Subjective Well-being Of People Research Articles

Evaluation of Subjective Well-Being under Neuroleptics in patients with Schizophrenia using Multiple-Indicator Multiple-Cause(MIMIC) Modelling

Corrected by: ErratumGesundheitsökonomie & Qualitätsmanagement 2008; 13(05): 304-304DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1027916

Representation, Corruption, and Subjective Well-Being

This study examines the effect of corruption and representation on people's subjective well-being. Using cross-national data from 68 countries and survey data from 16 European democracies, the analysis demonstrates that people report higher levels of subjective well-being when (a) their governments perform well (i.e., are clean rather than corrupt) and (b) the party of their choice is in power. The effect of corruption overshadows that of macro-economic variables and conditions the effect of representation—having one's party of choice in power increases well-being when governments are clean but not when they are corrupt. These findings provide strong and systematic evidence that governments can have a significant impact on people's well-being.

Toward Independence or Unification?

This study investigates the relationships between subjective well-being and partisanship for people in Taiwan where voters' political ideologies are largely influenced by their positions toward their country's relations with China. It is found that voters preferring a declaration of independence for Taiwan are more likely to be supporters of Pan-Green political parties (i.e. the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU)) while individuals favoring unification with China tend to vote for Pan-Blue political parties (i.e. the Nationalist Party (KMT), the People First Party (PFP), and the New Party). Reflecting an important part of voters' psychological attachments to a political party and their perceptions of national identity, political ideology has effects on voters' satisfactions with the state of economy and the political situation. Politics has attributes to people's subjective well-being through some specific domains of satisfaction, but its effect on the level of overall happiness is insignificant. It appears that political factors have both economic and psychological effects on subjective well-being.

The affective aspect of subjective well-being among Chinese people with and without spinal cord injuries

Purpose. The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) To examine differences in affective aspects of subjective well-being between people with and without spinal cord injuries (SCI), and (b) to explore relationships among perceived health, social support, self-efficacy beliefs, and the affective aspect of subjective well-being in these groups.Method. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in China. A total of 119 out-patients with SCI and 109 college students without a disability participated in the study. Main outcome measures included: (a) The Index of Psychological Well-Being, (b) the Self-Rated Health Status Scale, (c) the Self-Efficacy Scale, and (d) the Social Support Scale.Results. A multiple analysis of the variance indicated that participants with SCI had lower affective subjective well-being, social support, social self-efficacy beliefs, and poor health compared to participants without SCI [F (5, 211) = 22.37, p < 0.001]. A hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis was conducted separately for each SCI and non-SCI group. Results indicated that the combination of perceived health, social support, and social self-efficacy accounted for 25% of the variance in affective subjective well-being [F (8, 104) = 4.22, p < 0.001] among participants with SCI. For participants without SCI, social support and social self-efficacy were related to the affective subjective well-being [F (7, 97) = 4.77, p < 0.001]. They accounted for 27% of the variance in affective subjective well-being.Conclusions. People with SCI may have lower affective subjective well-being than those without SCI, and the perceptions of one's health, social skills, and social support may play important roles in achieving affective subjective well-being in people with SCI.

Psychological well-being of people with epilepsy in Norway

The subjective well-being of people with epilepsy has been studied extensively, but only sparingly in Norway. In 2005, members of the Norwegian Epilepsy Association responded to a short version of the Hopkins Symptom Check List (“psychological distress”) and to a version of the Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, also termed the Cantril Ladder (“life satisfaction”). In this article, the relationships between responses to the two questionnaires (the two outcome variables) and seizure frequency, medication side effects, comorbidity, and surgery, as well as demographic variables such as age, sex, marital status, occupational status, education, and place of residence, are addressed. The analyses demonstrate clear effects of seizure frequency ( P < 0.001) and medication side effects ( P < 0.001) on both outcome variables. People with no comorbidity (no additional diagnoses) reported less psychological distress ( P < 0.001) and greater satisfaction with life ( P < 0.05) than those who reported additional diagnoses. The factor having the strongest impact on the psychological well-being of these people was medication side effects.

