Solitary eating, an inferior alternative? An examination of time-use data in South Korea

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-432
Author(s):  
Sangmoon Kim

This study has two objectives: (1) to investigate the changes in the frequency, duration, and timing of solitary, family, and social meals in South Korea, and (2) to examine the effects of these meals on subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction). As for the latter objective, it was hypothesized that solitary and desynchronized meals would be associated with lower life satisfaction, whereas family, social, and synchronized meals would be linked with higher life satisfaction. Analyses of the time-use data between 1999 and 2014 revealed that family meals were being rapidly replaced by both solitary and social meals. Contrary to the thesis of temporal destructuration, however, the collective rhythms of eating became more pronounced in South Korea. Regarding the effects of the meals, eating together had positive effects on life satisfaction, whereas eating alone did not. The effects of solitary meals varied across individuals, based upon the level of voluntariness and scheduling. Moreover, eating together, especially with family members, protected individuals from the adverse impacts of a desynchronized eating rhythm.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mário B. Ferreira ◽  
Filipa de Almeida ◽  
Jerônimo C. Soro ◽  
Márcia Maurer Herter ◽  
Diego Costa Pinto ◽  
...  

This paper aims to explore the association between over-indebtedness and two facets of well-being – life satisfaction and emotional well-being. Although prior research has associated over-indebtedness with lower life satisfaction, this study contributes to the extant literature by revealing its effects on emotional well-being, which is a crucial component of well-being that has received less attention. Besides subjective well-being (SWB), reported health, and sleep quality were also assessed. The findings suggest that over-indebted (compared to non-over-indebted) consumers have lower life satisfaction and emotional well-being, as well as poorer (reported) health and sleep quality. Furthermore, over-indebtedness impacts life satisfaction and emotional well-being through different mechanisms. Consumers decreased perceived control accounts for the impact of over-indebtedness on both facets of well-being (as well as on reported health and sleep). Financial well-being (a specific component of life satisfaction), partly mediates the impact of indebtedness status on overall life satisfaction. The current study contributes to research focusing on the relationship between indebtedness, well-being, health, and sleep quality, and provides relevant theoretical and practical implications.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
ALPASLAN AKAY ◽  
GOKHAN KARABULUT ◽  
LEVENT YILMAZ

Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), this paper investigates how pro-active time-use (e.g., in sports/arts/socializing) relates to subjective well-being of the unemployed and their probability of finding a new job. Allowing for a variety of socio-demographic and -economic observed characteristics, we find that pro-activity is negatively associated with the well-being loss upon unemployment. That is, the negative unemployment shock on their well-being is mitigated through various stress-reducing activities including, in particular, art participation, socializing, going on trips and visiting a church. We also find that the probability of returning to the labor market later is positively associated with pro-activity during the unemployment period. The results are robust to various checks including estimators, measures and individual personality characteristics which can correlate with time-use activities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 294-318
Author(s):  
Yun-Suk Lee

Abstract Some wives and husbands maintain separate residences. This form of couple is understood as a major transition in the gender arrangement of work and family. Using a sample of “weekend couples,” where Korean wives and husbands live separately, this study (1) compared weekend and typical couples in time spent on housework, and (2) examined whether time on housework is associated with life satisfaction in weekend and typical couples. I found that, while women in weekend couples spend much less time on household chores compared to women in typical couples, men in weekend couples assign more time to housework compared to their counterparts. Additionally, I found that, for women in both weekend and typical couples, more household tasks are related to lower levels of general satisfaction. The results suggest that maintaining separate residences may balance time use patterns between two partners, which could have important implications for the subjective well-being of weekend couples.


Author(s):  
Emily Brindal ◽  
Jillian C Ryan ◽  
Naomi Kakoschke ◽  
Sinead Golley ◽  
Ian T Zajac ◽  
...  

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 319-320
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Zhang ◽  
Merril Silverstein

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.


Author(s):  
Richard Bränström ◽  
John E. Pachankis

Abstract Purpose Discriminatory laws, policies, and population attitudes, surrounding transgender people vary greatly across countries, from equal protection under the law and full acceptance to lack of legal recognition and open bias. The consequences of this substantial between-country variation on transgender people’s health and well-being is poorly understood. We therefore examined the association between structural stigma and transgender people’s life satisfaction across 28 countries. Methods Data from transgender participants (n = 6771) in the 2012 EU-LGBT-survey regarding identity concealment, day-to-day discrimination, and life satisfaction were assessed. Structural stigma was measured using publicly available data regarding each country’s discriminatory laws, policies, and population attitudes towards transgender people. Results Multilevel models showed that country-level structural stigma was associated with lower life satisfaction, an association largely explained by higher levels of identity concealment in higher-structural-stigma countries. Yet identity concealment was also associated with lower day-to-day discrimination and therefore protected against even lower life satisfaction. Conclusion The results emphasize the importance of changing discriminatory legislation and negative population attitudes to improve transgender people’s life satisfaction, and also highlight targets for intervention at interpersonal and individual levels.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Oshio ◽  
Hiromi Kimura ◽  
Toshimi Nishizaki ◽  
Takashi Omori

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.


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