Social Connectedness and the Declining Life Satisfaction of Australian Females

2015 ◽  
pp. 188-211
Author(s):  
Jennifer Ulichny ◽  
Christopher L. Ambrey ◽  
Christopher M. Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Personal Relationships ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
International Evidence ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Almost All

Research into subjective well-being suggests that happier people are healthier and more professionally productive, achieve goals more easily and are more often successful in personal relationships. Unfortunately, studies in the USA and Britain suggest that there has been an overall decline in self-reported well-being since the 1970's, particularly for females. Data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey appear to corroborate the international evidence. Using HILDA 2001 to 2011 data, this chapter investigates: levels of life satisfaction; association between life satisfaction and social connectedness; and whether declines in life satisfaction can be explained by declines in social connectedness. A positive association is found between life satisfaction and almost all measures of social connectedness for both genders. This association, however, only partly explains observed declines in life satisfaction. This research emphasises the importance of frequent, meaningful social connections and the urgency for governments to address declining well-being.

Social Connectedness and the Declining Life Satisfaction of Australian Females

2019 ◽  
pp. 529-552
Author(s):  
Jennifer Ulichny ◽  
Christopher L. Ambrey ◽  
Christopher M. Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Personal Relationships ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
International Evidence ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Almost All

Research into subjective well-being suggests that happier people are healthier and more professionally productive, achieve goals more easily and are more often successful in personal relationships. Unfortunately, studies in the USA and Britain suggest that there has been an overall decline in self-reported well-being since the 1970's, particularly for females. Data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey appear to corroborate the international evidence. Using HILDA 2001 to 2011 data, this chapter investigates: levels of life satisfaction; association between life satisfaction and social connectedness; and whether declines in life satisfaction can be explained by declines in social connectedness. A positive association is found between life satisfaction and almost all measures of social connectedness for both genders. This association, however, only partly explains observed declines in life satisfaction. This research emphasises the importance of frequent, meaningful social connections and the urgency for governments to address declining well-being.

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.

The Structure of Subjective Well-Being and Its Relation to Objective Well-Being Indicators: Evidence from EU-SILC for Serbia

2018 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Vladisavljević ◽  
Vladimir Mentus
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Positive And Negative Affect ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Housing Conditions ◽  
Components Analysis ◽  
Objective Indicators

In this article, we examine the structure of the subjective well-being and its relation to objective well-being indicators using the data from the European Union’s Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) from Serbia. This is one of the first papers to analyze a new module on subjective well-being from EU-SILC micro-dataset (with over 20,000 respondents). We investigate the factor structure of the items and the differences in the association of subjective well-being dimensions with objective indicators of well-being within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Better Life Initiative framework. Three factors emerge from the principal components analysis: general life satisfaction, affective well-being, and satisfaction with the local environment. The analysis further reveals that life satisfaction is more related to the material living conditions, such as income, unemployment, and housing conditions, while affective well-being is more related to non-material indicators of well-being such as perceived health, personal security, and social connections. On the other hand, positive and negative affect within the affective well-being are not clearly separable, nor is the eudaimonic indicator from either life satisfaction or affective well-being.

Understanding the Pursuit of Happiness in Ten Major Cities

2011 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 861-888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin M. Leyden ◽  
Abraham Goldberg ◽  
Philip Michelbach
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The City

The pursuit of happiness has a long history as a primary political end in Western political thought. Along with traditional economic indicators, policy makers are increasingly concerned with the subjective well-being of a society as a measure for its success. It is important to understand the nature of happiness and ask what can be done to improve it. This article builds upon existing literature that consistently identifies health, wealth, and social connectedness as key predictors of happiness. We find that the design and conditions of cities are associated with the happiness of residents in 10 urban areas. Cities that provide easy access to convenient public transportation and to cultural and leisure amenities promote happiness. Cities that are affordable and serve as good places to raise children also have happier residents. We suggest that such places foster the types of social connections that can improve happiness and ultimately enhance the attractiveness of living in the city.

Other-Contingent Extraversion and Satisfaction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Jason L. Huang ◽  
Dongyuan Wu
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Individual Difference ◽  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Implicit Theory ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
College Satisfaction ◽  
Personality Research

Abstract. We conceptualize other-contingent extraversion as an individual difference in the tendency to elevate one’s state extraversion when interacting with friendly others. Using experience sampling data from 75 college students, we assessed other-contingent extraversion to predict subjective well-being, and further examined whether implicit theory of personality would moderate such a prediction. Results indicate that, despite a general positive association between others’ friendliness and one’s state extraversion, individuals differed in the degree to which they manifested state extraversion in response to others’ friendliness, allowing us to model this individual difference as other-contingent extraversion. Other-contingent extraversion interacted with implicit theory to predict college satisfaction but not life satisfaction. Specifically, other-contingent extraversion had a more positive association with college satisfaction for respondents with a stronger incremental perspective (malleable view) of personality. Our study contributes to personality research by introducing other-contingent extraversion as a unit of personality.

