scholarly journals Impact of the EU Blue Card programme on cultural participation and subjective well-being of migrants in Germany

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0253952
Author(s):  
Eleftherios Giovanis ◽  
Sacit Hadi Akdede ◽  
Oznur Ozdamar
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cultural Participation ◽  
First Generation Immigrants ◽  
Cultural Activities ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The first aim of this study is to investigate the role of the EU Blue Card programme implemented in 2012 in Germany. In particular, we aim to explore the impact on the participation in cultural activities of first-generation non-European Union (EU) and non-European Economic Area (EEA) migrants, such as attendance to cinema, concerts and theatre. The second aim is to examine the impact of cultural activities on subjective well-being (SWB), measured by life satisfaction. We compare the cultural participation and life satisfaction between the treatment group that is the non-EU/EEA first-generation immigrants and the control group that consists, not only of natives and second-generation immigrants but also composes of EU/EEA first-generation immigrants who are not eligible to the programme. We will apply a sharp and a fuzzy regression discontinuity design (RDD) within a seemingly unrelated regression equations (SURE) system using the Ordered Probit method. The empirical analysis relies on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) survey over the period 2015–2018. The results show that the treated subjects experience an increase in cultural participation activities and an improvement in their SWB, as a result of the EU Blue Card programme, compared to the control group. Participation in classical music performance, opera or theatre influences more the SWB compared to other cultural activities. Policies that promote labour market integration and participation in cultural activities will enable immigrants to integrate into the social norms of the host societies and improve their SWB.

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

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
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 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.

Studying Subjective Well-Being during a Quarantine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Browning ◽  
E. Scott Geller
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Mood State ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Mood States ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Psychology Class ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Impact

To investigate the impact of writing a gratitude letter on particular mood states, we asked students in two university classes (a research class and a positive psychology class) to complete a 15-item mood assessment survey (MAS) twice a day (once in the morning and once at night). The research students who signed up for one or two pass/fail field-study credits in a research class also completed the MAS twice a day, but they did not write the weekly gratitude letter that was expected from the students in the positive psychology class. Each mood state was averaged per each day for the participants in each group and compared between the Gratitude Group and the Control Group. No group difference occurred for some mood states like “incompetent,” but for the “unmotivated” mood state, a significant difference was found. To investigate the potential effect of weekday, we compared the average mood rating between groups for each day of the week. For the mood state of “unmotivated”, a remarkable dip occurred on Wednesday for the Gratitude group, but not for the Control group. These results indicated that writing a gratitude letter increased the benefactor’s motivation, especially on the day when it was accomplished.

scholarly journals The Impact of Social Support and Pregnancy on Subjective Well-Being: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Buyantungalag Battulga ◽  
Marc Reginald Benjamin ◽  
Hong Chen ◽  
Enkhmandakh Bat-Enkh
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Protective Role ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Health Maintenance ◽  
The Impact

Background: Subjective well-being (SWB) has a protective role in mental health maintenance and is prone to change during short stressful moments, such as pregnancy. Longstanding research suggests that social support (SS) from the partner and family members of pregnant women directly or indirectly acts as a buffer against negative mental outcomes. For happier pregnancies, it is important to understand how SS and pregnancy affect the SWB.Objective: This review aims to examine the extended association of being pregnant and SS on the SWB of pregnant women.Methods: A systematic review was conducted in PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. Articles published in peer-reviewed journals were included regardless of the year and if they had assessed the impact of at least one SWB or SS outcome among healthy pregnant women. The tools of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute were used for quality assessment.Results: Thirty-four studies that assessed the domains of SWB measurements, such as happiness, quality of life (QoL), life satisfaction, positive and negative effects, and well-being, were included and its association with either pregnancy or SS was summarized. Variable results, such as life satisfaction, happiness, and mental component of QoL, were found to be high during pregnancy, but positive emotion and physical components of QoL had decreased. Almost universally, SS during pregnancy was found to have a positive association with all measurements of SWB.Conclusion: This study had found that, despite some arising trends, pregnancy itself does not necessarily have similar impacts on SWB across healthy pregnant women. However, SS had a significant effect on SWB.

scholarly journals The Effect of Fixed-Term Employment on Well-Being: Disentangling the Micro-Mechanisms and the Moderating Role of Social Cohesion

