicidal ideation, but positive correlations with a growth mindset and gratitude. The correlation coefficient between depression and suicidal ideation (r=0.602, p&lt;0.01) was the highest, followed by that between gratitude and flourishing correlation (r=0.506, p&lt;0.01). Second, a moderated mediation role of growth mindset in the effect of depression on flourishing through suicidal ideation and gratitude was verified. Conditional indirect effects of depression → suicidal ideation → gratitude → flourishing were significant when the growth mindset was low (-0.7390, -0.1323~-0.0353), medium (0.0000, -0.1148~-0.0311), and high (0.7390, -0.1006~-0.0257). Conclusions. We found that the growth mindset plays a moderated mediation role in promoting flourishing by increasing the gratitude of high school students with depression and suicidal ideation. These results will help improve the happiness of high school students who suffer from entering to college and getting a job. In addition, these results will be used as an important academic basis that can be applied to the development and implementation of programs that can increase flourishing for high school students.

СРАВНИТЕЛЬНОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ЧАСТОТЫ ЗАНЯТИЙ ПОВСЕДНЕВНЫМ ТВОРЧЕСТВОМ И СУБЪЕКТИВНОГО БЛАГОПОЛУЧИЯ В ПОЖИЛОМ ВОЗРАСТЕ

Statement of the problem. The increase in the proportion of elderly people in the population makes the problem of subjective well-being in old age urgent. This article examines everyday creativity as a way to increase the subjective well-being and life satisfaction of older people. The purpose of the article is to present comparative research of the frequency of daily creative activities and subjective well-being in old age. The methodology of the study consists of the subject-activity approach; the interview method; the scale of self-assessment of creative activity; the scale of subjective happiness of Lubomirski and Lepper; the Life satisfaction Index (by Neugarten, Havinghurst, and Tobin). The Kruskel-Waliss criterion was used for comparative statistical analysis. The study involved respondents (N = 189) aged 60 to 90 years (M = 68.76; SD = 7.54), of which 71 were men (37.57 %). Research results. Higher indicators of subjective well-being, hedonistic well-being and life satisfaction were revealed in those elderly people who often or daily engage in creativity (p &lt; 0.001). Conclusion. The conducted comparison between the frequency of creative activities among elderly respondents and well-being scales showed that creatively active elderly people have significantly higher levels of well-being than those who never or rarely engage in creativity. The results obtained can be used by socio-psychological services in the development of coping strategies to maintain or increase the level of subjective well-being and life satisfaction in old age.

Subjective Wellbeing in Rural and Urban Central Europe: Evidence from the European Social Survey (2008 and 2018)

Social surveys on wellbeing have been increasingly including measures of subjective wellbeing, alongside more often used objective ones, as they show the importance of a more comprehensive approach to understanding what constitutes good and happy lives. This paper relies on the European Social Survey (ESS) data from Round 4 (2008) and Round 9 (2018) to analyze and compare subjective wellbeing (SWB) in rural and urban areas of eight Central European countries: Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia. Based on available ESS items, we have constructed a more concise version of the VanderWeele et al.’s Flourishing Index, which we termed the Subjective Wellbeing Index (SWI), and which includes the following domains: (1) happiness and life satisfaction, (2) mental and physical health, and (3) financial and material stability. The main results indicate that all eight CE countries have relatively high and improving SWI scores, but stable relational position over the ten-year period. When looking at the rural-urban subsamples, all countries scored higher on the SWI in urban areas in 2008, with significant improvements in the rural areas of more affluent EU countries by 2018 as Austrian, Czech and German rural areas exhibited higher SWI scores than their urban counterparts.

Dismissing Attachment and Global and Daily Indicators of Subjective Well-Being: An Experience Sampling Approach.

The present research examined whether a dismissing attachment style (i.e., being high in attachment avoidance and low in attachment anxiety) is a risk factor for low subjective well-being (SWB). Specifically, we examined the associations between dismissing attachment and two indicators of SWB: global life satisfaction and daily affect. Self-reports of attachment and overall life satisfaction were collected from 257 adults at an initial lab session. Afterward, experience sampling methodology was used to gather repeated measures of positive and negative affect, as well as social context, from the sample for 8 days. Our findings indicate that, on average, dismissing people reported fairly modest levels of overall life satisfaction. Moreover, they experienced relatively low levels of both negative affect and positive affect across the 8-day study period. Overall, our results suggest that dismissing people have a "muted" or dull emotional life.

Taking the pulse of nations: A biometric measure of well-being

A growing literature identifies associations between subjective and biometric indicators of wellbeing. These associations, together with the ability of subjective wellbeing metrics to predict health and behavioral outcomes, have spawned increasing interest in wellbeing as an important concept in its own right. However, some social scientists continue to question the usefulness of wellbeing metrics. We contribute to this literature in three ways. First, we introduce a biometric measure of wellbeing – pulse – that hs been little used. Using nationally representative data on 165,000 individuals from the Health Survey for England and Scottish Health Surveys we show that its correlates are similar in a number of ways to those for happiness, and that it is highly correlated with wellbeing metrics, as well as self-assessed health. Second, we examine the determinants of pulse rates in mid-life (age 42) among the 9000 members of the National Child Development Study, a birth cohort born in a single week in 1958 in Britain. Third, we track the impact of pulse measured in mid-life (age 42) on health and labor market outcomes at age 50 in 2008 and age 55 in 2013. The probability of working at age 55 is negatively impacted by pulse rate a decade earlier. The pulse rate has an impact over and above chronic pain measured at age 42. General health at 55 is lower the higher the pulse rate at age 42, while those with higher pulse rates at 42 also express lower life satisfaction and more pessimism about the future at age 50. Taken together, these results suggest social scientists can learn a great deal by adding pulse rates to the metrics they use when evaluating people’s wellbeing.

A Japanese Subjective Well-Being Indicator Based on Twitter Data

Abstract This study presents for the first time the SWB-J index, a subjective well-being indicator for Japan based on Twitter data. The index is composed by eight dimensions of subjective well-being and is estimated relying on Twitter data by using human supervised sentiment analysis. The index is then compared with the analogous SWB-I index for Italy in order to verify possible analogies and cultural differences. Further, through structural equation models, we investigate the relationship between economic and health conditions of the country and the well-being latent variable and illustrate how this latent dimension affects the SWB-J and SWB-I indicators. It turns out that, as expected, economic and health welfare is only one aspect of the multidimensional well-being that is captured by the Twitter-based indicator.