scholarly journals Political Trust Influences the Relationship Between Income and Life Satisfaction in Europe: Differential Associations With Trust at National, Community, and Individual Level

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyne Clench-Aas ◽  
Arne Holte
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
National Level ◽  
National Income ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Structural Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Personal Community

Background: A high level of well-being is associated with personal, community and national income, as well as personal, social and political trust. How these measures relate to each other within and between countries and within and across structural levels of society is largely unknown. To study this, we propose a three-layer nested socio-structural model. Each layer (individual, community, country) contains a measure of income, trust and satisfaction.Method: With this model, we analyzed data from two waves of the European Social Survey (ESS, 2006, 2012) in 19 countries (N = 72,461; weighted N = 73,307) with multilevel techniques. Indicators were personal, community, and national income; personal, social and political trust; and personal life satisfaction, social and political satisfaction.Results: Personal life satisfaction was associated with all income and trust variables. Greatest effect on personal life satisfaction, came from the national level, including political trust and income. However, 2/3 of the variance in personal life satisfaction came from income, that is personal, community and national. Within each socio-structural level, satisfaction was associated with income, but significantly modified by trust. When income and trust at all three levels were included, there was a significant association of the national layer on the social layer, and of the social layer on the individual layer as to the income–personal life satisfaction relationship. Consistent with the “the buffer hypothesis,” all three forms of trust acted as a buffer against the effect of personal income on life satisfaction. Low-trust countries had strong income–personal life satisfaction associations and the moderating role of trust was also stronger. High- and medium-trust countries had no such associations. Likewise, direct associations between political and personal trust were much stronger in the low-trust countries.Conclusion: The model presented in this study provides authorities with a framework for policies that will improve the general well-being of their population. Trust and income strongly influence personal life satisfaction. Money is the most important. However, trust forcefully dampens the effect of income. Politicians who want to enhance their population's personal life satisfaction, should raise the levels of trust in their electorate.

scholarly journals Trust Buffers Against Reduced Life Satisfaction When Faced With Financial Crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyne Clench-Aas ◽  
Ingrid Bergande ◽  
Ragnhild Bang Nes ◽  
Arne Holte
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
National Level ◽  
National Income ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Global Crisis ◽  
Country Level

Background: In light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its large economic consequences, we used a three-layer nested structural model (individual, community, and country), each with a corresponding measure of income, trust, and satisfaction, to assess change in their interrelationships following a global crisis; which, in this study, is the 2008/2009 financial crisis.Methods: With multilevel techniques, we analyzed data from two waves (2006 and 2012) of the European Social Survey (ESS) in 19 countries (weighted N = 73,636) grouped according to their levels of trust.Results: In high trust countries, personal life satisfaction (LS) was not related to personal, community, or national income before or after the crisis. In contrast, in low trust countries, LS was strongly related to all three forms of income, especially after the crisis. In all country groups, personal, social, and political trust moderated their respective effects of income on LS (“the buffer hypothesis”). Political trust moderated the effects of income more strongly in low trust countries. The moderating effect of political trust increased sharply after the crisis. After the crisis, national-level factors (e.g., political trust, national income) increased their importance for LS more than the factors at the local and individual levels. However, the relative importance of all the three forms of income to LS increased after the crisis, to the detriment of trust.Conclusion: Economic crises seem to influence personal LS less in high trust countries compared with low trust countries. Hence, high trust at a national level appears to buffer the negative impact of a financial crisis on personal satisfaction. Overall, the factors at the national level increased their impact during the financial crisis. When facing a global crisis, the actions taken by institutions at the country level may, thus, become even more important than those taken before the crisis.

Disability Self-Identification and Well-Being in Emerging Adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 306-316
Author(s):  
Holly McCartney Chalk ◽  
Christopher P. Barlett ◽  
Natalie D. Barlett
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Support Services ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Psychosocial Outcomes ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychiatric Disabilities ◽  
Positive View ◽  
Disability Identity ◽  
Identity Based

Research suggests that emerging adults (EAs) with a disabling impairment experience poor psychosocial outcomes and delayed markers of adulthood. Given the numbers of EA with a disabling impairment who do not self-identify as having a disability, we examine a multigroup structural model of positive disability identity based on disability self-identification. Participants ( n = 2,016) completed assessments of positive disability identity, psychosocial outcomes, and markers of adulthood. Most participants with a disabling impairment did not self-identify as having a disability (68%). Positive disability identity, maintaining a positive view of disability, was associated with increased life satisfaction, regardless of whether EA self-identify as having a disability. Exploratory analyses suggest that EA with psychiatric disabilities experience the most negative psychosocial outcomes. Findings suggest that maintaining a positive view of disability is associated with favorable outcomes. However, intervention with EA who do not self-identify is challenging, as they may not seek support services.

Tourism as a Pathway to the Good Life: Comparing the Top–Down and Bottom–Up Effects

2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 866-876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun-Chu Chen ◽  
Sukjoon Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Novelty Seeking ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up

This research examined the relationships among tourism, well-being, and novelty-seeking as a personality trait based on the top–down and bottom–up theories of well-being. A structural model that includes a direct effect of novelty-seeking on life satisfaction (top–down influence) and an indirect effect through tourism experiences (bottom–up influence) were proposed and tested using a sample of 556 American residents. Results showed that novelty-seekers were well aware of travel benefits and traveled more frequently. It was also found that the top–down influence of novelty-seeking on life satisfaction was significantly greater than the bottom–up influence. These findings highlight the crucial role of personality as a predictor of well-being as well as the importance of applying positive psychology principles to further enhance the potential contribution of tourism experiences to tourists’ well-being.

scholarly journals IMPLICATIONS OF RELATIONSHIPS WITH FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND NEIGHBORS FOR WOMEN'S WELL-BEING IN LATE LIFE