2020 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-115
Author(s):  
Sonja Scheuring
Keyword(s):  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Deprivation Model ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This paper examines the impact of fixed-term employment on well-being from a cross-national comparative perspective by testing (1) the effect heterogeneity across European countries, (2) to which extent Jahoda’s Latent Deprivation Model provides a sufficient micro-level explanation for the underlying mechanisms and (3) whether the macro-level factor of social cohesion weakens the micro-level impacts. We investigate the effects in both an upwards (permanent employment) and a downwards (unemployment) comparative control group design. Due to the mediating role of social contacts on the micro-level, we assume social cohesion on the country-level to moderate the main effects: A high degree of societal affiliation should substitute the function of social contacts in the work environment of individuals. Using microdata from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2012 for 23 countries and applying multilevel estimation procedures, we find that there is a remarkable variation in the effects across countries. Even though in each country fixed-term employees have a lower subjective well-being compared to permanent ones, the point estimates vary from .17 to 1.19 units. When comparing fixed-term employees to unemployed individuals, the coefficients even range from − .27 to 1.25 units. More specifically, a negative effect indicates that having a fixed-term contract is worse than unemployment in some countries. Moreover, pooled linear regression models reveal that Jahoda’s Latent Deprivation Model explains about three-quarters of the micro-level effect sizes for both directions. Eventually, social cohesion on the country-level diminishes the individual-level well-being differences between fixed-term employees and permanent individuals but not between fixed-term employees and the unemployed.

scholarly journals Cultural Participation and Subjective Well-Being in Latin America: Does Ethnic-Racial Ascription Matter?

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 53-70
Author(s):  
Javier Reyes-Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Ordered Logit ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Cultural Participation ◽  
Logit Regression ◽  
Positive Impacts

Cultural participation has been evidenced to bring several benefits to the well-being of individuals. However, the analysis of this relationship has been addressed mostly in the context of Westernized countries, without considering the diversity of populations in Latin America. Therefore, the aim of this manuscript is to explore the association between cultural participation and subjective well-being (measured by life satisfaction) in Latin America, considering ethnic-racial ascription. With data from the 2013 Latinobarómetro survey (n=20204), several ordered logit regression analyses were performed. Results suggest that read books, read news, attend movies, attend theater, visit heritage places, and participation in community celebrations are associated with life satisfaction. However, these relationships show differentiated patterns depending on the ethnic-racial ascription, which implies that the positive impacts of cultural participation cannot be attributed to all populations, highlighting a process of social exclusion where some individuals get benefits of cultural participation, while others do not.

The Great Recession and Life Satisfaction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ifcher ◽  
Amanda Cabacungan
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Housing Price ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Wealth Effects ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Behavioral Risk ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Impact

Using data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we examine the impact of the Great Recession on subjective well-being (as measured by life satisfaction) and attempt to identify disparate effects by age. We find that those approaching retirement age (aged 55 to 64) experienced reduced life satisfaction after the recession, whereas younger working-aged adults did not. The disparate effects by age cannot be explained by income or unemployment trends, but may be explained by wealth effects. For example we find that the life satisfaction of those approaching retirement age, but not of younger working-age adults, is closely correlated with wealth indices (e.g. the Case–Shiller Housing Price Index and the S&P 500 Index).

scholarly journals A life satisfaction approach to valuing the impact of health behaviours on subjective well-being

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yipu Shi ◽  
Craig Joyce ◽  
Ron Wall ◽  
Heather Orpana ◽  
Christina Bancej
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Market Values ◽  
Intermediate Outcomes ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Increasingly, decision-makers are interested in understanding the returns on investments in programs and policies that promote health and prevent chronic diseases. While the costs of these programs are more easily quantified, many of the outcomes they aspire to achieve are intangible and lack obvious market values. The subjective well-being (SWB) method was developed to value a wide range of non-market goods, including health outcomes directly in monetary terms. This paper presents an application of the SWB approach to estimate the monetary value of health-promoting behaviours as the intermediate outcomes of health promotion and chronic disease prevention programs and policies. Methods Life satisfaction (LS) was used as a proxy of individuals’ SWB. Based on the combined Canadian Community Health Survey 2009–10 data, we modeled LS as a function of income and healthy behaviours, controlling for the socio-demographic factors associated with LS at the individual level using ordinary least squares regression. Equivalent effects of income and healthy behaviours on LS derived from the models allowed us to estimate the trade-off between income and healthy behaviours. Results We found that income and healthy behaviours were positively associated with LS. The values of increased physical activity, an additional daily serving of fruits/vegetables, and not smoking are respectively $631, $115 and $563 per week. These represent the amounts of additional weekly income required to maintain an individual at their level of LS in the absence of each of these behaviours. Conclusions The SWB method holds promise as a method to monetize the value of a range of non-market goods, including healthy behaviours for which market values do not exist. The SWB method can be applied efficiently and cost-effectively using readily available survey data.

