scholarly journals The life course and subjective well-being across generations – an analysis based on cross-national surveys (2002–2016)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideko Matsuo ◽  
Koen Matthijs
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Native People ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Positive Assessment ◽  
The Life Course

This paper identifies subjective well-being trajectories through happiness measures as influenced by time, socio-economic, demographic and behavioural determinants. Hierarchical age-period-cohort models are applied to European Social Survey (2002–2016) data on the population aged 30 and older in 10 countries. A U-shaped relationship between age and happiness is found for some countries, but a rather flat pattern and considerable diversity beyond age 80 are detected for other countries. Lower happiness levels are found for baby boomers (1945–1964) than for preboomers and post-boomers, and also for late boomers (1955–1964) than for early boomers (1945–1954). Women, highly educated and native people are shown to have higher happiness levels than men, less educated and non-native people, respectively. Moreover, a positive assessment of income, having a partner, and being a parent, in good health, employed and socially active are all found to have a positive impact on happiness levels. We find evidence of gaps in happiness levels due to differences in socio-economic characteristics over the life course in some, but not in all of the countries analysed.

scholarly journals Endogenous Selection Bias and Cumulative Inequality over the Life Course: Evidence from Educational Inequality in Subjective Well-Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-350
Author(s):  
Fabian Kratz ◽  
Alexander Patzina
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Interviewer Effects ◽  
Endogenous Selection ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract According to theories of cumulative (dis-)advantage, inequality increases over the life course. Labour market research has seized this argument to explain the increasing economic inequality as people age. However, evidence for cumulative (dis-)advantage in subjective well-being remains ambiguous, and a prominent study from the United States has reported contradictory results. Here, we reconcile research on inequality in subjective well-being with theories of cumulative (dis-)advantage. We argue that the age-specific endogenous selection of the (survey) population results in decreasing inequalities in subjective well-being means whereas individual-level changes show a pattern of cumulative (dis-)advantage. Using repeated cross-sectional data from the European Social Survey (N = 15,252) and employing hierarchical age-period-cohort models, we replicate the finding of decreasing inequality from the United States with the same research design for Germany. Using panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (persons = 47,683, person-years = 360,306) and employing growth curve models, we show that this pattern of decreasing inequality in subjective well-being means is accompanied by increasing inequality in intra-individual subjective well-being changes. This pattern arises because disadvantaged groups, such as the low educated and individuals with low subjective well-being show lower probabilities of continuing to participate in a survey and because both determinants reinforce each other. In addition to allowing individual changes and attrition processes to be examined, the employed multi-cohort panel data have further key advantages for examining inequality in subjective well-being over the life course: They require weaker assumptions to control for period and cohort effects and make it possible to control for interviewer effects that may influence the results.

scholarly journals Marital Strain and Support and Subjective Well-Being in Later Life: Ascribing a Role to Early-Life Conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 407-407
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks ◽  
Yingling Liu
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Marital Support ◽  
Lagged Dependent Variable ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Marital Strain

Abstract Decades of research have the beneficial effects of marital support and the detrimental consequences of marital strain on health and well-being. However, we know relatively less about how circumstances in childhood—a key developmental period of the life course—influence the relational structure in which later life is embedded and any implications this may hold for well-being. We integrate the life course perspective with the stress process model to offer a framework for how childhood conditions (childhood happiness, family structure, and financial strain) moderate the relationship between marital support/strain and subjective well-being in older adulthood in potentially different ways for men and women. The consequences of marital strain may be more severe and the benefits of marital support may not be as strongly felt for those adults who experienced greater adversity during childhood. Drawing on longitudinal data from Waves 2 (2010-2011) and 3 (2015-2016) of the NSHAP project (N = 1,376), results from lagged dependent variable models suggest that marital support buffers the effect of not living with both parents in childhood on subjective well-being for men. Meanwhile, women raised in families that experienced financial hardship reported lower subjective well-being in the context of marital strain in later life. No significant interaction effects were obtained for childhood happiness. Taken together, our findings suggest that adverse experiences in childhood can be scarring, particularly in the context of strained intimate relationships. However, a supportive marriage can, in some cases, offset the effects of childhood hardship on subjective well-being in later life.

scholarly journals The Long Shadow of Youth: Girls’ Transition From Full-Time Education and Later-Life Subjective Well-Being in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baowen Xue ◽  
Penny Tinkler ◽  
Anne McMunn
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
English Longitudinal Study

Abstract Objectives To investigate whether the timing and nature of women’s transitions out of full-time (FT) education are related to later-life subjective well-being and the life-course experiences that might explain any associations seen. Methods Data are from women in Wave 3 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing who have participated in the life history interview and were aged 50+ at the interview (n = 3,889). Using multichannel sequence analysis, we identified 6 types of transition out of FT education (ages 14–26). Regression models were used to examine associations between transition types and life satisfaction, quality of life, and depressive symptoms at age 50+. Results Women who made early transitions to married parenthood and FT domestic labor had lower levels of well-being on all 3 later-life well-being outcomes (p < .01), compared to women who made later transitions to family life and remained employed. Women who remained single up to age 26 also had lower life satisfaction (p < .05) and quality of life (p < .01) in later life than their counterparts who married and had children. These associations were explained by the life-course socioeconomic and relationship pathways. Advantaged childhood socioeconomic circumstances and higher educational qualifications set “Later Marriage and Later employment” women apart onto advantaged trajectories and a better quality of life later (p < .01). Discussion The timing and nature of exits from FT education played a pivotal role in setting people onto life-course trajectories that influence well-being in later life for this older generation of women.

scholarly journals Life Satisfaction and Migration - What Relationship?

