Question order sensitivity of subjective well-being measures: focus on life satisfaction, self-rated health, and subjective life expectancy in survey instruments

Abstract Background Area-level deprivation is well known to have an adverse impact on mortality, morbidity, or other specific health outcomes. This study examined how area-level deprivation may affect self-rated health (SRH) and life satisfaction (LS), an issue that is largely understudied. Methods We used individual-level data obtained from a nationwide population-based internet survey conducted between 2019 and 2020, as well as municipality-level data obtained from a Japanese government database (N = 12,461 living in 366 municipalities). We developed multilevel regression models to explain an individual’s SRH and LS scores using four alternative measures of municipality-level deprivation, controlling for individual-level deprivation and covariates. We also examined how health behavior and interactions with others mediated the impact of area-level deprivation on SRH and LS. Results Participants in highly deprived municipalities tended to report poorer SRH and lower LS. For example, when living in municipalities falling in the highest tertile of municipality-level deprivation as measured by the z-scoring method, SRH and LS scores worsened by a standard deviation of 0.05 (p < 0.05) when compared with those living in municipalities falling in the lowest tertile of deprivation. In addition, health behavior mediated between 17.6 and 33.1% of the impact of municipality-level deprivation on SRH and LS, depending on model specifications. Conclusion Results showed that area-level deprivation modestly decreased an individual’s general health conditions and subjective well-being, underscoring the need for public health policies to improve area-level socioeconomic conditions.

Download Full-text

Relative Income and Life Satisfaction among Chinese Adults

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11205651 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (20) ◽

pp. 5651 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chenghua Guan ◽

Yingjie Qiu ◽

Ruopeng An

Keyword(s):

Life Satisfaction ◽

Relative Income ◽

Well Being ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Chinese Adults ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Individual Level ◽

Self Rated Health ◽

The Relationship

Life satisfaction is a key component of people’s subjective well-being. This study assessed the relationship between relative income and life satisfaction among Chinese adults, using data from a cross-sectional survey. Individual-level data (N = 1369) came from the 2016 China Genuine Progress indicator Survey (CGPiS) conducted in Beijing and Chengdu, China. Ordered logistic regressions were performed to examine the relationship between relative income and life satisfaction among CGPiS adult respondents. Respondents’ life satisfaction was positively associated with relative income in comparison to their relatives and friends but not associated with relative income in comparison to their residing community and city. Subgroup analyses replicated the findings among male respondents and respondents with good or excellent self-rated health. In contrast, female respondents’ life satisfaction was positively associated with relative income in comparison to their city of residence, but not associated with relative income in comparison to their relatives, friends, and residing community. Life satisfaction among those with poor or fair self-rated health was not associated with any of the four dimensions of relative income. Relative income in comparison to relatives and friends was positively associated with life satisfaction in Chinese adults. Future studies adopting a longitudinal or experimental design are warranted to replicate the findings.

Download Full-text

Inequalities in Life Expectancy and All-Cause Mortality in the United States by Levels of Happiness and Life Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Study

International Journal of MCH and AIDS (IJMA) ◽

10.21106/ijma.392 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 305-315

Author(s):