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S213-S213
Author(s):  
Heather Fuller ◽  
Heather Fuller ◽  
Masahiro Toyama
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Younger Women ◽  
The Social ◽  
Aging Study ◽  
Lower Life Satisfaction

Abstract Social support is well documented as promoting women’s well-being across the lifespan, yet implications vary depending on the source and type of support. The present study examined whether relationships with family, friends, and neighbors (both satisfaction with and number in social network) affected well-being over two years. Midwestern women (N=188, mean age = 80) were sampled from two waves of the Social Integration and Aging Study (2013, 2015). Hierarchical regression models indicated that satisfaction with friends predicted better life satisfaction, but satisfaction with family and neighbors did not predict well-being. In contrast, number of neighbors in social network predicted lower life satisfaction and greater stress, while number of family and friends were not associated with well-being. Moreover, differential effects emerged between older and younger women. Findings highlight unique facets of older women’s social relationships and suggest that future research and interventions addressing age and the source of support are warranted.

The Social Context of Driving Cessation: Understanding the Effects of Cessation on the Life Satisfaction of Older Drivers and Their Social Partners

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (12) ◽  
pp. 1661-1686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Schryer ◽  
Kathrin Boerner ◽  
Amy Horowitz ◽  
Joann P. Reinhardt ◽  
Steven E. Mock
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Vision Loss ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Older Drivers ◽  
Driving Cessation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners

Older adults with vision loss and a friend or family member were interviewed over a 2-year period. We examined the effects of driving cessation on life satisfaction among older adults and a social contact. Drivers’ use of public transportation was examined as a moderator. Driving cessation was associated with a decline in life satisfaction among social partners but not for the drivers. Drivers’ use of public transportation at baseline moderated the effects of cessation on changes in well-being among social partners, but had little effect on the life satisfaction of the drivers. Life satisfaction was greater among the social partners of ex-drivers who used public transportation more frequently. The association between driving cessation and well-being should be studied in the context of older drivers’ social networks. Infrastructure (e.g., subways and buses) that supports transportation needs plays an important role in mitigating the effects of cessation on older adults’ social networks.

scholarly journals PREDICTING THE FUTURE AND SATISFACTION WITH LIFE

2017 ◽  
pp. 53-61
Author(s):  
T. M. Tytarenko
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Narrative Form ◽  
Life Situation ◽  
Verbal Form ◽  
The Future ◽  
High Level

According to our results, increase in productivity of personal prediction has a positive influence on life satisfaction. The present research explores what role the various types of future prediction play in personal life satisfaction. The study focuses on some psychological time phenomena: desires, life choices, aspirations, motivations. To influence personal well-being the desires might be mature, productive, strong and adequately assessed the current life situation. For high level of well-being intrapersonal desires are more important than interpersonal ones. The life choice determining the horizon prediction leads to the transformation of meanings due to the development of new causal sequences of life-satisfaction. The satisfaction with own self and own life world grows when a person makes life-changing decisions from some alternatives. There are the criteria of readiness for significant choices to increase life-satisfaction: self-organizing; psychosemantic; subjective; functional; operational. The stages of life aspirations include communicative semiotization for defining unconscious ambitions and the registration of the forecast as an underway to the desired plot of worthy life, the narration activation leads to the verbal form of the forecast as a desirable plot of a worthy life, and purposeful creation of the story about decent future life, known as setting the concrete tasks. Motivation-semantic future structuring determines the personal life-satisfaction while taking the narrative form in different contexts of communication. The future structuring which is directly related to the effort to optimize the quality of life is self-creating and re-assessment one; in the 1-st model a person re-assesses adopted values and the source of life changes as changes of own self through the integration of new experience; in the 2-and model the values are already adopted, interpreted, and the movement is due to the changes in life situation.

Test of the Social Cognitive Model of Well-Being in Spanish College Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Lent ◽  
Maria do Céu Taveira ◽  
Pilar Figuera ◽  
Immaculada Dorio ◽  
Susana Faria ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Academic Stress ◽  
Environmental Support ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Cognitive Model

The social cognitive model of well-being was tested in a sample of 373 college students in Spain. Participants completed measures of academic self-efficacy, environmental support, goal progress, academic satisfaction and stress, trait positive affect, and overall life satisfaction. A path analysis indicated that the model fit the data well and accounted for substantial portions of the variance in academic domain satisfaction, academic stress, and life satisfaction, though a few path coefficients (e.g., from positive affect and environmental support to academic stress) were nonsignificant. We consider the findings in relation to prior tests of the well-being model and discuss implications for practice and future research.

scholarly journals Income, Health, and Well-Being around the World: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus Deaton
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Low Income ◽  
National Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Health Satisfaction ◽  
Previous Discussion ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Per Capita

During 2006, the Gallup Organization conducted a World Poll that used an identical questionnaire for national samples of adults from 132 countries. I analyze the data on life satisfaction and on health satisfaction and look at their relationships with national income, age, and life-expectancy. The analysis confirms a number of earlier findings and also yields some new and different results. Average life satisfaction is strongly related to per capita national income. High-income countries have greater life-satisfaction than low-income countries. Each doubling of income is associated with almost a one-point increase in life satisfaction on a scale from 0 to 10 and, unlike most previous findings, the effect holds across the range of international incomes; if anything, it is slightly stronger among rich countries. Conditional on the level of national per capita income, the effects of economic growth on life satisfaction are negative, not positive as would be predicted by previous discussion and previous micro-based empirical evidence. Neither life satisfaction nor health satisfaction responds strongly to objective measures of health, such as life expectancy or the prevalence of HIV infection, so that neither provides a reliable indicator of population well-being over all domains, or even over health.

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