scholarly journals Understanding subjective well-being: perspectives from psychology and public health

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirti V. Das ◽  
Carla Jones-Harrell ◽  
Yingling Fan ◽  
Anu Ramaswami ◽  
Ben Orlove ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Individual subjective well-being (SWB) is essential for creating and maintaining healthy, productive societies. The literature on SWB is vast and dispersed across multiple disciplines. However, few reviews have summarized the theoretical and empirical tenets of SWB literature across disciplinary boundaries. Methods We cataloged and consolidated SWB-related theories and empirical evidence from the fields of psychology and public health using a combination of online catalogs of scholarly articles and online search engines to retrieve relevant articles. For both theories and determinants/correlates of SWB, PubMed, PsychINFO, and Google Scholar were used to obtain relevant articles. Articles for the review were screened for relevance, varied perspectives, journal impact, geographic location of study, and topicality. A core theme of SWB empirical literature was the identification of SWB determinants/correlates, and over 100 research articles were reviewed and summarized for this review. Results We found that SWB theories can be classified into four groups: fulfillment and engagement theories, personal orientation theories, evaluative theories, and emotional theories. A critical analysis of the conflicts and overlaps between these theories reveals the lack of a coherent theoretical and methodological framework that would make empirical research systematically comparable. We found that determinants/correlates of SWB can be grouped into seven broad categories: basic demographics, socioeconomic status, health and functioning, personality, social support, religion and culture, and geography and infrastructure. However, these are rarely studied consistently or used to test theories. Conclusions The lack of a clear, unifying theoretical basis for categorizing and comparing empirical studies can potentially be overcome using an operationalizable criterion that focuses on the dimension of SWB studied, measure of SWB used, design of the study, study population, and types of determinants and correlates. From our review of the empirical literature on SWB, we found that the seven categories of determinants/correlates identified may potentially be used to improve the link between theory and empirical research, and that the overlap in the determinant/correlates as they relate to multiple theory categories may enable us to test theories in unison. However, doing so in the future would require a conscious effort by researchers in several areas, which are discussed.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 294
Author(s):  
Samantha LeBouef ◽  
Jodi Dworkin

The majority of empirical literature on first generation college students (FGCSs) in the U.S. asserts that because their parents did not attend college, FGCSs are lacking important resources to be successful in college. However, this results in a deficit-based approach to the study of FGCSs that tends to highlight the differences between first-generation and continuing-education students. However, FGCSs possess a wealth of resources from parents and families that make them successful, and that are often ignored in research. Asset-based approaches to the study of FGCSs are becoming more frequent in the form of books, book chapters, and white papers; however, published empirical research has yet to adopt this approach. As a result, a deeper understanding of FGCSs’ experiences is essential to advancing diversity and equity in higher education. To begin to address this gap, a systematic literature review of empirical studies following the PRISMA framework was conducted on first generation college students and family support; the literature was critically reviewed and future directions for the field were identified. Applying a critical, cultural, and familial lens to the study of first-generation college students will contribute to reframing the research narrative towards an asset-based narrative.


2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
John O’Neill

AbstractThe paper addresses two questions central to recent environmental political thought: Can a reduction in consumption be rendered compatible with a maintenance or improvement of well-being? What are the conditions for a sense of citizenship that crosses different generations? The two questions have elicited two conflicting responses. The first has been answered in broadly Epicurean terms: in recent environmental thought appeal has been made to recent hedonic research which appears to show that improvements in subjective well-being can be decoupled from increased material consumption. The second has usually been answered in broadly Aristotelian terms: republicans have suggested that a public world and projects that are shared over generations are a condition of human well-being. These Epicurean and Aristotelian responses appear to look in opposite directions. They start from different accounts of well-being and appear to look in different places for human flourishing. This paper suggests that the broadly Aristotelian response is in fact owed to both problems. It shows that recent empirical research in the hedonic tradition can be rendered consistent with that Aristotelian response.


Author(s):  
Manuel de Maya Matallana ◽  
María López-Martínez ◽  
Prudencio José Riquelme-Perea

Abstract The present paper measures quality of life through a set of dimensions included in the following partial indicators of objective well-being: demography, economic endowment, academic training, employment, health, cultural goods, environment, housing habitability, security and family. Additionally, and independently, subjective well-being is studied to measure the degree of happiness of the population. As a result, a quality of life indicator is obtained that combines both objective and subjective indicators. The methodology used corresponds to that provided by Pena Trapero through the distance measure DP2, which has been widely used in many empirical studies on well-being and quality of life. Among the results obtained, it is worth noting that happiness diminishes as per capita income grows, and that prosperity, understood as social welfare, can be achieved without relying exclusively on material growth. Thus, the Spanish development model must be revised since the material objectives and economic growth do not guarantee the happiness of the population.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adel Alferaih