The Subjective Well-Being of People with Disabilities : A Gender Comparison to Structural Equation Model of Life Satisfaction

The Subjective Well-Being of People with Disabilities : A Gender Comparison to Structural Equation Model of Life Satisfaction

Happiness: Revising Set-Point Theory and Dynamic Equilibrium Theory to Account for Long Term Change

An adequate theory of happiness or subjective well-being (SWB) needs to link at least three sets of variables: stable person characteristics (including personality traits), life events and measures of well-being (life satisfaction, positive affects) and ill-being (anxiety, depression, negative affects). It also needs to be based on long term data in order to account for long term change in SWB. By including personality measures in the 2005 survey, SOEP becomes the first available dataset to provide long term evidence about personality, life events and change in one key measure of SWB, namely life satisfaction. Using these data, the paper suggests a major revision the set point or dynamic equilibrium theory of SWB in order to account for long term change (Brickman and Campbell, 1971; Costa and McCrae, 1980; Headey and Wearing, 1989; Lykken and Tellegen, 1996). Previously, theory focused on evidence that individuals have their own equilibrium level set point of SWB and revert to that equilibrium once the psychological impact of major life events has dissipated. But the new SOEP panel data show that small but non-trivial minorities record substantial and apparently permanent upward or downward changes in SWB. The paper aims to explain why most people's SWB levels do not change, but why a minority do. The main new result, which must be regarded as highly tentative until replicated, is that the people most likely to record large changes in life satisfaction are those who score high on the personality traits of extraversion (E) and/or neuroticism (N) and/or openness to experience (O). These people in a sense 'roll the dice' more often than others and so have a higher than average probability of recording long term changes in life satisfaction. Data come from the 2843 SOEP respondents who rated their life satisfaction every year from 1985 onwards and then also completed a set of questions about their personality in 2005.

Adaptive Preferences and Capabilities: Some Preliminary Conceptual Explorations

The Capability Approach (CA) as developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, has in part been a response to the problem of adaptive preferences. Their argument says that people might adapt to certain unfavorable circumstances and any self-evaluation in terms of satisfaction or happiness will in this case necessarily be distorted. To evaluate people's well-being in terms of functionings and capabilities guarantees a more objective picture of people's life. Next to this strong criticism on subjective measurements of well-being, we observe an increasing interest in Subjective Well-Being (SWB) or Happiness studies that are included in the broader field of Hedonic Psychology. In this paper, we thus revise the original critique of adaptive preferences and compare it with a more detailed analysis of adaptation as it is presented in hedonic psychology. It becomes clear that adaptation can be a positive as well as a negative phenomenon and that the adaptive preference critique had a particular narrow view on adaptation. However, this does not mean SWB-research is not any longer susceptible to this critique. An alternative way to assess people's subjective well-being, but which could be considered to be more in line with the CA, is proposed by Daniel Kahneman's Objective Happiness. These are all relatively new considerations, especially in economics. Therefore much more research needs to be done on the positive and negative aspects of adaptation to understand its consequences on well-being – especially when evaluated within the capability-space.

Life skills and subjective well-being of people with disabilities: a canonical correlation analysis

This study examined the canonical relationships between a set of life skill variables and a set of subjective well-being variables among a national sample of vocational rehabilitation clients in the USA. Self-direction, work tolerance, general employability, and self-care were related to physical, family and social, and financial well-being. This analysis also found that communication skill is related to family and social well-being, while psychological well-being is not related to any life skills in the set. The results showed that vocational rehabilitation services aimed to improve life functioning will lead to an improvement in subjective quality of life.

Measuring the subjective well-being of people in a psychosocial rehabilitation center and a residential psychiatric setting: The outline of the study and the measurement properties of a multidimensional indicator of well-being.

The outline of an ongoing outcome research project in a day rehabilitation center and in a residential psychiatric setting (with respectively 156 and 86 participants at baseline) in Bruges (Belgium) is presented. The study is first characterized by its emphasis on subjective well-being. Subjective well-being is considered to refer to more than satisfaction with specific domains of life, or the absence of psychiatric complaints. Attention is paid to feelings of empowerment, sense of control, feelings of joy and enthusiasm, and global self-esteem. Various aspects of the social relations of the participants and their satisfaction with services are also assessed. Second, the investigation is based on a longitudinal design with intake interviews, retest interviews during and at the end of the rehabilitation programs, and a follow-up interview. Finally, specific efforts are made to ground the outcome measures in sociological theories of mental health to make a theory-driven evaluation possible. After presenting the rationale of the research project, some preliminary results are given, mainly confined to the determination of the reliability, the construct validity, and the sensitivity to change of the various indicators of well-being.

Who Is Happy?

A flood of new studies explores people's subjective well-being (SWB) Frequent positive affect, infrequent negative affect, and a global sense of satisfaction with life define high SWB These studies reveal that happiness and life satisfaction are similarly available to the young and the old, women and men, blacks and whites, the rich and the working-class Better clues to well-being come from knowing about a person's traits, close relationships, work experiences, culture, and religiosity We present the elements of an appraisal-based theory of happiness that recognizes the importance of adaptation, cultural world-view, and personal goals