Comparative Exploration of Psychological Health and Subjective Well-being among Fertile and Infertile Females

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-92
Author(s):  
Ruqia Safdar Bajwa ◽  
Hamida Bibi
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Past History ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Satisfaction With Life Scale ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Infertile Women ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

Psychological health directly affects life satisfaction especially to those women who face social and family pressure about their infertility. A wide range of research studies comparing fertile and infertile women documented that there is negative impact of infertility on subjective well-being and global life satisfaction (Abbey et al., 1991, 1992; Callan, 1987; Callan& Hennessey, 1988). The present study was aimed to investigate the impact of psychological health on life satisfaction among fertile and infertile females. Through the convenience sampling technique, a sample of 310 (N=310) fertile and infertile women was selected whose age ranged between 25 to 50 years. Demographic variables included age, employment status, level of education, duration of marital life, type of marriage and family system for both fertile and infertile females. To be included in sample, Women must have been diagnosed with infertility (primary or secondary), they must not have adopted any child, and marriage duration must be at least 2 years and must not have past history of psychiatric illness. General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was used for current psychological health and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) was used to measure life satisfaction. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 21. Descriptive statistics, Regression analysis, ANOVA and t-test were used to analyze the data. Results have shown that psychological health has impact on life satisfaction in both fertile and infertile groups of women. Furthermore, results show that level of life satisfaction and psychological health is more prevalent in educated and employed women as compared to uneducated and unemployed women. To conclude, this study will be helpful in resolving psychological problems of the infertile females. Education can increase awareness about infertility and infertile females can meet the challenges of the society and can stand with better health and emotions.

scholarly journals Not Getting What You Want? The Impact of Income Comparisons on Subjective Well-Being—Findings of a Population-Based Longitudinal Study in Germany

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (15) ◽  
pp. 2655
Author(s):  
André Hajek ◽  
Hans-Helmut König
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Net Income ◽  
The Impact

Previous studies have mainly focused on interindividual income comparisons (e.g., comparisons with colleagues or neighbors), whereas intraindividual income comparisons (i.e., difference between factual income and expectations) have rarely been investigated in well-being research. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of intraindividual income comparisons on subjective well-being (negative/positive emotions and life satisfaction) longitudinally. Data from 2005 to 2013 (biannually) were used from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), a nationally representative, longitudinal study. Affective well-being (negative and positive emotions) were quantified by using the affective well-being scale-SOEP. Life satisfaction was quantified using the widely used one-item form. Intraindividual income comparisons were analyzed by using the distance between the own individual income and fair income (“how high would your net income have to be in order to be just”). We tested whether negative (i.e., factual income was lower than their self-rated just income) and positive income comparisons (otherwise) affect the outcome measures differently. Fixed effects regressions showed that positive emotions increased with positive income comparisons in the total sample (β = 0.16, p < 0.05). In contrast, negative income comparisons neither affect negative emotions nor satisfaction with life. Strategies to shift income expectations might be beneficial for increasing positive emotions.

scholarly journals Interaction Between Subjective Well-Being, Economic Activity and Education in the EU

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 285-293
Author(s):  
Artūras Gataūlinas ◽  
Rasa Zabarauskaitė
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Employment Level ◽  
Work Activity ◽  
Lower Education ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The article examines the impact of professional well-being of EU citizens on their life satisfaction at both micro and macro levels. The following indicators were selected to describe the professional well-being: involvment in the official employment, level of education, and job satisfaction. The findings of the article suggest that employed respondents evaluated their subjective well-being significantly higher as compared to those not participating in the labour market. Similar findings were drawn when comparing subjective well-being of the respondents in relation to their education. Respondents with higher education reported significantly higher statistically proven subjective well-being than those with lower education. In the article, the interpretation of the findings is based on the conceptual model of subjective well-being of needs as well as on the role of employment and education in satisfaction of physiological and socially acceptable needs of individuals. Work activity is more directly linked with the satisfaction of individual needs than education. However, engagement in work has only an impact on subjective well-being if work activity is perceived as job satisfaction. If employment is perceived by individuals as providing greater satisfaction, it tends to make a more positive impact on the subjective well-being of individuals compared to activities that are perceived as providing less satisfaction.

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