While a number of studies have reviewed empirical research on individuals’ entrepreneurial intentions (EIs), very little is known about the cumulative performance of frequently used constructs and their direct and indirect relationships with EI. This research has exposed 123 usable empirical studies of EI to weight- and meta-analyses to determine the cumulative performance of various frequently explored relationships. A generic research model of the antecedents of EI is proposed on that basis. The outcomes of this research and its limitations have practical and theoretical implications for future entrepreneurship research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farah Naz ◽  
Dieter Bögenhold

Disenchantment with traditional income-based measures of well-being has led to the search for alternative measures. Two major alternative measures of well-being come from subjective well-being research and the objective capability approach. The capability approach has been largely discussed in the context of development studies and economics and is mainly used within quantitative frameworks, but it also raises many questions that are worthy of discussion from a sociological perspective as well. This study opts for a qualitative approach to transpose capability approach in order to assess the well-being of female homeworkers in the football industry of Pakistan. The aim of this empirical research is to focus on the capabilities of homeworkers in accessing economic, individual, social and psychological aspects of well-being.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinthe Feys ◽  
Antoinette Verhage ◽  
Dominique Boels

The method and results of a scoping review, based on the principles of a systematic literature review, on police accountability are presented with the aim of providing an overview of the characteristics of empirical research on the topic and the main themes covered in this research tradition. To our knowledge, no systematically conducted review has been undertaken although one could help to identify gaps in the (empirical) literature and give insights into the themes studied in this regard. Three main themes were discovered during the review; aside from police accountability as such, many studies related to police integrity or, to a lesser extent, historical facts concerning police accountability or integrity. Two of the most striking findings were the low number of empirical studies included in our thematic synthesis and the limited amount of methodological information reported in these publications. As such, the authors recommend more empirical research regarding police accountability and, more generally, sufficient methodological reporting when writing a publication.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenqing Liu ◽  
Jiayan Lin

Abstract A large number of empirical studies have found evidence that neuroticism is related to personality traits, but no one has integrated the relationship between neuroticism and mental health through meta-analysis. As a personality trait, neuroticism reflects the stable tendency of how individuals experience, feel, evaluate negative emotions and make corresponding behavioural responses. By means of meta-analysis, a preliminary dimension of neuroticism is constructed through an open questionnaire and literature review. On this basis, a preliminary neuroticism questionnaire for college students is compiled. The structural model of College Students' neuroticism questionnaire fits well, and has a high correlation with the neuroticism subscale of the simple version of Big Five Personality Questionnaire, which shows that it has a good structural validity. The positive orientation indicators of subjective well-being, life satisfaction and other mental health indicators were also selected. In addition, self-assessment indicators of physical health were selected. It was found that neuroticism was highly correlated with appeal indicators, indicating that the questionnaire of College Students' neuroticism had good validity.


Author(s):  
Yuta Suzuki ◽  
Noriaki Maeda ◽  
Daigo Hirado ◽  
Taizan Shirakawa ◽  
Yukio Urabe

Psychological distress caused by decreased physical activity (PA) is a growing concern among the elderly due to public health measures since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). We aimed to (1) assess how public health restrictions impact PA, subjective well-being (SWB), and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of community-dwelling elderly, and (2) investigate risk factors that lead to a decline in PA. Self-administered questionnaires assessed the changes in PA, SWB, HRQoL. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify significant associated risk factors for decreased PA. Of 165 participants (valid response rate, 41.3%; mean age, 78.5 ± 8.0 years), 47.3% became less active, 23.0% became more active, and 29.7% maintained PA levels. There was a significant decrease in SWB at baseline and follow-up after COVID-19 restrictions in the less active group (p < 0.01). Higher levels of moderate or strenuous exercise/sports activity at baseline (odds ratio [OR], 1.12; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01–1.24), and lower mental component HRQoL scores at baseline (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.93–0.99) were associated with an increased risk of decreased PA. Public health restrictions impact the PA of the elderly, especially those who had higher levels of exercise/sports activity and lower HRQoL before COVID-19. Decreased PA was strongly associated with lower SWB.


2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (31) ◽  
pp. 8148-8156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler J. VanderWeele

Many empirical studies throughout the social and biomedical sciences focus only on very narrow outcomes such as income, or a single specific disease state, or a measure of positive affect. Human well-being or flourishing, however, consists in a much broader range of states and outcomes, certainly including mental and physical health, but also encompassing happiness and life satisfaction, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships. The empirical literature from longitudinal, experimental, and quasiexperimental studies is reviewed in attempt to identify major determinants of human flourishing, broadly conceived. Measures of human flourishing are proposed. Discussion is given to the implications of a broader conception of human flourishing, and of the research reviewed, for policy, and for future research in the biomedical and social sciences.


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