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-127
Author(s):  
Ioana Ciorbagiu ◽  
Adrian Stoica ◽  
Monica Mihaila
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Economic Determinants ◽  
And Migration

AbstractThe aim of the paper is to empirically assess if immigrations is a potential predictor of life satisfaction in European countries, considering also other socio-economic determinants. For this purpose, we are using data from the European Quality of Life Survey 2016 implemented by Eurofound. Our results show that immigration, measured here by migrants born in another country, has a net positive impact on subjective well-being, and strictly in this context, migration does not prove to be a threat on well-being. Also, the results suggest that immigration leads to well-being in different ways, more precisely it seems to support a better quality of life for the more privileged and not so much for the less privileged. The statistical and econometrical evaluation of the conection between life satisfaction and other determinants, grouped in categories such as demographical, socio-professional, economical highlights a series of general and specific influences. Subjective well-being, representing eudaimonic well-being, is positively associated with an improvement in the areas of life satisfaction, especially with the standard of living and family life. We also identified positive influence on life satisfaction, in relation to aspects such as the freedom to decide how to live, the efforts made to have a better life or individuals’ own optimism. A very important aspect is a good health, a reduced risk of psychological depression and chronic physical and mental problems.

scholarly journals Happy Cultures? A Multilevel Model of Well-Being with Individual and Contextual Human Values

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Bruna
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Human Values ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
National Human ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Positive Direct

AbstractDespite the abundant literature in Happiness Science, no paper to date has studied the joint effects of human values on subjective well-being at individual and contextual level. Using European Social Survey data for life satisfaction and Salomon H. Schwartz’s scale for human values with four and ten dimensions, this paper presents novel evidence on the direct effects of individual, regional, and national human values, utilizing two different ways of building cultural indicators of human values. We show that regional factors explain approximately 2% of the dispersion of individual life satisfaction, whereas national factors explain around 12%. The results on the effects of individual human values support Sortheix and Schwartz’s hypothesis, with a significant difference: Individual Conformity has a positive impact on well-being, not the negative sign Sortheix and Schwartz predict for Conservation values. We also find positive direct cultural effects for Benevolence and Conformity and negative effects for Tradition. Additionally, we propose a research agenda for human values and contextual effects on well-being studies.

scholarly journals A Faith to Move Mountains? Childhood Abuse, Religious Change, and Mental Health at Midlife

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 461-461
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Childhood Abuse ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Attendance ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Religious Importance ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Of all the various forms of adversity experienced during childhood, childhood maltreatment (emotional and physical abuse) is shown to have the largest impacts on mental health and well-being. Yet we still have a limited understanding of why some victims of early maltreatment suffer immense mental health consequences later on in the life course, while others are able to cushion the blow of these early insults. Using two waves of data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), this study considers change in religiosity as a buffer across three dimensions for victims of childhood abuse: religious importance, attendance, and the specific act of seeking comfort through religion. Results suggest that increases in religious comfort during adulthood are positively associated with adult mental health for victims of abuse, while decreases in religious comfort over time were associated with worse mental health. Changes in religious attendance and religious importance were not significant associated with mental health for victims of abuse. Taken together, my results show that the stress-moderating effects of religion for victims of childhood maltreatment are contingent on the stability or increases or decreases in religiosity over the life course, which has been overlooked in previous work.

scholarly journals Generational Portrait of Spanish Society in the Face of Climate Change. A Question to Consider for the Green Economy under the Well-Being Approach

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 807
Author(s):  
María-José Foncubierta-Rodríguez ◽  
Rafael Ravina-Ripoll ◽  
José Antonio López-Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Action ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Spanish Society ◽  
The Face ◽  
Two Phases

Climate change is emerging as an issue of progressive attention, and therefore awareness, in societies. In this work, the problem is addressed from a generational perspective in Spanish society and is carried out from the approaches of awareness, human action, and self-responsibility. All this from the search of the subjective well-being and the citizens’ happiness, as one of the bases of sustainable development initiatives. With data from the European Social Survey R8, from EUROSTAT, we work in two phases: (1) descriptive and inferential on possible associations of the items with the variable Age, and (2) calculation of probabilities between groups through logistic regression. The results confirm a general awareness, but with apparent statistical differences between age groups. In general, the youngest are the most aware, blame human activity most intensely, are the most concerned, and are the most willing to act. And it is the older people who are less aware of all these issues. Based on this finding, and from the approach mentioned above, it is recommended that leaders, both in the macroeconomic and microeconomic sectors, develop initiatives that sensitize and encourage older age groups.

scholarly journals Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall - Do East and West Germans still differ in their attitudes towards women’s employment and the division of housework?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gundula Zoch
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Maternal Employment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Female Employment ◽  
Gender Ideologies ◽  
East And West Germany ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
East West

Previous cross-sectional studies show less traditional gender ideologies among East Germans after German reunification and even suggest slightly increasing East-West disparities. These findings challenge the assumptions of stable ideologies over the life-course as well as cohort replacement-based convergence over time. This study expands on previous research by analysing differences and trends in gender ideologies in the context of East and West Germany using data from the German Family Panel pairfam (2008-2018). It distinguishes between three cohorts born in the early 1970s, 1980s and 1990s who have different socialisation experiences before and after reunification. The results show smaller East-West differences in gender ideologies for the youngest cohort compared with larger gaps for the two older cohorts born before reunification. Convergence of ideologies is partly due to modernisation trends in West Germany and re-traditionalisation effects in East Germany across cohorts, but also due to attitudinal changes with age. Attitudes towards housework and female employment have particularly converged, while views on maternal employment and the consequences for children’s well-being continue to differ between East and West Germany. The findings underline the importance of persistent, long-lasting ideology differences due to the regime‐specific socialisation and composition resulting from the division of Germany, but also emphasizes the role of ideology change across cohorts and over the life-course for the overall converging trends in gender ideologies.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document