Hyunjung Lee ◽

Gopal K. Singh

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Life Satisfaction ◽

Life Expectancy ◽

Global Health ◽

Mortality Risk ◽

Well Being ◽

The United States ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

All Cause Mortality ◽

The Impact

Background: Despite having one of the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita levels, United States (US) ranks lower in subjective well-being, including happiness and life satisfaction, compared with European countries. Studies of the impact of happiness and life satisfaction on life expectancy and mortality in the US are limited or non-existent. Using a national longitudinal dataset, we examined the association between levels of happiness/life satisfaction and US life expectancy and all-cause mortality. Methods: We analyzed the 2001 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) prospectively linked to 2001-2014 mortality records in the National Death Index (NDI) (N=30,377). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model survival time as a function of happiness, life satisfaction, and sociodemographic and behavioral covariates. Results: Life expectancies at age 18 among adults with high levels of happiness and life satisfaction were, respectively, 7.5 and 8.9 years higher compared to those with low levels of happiness and life satisfaction. In Cox models with 14 years of mortality follow-up, all-cause mortality risk was 82% higher (hazard ratio [HR]=1.82; 95% CI=1.59,2.08) in adults with little or no happiness, controlling for age, and 36% higher (HR=1.36; 95% CI=1.17,1.57) in adults with little/no happiness, controlling for sociodemographic, behavioral and health characteristics, when compared with adults reporting happiness all of the time. Mortality risk was 107% higher (HR=2.07; 95% CI=1.80,2.38) in adults who were very dissatisfied with their life, controlling for age, and 39% higher (HR=1.39; 95% CI=1.20,1.60) in adults who were very dissatisfied, controlling for all covariates, when compared with adults who were very satisfied. Conclusions and Global Health Implications: Adults with higher happiness and life satisfaction levels had significantly higher life expectancy and lower all-cause mortality risks than those with lower happiness and satisfaction levels. These findings underscore the significance of addressing subjective well-being in the population as a strategy for reducing all-cause mortality. Key words: • Inequalities • Disparities • Happiness • Life satisfaction • Life expectancy • Mortality • Longitudinal • Social determinants Copyright © 2020 Lee and Singh. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in this journal, is properly cited.

Download Full-text

Becoming a first-time grandparent and subjective well-being. A fixed effects approach.

10.31235/osf.io/29ytg ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Paula Sheppard ◽

Christiaan Willem Simon Monden

Keyword(s):

Life Satisfaction ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Life Expectancy ◽

Employment Status ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

Well Being ◽

Life Transition ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Fixed Effects Models ◽

First Time

Objective: In this study, we examine how individuals are affected by the change in status to grandparenthood for the first time.Background: Being a grandparent, especially an active and involved grandparent, is positively linked to the well-being of individuals with grandchildren, however little is known about how becoming a grandparent affects well-being.Method: We use longitudinal data from fifteen countries in Europe (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe - SHARE) to analyse if becoming a grandparent is associated with three measures of subjective well-being. We use fixed effects models to account for unobserved heterogeneity.Results: We found evidence that becoming a first-time grandparent is associated with fewer depressive symptoms among women, although there was no effect on subjective life expectancy or life satisfaction. For men, we found no evidence for an impact on any outcome tested, although there is an association with increased subjective life expectancy conditional on employment status; only if men were employed when transitioning to grandparenthood. We also found no evidence that actively looking after the grandchild is important for either gender.Conclusion: These results suggest that, at least for women, it is the life transition itself that impacts on well-being, rather than active grandchild-care. More research is needed to verify these findings in other contexts, and over longer periods of time.

Download Full-text

How does area-level deprivation depress an individual’s self-rated health and life satisfaction? Evidence from a nationwide population-based survey in Japan

10.21203/rs.3.rs-46049/v2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Takashi Oshio ◽

Hiromi Kimura ◽

Toshimi Nishizaki ◽

Takashi Omori

Keyword(s):

Life Satisfaction ◽

Health Behavior ◽

Well Being ◽

Population Based ◽

Internet Survey ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Individual Level ◽

Self Rated Health ◽

Level Data ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background: Area-level deprivation is well known to have an adverse impact on mortality, morbidity, or other specific health outcomes. This study examined how area-level deprivation may affect self-rated health (SRH) and life satisfaction (LS), an issue that is largely understudied. Methods: We used individual-level data obtained from a nationwide population-based internet survey conducted between 2019–2020, as well as municipality-level data obtained from a Japanese government database (N=12,461 living in 366 municipalities). We developed multilevel regression models to explain an individual’s SRH and LS scores using four alternative measures of municipality-level deprivation, controlling for individual-level deprivation and covariates. We also examined how health behavior and interactions with others mediated the impact of area-level deprivation on SRH and LS. Results. Participants in highly deprived municipalities tended to report poorer SRH and lower LS. For example, when living in municipalities falling in the highest tertile of municipality-level deprivation as measured by the z-scoring method, SRH and LS scores worsened by a standard deviation of 0.05 (p<0.05) when compared with those living in municipalities falling in the lowest tertile of deprivation. In addition, health behavior mediated between 17.6% and 33.1% of the impact of municipality-level deprivation on SRH and LS, depending on model specifications.Conclusion. Results showed that area-level deprivation modestly decreased an individual’s general health conditions and subjective well-being, underscoring the need for public health policies to improve area-level socioeconomic conditions.