The relationship between social experience and subjective well-being in autistic college students: A mixed methods study

Autism ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 1081-1092 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn M Bailey ◽  
Kyle M Frost ◽  
Karís Casagrande ◽  
Brooke Ingersoll
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The Relationship

This mixed methods study examined the relationship between the college social experience and subjective well-being in autistic students in the Midwestern United States. An online survey focused on social connectedness, social participation, social support, and subjective well-being. A semi-structured interview discussed transition, supports received, and social participation. Correlations and a hierarchical regression were used to examine the relationship between social experience variables and subjective well-being from the survey. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify interview themes. Theme counts for students who reported higher and lower subjective well-being were examined. Social connectedness, time spent with friends, and perceived social support were positively correlated with students’ subjective well-being, with social connectedness explaining unique variance. Common themes included challenges navigating a new social environment and the importance of family, friends, and professors in providing social support. Students with lower subjective well-being more frequently discussed struggles to make social connections and the trade-off between socializing and succeeding academically, whereas students with higher subjective well-being more frequently described college as providing opportunities to develop meaningful social connections. This study adds new perspectives on the college experience for autistic students and highlights the important role that social connections and support play in their subjective well-being.

scholarly journals Vacations Over the Years: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis of Tourism Experiences and Subjective Well-Being in the Netherlands

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 2807-2826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondrej Mitas ◽  
Maarten Kroesen
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Personal Resource ◽  
Cognitive Components ◽  
Random Intercept ◽  
Experience Effects ◽  
Broaden And Build Theory ◽  
Almost All

AbstractTourism experiences, also called vacations, are known to boost subjective well-being, although it has been argued that the effects are primarily affective in nature and short-lived. We argue that this is a methodological artifact due to the brief duration—1 year or less—of almost all extant longitudinal studies of tourism experience effects. Based on broaden-and-build and personal resource theories, we hypothesize that tourism experiences contribute to both affective and cognitive components of subjective well-being over a multi-year timespan. Using random intercept cross-lagged panel models, we tested these hypotheses in 8 years of panel data based on a representative sample of the population of the Netherlands. We found both between- and within-individual effects of vacation frequency on cognitive as well as affective well-being. More frequent vacationers experienced higher life satisfaction and lower negative affect, while the average participant also experienced slightly higher life satisfaction and positive affect following a year with higher vacation frequency. Increases in life satisfaction also predicted more frequent vacationing in a following year, consistent with an “upward spiral” pattern of improving well-being based on accumulation of positive experiences, as suggested by the broaden-and-build theory.

scholarly journals Association Between Social Networks and Subjective Well-Being in Adolescents: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
pp. 0044118X2091958
Author(s):  
Deborah Webster ◽  
Laura Dunne ◽  
Ruth Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Body Image ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The Social ◽  
High Investment

Social networks are ubiquitous in the lives of adolescents. This work systematically reviewed all studies which investigated the relationship between subjective well-being and the social networks of adolescents. Twenty-nine articles (out of 1,204 hits) were included within the review. Offline social networks have a positive association between the mood, self-esteem, and loneliness of adolescents but not body image. Nine of the studies investigating online social networks found a positive association on mood, life satisfaction, and loneliness through support seeking and receiving positive feedback. Fifteen of the studies found a negative association between online social networks and mood, self-esteem, life satisfaction, body image, and overall subjective well-being through high investment, passive use, receiving negative feedback, and social media ostracism. There is a need for intervention programs and education for young people, educators, and parents to address the risks to subjective well-being brought about by online social networks.

scholarly journals Individual differences and changes in lifestyle behaviours predict decreased subjective well-being during COVID-19 restrictions in an Australian sample

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Brindal ◽  
Jillian C Ryan ◽  
Naomi Kakoschke ◽  
Sinead Golley ◽  
Ian T Zajac ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Australian Sample

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.

scholarly journals Participation in community gardening: Sowing the seeds of well-being

2021 ◽  
pp. 000841742199438
Author(s):  
Melinda J. Suto ◽  
Shelagh Smith ◽  
Natasha Damiano ◽  
Shurli Channe
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Supported Housing ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Mental Health Issues

Background. Sustaining well-being challenges people with serious mental health issues. Community gardening is an occupation used to promote clients’ well-being, yet there is limited evidence to support this intervention. Purpose. This paper examines how facilitated community gardening programs changed the subjective well-being and social connectedness of people living with mental health issues. Method. A community-based participatory research approach and qualitative methods were used with 23 adults living in supported housing and participating in supported community gardening programs. A constructivist approach guided inductive data analysis. Findings. Participation in community gardening programs enhanced well-being through welcoming places, a sense of belonging, and developing positive feelings through doing. The connection to living things and responsibility for plants grounded participants in the present and offered a unique venue for learning about gardening and themselves. Implications. Practitioners and service-users should collaborate to develop leadership, programs, places, and processes within community gardens to enhance well-being.

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