Download Full-text

Individual differences and changes in lifestyle behaviours predict decreased subjective well-being during COVID-19 restrictions in an Australian sample

Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/pubmed/fdab040 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Emily Brindal ◽

Jillian C Ryan ◽

Naomi Kakoschke ◽

Sinead Golley ◽

Ian T Zajac ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Satisfaction ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Online Survey ◽

Protective Factor ◽

Health Behaviours ◽

Well Being ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Australian Sample

Abstract Background Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, social distancing practices were introduced to curb infection rates in many countries. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of these restrictions on behaviours and well-being and whether individual differences predict changes in well-being. Methods Australian adults participated in a cross-sectional, online survey during May 2020. The survey captured demographic information; health behaviours; personality traits; life satisfaction and COVID-19-related attitudes, financial concerns, perceived risks and impacts. Results In total, 3745 (86.8% of 4313) participants completed all items. Participants were mostly female (85.7%) and 56.4 years (standard deviation [SD] = 12.6) on average. Over 95.0% of the sample indicated they had been social distancing or isolating. Health behaviours and well-being had generally worsened, with social connections being the most negatively affected. Life satisfaction was significantly lower since restrictions. For changes in life satisfaction, extroversion was a risk factor and openness to experience was a protective factor. Conclusions Overall, well-being was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated social distancing particularly in this sample containing mainly older women. In future, it will be crucial to understand why and who may be differentially affected, to encourage behaviours that are protective of well-being.

Download Full-text

Changes in Family Roles and Subjective Well-Being among Japanese Adults

Journal of Family Issues ◽

10.1177/0192513x21994137 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0192513X2199413

Author(s):

Yuko Hara

Keyword(s):

Fixed Effects ◽

Transition To Parenthood ◽

Well Being ◽

Family Roles ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Men And Women ◽

Self Rated Health ◽

Japanese Adults ◽

Effect Theory ◽

And Gender

Research in Western countries has demonstrated that marriage is associated with improved well-being, and parenthood with decreased well-being, for both men and women. However, less is known about whether the associations are universal for both genders across countries. Using nine waves of panel data and fixed effects models, this study examines the relationship between changes in family roles and subjective well-being of men and women in the highly gendered social context of Japan. Well-being was assessed across two domains: self-rated health and mental health. The results broadly support the protective effect theory, which posits that marriage itself has a positive effect on well-being; however, no association was observed between becoming a wife and self-rated health. Contrary to what previous research predicts, only men’s self-rated health negatively responds to transition to parenthood. These findings highlight the importance of country context and gender differences in the significance of family obligations.

Download Full-text

Family Solidarity, Social Support, Loneliness, and Well-Being Among Older Adults in Rural China

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1023 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 319-320

Author(s):

Xiaoyan Zhang ◽

Merril Silverstein

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Life Satisfaction ◽

Adult Children ◽

Child Support ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Total Population ◽

Well Being ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

National Bureau ◽

Subjective Well Being

Abstract China is experiencing a large increase in elderly population. In 2019, China’s population aged 60 and above had reached 253 million, accounting for 18.1% of the total population (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2020). By 2050, the number of adults aged 60+ would be up to 430 million, reaching one third of the total population (Du, Zhai & Chen, 2005). Considering such a rapid aging process and the existing large number of older adults in China, it becomes imperative to investigate how psychosocial factors affect this group’s subjective well-being. This study proposed that, among older adults, higher support received from each of the three relational sources (adult children, family and friends) were associated with reduced loneliness and improved well-being. Structural equation modeling was conducted using a sample of rural adults aged 60 and older (N= 1142) from the 2018 wave of data from the Longitudinal Study of Older Adults in Anhui Province, China. Findings indicated that support from adult children directly and indirectly decreased older adults’ depression and improved their life satisfaction through loneliness; while support from family members directly decreased depression but did not directly improve life satisfaction or indirectly improve well-being through loneliness. Although support from friends did not have a significant impact on older adults’ well-being, it indirectly improved well-being through reduced loneliness. Findings have implications for programs or interventions targeting both parent -adult-child support and friends support and reducing rural older adults’ loneliness.

Download Full-text